Brisket Redemption

Last weekend, I tried my first brisket, which was less than successful. See here: http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1204882/first-brisket-stuck-at-193-and-no-buttah#latest.  Consensus from the wise people here was too long on the egg, too low a temperature, and crucially, too crappy a cut of meat. 

Last night, my wife and went to Costco to get a leg of lamb for Easter. I decided to stroll past the beef case, and sure enough, they had prime packers. My wife encouraged me to get back on the horse (but never cook her any horse), so I took the plunge.



 This time, I cooked at 265°ish grate (which was roughly 290° dome) overnight, using hickory and post oak. I trimmed the fat cap a la Franklin, but could've trimmed more; I was gun shy after leathery, dry, jerky brisket last weekend. I cut out the hard fat, but left the gelatinous fat.  Used last-minute slather of Dijon and pickle juice, then good coat of Dalmatian Rub with a little garlic (because my genes compel me to cook everything with garlic), and let sit out for 45 minutes until clear blue smoke. It went on a little before midnight. 


My plan was to let it ride naked all night, no wrap--not out of any sense of authenticity, since I'm a Slav in Chicago who's never even been to Texas, but because I'm lazy. It was mostly buttah and running at around 203° IT throughout the flat at 9:30, or roughly ten hours after I put it on.  



I pulled it, FTC for close to three hours. After resting:




When I sliced it, I noticed an immediate difference from last week. Night and day. Not even close. Flat was tender, oozed juices, and I had a nice smoke ring. My wife, who complimented last week's shoe leather by saying, "It makes great jerky!," was even more impressed with properly cooked brisket. 




All in all, I'm very happy with how this turned up, and I'm glad I gave it another shot. This is better than any brisket I've had except for maybe Smoque in Chicago. (Like I said, I've never been to Texas, so I'll concede that this may be a case of limited experience and hubris.)

Conclusions/Ideas for next time:

• Obvious, but meat quality makes all the difference. I'll only ever do prime unless I'm making a chili brisket. 
• For the Rub, I did 50/50 by volume. Next time, I'll try weight. It needs more Pepper, less salt. I'd also back off the granulated garlic a bit, too. 
• Skip the slather. the bark was soft, didn't really set as well as I'd like. 
• Maybe try trimming a bit more fat. I have large hunks of soft, cooked beef fat. Any ideas on what you can do with those? Can those be used in chili? 

Thanks to all the support and good ideas from the community here. This was definitely a group victory.