Need Brisket Help

PCO3 · April 2003

The first brisket I made was nice but was not tender enough for me. The Egg tenderized to a point of a good firm steak but not really tender like I expected or wanted. I cooked via internal temp and it went around 4 1/2 hours on indirect heat on V-rack over drip pan. I was watching Food Network and they were talking about KC BBQ and brisket. Someone let me know if the following cooking schedule would be successful -- it is based on a metal wood fire cooker not the Egg. With indirect heat, cook brisket 3 hours at 250 degrees, wrap in foil and cook an additional 2 hours at 350 degrees. I don't want to experiment and totally screw up a good piece of meat. A common thread I have seen on the Forum is complete cooking after reaching a certain internal temp and wrap in foil and place in an ice chest. I assume this is having the effect of steaming itself and thereby giving it the texture I am striving for. Any help is grately appreciated. Thanks.

JSlot · April 2003

I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say you "cooked via internal temp", but your times seem to be way off. Brisket usually takes 1½-2 hours/lb. I cook to an internal temp of 195° and remove the brisket, cover it in foil, and let it rest in the oven or a cooler for an hour or more. Comes out wonderful every time. BTW, I cook at 250-275° indirect. One other thing we mentioned in a thread below, if you buy pre-trimmed brisket flats, most of the fat cap has probably been removed. You need a nice fat cap to make a really moist brisket. Good Luck!!![p]Jim

PCO3 · April 2003

JSlot,
Thank you very much for your help. I will use your guidelines and we'll see what happens. By the way, when I referred to internal temp, I meant that I was not cooking by time but rather using an internal temp target to determine when I was done with cooking. Thanks again!

Nature Boy · April 2003

PCO3,
JSlot definitely offers sound advice. What internal temp did you cook the brisket too?? Regular "beef" temperatures don't apply to this muscle. My guess is you did not get much past 160 with the time you described. The internal temp of the brisket will stall for hours in the 150-165 range. This is the critical time of the cook, and when the tough connective tissue breaks down. You'll want to try going to at least 185, and as high as 200....whenever it feels tender to the poke. A 30 minute to 3 hour rest wrapped in foil in a warm cooler should help the final results.[p]Have fun! When you get it, you'll know it.
Chris

PCO3 · April 2003

Nature Boy,
Thanks for the additional advice. I am starting my own little advice library to draw upon when needed. You are exactly correct from my recollection. I believe it stalled at 165 degrees at around 4 1/2 hours cooking time. Since I had no other benchmark other than the cookbook which said 3 -4 hours, I thought I was done and took it off. Oh yeah, and I certainly didn't wrap it. I am actually cooking a big 5lb'er from Sam's right now. I put on at around 8 pm with some nice apple/hickory wood from Chigger Creek and I figure will be done around 4am to 7am. I am a CPA and used to the weird hours, especially when I am excited about something like this. Loved your pix of the camp site with the eggs. Mine would be the same except the setting would be an Ohio State Buckeye football tailgate!

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