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Recipes => Beef => Topic started by: Aandrade0921 on November 14, 2016, 07:46:11 AM
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Morning everyone. Did my first brisket in the #1 yesterday. Bought an 8lb flat from the amish market. Nice fat cab and some fat throughout. Rubbed the flat with salt and pepper. Used a small piece of hickory and a small piece of cherry. Placed two small water pans beside the firebox, half filled with water in each. Placed the brisket in the smoker with an internal temp of 48 degrees. Set to 225 and let it go. Did not open once until the internal temp was 180 to check doness. Parts of the brisket was soft but the majority not done yet. At 13 hours in, brisket was at 201, tender throughout. Wrapped the brisket to let it rest for an hour. Unwrapped and I noticed that the fat cap was thicker that normal. I sliced the brisket and noticed it was really soft and some areas was really squishy. The brisket tend to not have any flavor as well. I guess I have to trim the fat cap next time and maybe inject? Or brine? I have a WSM and a BGE XL but I really want to nail this brisket with my SI1. Thanks for reading.
Cheers
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Taking off at 180 is too low. You should normally be looking for 190-195 and then rest for at least an hour (2-4 is even better).
I haven't injected yet although many people do. But, I always brine. I would recommend this next time. There are some great brine recipe posts in the beef section.
Did you weigh your wood? I normally use 6-8 ounces of wood for a brisket. It seems like you may not have used enough wood either. Chicken and Fish do not need much wood, but Brisket can take the extra smoke that 6-8 ounces provides.
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Taking off at 180 is too low. You should normally be looking for 190-195 and then rest for at least an hour (2-4 is even better).
I haven't injected yet although many people do. But, I always brine. I would recommend this next time. There are some great brine recipe posts in the beef section.
Did you weigh your wood? I normally use 6-8 ounces of wood for a brisket. It seems like you may not have used enough wood either. Chicken and Fish do not need much wood, but Brisket can take the extra smoke that 6-8 ounces provides.
Thanks for the info. I modified my original post to show that the brisket was at 201 degrees before I wrapped it. My apologies.
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Flats are tough to get right. Was it moist?
As for flavor, it sounds to me like you didn't have enough smoke. If you don't have a digital kitchen scale, get one. You should have had 6-8 oz. of wood, for a brisket. Also, when you trim, leave about 1/4" of fat cap, and score it in about 1" squares, down to the meat. This will help rub/brine/smoke penetrate.
Flats are the leanest part of a brisket, and tend to dry-out. I always smoke full packer-cuts (point and flat) because of this. The point muscle is more fatty, and helps keep the flat moist. But, if you do a flat, a good technique is to brine it. Trim the fat, and give it a dip in the pool for about 12 hours. I use my butt brine for briskets:
Brine for pulled pork or briskets (http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1608.0)
You can also inject, but brining alone should do the trick. Also, smoke fat-cap-down; this insulates the meat from the heat below. I go no higher than 225 for brisket, but have also gone as low as 210. Low and slow is the key!
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Sounds like your brisket was moist and tender? Squishy is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to a brisket flat. Most people seem to have more trouble with their flats coming out dry. A lot of the time people don't cook them to a high enough temperature, but sounds like 201 worked well. I usually go to about 195 in the flat, but I've had excellent results going to 200-205 too. I rarely trim the fat cap on flats. I don't find that the fat is usually that thick, and I would prefer that my guests decide whether they want to eat it or not on a slice by slice basis. If it's thicker than 3/8 inch, then you should trim it. Be careful not to overtrim though, because flats really need that fat cap. I also score the fat cap.
As far as flavor, you maybe just needed more salt. It's a big piece of meat, and you can put a good amount on it. Brining will help a lot with getting some salt into the meat. Or you can try a rub. Traditional Texas brisket is just salt and pepper, but I make my own rub for brisket with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, brown sugar. I can post the amounts if you are interested. I'm pretty fond of my brisket rub. Leave the salt out of the rub (or reduce the amount) if you are brining.
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Thanks all for the advice and tips. Sconnieq, a homemade rub sounds great. I appreciate it. I think I got a brisket with a lot of fat on the cap and also I. The center. Definitely not dry. Some parts were soft and holding well and other parts just seemed like mush or squishy, not bad tasting just the consistency. Gonna try again and take your advice.
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Thanks all for the advice and tips. Sconnieq, a homemade rub sounds great. I appreciate it. I think I got a brisket with a lot of fat on the cap and also I. The center. Definitely not dry. Some parts were soft and holding well and other parts just seemed like mush or squishy, not bad tasting just the consistency. Gonna try again and take your advice.
I'm starting to wonder if it was actually a point...
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Thanks all for the advice and tips. Sconnieq, a homemade rub sounds great. I appreciate it. I think I got a brisket with a lot of fat on the cap and also I. The center. Definitely not dry. Some parts were soft and holding well and other parts just seemed like mush or squishy, not bad tasting just the consistency. Gonna try again and take your advice.
I'm starting to wonder if it was actually a point...
Sounds like it. Not much fat in the middle of a flat!
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Next time smoke a full packer and always feel how limber it is in the package. I always smoke them at 225 and will wrap anywhere from 165-190 and then cook it up to 200-205 and it's beyond tender and juicy. I always put apple juice in the foil once I wrap it in the smoker, I also use two apple juice trays in the bottom of the smoker.