In Texas, brisket is the well known king of the pit. When I saw
Marty's question on a previous thread and was typing a response, I
thought it would be great to hear how it is cooked somewhere else
besides here.

It is easy to cook a brisket, and cheap around here. I cook them
anywhere from 250F to 350F, rubbed or not rubbed, separated or not
separated, sliced, chopped or pulled.

The last "flat only" I cooked, I laid jalapeno cured bacon strips
across the top (fat side down) to add flavor and fat and it was
excellent.

So how about it?

I'll start out with Marty's question, and would love to hear some
follow ups.


On Mar 8, 2:14 pm, "Nunya Bidnits" <nunyabidn...@eternal-
september.invalid> wrote:

> I'm curious as to what others are using, and how you are prepping the
> brisket.

On an ideal weekend cook, I like to cover the brisket with a spicy
rub, wrap it on plastic and let it sit overnight. But honestly, I
unless I use a really peppery or cayenne spiced rub, I can't really
tell much difference in the taste. I have found that a little dab of
sugar makes the rub stay on better, and makes a better bark.

As a matter of fact, before I spent so much time goofing with rubs I
never put anything but S&P on the meat. I put a fair amount of salt
on the meat, then crusted it with coarse ground black pepper. The
briskets were very tasty, and you could really taste the wood smoke
when you didn't have any competing flavors from rub.

> Assuming most of us are buying packer cut, whole brisket, are you going for
> the larger briskets or the smaller ones? How do you adjust for larger sizes,
> esp. thickness, relative to temperature and time?

I like the smaller ones, about 13 - 15 pounds. They seem to be more
uniform in size and shape around there, and they cook in a reasonable
amount of time. Also, then they are on sale, that's about the size
they usually have. If I can find them for .89 cents a pound or so, I
will usually buy 3 - 4. Right now they are $1.49, which is the
seasonal price. In the summer, the sales are usually under a buck.

> Are you separating your point and flat before cooking, and how agressively
> do you trim the fat cap?

I only separate if I am going to cook them separately. If I get a few
briskets, then I like to cut off the flat, and vacuum that. I take
the point, cover it with 1" of really spicy rub (OK, maybe not an
inch!), and cook it on the smoker at about 300+ degrees until I can
pull it for sandwiches, or just for pulled beef. I leave about 1/4"
of fat around it, and since there is so much fat inside, it still
comes out juicy and wonderful.

I only do that on a brisket that has about 1/4" of fat on the flat,
though. I have found that less than that, and you have dried out meat
on a long slow cook. If I have the flat separated, I never cook it as
fast as I will with the point attached.

At one time, I never trimmed, but then I read a quote from Paul Kirk's
book, and his comment on trimming a brisket was "why would I invest
the time to cook fat?" Good point. Sometimes when I find a larger
brisket (say 16lbs. or a touch more) I can cut off a couple of pounds
of fat.

I had a 14 1/2 pounder last fall that was really fatty. When I
trimmed, I put all the fat in a paper plate. Since it was on the
plate and ready to go, I put it on my scales first. Almost three
pounds of fat, and there was plenty left on the meat.

> I'm usually separating the point, and trimming the fat cap down to about
> 3/8" or so. I've tried for smaller, briskets but thick for their size, where
> the flat still has respectable thickness at the thin end.

Unless there is a large row of fat on the flat, I don't trim it the
flat. In fact, when I cook it (fat side up) if it looks a little thin
or I see a knife knick, I put a piece of bacon on the thin spot.

On the point, I try to get it about the same, 3/8" all around. But to
speed the cooking along and to make it a bit spicier, When the fat
line that goes through the point is 3/4"or so, I cut out about 1/2" of
it right through that fat vein. It goes in pretty deep (3" ?), but I
slice it out leaving 1/8" or so on the walls of the vein. Then I put
a good amount of rub in the incision. Spices that point all the way
through.

I only buy the packer cuts. Although I haven't seen them at the
stores I frequent, at one time we had graded briskets. I tried to
upscale, but didn't find any difference in flavor or texture. And
worse, they were .75 to a buck more a pound more than regular packer
cuts!

There is so much fat on a good brisket, it seems like it just cooks
the way it wants no matter what grade you use, and it is done when it
is done.

I buy the briskets with as much of a box shape as I can. I don't like
a giant point, nor a wimpy, skinny little flat. I like the flats to
finish out around 2" (ideally) and the points to not be any taller
than about 6 - 7". Exceptions are made of course. Also, and ideal
brisket (hard to find) has a point that is no more than 1/3 the length
of the whole piece of meat.

So in my perfect world, my brisket is about 20" long, has a 7" tall
point that tapers to a 2" box cut end. It has about 3/8" of fat all
along the flat, and the point doesn't go past about 8" before it
transitions to the flat.

I actually find that about every fourth brisket I cook.

Robert