First Brisket

Cornholio

I mostly lurk on here but wanted to share my first brisket I’ve ever done.  I’ve had a large egg for 7 or 8 years now and for some reason have never done a brisket, so when my wife asked me what I wanted to do for Father’s Day I said smoke some meat and do nothing!

I was having a hard time tracking a full brisket down and ended up finding a new specialty butcher a few minutes from our house.  I was looking for a prime cut and he only carries Angus.. but when I saw the cut it looked good so I bought it and had him trim it for a dollar more per pound.  He smokes briskets in his shop daily so I trusted him more than myself with trimming and he weighs the meat after he trims it so a no brainer for someone with two young kids and limited free time!  I trimmed the thin part of the flat off and saved it for chili another day (he offered to do that too but I wanted the meat for chili).

I injected the brisket with some beef broth/beef bullion/Worcestershire and a dash of rub.  Coated it with Worcestershire sauce then added rub (Salt Lick rub) all over.  Wrapped it in plastic and set it aside in the fridge for a few hours.  



I originally planned on getting up in the middle of the night to start this but decided I’d rather have it ready for lunch or early dinner on Father’s Day and get it on just before 8pm.

I used Fogo premium lump charcoal (for the first time) and pecan chunks in the egg.  The Fogo lump chunks were consistently the same size and huge, burned well too.  I put a drip tray on the plate setter and got the meat on once I had the egg stabilized at 240.  



I had a temp probe in the flat part of the brisket and one clipped in the grill grate but paid closer attention to the dome thermometer when watching the egg heat.  Not gonna lie, I was OCD the first few hours checking on the dome temp and kept setting an alarm to wake up in case I fell asleep.  Crashed out a few times until it reached 155 internally (I think around 2am) and I got ready to wrap it in paper and put it on for the remainder of the cook.  Pretty much stayed in the 240-250 range the whole cook.

Now I could get some real sleep!  None of the temp alarms went off and things stayed stable the rest of the cook.  At about hour 12 I check on it because the IT was at 200.  Probe moved around like butter and toothpicks were penetrating easily which I felt meant it was ready to pull.  

I let the steam out and while wrapping it back up I spilled juices all over my patio, whoops... could’ve used that for au jus.  Wrapped her up in several towels and set her in the Yeti for ~ 4 hours.  




Conclusion - It was a success!  Sure I could’ve done better and learned some things for next time but it was easy to break apart, not dry and the bark was great.  After slicing most of it the last bits were falling apart so I cubed them and put toothpicks in them for an appetizer which didn’t last long!

Plenty of leftovers, just had some on a roll with cole slaw, jalapeño and ghost pepper sauce.  

dmchicago

Outstanding!

Great first attempt.

My brisket cherry is still un-popped but not for long!

BPFBGE

Looks great. After years of cooking, I still feel like brisket can be a tough cook.

mlc2013

looks liked you nailed it great job

lousubcap

Great way to get after it and deliver.  I would take that outcome any day.  Thanks for the write-up as well.
You have set a high bar for the next one -but that's what you earned for this cook.  Congrats.

JohnnyTarheel

Great job and successful.....

ewyllins

Congrats on your first Brisket, way better then my first!!!