Brisket - Finally

aem

I finally got around to doing a brisket on my egg.  Before the egg I had a Weber Smokey Mountain that I learned to smoke on.  I tried a brisket once and it came out like shoe leather, so I was reluctant to try again.  After tons of reading, I decided I was ready to try again.

I got a 5.5lb trimmed packer at HEB.  I was hoping for one of the CAB briskets I read about, but no luck. They did have Prime, but the smallest was 10lb and it was fairly expensive.  I used olive oil, Montreal Seasoning, and salt for the rub.  Was shooting for ~270 grid, but the egg was running hot (around 300) for the first few hours.  I started checking for tenderness around 190F internal.  Finally pulled a little over 200 after 7.5 hours.  FTC for an hour.  Results were good, but not great.  Fork tender, but just a bit dry.  Flavor was good, but a bit mild.  As good or better than most BBQ places.

I'm encouraged.  The fear is gone.  I'm ready to make it for company now!  I would like to get it a little more moist with a bit more flavor. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

sounds like it was one of their select briskets. Pretty difficult to keep those moist. Next time, treat yourself to the prime. I did one last week and it was out of this world. Best I've ever done (or maybe even had). They were like $3.78 per lb so a 10 lber is under $40. The leftovers are better with prime too- more fat means they reheat better. When you do one for friends, get the good stuff. When you do one for yourself.....get the good stuff. 

lousubcap

@Cen-Tex-there you go, bragging about the price of Texas brisket again.  And we would all jump on that if we had the option.  HFD!

aem

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

sounds like it was one of their select briskets.

I think so.  Now that I have a success under my belt I'm willing to spend more on better meat. I've been very happy with HEB meat - Natural for Chicken, Pork, and ground beef; Prime for steak.  Prime and CAB brisket seems harder to find.  Is this something you have to ask the butcher for or are some HEB's better than others?  I'm in North Austin, I shop at the Lakeline HEB Plus or the regular HEB at O'Conner, McNeil, or 1431 & Parmer.  I tried the Meat House at Parmer & Avery Ranch but I didn't think their meat was any better than HEB Prime while the cost was much higher.  Costco and Sam's are an option too.