First time brisket horror in progress

smoghat

I am a pulled pork man. Here in NJ it’s not easy to find brisket. With the large Jewish and Irish populations, it winds up used for their holiday dishes, not for BBQ, but my wife has repeatedly said she is tired of pork so I said fine, I will make a brisket for my birthday dinner. I shouldn’t have done it, but I was busy and I said can you help by calling around to all the stores and finding a packer trim brisket. She said sure. Alright then. She was an engineer, I figured she could listen to directions.

She said she found one at Whole Foods. The guy told her it was he largest he had at 7.5 pounds. She brings it home. 7.5 pounds? He said they don’t come bigger. WTH?!! After I get home from a meeting and it’s too late to do anything, I discover it’s a flat. At $9.99 a pound. So this is what the mean by packer trim? She said, he didn’t know I asked for that. So I had to specifically find the text that I send her with a long description just to prove my point. Oh, yeah you said that. OMG.

Yes, I’m a bitter man. And it’s my birthday so I can cry if I want to. Did I say she wants to make a bean salad instead of baked beans? Whose party is this?

I started the flat at 7am, not knowing what else  to do, but then called around until I found a butcher who had plent of packer trim briskets. I should have done it myself, I know. Got a nice, smallish 11 pounder, trimmed the fat as per Franklin. At 10am, I pulled the flat, now at 160 and looking kind of livery. I wrapped it in foil and tossed it ina 275 oven. Its a fancy $4,000 oven the previous owners put in so the real temperature may be 300 or 250, who knows. I got a probe in it. Will pull at 203 and stick in a cooler I guess. Or maybe feed it to the cat. I got a big cat, she weighs more than either brisket.

I’ve put the real brisket on 275 degree egg at 1030. I’m planning to raise the temperature up to 300, then back down to 275 once it’s ready for a Texas crutch hoping to get it done by 6 so it can rest for an hour. Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

JohnInCarolina

I think somehow you’re going to be just fine.  Cat might have a pretty good day too, although I’d say there’s no need to feed that flat to him.  Just turn it into brisket chili!

Teefus

You’ll be fine. I’ll bet the flat will work well for sandwiches. If it’s dry, slice it all up and place it in a cake pan with some beef broth. Cover and place in the oven at 200* until warmed through, then remove and allow to cool slowly while remaining covered. I used this method to rejuvenate a flat and it worked great. The meat pulled the broth back in as it cooled.

gdenby

Luck!

"She was an engineer." Sadly, expertise in one area often does not transfer to another.

smoghat

Thanks guys. Cats waiting for brisket. She looks kind of slim there. Don’t blame me, she got big at the pound before we rescued her. I always tell her we are going to put her in the egg one day.

Got my CyberQ connected up over the Internet so I can go out to the store and make sure things work.guys,

jdkeithbge

Great story and I'm sure both the imposter brisket and real brisket will turn out good.  Staying tuned for the results!  And happy birthday.

lowandslow

As a resident of NJ myself, I can only find brisket flats in the store.  To get a whole packer, just order online from Creekstone Farms or SRF.

smoghat

Caldwell Market Store has em.

smoghat

The flat went up to 195 in the oven but it looked livery, like corned beef, meanwhile the real brisket has been at 167 for a while and looks nice so I decided to put it in the Texas crutch. See it in the photo.

I was concerned since the temperatures had hit 175 and the stall wasn’t happening, but then they dropped back down. Weird!

I also decided that the livery flat would do better getting more smoke and less steam so I put it next to the real brisket, adding some more oak. I’ve been using a lot of oak today, from a red oak on my property that was downed in Sandy. It smells REALLY good, not acrid, just pure goodness. I hope my wife doesn’t complain I’ve oversmoked this. 

I’ve got 4.5-5.5 hours to go to dinner. Should be fine.

FearlessTheEggNoob

Now that it's wrapped in foil be ready. Sometimes, the temp rise will go faster than you might expect.

Foghorn

You got this.  Keep the pics coming.

caliking

It seems like you have a grip on the brisket situation. The flat will make great spaghetti sauce or chili among other things. 

 But, for crissake, how many days have you been married?!?!? You pulled up the text to rub in her face and prove YOU were right?!?!

you better sleep with one eye open. I bet you she could make it look like an accident. 

caliking

And happy birthday! 

lousubcap

A belated congratulations on the completion of a lap of the sun.  As above, sounds like you have this well in hand.  

smoghat

It worked out. Thanks for the encouragement. The turbo brisket was fine, the fatty section was fabulous although I’d like the lean part to be a little juicer. The flat brisket from Whole Foods wIll be used for one of the ideas you contributed, maybe even a couple. It’s edible, but not something that people would have come back for seconds. In the photo below, the flat on the left looks juicy, but it’s not.

thanks for the birthday wishes. As for my having to prove it to my wife, ah, well she insisted! And that’s why we are still together almost 30 years later.