My First Brisket! With Pictures

GeorgiaBorn

Well, I did my first brisket Saturday on my BGE. From everything I read here and on other sites, I was under the impression that it would take about 1.5 hours per pound. After a little trimming, my packer cut weighed in at about 9.3 pounds. It went on the smoker at 1:45am Saturday morning. I stayed up with it until about 3am making sure that the temp of the Egg was steady at 230-235. Our dog woke me up at 7:30am. I let her out and checked the Egg and the dome temp was steady at 230. I got up for good at 9:15am and the temp was between 230-235.

At 9:45 I decided to take a peek under the dome. My brisket was nice and black (see picture). I thought that was kinda odd since it still had 6-7 hours to go. I decided to check the temp. Stuck in my probe and the temp read 185-190. I was blown away it was done in 8 hours. I am glad I checked. I took it off, wrapped it in foil and a towel and placed it in a towel lined cooler and came here screaming for help. My dinner guests weren't coming until 6pm!

After a lot of good advice, here's what I did...I started the Egg back up at around 4pm and got it to a steady 200 degrees in no time at all. I pulled the brisket from the cooler and carved off the point. I barely even needed to use the knife. It almost fell apart in my hands. I tossed the point in some more dry rub. I wrapped the flat back in tin foil but added about 1/4 cup of beef broth first. I sealed it up tight and put the flat and the point back on the smoker for 2 hours.

After I pulled the flat and point off the smoker at 6:30pm, I let both rest covered in foil for another 20 minutes. I cubed the point and tossed in BBQ sauce to finish off the burnt ends. OMG! They were the tastiest morsels of BBQ beef I have ever tasted. I then started to carve the brisket eyeballing the notch I had made before smoking it to make sure I cut against the grain. It literally fell apart while I was carving it. I have never seen a brisket this tender. It was separating at the grain lines. I continued to carve but I ended up serving it as chopped beef instead of sliced. It literally melted in your mouth.

I served a 2 hour slow cooked mac and cheese, compliments of a Paula Deen recipe, a brunswick stew that I made from a 5lb smoked chicken I had smoked the day before, and garlic texas toast. Quite honestly the best BBQ I have ever eaten. Actually I wasn't sure if the brisket should have fallen apart like it did, but nobody was complaining. It was just so tender and succulent.

Seasoned with Rub and Ready for the Egg!


BGE Lit Before Closing Lid


Brisket Goes on BGE


Lid Closed at 1:45am


8 Hours Later at 9:45am


Burnt Ends


Chopped Brisket and Burnt Ends

Mike in Abita

You have been busy. Glad it all worked out, sorry it cooked so fast, some pieces of meat will do that. I unfortunately end up with the ones that go long. I does appear that you were able to save it in the end though. Good job and thanks for sharing.

Bluecrab3

Congratulations!!! You nailed one of the more difficult cooks....congrats...

field hand

Looks great. Don't mess with success. The cook was less than you expected, but you had a plan. Sounds like your guests didn't have any complaints. Plan "B's" are a must.

Barry
Marthasville, MO

cookn biker

Nice looking bark on that!!