Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

First Brisket

milkman5083
milkman5083 Posts: 100
edited March 2012 in EggHead Forum
Getting ready to put on my first brisket! I get to use my new Maverick too. It will be nice not having to wake up to make sure the cook is going well.

Comments

  • XLentEGG
    XLentEGG Posts: 436
    edited March 2012
    The maverick is just going to tell you WHEN to wake up !! :D Good luck!! and SHOW US YOUR FOOD !!
    More meat please !! :-)
  • dont have buyers remorse if it doesnt go well..the low and slow brisket is the hardest cook on the egg....good luck... i cant get consistnt results...remeber you will be your own worst crittic...if you are unhappy don't let anyone know...chop the whole thing up for chopped beef and add sauce...they will love it...i have given a lot of chopped beef away...:) 

    Rockwall Texas, just east of Dallas where the humidity and heat meet! Life is too short to get caught in the fast lane behind somebody slow!

    XL, LG, Sm, Mini and Weber for drink holder

  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I'm doing a 6lb flat today.  From what I've read, it could go as fast as just 4 hours on the egg.  I'm thinking about starting it around noon.

    With brisket (or anything else done low and slow), do you take the meat out of the fridge for long before putting it in the egg?  I know with fast cooked meats (steak), you want the inside as close to room temp as possible for even cooking...but for something that'll be in there for hours, does it even matter?
  • milkman5083
    milkman5083 Posts: 100
    I am not sure if it matters. I did put mine on the counter while I fired the EGG up and got it stabilized. Some people say to put it on right out of the fridge and others say to set out. I think mine was put on around 230 this morning and the meat temp is at 151 right now. The grid temp is 216. Best of luck on your cook. I hope to make burnt ends next time.
  • BrewnChew
    BrewnChew Posts: 10

    NJL,

    I agree with the Milk Man, it isn't like a steak where you let it come up to room temperature.  I actually prefer cooking brisket's.  I think I started because everyone said they were so difficult.  Also we do a lot of cul-de-sac parties and there is a lot of pork out there so I have to represent the beef.  My prefered cook is a whole brisket not just the flat, that has been easier to cook and does not dry out as easily.  I trim some of my fat cap to about an 1/8" but it is fine to leave it.  I then slather with yellow mustard and rub it.  I put it back into the fridge for an hourish.  I have an outdoor fridge near my egg so the fridge part is easy.  Then I set up my egg and get it happy at 225 grate (that is where the hourish comes in).  When I'm ready to toss on the brisket I rerub it jab it with the probe, into the flat, and toss it on.  So the meat is actually at 40'ish degrees when the probe is inserted.  The next afternoon, wrap it in foil, and toss it into a towel lined cooler to rest.  Sometimes I cut the point off and toss it back on for burnt ends sometimes I don't.  I have found if you don't toss it back on but chop it and save it in food saver bags, I do a pound per bag, there is more than enough fat left in it to make some kickin' chili.

    Once you find the method that works for you stick with it.  That is where you get your consistancy.  If you really want to hammer down your process keep some notes.  That way you can repeat a good cook and not repeat a bad cook.  Eventually even the book goes out the window, at least it did for me.

  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I ended up not going as hot as I'd planned, and so of course, it's taking longer than I'd figured.  I took your advice and started a log after I got it on the grill.

    This was a 6.12lb flat, to which I'd applied a home made dry rub followed by a spray of EVO, and then put back in the fridge over night.

    12:15pm brisket on the grill fat down about 15m ago, platesetter legs up, foil catch, grate temp 241, meat 52F
    12:55pm grate temp 250F, meat 97F
    1:06pm 253F, 108F
    1:43pm 291F, 133F
    adjusted daisy wheel, vents mostly open to half closed
    2:08pm 266F, 142F
    2:41pm 255F, 149F  flipped it, fat side up
    3:10pm 234F, 151F
    3:30pm 210F, 151F (foiled it) grill probably lost some heat here during the openings to foil
    4:17pm 246F, 160F
    4:33pm 250F, 165F (opened the daisy wheel half an inch)
    4:47pm 259F, 172F
    5:00pm 270F, 178F

    At this rate, it may not make it off the egg until around 6pm.  I was figuring on a 2hr sit in a warm cooler, but I don't think I'll have the patience for that.
  • Ragtop99
    Ragtop99 Posts: 1,570
    You might check around in some other posts.  I don't think there is any reason to require the brisket to rest for 2 hrs.
    At this rate, it may not make it off the egg until around 6pm.  I was figuring on a 2hr sit in a warm cooler, but I don't think I'll have the patience for that.

    Cooking on an XL and Medium in Bethesda, MD.
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    It came off just before 6pm at 196F.  I was going to let the egg heat up to cook off the residue on the grate and was shocked to find it was pretty much running on empty.  I guess I should go back to cleaning out the egg before long cooks.  It's a large egg, and I'd topped it off this morning and thought there was plenty in it.  I shouldn't be able to burn through a full of lump LBGE at 250-300F in 6 hours.

    I'm about to pull it from the cooler (after about an hour) and slice it.
  • milkman5083
    milkman5083 Posts: 100
    edited March 2012

    Mine is still going. I have been at a steady 215F. The brisket is at 169F right now. NJL, let me know how it turns out.

  • gerhardk
    gerhardk Posts: 942
    Milkman try upping the temperature, I did a brisket today and it went from 4:00 a.m. around 230º then at 3 in the afternoon I gave the fire a bit more air, temperature rose to 250º at grill level and the meat rose 9º in less than an hour.  They meat was tender, moist and delicious.  My wife said we should make this for our Easter meal.

    Gerhard
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Warming it up beforehand, and resting afterward, are unnecessary. It helps roasts and steaks. But this is not a roast nor a steak.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    Flavor was pretty much what I expected for BBQ brisket, but except for the slices I cut real thin, it's a little on the tough side.  Slices a little thicker than 1/4" thick can be cut with a fork, but you have to work at it.  Foiling after a couple hours saved a large soup bowl full of juices.  I put the leftovers away in a glass baking dish and poured in the juices.  I suspect if we put that in a 350F oven for an hour or so tomorrow night, it'll be perfect.

    I was a little surprised...after pulling it, I expected the temp to continue to rise a bit and for it to hit 200F+, but it didn't.  I guess next time, I'll let it sit in the egg a little longer (shoot for 200F IT).  I forgot to take any before pics.  I have one during, showing off my improvised rain cap (it drizzled on and off all day while I was cooking), and one after shot of the slices.  It got a nice bit of smoke ring on the non-fat side.
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    Warming it up beforehand, and resting afterward, are unnecessary. It helps roasts and steaks. But this is not a roast nor a steak.
    Letting it come to room temp, I figured was unnecessary, and didn't do it.  But if the cooler thing is unnecessary, why do so many pages about brisket talk about resting it wrapped in towels in a warmed cooler for hours?
  • milkman5083
    milkman5083 Posts: 100
    What's your technique for brisket, Stike?
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited March 2012
    Because everyone says to do it
    And maybe they think it behaves like a roast. I dunno

    I never see talk about briskets being held for hours. Just butts. And that's usually when they are done early.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    After watching some more cooking videos on youtube, I have a theory as to the point of the cooler thing.  My brisket the day I cooked it was kind of tough.  On subsequent nights, when eating the leftovers, I'd put it in the oven, in the fat/juices collected by the foil, at 350F for around 1hr.  Each night, it got more and more tender.  I ate the last of it tonight, an end piece with a big chunk of fat on it, and it was the best piece of this brisket that I'd had.  Nice and tender, and the fat just melted in my mouth.

    So...anyway, back to the theory...making brisket tender isn't about cooking to a certain temperature, but about reaching the right temperature and holding it at that temperature long enough for things to break down and loosen up.

    I'm thinking, for my next one, I'm tempted to cook it fat side down on the indirect grill until about 150F IT.  then wrap it in a double wrapping of HD Al foil, and put it back in the egg until 195-200F IT, then remove it from the foil and put it back on the indirect grill, with the fire more or less starved out, and try to keep the IT at 200F for an hour or so.  Then call it done.  When I put mine in the cooler, it immediately started losing heat, and I think the cooking (or breaking down of the meat) process ended when it was really only just getting started.

    I think I could also go a little heavier on the rub next time, and might throw a few cloves of garlic on it when I foil it.
  • NJL --- exactly, collagen, which is the connective tissue in your beef, turns into gelatin at 160-180 degrees (F). You have to get your brisket to maybe 170 and let it stay there for a while. The bad news is that at about 140 to 150 beef muscle fibers lose their juices.  What you want to do, to balance this chemistry experiment, is to get the beef to 170 but keep it from going higher to prevent excessive drying... Covering, wrapping in aluminum foil, basting, etc, are all designed to keep some juice in.  

    One good thing that we have working for us is that once we create some gelatin - it holds in moisture somewhat... 

    Another trick that is really useful.  Aged meat is tender because enzymes weaken connective tissues over time.  If you warm the brisket up slowly to just below 120 degrees and let it sit there for a while - you will speed up the aging process massively.  If you have ever had a piece of meat that was well cooked and still red throughout the meat, it was heated very gently and very gradually without damaging the red pigment in the meat...  This makes the meat tender and reduces the amount of time you have to spend at 170... as a result you get to keep more of the natural juices.

    There is a book "On Food and Cooking - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" by Harold McGee, that is really useful if you want to become a serious pointed headed Green Egg brisket geek.  
  • milkman5083
    milkman5083 Posts: 100
    I will have to find that book. Unfortunately, the bottom part of the brisket came out a little dry. Some sauce was able to take care of it. I will continue to practice until I am able to get it right.