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[Marblehead]

Hi All,
 
Let me start by saying I love cooking, grilling, BBQing, etc.. BUT.... I admit I am terrible at it. In all areas, my success rate is maybe 40%!!! So, I smoked a brisket this weekend and followed the recipe instructions completely. My brisket had good taste but was a little on the dry side and not as tender as I had hoped for. I'm thinking that perhaps the size of the brisket(flat), 6 lbs. played a role in the outcome but I'd like to give a quick outline of what I did and see if anyone can point to something I missed or should have done differently.

1) I put a dry rub on the brisket(flat) and refrigerated for about 2 hours.
2) After two hours I took it out and let it rest for about 45 minutes at room temperature.
3) I smoked the brisket fat side up( I did trim the thick harder fat from the brisket) at 225 degrees.
4) I smoked it till it reached an internal temp of 165. This took 6 hours.
5) Took the brisket off, put it on foil fat side down, marinated the meat, wrapped it,
     increased smoker to 250 degrees, put it back on smoker till internal temp of 200 degrees. This took almost 2 hours.
6) Removed from smoker, vented foil for 15 minutes. Wrapped it up and put in cooler for 1 hour.


I'd like to try this again so any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated!! 

Marblehead



 

[Bentley]

And as I try and help, I will ask you some questions to see how your methods work.  What did trimming the fat & cooking it fat side up accomplish for you? 

[Marblehead]

This is where my poor ability as a cook comes in. I have no real idea about the fat trim and cook fat side up other than that's what the
recipe had as part of the instructions. It did say that smoking fat side up would allow some fat to seep into the meat for flavor. It also said that
the thicker hard part of the fat should be trimmed. Sounds like maybe this was not correct?

[Bar-B-Lew]

And as I try and help, I will ask you some questions to see how your methods work.  What did trimming the fat & cooking it fat side up accomplish for you?

Me, too.  What does marinated the meat mean in item #5?

[Marblehead]

LOL, my cooking weakness grows! For #5, perhaps the wrong term. My marinade consisted of dark beer, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire and a variety of spices. This was just poured over the brisket and kept inside the foil for the remaining part of the cook.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also injected a beef broth based concoction into the brisket before the cook started.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Have you checked out this portion of the forum for methods people cooked a brisket?

https://pelletfan.com/index.php?board=31.0

I am purely guessing here, but I think something may be wrong with the thermometer.  I find it challenging to have a dry brisket that had a liquid injection and then putting it in a pan of liquid and covering it.  I also find it challenging to believe that the meat would increase from 165 to 200 in two hours while in the liquid.  I think the thermometer was either touching the liquid or steam and not getting a good read of the meat.  For the life of me, I have no idea how it could have been dry.  Lack of tenderness I can only speculate was because the meat was not at 200 degrees in the center.  Also, the thermometer should slide into the meat very easily when inserted and pulled back out.  That is another tell tale sign the meat is done.

You may want to try using some more simpler methods in the link above before adding slight complexities of bringing liquids into the equation.

[Marblehead]

Thanks for the thoughts. I will check out the link. I too wondered about the thermometer and did a couple of checks afterward and it seemed fine. BUT... you may be right, as careful as I tried to be with thermometer placement, perhaps I was not careful enough. Determined to try another brisket sometime soon. One way or another I will conquer a brisket before I die!!! I HOPE!!!!!

[02ebz06]

IMO the 45 min. RT rest before putting on grill is not necessary.
I put rub on brisket the day before, fridge overnight, then straight from fridge to smoker.
I don't think either way of putting rub on for 24 hours or 2 hours is right or wrong.
I mainly do 24 hr to get the trimming, and putting the rub on so I can get the mess cleaned up ahead of time.

Trimming fat is not bad, but DON'T trim it all.
Leave at least 1/4",

[pmillen]

I have no real idea about the fat trim and cook fat side up other than that's what the recipe had as part of the instructions. It did say that smoking fat side up would allow some fat to seep into the meat for flavor.

You'll see and hear this again and again.  I don't think it's true.

The fat is not going to render and filter down into the meat making it juicier.  It can't flow into the meat cells or between the meat cells because grease molecules are too large to make it in.  Then too, meat is mostly water.  Rendered fat and water won't mix.  Quite a lot of the fat cap won't render away.  That that does will just wash away your rub and spices as it drips off onto the grease tray.

It also said that the thicker hard part of the fat should be trimmed.

Yeah, trim the fat away and let your rub flavor the meat.  If you want to leave some fat, leave about a quarter of an inch.  Most of it will still be there when the brisket is done and it, too, will be flavored with your rub.

After two hours I took it out and let it rest for about 45 minutes at room temperature.

Why?  What's the point?  Smoke flavor adheres better to cool meat.  Go straight from the refrigerator right into the pit.

My opinions are not universally agreed upon.  Sit back and wait for comments from people who hold different views 

[elenis]

I will echo what a lot of folks have mentioned. You want to trim, but leave 1/4 inch of fat because it helps insulate the meat a bit, helps with flavor, and gets quite a wonderful texture when cooking. As PMillen and others mentioned fat side up doesn't really help because of oil and water not mixing. I don't do much of a rub on brisket, mine is just salt and black pepper because I really want to taste beef when I make brisket. I let mine go at least overnight after it has been salted to make sure the salt can do its thing.

As others have mentioned there is no need to let the meat sit at room temperature you can just slap it on the smoker. I typically smoke brisket the whole time at 225 and I am looking more for color then temp when I wrap. I used to just wait until it hit the stall and wrap, but sometimes it would get too dark. So now when it has color I like I wrap it in the pink butcher paper and temp probe it again and check it around 200ish and usually it gets pulled around 203 and it will be a nice floppy brisket. The butcher paper then makes an excellent starter for getting a fire going in the fire pit and the smell helps me understand why God loved the fatty portion in the burnt offerings to him in the Old Testament.

[02ebz06]

The mention of butcher paper brings up a point.
It's common sense when you think about it, but is easy to forget, don't use waxed butcher paper.

[bregent]

>put it back on smoker till internal temp of 200 degrees.

Here's where many folks make a mistake. Cook the brisket until it has reached the desired tenderness. This does not occur at any specific temperature. Use IT has a rough guide for when to start checking for tenderness with a probe.

[Bentley]

I should have read through all the responses before I answer, but it will be interesting to see where my thoughts lie with others...Can't find fault with a person who is following a recipe.  You certainly may not eat the fat at the end, so trimming it would make sense.  But I am hear to tell you it is flavor, and you might as well cook with it on.  You wont eat much of it at the end, but it very well may add flavor and heat protection while the brisket is cooking, so some of that dry issue may be helped.  It will also come off much easier after the cook too!  Fat basting the meat, I have no proof, so take this for what it is...I cant see the rendered fat going into the meat.  And if you cook fat side down, you get a little buffer on the un fatted meat.  But you will learn over time that YOU have a preference one way or the other and you will go with that.

I have no real idea about the fat trim and cook fat side up other than that's what the
recipe had as part of the instructions.

[Bentley]

As you can see, some of these guys trim a lot like your recipe, I do not, has never made sense to me to cut flavor off something before I cook it!

[Bar-B-Lew]

As you can see, some of these guys trim a lot like your recipe, I do not, has never made sense to me to cut flavor off something before I cook it!

I'm in the exact opposite camp.  I trim almost all of the fat off of the brisket exterior.  I like the bark and don't want to deal with the fat after the cook.  I think there is enough fat inside to keep it moist.  I also wrap it when it hits 150°-160° and finish wrapped in butcher paper.

The fun for me over the years has been trying different methods until I found what I like both from a flavor and effort standpoint.  As you mentioned earlier, each person needs to come up with a process and flavor profile that they like.  If you have a good memory or take good notes and have a good pallet (sp?), you should able to hone in on what you like and have it become your standard way of cooking.

For the OP, you need to be comfortable experimenting, listening (reading), trying, and learning.  You will get there one day if you are persistent.  Then you will look back on the journey and wonder why it took you so long to figure it out and it all will seem so simple going forward.  BBQ is no different than the rest of our life lessons, IMO.