NY Times Publicity for Brisket

Newsguy

At 4 a.m. this morning I started the lump for what I think will be a 10-12 hour brisket bake. When the Egg was stabilized and the 9.28 lbs. of meat was on, I picked up my New York Times to see that brisket is featured in today's Dining section. In addition to a discussion of how various New York eateries serve brisket, there is a recipe for how to cook one at home. For the most part the recipe describes pretty much what I am doing, but there is also this part that says that at a temp of 170-180 the meat should be pulled and wrapped in parchment of butcher paper, which should then be placed inside foil and placed back on the grill. After a couple of more hours, it says, you should start probing it for the right bounciness. I'm planning to keep mine on until 190 and then probe and take it off, but I hadn't planned on the wrap in paper and foil. Does anyone have any thoughts about this procedure? Would it make a significant difference? This is my second brisket, and the first one turned out great without the wrapping.

Phatchris

I'm pretty sure Franklin Bbq wraps in Butcher paper and puts back on smoker, don't think he uses foil though.

stemc33

I've only done one and I didn't wrap it. Turned out great. I'm sure the brisket experts will chime in soon.

Acn

I think the wrapping is much more important on other cookers.  The egg has really good moisture retention itself, but you'd probably want to wrap if you were using a WSM or an offset.

cazzy

I made a butt for a work pot luck some time back.  After my bark developed, I wrapped it in butcher paper to finish it off.  After completing the cook, I wrapped foil over the butcher paper to FTC for 4 hours.  When it was time to pull it, I unwrapped the foil and was really shocked at how moist the butcher paper was.  It was completely drenched and sure enough my butt was dry.  

The only thing I could think was that the paper wicked the meat and sucked all the gelatin out of the butt because the paper was compressed to the meat with the foil.  I don't know exactly what happened, all I know is that this combination screwed up my meat and i'll never do it again.  

With that being said, I wouldn't employ or recommend the step that NY Times recommended.  

mslaw

Im cooking one about that size this weekend. I use the Cruch method. cook until 175 deg. put on heavy foil dump drippings in and seal in several layers of foil. Continue to cook to 200 deg and put into a cooler for 3 to 4 hour. always works for me.

Newsguy

My 9.28 lb packer came off the Egg  early. I FTC'd  it for about 4 hours. It had good smoke ring, but was a bit on the dry side. No complaints from diners, but I still seek the perfect brisket.

It took about 9 hours, or one hour per pound. It is grass-fed beef so I expected it might go a bit quicker. The rub is half and half salt and pepper, as per Franklin. I didn't foil it while cooking. I pulled it at 203, which someone somewhere on the forum called a magic temp. The probe went in like buttah, and the jiggle factor felt right so off it came. Here are some photos.

Stoogie

@newsguy - it looks delicious! One thing I picked up on this forum, regarding serving brisket, is to only slice what is about to be eaten. Don't slice the entire brisket up and then serve because the meat will dry out very fast while sitting there waiting to be eaten.

Botch

I never foil my briskets to put back on the Egg; I take them to 200 or higher (when the Thermapen tip slides right in, don't really even need to check the temp).  Lately, however, I've been making sure to foil them afterwards, and into the cooler a couple hours.  It softens the crust a bit but it sure seems to take it to that final level of tender.  

 

Only time I'd foil and return it to the Egg is if dinnertime is approaching too quickly; the foil prevents the final water evaporation which causes the "stall", and will get you to final temp more quickly.