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Brisket Instructions

Originally posted by darickc:
I've watched those Franklin clips from youtube before and even had them bookmarked on my computer. Need to do more reading up on it and give it a shot. These threads certainly help
In all honestly, everything you need is on Orangebloods. LHR, Joey, Calihornia and numerous others...I never mention it but Calihornia provided our cooking team with brine many moons ago before he made it big (I like to think that way anyway) and it was simply him interacting with someone that shared a similar passion. Just like jewelry, TVs, mattresses, legal help, etc., it's all here.
 
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Originally posted by sendero95:

Originally posted by darickc:
I've watched those Franklin clips from youtube before and even had them bookmarked on my computer. Need to do more reading up on it and give it a shot. These threads certainly help
In all honestly, everything you need is on Orangebloods. LHR, Joey, Calihornia and numerous others...I never mention it but Calihornia provided our cooking team with brine many moons ago before he made it big (I like to think that way anyway) and it was simply him interacting with someone that shared a similar passion. Just like jewelry, TVs, mattresses, legal help, etc., it's all here.
This. I use sweet water brines exclusively and buy my briskest from heartbrand in Yoakum. They are never exactly the same and you learn with each one, but they are all amazing. And everyone LOVES my Kobe-style briskets. And I learned everything in threes like these.
 
Joey... You said you use butcher paper rather than foil for the Texas Crutch right? Or do you just let it push through the Stall on its own?
 
Originally posted by m.blum1107:
Joey... You said you use butcher paper rather than foil for the Texas Crutch right? Or do you just let it push through the Stall on its own?
The butcher paper does not create the same effect as foil. The brisket doesn't steam inside the butcher paper, therefore, not a "crutch" per se. Take a look at the Franklin videos. He explains it in there.
And yes, it goes through the stall on its own.
 
Ok, so I am smoking my first brisket tomorrow and here is my plan. Feel free to offer suggestions...

73854752.jpg


1. Using my Bradley Smoker/Convection oven pictured above, I am going to heat it to 225 degrees and then start the smoking with hickory bisquettes.
2. Putting the brisket in uncovered and cold with Cooper's rub on it (basically Salt and Pepper)
3. Letting it smoke for 3 hours or so until internal temp hits 155 degrees.
4. Wrapping it in foil, turning off the smoke and letting it cook for another 3-5 hours until internal temp hits 185 degrees.
5. Doing the "fork test" to ensure its ready. (I assume the fork test is put a fork in it and spin it. if it spins all the way around with little resistance, it is done)
6. Pulling the foil wrapped brisket out of the oven, wrapping it in a towel, and letting it rest in a cooler with the lid closed for 2 hours.

Sound like a plan? Shoot holes in it if you want. I am novice.
 
Sorry for all the questions but do y'all feel that you can similar results from a gas grill or gas smoker using wood chips? I would think it wouldn't make much of a difference being that you can control the temperature much better and as long as you keep the smoke going everything should be fine right?
 
Originally posted by Gr8fuldave
Ok, so I am smoking my first brisket tomorrow and here is my plan. Feel free to offer suggestions...

73854752.jpg


1. Using my Bradley Smoker/Convection oven pictured above, I am going to heat it to 225 degrees and then start the smoking with hickory bisquettes.
2. Putting the brisket in uncovered and cold with Cooper's rub on it (basically Salt and Pepper)
3. Letting it smoke for 3 hours or so until internal temp hits 155 degrees.
4. Wrapping it in foil, turning off the smoke and letting it cook for another 3-5 hours until internal temp hits 185 degrees.
5. Doing the "fork test" to ensure its ready. (I assume the fork test is put a fork in it and spin it. if it spins all the way around with little resistance, it is done)
6. Pulling the foil wrapped brisket out of the oven, wrapping it in a towel, and letting it rest in a cooler with the lid closed for 2 hours.

Sound like a plan? Shoot holes in it if you want. I am novice.

fork test is just sticking a fork between the flat and point - if it goes in like butter, its ready.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]
 
Originally posted by LonghornCPA82
What is the purpose of the towel? If you wrap in foil and/or paper and put it in a dry cooler, why the towel!
You really only need the towel if you are trying to retain heat longer.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]
 
I've done around 15-20 now. Some have been bad. Most have been good. I've experimented with most methods I've read here. Have a brined brisket on the pit now with a couple of pork shoulders for work tomorrow. Just wanted to say thanks again to everybody that contributes in these threads. I never get tired of reading them and feel like I learn something new in every one.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]
 
Originally posted by rendavis25:
I've done around 15-20 now. Some have been bad. Most have been good. I've experimented with most methods I've read here. Have a brined brisket on the pit now with a couple of pork shoulders for work tomorrow. Just wanted to say thanks again to everybody that contributes in these threads. I never get tired of reading them and feel like I learn something new in every one.

Posted from wireless.rivals.com
Agreed. A lot of my learning has come from recipes and tips from many people on this board...
 
Originally posted by rendavis25:
I've done around 15-20 now. Some have been bad. Most have been good. I've experimented with most methods I've read here. Have a brined brisket on the pit now with a couple of pork shoulders for work tomorrow. Just wanted to say thanks again to everybody that contributes in these threads. I never get tired of reading them and feel like I learn something new in every one.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com
I think that there's an inherent fear for newbies of ruining a cut of meat. Guess what? It's gonna happen. Anyone that's smoked on a pit has had their day of smoked lava rock briskets, tough as leather, dry, ribs that were too crusty, etc.

It's a learning process, and your pit may perform differently than mine. Meat is always a variable, as is external temperature, condition of the wood you're using, amount of attention you're paying to the smoke process, steady heat, no looking, etc.

You're gonna screw something up. In those cases, trim off the bad parts, and chop up what you can salvage and BBQ sammys. Then hop back out to your pit and try again.


Here's an interesting article I came across that I thought some of you'd like to read:


The History of Smoked Brisket It's definitely not what you'd expect.
by Daniel Vaughn · January 24, 2014
What you know about the history of smoked brisket in Texas is
probably wrong. People have been eating brisket since the first pits
were dug in the earth, but only by a sort of default: it was standard
practice to cook whole animals for the big community celebrations, which
means people ate that cut of meat as part of a smoked-meat meal where
all the various cuts were served. These days, smoked brisket on its own
is widely considered the king of the Texas barbecue menu, but it hasn't
always been that way, and contrary to some bold claims by certain
barbecue joints, it didn't start with Central Texas meat markets.

Black's BBQ in Lockhart credits themselves with being the first to
use briskets exclusively on their barbecue menu. That was in the late
fifties. By the sixties the beef purveyor IBP was shipping individual
beef cuts in boxes, and the tradition of working with half carcasses saw
a swift decline. It wasn't until then that most of the barbecue joints
around the state started adopting this inexpensive cut of meat. Joe
Capello of City Market in Luling remembers when they would separate the
forequarter away from the carcasses. The rib section and the sirloin
would make it into the raw meat cases while the entirety of the front of
the animal-the cross-cut chuck-would be separated and smoked. Back in
those days you didn't ask for brisket or clod at these Central Texas
meat markets. As Capello explains, "Customers would just come in and ask
for beef. If they wanted it fatty we'd give them the brisket. If they
wanted lean then we'd do the shoulder clod." The menu at Smitty's Market
in Lockhart is reminder of those options. "Lean" means shoulder clod
and "Fat" means brisket.


Smitty's Market menu

Allen Prine up in Wichita Falls remembers it the same way. His
grandfather Harold Prine Sr. opened Prine's Market in 1925. They sold
hams and beef, but not specifically brisket. They would just get the
whole forequarter and butcher it themselves. "We'd cut these big these
big 110-pound pieces into about eleven different shaped pieces. We
cooked them all exactly like we do the briskets now." He doesn't
remember serving brisket on its own until about thirty years ago when
they started ordering cryovaced ones. "It's always been that way since."

Two things came together to create the brisket we know today.
The Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS) for beef were first
published in 1958, and boxed beef came onto the market in 1965.
IMPS was a guide used in contracts for large meat purchases to ensure
the buyer (read: at first, primarily the military) could get a predictable product
when they ordered a thousand chuck rolls.
These same specs are followed by meat packing plants for retail
cuts, and customers as small as mom-and-pop barbecue joints order their
meat based on IMPS. Whether they know it or not, that whole boneless
brisket is really IMPS item #120. I wanted to know how much differently
cattle were butchered before IMPS. Did briskets in the twenties look
like they do today? I needed an expert.


Steve Olson separating the brisket from the forequarter in a NAMP video

Steve Olson is a cattle rancher in upstate New York, but he worked
for USDA for decades. When he started his government job they needed
someone to overhaul IMPS in 1983, and as he puts it "I was a lousy
writer" and the specs didn't require any flowery language. He took to
the task. Today you can find him and his Jersey accent starring in the
meat cutting videos provided by NAMP.
I asked him to surmise how Texas meat markets might have cut a brisket
from the forequarter. He said the location of the cross cut used today
that creates the top edge of the brisket is probably where they cut it
back then too. The end of the sternum where the brisket cut begins is
what he called a "landmark" for meat cutters back before IMPS. But it
would probably have been smoked with the bones still attached. It wasn't
until the mid-seventies when boneless briskets became standard. Steve
traveled with some cryovac reps then as "they were trying to get the
industry to make everything boneless so the cryovac wouldn't leak." Now
you can't find a bone-in brisket.



I'm not sure what the briskets looked like back in the early
twentieth century, but the earliest mention I can find of smoked brisket
isn't from the fifties, and it wasn't at a barbecue joint. Rather it is
from newspaper advertisements from two grocery stores in 1910. Naud
Burnett in Greenville and Watson's Grocery in El Paso were both serving
smoked brisket from their deli counter along with other traditionally
Jewish food items like smoked white fish and Kosher sausage. I'm not
certain of the religion of these grocers, but their menu is geared
toward a Jewish clientele.



A few years later in 1916 the Weil Brothers in Corpus Christi
advertised their smoked brisket. The store was owned by Alex and Moise
Weil. Their father Charles Weil was a Jew who emigrated to Texas from
Alsace, France, in 1867. Pastrami (cured and smoked brisket) is a common
item on Jewish menus, but in their store they sold pastrami (pastromie
in the ad) along with smoked brisket. It probably wasn't served hot on
butcher paper like the Central Texas meat markets, but those meat
markets wouldn't be listing brisket on their menu for another forty
years. [/I]

[/I]

If you know the requirements of Kosher food, it makes sense that
Jewish immigrants would be the first ones to smoke specifically brisket
in the States. The hind quarter of beef isn't Kosher unless the sciatic
nerve is removed, and that is rarely done by butchers. That leaves the
forequarter including the brisket, which is revered as the cut
of meat to enjoy for Passover. Evidently, it was also popular enough for
the smoked version to make it into Jewish grocery stores in Texas long
before it became the darling of our barbecue joints.



This post was edited on 7/2 2:03 PM by joeywa
 
Great thread! I am planning on making my first brisket for the 4th as well. I will be doing this on my Traeger. I plan to smoke at 225 until an internal temperature around 155 and then smoke the remainder of the time 275 until and internal temperature in the point is 195. I then plan to wrap in foil and a towel and place in a dry cooler until it's time to serve.

A few questions. I purchased a 10 pound USDA Prime brisket from Costco. How much should I trim before adding the rub? Does anyone use anything to bind the rub better to the meat such as mustard, etc...Cook fat cap up or down? Does it matter where the point and flat are oriented on a pellet smoker? Is there any need to use foil or butcher paper?

Thanks in advance!
 
If you really want to get a deep smoke and huge smoke ring then take brisket out of fridge, rub it with Morton's tender quick, let it sit 15 mins, wash it off, rub it with salt and pepper and get it into the pit. It will open the pores of the meat and it will take in a ton of smoke.
 
Originally posted by hornfanaustin:
Great thread! I am planning on making my first brisket for the 4th as well. I will be doing this on my Traeger. I plan to smoke at 225 until an internal temperature around 155 and then smoke the remainder of the time 275 until and internal temperature in the point is 195. I then plan to wrap in foil and a towel and place in a dry cooler until it's time to serve.

A few questions. I purchased a 10 pound USDA Prime brisket from Costco. How much should I trim before adding the rub? Does anyone use anything to bind the rub better to the meat such as mustard, etc...Cook fat cap up or down? Does it matter where the point and flat are oriented on a pellet smoker? Is there any need to use foil or butcher paper?

Thanks in advance!
Sorry for the delay HFA.

Trimming the brisket:
Couple of schools of thought on this.
Some don't trim at all, and that's fine; although if there's a large fat cap, not trimming will result in a longer smoke time for the fat to render. Others will do all or a combination of the following: trim the fat cap to about 1/4-1/2" thick, trim the fat off the top of the point and trim the wedge of fat on the bottom side of the brisket, as shown here:
2.jpg


Binding the rub: I have used French's yellow mustard in the past. It doesn't affect the flavor of your brisket, but it will help hold the rub in place. I've also done briskets without anything but the rub. I've noticed no big difference between the two methods; merely a personal preference.


Smoke fat cap up or down: Again, two schools of thought here. I'm a fat-cap up guy. A former poster here, and pretty good 'cue guy, mrambo, is a fat-cap down guy. Here's my thought: fat-cap up allows the fat to render out through the meat, helping keep the meat moist. Aaron Franklin is a fat-cap up guy, and he knows a helluva lot more about BBQ than I do, so I defer to his method!

Orientation on a smoker: On a traditional stick-burner offset smoker, I will place my brisket with the point closest to the firebox. On a Traeger, I don't think it matters, since the heat source generating the smoke is somewhat towards the middle of the smoke chamber. See layout of Traeger below:
bnr-how.jpg


Foil or Butcher Paper: Once again, two schools of thought. Wrapping in foil is sometimes called the Texas Crutch. It actually steams the brisket inside the foil. The brisket will be extremely moist, almost falling apart. I have used foil in the past when necessary. Mostly I use butcher paper and wrap the brisket around 5-6 hours in, depending upon the size of the brisket. The butcher paper doesn't steam the meat, and, IMO allows the bark to remain more crisp and not soften with the steam. There is nothing wrong with using foil if that's what you prefer to do.

See the pic from Franklin's YouTube video below on when to wrap. When it looks like this, wrap it up in butcher paper.

Brisketwrap_zpsaf7fee8a.jpg
.
Hope this helps; and good luck with that brisket!
 
Have tried the "Franklin way"...honestly I thought it comes out better if you use calihornia's brine, and a good rub. Also, I've never had one make it an hour and a half per pound before the temp says it's ready cooking at 225. I do put in a cooler afterwards and wrap in foil and a towel - and has always been great.
 
Originally posted by Nac-horn:
Have tried the "Franklin way"...honestly I thought it comes out better if you use calihornia's brine, and a good rub. Also, I've never had one make it an hour and a half per pound before the temp says it's ready cooking at 225. I do put in a cooler afterwards and wrap in foil and a towel - and has always been great.
Cali's brines are awesome. Idiot-proof. No worries about too much or too little rub, and they are great at keeping the cuts moist. They also have some really great flavors available. I really like the Tres Chiles. That's my favorite.
 
Wish we could get this thread added to the classics like the thread with the High Heat method.

Thanks for all the input guys. Great thread!
 
Originally posted by joeywa:
Originally posted by hornfanaustin:
Great thread! I am planning on making my first brisket for the 4th as well. I will be doing this on my Traeger. I plan to smoke at 225 until an internal temperature around 155 and then smoke the remainder of the time 275 until and internal temperature in the point is 195. I then plan to wrap in foil and a towel and place in a dry cooler until it's time to serve.

A few questions. I purchased a 10 pound USDA Prime brisket from Costco. How much should I trim before adding the rub? Does anyone use anything to bind the rub better to the meat such as mustard, etc...Cook fat cap up or down? Does it matter where the point and flat are oriented on a pellet smoker? Is there any need to use foil or butcher paper?

Thanks in advance!
Sorry for the delay HFA.

Trimming the brisket:
Couple of schools of thought on this.
Some don't trim at all, and that's fine; although if there's a large fat cap, not trimming will result in a longer smoke time for the fat to render. Others will do all or a combination of the following: trim the fat cap to about 1/4-1/2" thick, trim the fat off the top of the point and trim the wedge of fat on the bottom side of the brisket, as shown here:
ec


Binding the rub: I have used French's yellow mustard in the past. It doesn't affect the flavor of your brisket, but it will help hold the rub in place. I've also done briskets without anything but the rub. I've noticed no big difference between the two methods; merely a personal preference.


Smoke fat cap up or down: Again, two schools of thought here. I'm a fat-cap up guy. A former poster here, and pretty good 'cue guy, mrambo, is a fat-cap down guy. Here's my thought: fat-cap up allows the fat to render out through the meat, helping keep the meat moist. Aaron Franklin is a fat-cap up guy, and he knows a helluva lot more about BBQ than I do, so I defer to his method!

Orientation on a smoker: On a traditional stick-burner offset smoker, I will place my brisket with the point closest to the firebox. On a Traeger, I don't think it matters, since the heat source generating the smoke is somewhat towards the middle of the smoke chamber. See layout of Traeger below:
ec


Foil or Butcher Paper: Once again, two schools of thought. Wrapping in foil is sometimes called the Texas Crutch. It actually steams the brisket inside the foil. The brisket will be extremely moist, almost falling apart. I have used foil in the past when necessary. Mostly I use butcher paper and wrap the brisket around 5-6 hours in, depending upon the size of the brisket. The butcher paper doesn't steam the meat, and, IMO allows the bark to remain more crisp and not soften with the steam. There is nothing wrong with using foil if that's what you prefer to do.

See the pic from Franklin's YouTube video below on when to wrap. When it looks like this, wrap it up in butcher paper.

ec
.
Hope this helps; and good luck with that brisket!
Thanks joeywa! I have taken info from a lot of different sources, including several OB's like yourself and LHR. I did a little trimming to area I thought I could trim to 1/4" without trimming too much. I went with the traditional Texas method for the rub and used coarse pepper and coarse Kosher salt. I set me Traeger to the smoke setting and put it on fat cap up for an overnight smoke. Once the internal temp get to about 155 I plan to crank the smoker up to 275 and continue smoking until the thermometer in the point reaches 195. I will then pull it off and wrap in foil and towels and place in a cooler for several hours to rest while I get my ribs going.

My last question is what is the best way to slice the brisket? I know that you have to slice against the grain, and that the grain runs opposite directions on the flat and point. Is there a best method to separate the flat from the point? I want my guest to be able to try both the lean and moist brisket.

Thanks again to the OB's for the tips!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July! Cheers!
 
HFA,
The easiest way to learn to slice the brisket can be seen in one of the Franklin videos. Give the brisket series a quick watch on YouTube and he shows slicing techniques. Easier to just point you to that video than to write a lengthy explanation.
Good job, and let us know how it turns out!
 
Well, my first attempt appears to have failed. I started a 13 pounder last night at midnight expecting between at 13 and 17 hour cook. I maintained a 225-240 temp all night, and at 9:30 this morning I reached a 200 degree internal temp. Meat was supposed to be ready between 2:00 and 5:00. So much for 1 to 1.5 hours per pound. Anyone else have this problem? I know you cook the meat until done, but there has to be some kind of window for planning purposes.
 
Originally posted by longhornnorm:
Well, my first attempt appears to have failed. I started a 13 pounder last night at midnight expecting between at 13 and 17 hour cook. I maintained a 225-240 temp all night, and at 9:30 this morning I reached a 200 degree internal temp. Meat was supposed to be ready between 2:00 and 5:00. So much for 1 to 1.5 hours per pound. Anyone else have this problem? I know you cook the meat until done, but there has to be some kind of window for planning purposes.
Not saying it's impossible, but it doesn't sound right. You sure your thermometers are accurate; both your temp probe for the meat AND the one on your firebox?

Also, did you do the fork test?

If it's ready, no biggie, wrap it, rest it and slice it here in a couple of hours. It's going to still be good. You can always warm it up in a half pan just prior to serving if you want, but shouldn't have to. Unless you refrigerate it right out of the pit it will stay warm in the cooler.
 
My first brisket turned out really good! I put it on last night around 11:00 pm and let it smoke at 180-190 overnight. when I woke up this morning once the internal temp had reached 155 I turned the smoker up to 275 and smoked until the internal temp in the point was 195. The brisket had a really nice bark on it and both the point and flat had some good moistness. I finished the brisket around 11:00 am and wrapped it in foil and towels and placed in a cooler. I then put two slabs of St Louis spare ribs on the smoker and smoked them using a 2-2-1 method. The ribs finished up and I pulled the brisket and sliced it up and we all enjoyed it.

I will post a picture tomorrow along with some things I learned. Hope everyone had a great 4th!!! Thanks for all of the tips!
 
I like oak or mesquite lump as my main fire but I sometimes add pecan or a fruit wood(usually apple or cherry) for a subtle change. I only use salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic for my rub.

If I don't use any fruit wood I almost always brine with Calihornia's stuff. I like the apple chipotle. I've probably ruined more briskets than I've made perfect but when you get it right oh man it's great. Even when you ruin it, there is still usually some good stuff left for sandwiches.

I just put an 10 lb. prime on with oak and a bit of cherry at 9pm tonight and it should be good for lunch tomorrow if not sooner. Or later. Whatever. Sooner means brisket and eggs, later means dinner. It's always different and it's an excuse to drink beer and piddle around all night.
 
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