Dry Brisket

barretts1

Cooked a Prime 15lb brisket this weekend, and pulled it off at 197 IT, with a perfect bark and feel to it. Went to slice, and it was dry-ish and somewhat tough. Didn’t wrap it this time around, it cooked fairly quickly at 9 hrs, at 275 degrees. I normally do 225, and wrap around 165 IT, so I was just experimenting with this one...anyone else ever have this happen? It felt and looked perfect, but the flat seemed overdone.

barretts1

lkapigian

Dry and mean under cooked , flats can tend to be drier but yours was a Prime--cook to feel,not temp---Bark looks great

nolaegghead

Agree with the above. If you stab the flat when it's not done there will be some resistance. When a skewer or thermapen probe slides through the flat like it's made of butter, all over - don't just try one area, then it's done.

Temperature just tells you when you're in the ballpark.

barretts1

That’s what I was thinking...it felt amazing at 180 IT, I should’ve pulled it then. It still tasted great though, especially the point. Made for some delicious leftover tacos and sandwiches.

Photo Egg

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2423144#Comment_2423144

When you say "it felt amazing", what does this mean?

barretts1

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2423157#Comment_2423157

Had just the right amount of jiggle ya know...hard to describe to you if you haven’t cooked a lot of brisket. It should bend freely, but not enough to break. This is why I shouldn’t have used a thermometer...it was a failed experiment I guess. I’ll just go back to the ol’ ‘cook by feel’ method, I was just curious as to people’s temps and if they’d had this same turnout before at that temp.

Photo Egg

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2423197#Comment_2423197

I have been tricked by jiggle before. That's why most brisket cooks go my "probe tender" or "probe like butter", not jiggle, shake, rattle. I normally start checking tenderness at 185 by sticking with instant read probe. Gives me exact temp plus a tenderness check as the probe goes in. A prime cut will have more jiggle than choice. Even more reason to check with probe or skewer.

But it sure looked perfect! Great Pics.

caliking

I think temp can goof you when cooking prime brisket. Not a brisky expert by any means, but one of the best ones I've ever done was ready to come off at 185 in the flat. It felt right so I pulled it.