More of a Bris than a Brisket

Tjcoley

Sub title - How to turn a challenge into a real challenge.

As soon as I said it I regretted it:  Mrs TJ: "Do you need anything from the store?"  Me: "Yeah, pick up a small Brisket so if I get the chance I can join the Memorial Day Brisket cook challenge."

The story - Unfortunately, due to scheduling, I probably will not be able to do a Memorial Day Brisket along will everyone.  But I thought it would be best to be prepared, in case I can find time.  Weighing in at a whopping 2.77 pounds, the slice of meat Mrs. TJ brought home looked more like the result of a Bris on a real SNF size Brisket. 



OK, it will be back to the store this week to pick up a real Brisket for the weekend (I should have just added one to the SRF order being delivered Thursday).  In the mean time, I decided to try and cook this baby up.  The good news, it didn't need to be trimmed at all.  The bad news, it had been trimmed worse than a cheap haircut.  No fat cap left at all.



I probably should have just braised it, but I wanted to see what happened if I tried a low and slow.  Seasoned it lightly with S/P. garlic, brown sugar and cayenne.  Let's let the smoke add the flavor.  Started it at 11:00 AM yesterday, 225 degrees, with lots of wood chips )mix of Hickory and Jack Daniels).  Figured it would be done in a few hours and FTC until dinner. 

Four hours later, at 3:00, IT was only 150, and now it's becoming clear it may not be done in time for dinner, so I bumped up the Egg to 325.  When the severe thunderstorm hit 45 minutes later, the winds actually bumped the temp up to 375, and I let it stay there.  At 5:45. IT was 205, and the probe went in pretty easily (except the real thin parts on the end, which were pretty crisp).



Pulled it off, wrapped in foil for 30 minutes than sliced it up.



Nice smoke ring, nice and tender meat, but the lack of fat resulted in it being a bit dry.  It still made for a good tasting, not quite melt in your mouth but still tender, brisket sandwich for dinner.  All told, about 7 hours to cook a just over 2 1/2 pound slice of beef. 

Would I do it again with a brisket this small?  Without a doubt.  Dinner for 2 and enough for a lunch sandwich today. 

NPHuskerFL

Nice work!  That size would've been ideal to cool completely in liquid and thin deli slice for killer sammies. 

Fred19Flintstone

That looks pretty darn tasty TJ!  

lousubcap

Way to persevere across the adventure.  Looks like a great result especially given the size and trim job.  Most eggcellent.  

20stone

Nice work, though having someone else buy meat for you (excluding @The Cen-Tex Smoker obs) typically results in them buying either way too cheap ("The Choice brisket was on sale") or way too small.  

I would have likely bailed at the start and made a curry out of it, but that looks like a nice reult