Educate me, please.

jeffwit said:

 those of you who don't like to read long posts can skip the latter part.

What makes a brisket a "difficult" cook? 

First let may say that i enjoy reading long posts. If time allows, i like writing long responses myself. Always wanted to be a writer, but thats a story for another day. Above you posed the question "What makes brisket a "difficult" cook?. What a great question my friend. The answer is compound and two fold, but is neither vague, nor does it contain any ambiguity. Due to time constraints, there is no way that i can give every reason why its so difficult, but i will hit a few of the high points. First off, its sheer size and non uniform shape. Most folks (notice i said most, not all) are not accustom to cooking large cuts. Your average backyard grill master is usually far more accustom to cooking steak, chops and burgers, etc, etc. Something that cooks quickly and has a reasonably wide window of acceptable doneness. Also these cuts are usually pretty uniform in thickness and shape. You have almost absolute control over small, uniform, lean cuts. This is not the case with the big bad brisket. Compared to even a large steak, it is massive in scale. Extremely thick on one end, tapering constantly toward the other. The variance in thickness alone presents a challenge in its self. Most folks (again i said most) get real good at something by doing it over and over. Repetitiveness if you will. Few people cook brisket on a regular basis and as such it doesnt become second nature to the. But just about everyone cooks steak, burgers, etc on a real regular basis. Thus it becomes second nature or instinctive. Again, for most this is not the case with brisket. So far we have the following that contributes to making it a difficult cook:
#1. Size
#2. Shape
#3. Irregular thickness (Extremely thick on one end and thin on the other).
#4. Lack of experience cooking brisket.

Now lets dive even deeper and take a even closer look. Here is one that i think gives even experienced cooks problems. Temperature. Most (again i said most, not all) become addicted to the Thermapen or whatever temping device that they use. Most have a temp pattern that they rely on. Example: most will pull chicken breasts in the 155-165 degree arena. Pork loin in the 140-150 arena. You see this pattern repeated day in and day out over and over. When it comes to brisket, temperature can just about be thrown out the window. It will almost never be the same. Due to many, many factors, brisket should be cooked to "feel and tenderness". Not temperature. This gives a lot pf people problems. They are accustom to relying on the faithful Thermapen to tell them when something is done. Myself, along with others, have seen some very high end Wagyu be done to perfection in the low to mid 180"s. At the other end of the spectrum, i have seen some poor quality select have to go into the 208 arena before turning loose and setting in. It is because of this, that temp just cant be relied on when it comes to producing high quality, consistent brisket. With most things, you can use temp as a indicator for the most part. Examples again: steaks, chops, loin, chicken, etc, etc. But not brisket. There is just no way around it. So to the above list we can add:
#5. Cooking until done and knowing when done by feel. Not internal temp.

Moving even farther ahead, we have the brisket structure its self to contend with. When cooking chicken breasts, you are for the most part cooking chicken breasts. Seems simple enough in its own right, and for the most part it is. But with brisket, this is not quite the case. The chest muscles are extremely dense, fibrous and tough. They contain very large amounts of connective tissue (white & brown adipose) and hard fat. Far more than just about any cut that most are familiar with cooking. This presents a challenge as all of this must be cooked until broken down. At the same time, it must be done without drying out the lean meat. This, and this alone is what contributes to the very small window of doneness for brisket. Go a little to past and the brisket is dry and crumbly. Dont quite make it there and the brisket is dry and tough. So to the above list we can add:
#6. Composition.

Moving right ahead we come to the last but equally important factor. Seperate parts that are joined. This is a crude analogy, but when you cook tenderloin, you are cooking just that, tenderloin. The same can be said with chops, most steaks or whatever the case may be. With brisket, you are cooking three seperate but cojoined parts. Individual muscles and a connective tissue line. This is also why a whole, unseperated beef clod is a challenge to cook as well. These seperate but joined parts must become done together within a reasonably small window or overcooking/undercooking will be the result for part of the cut. So to the above list we can add:
#7. Structure.

Now for the grand finale. I can sum it up quite clearly in one word. Quality. This is crystal clear and contains no ambiguity. As such, very little explanation is needed here. Simply put, if you start with $hit, chances are, you will end up with $hit more often than not. Plain and simple. Quality meat, more so than any other contributing factor is the cornerstone to the next level of success. Short of the Brisket Gods themselves, few if any, can turn crap into quality. Start with quality meat, keep a clean burning fire for the duration, and pull when done. The basic steps to success. So with that said, we can add:
#8. Meat Quality or lack thereof.

I would like to apoligize for the short answer and not going into more detail. But im at work at the moment (working night shift) and my forum time is limited. With that said, i will gladly go much farther in depth when time allows if you would like. The above is some of the biggest factors that make brisket a difficult cook. However there are also several small ones that i didnt list due to time constraints. But most of them are pretty obvious and need not be mentioned except for thoroughness. In closing, please remember that the above is just one mans findings and opinions. For the record and clarity, Im neither a expert nor a Brisket God. With that said, always take the advice of a expert and more importantly that of a Brisket God in place of mine. I hope that the little i offered above helps my friend. Until next time, keep on cooking and may the Brisket Gods smile down upon you.