1st Brisket - man, oh, man! (pics)

Cookbook_Chip

Oh, boy, I could not wait to finally do a brisket!  I read everything on this forum over and over to try and get it right.  Thanks to all who contribute so much great info.  My buddy got a 15 lb packer from where he works at a food service company.  I trimmed and rubbed it.  I used 1/2 tubinado sugar and 1/2 Dizzy Pig Cowlick, with some extra granulated garlic and granulated onion.  Left it in the fridge for a few hours.  Then, lit the egg about 10pm on Saturday.  Steady at 240F by 10:35 and put on the brisky.  Hit the hay with my Maverick at my bedside.  Got a low temp beep about 2:30am (220F) on the egg - but brisket already at 151F?  Wow - that's fast.  Well, too much adult bev before bed - I couldn't get up.  Should be fine for a while (I hoped).  Around 4:30am, my cat started driving me nuts, so I looked again - uh-oh, egg temp down to 180F (meat holding).  Better get up.  So I went down and stoked the coals a bit.  I tried stacking them just so, as @cen-tex had suggested.  I guess I did it too loosely.  Anyway, fire came right back up - so back to bed.  I got up about 7am and all looked great!  Meat slowly rising.  The flat hit 200F about 1:30p and my instant read went in and out like butta!  So, worried to death, I attempted to remove what I hoped was the point. So easy!  Nice fat line to follow.  FTC'd the flat.  Put the point on for a couple hours, then cubed it and re-rubbed for a few more.  By 5pm time to eat!  Oh, my gosh!  So tender - so delish.  The flat slices were just pull apart tender.  The burnt ends - WOW!!!  And actually, easier than I expected.

Thanks again, forum gurus!

lousubcap

Congrats-nothing like a home-run with the first at-bat!!  Looks great. 

Griffin

Nice first attempt!

Cookbook_Chip

Thanks guys!

butwhymalemodels

Well done!

Hillbilly-Hightech

wow, looks fantastic!!!  I bookmarked it for future reference!!  (brisket is about the only thing I haven't attempted yet, but am "thisclose" to doing it, "Egg-specially" after seeing pics like this)!!  =P~

I did have a couple questions though - when you were talking about cutting off the point, how did you find the fat line?  Usually it's covered up by the bark - did you score it ahead of time? 

Also, what was the final internal temp - was it 200?  Isn't that more for pulled beef??

Also, one thing that I never understood was the "burnt ends" - I mean, the meat is already done at that point, so wouldn't cooking it even further make them... well... "burnt ends" hehehe... I know that's the name of them, but I mean, TOO burnt, as in, not edible??? 

Can you 'splain more about that process too?  What else did you do to them?

At any rate, it looks VERY delicious!!  =D>

MaskedMarvel

Made me hungry. what wood did you use for smoke?

Cookbook_Chip

@maskedmarvel - makes me hungry again looking at the pics!  I used cherry and hickory for smoke.

@hillbilly-hightech - thanks!  When I trimmed it, I worried what all to actually trim!  I left most of the fat "cap" on the flat - it was about 1/8-1/4" - but there was a lot of hard white fat all around.  I cut most of that off.  When I did, I could see a solid white fat line running between what I hoped was the point and the flat.  I rubbed the whole thing.  I cooked the flat to 198F - when my meat probe just went in and out really easily.  Then got brave to remove the point - the fat had rendered so nicely, it was just a slip of the knife thru the fat seam/line starting from the open concave area as you see in the pics.  Easy!  

Now, I loves me some bark/sear/crust on meat.  So, after removing the point, I foiled, toweled and coolered the flat.  I re-rubbed the exposed part of the point and put it on for a hour or so (yes, it was pretty close to 200F already, but I just was following posts on this forum).  After an hour or so, I cubed it to 1 1/2" or so and again re-rubbed the exposed meat.  Put it back on for a couple hours to give more bark all around.  When it came off, I got the flat from the cooler - still super hot in my hands!  Sliced the flat against the grain (oh!  another tip, before you rub, do score or notch a corner of the flat so you know where the grain runs).  Ate the point/burnt ends as is - with a bit of bbq sauce.  Holy cow!  The burnt ends were so nice and barky on the outside and smooth fatty/meaty on the inside.  Not "burned" at all - just tasty bark like on a boston butt!  The flat had a nice bark on the edges and was not stringy like pulled beef at all.  But so tender you could tug and break the slices.

Hope that helps - aside from doing a better job stacking my lump next time, I think this is exactly what I hoped for.  Have fun on yours!