Looky what arrived yesterday...

[DaveD]

Another cut planned for my Staycation Food-a-palooza coming up week after next. (Fear not, I will put up a dedicated "DaveD's Staycation" thread soon!) Drum roll please...



This will be my first brisket, something I've been avoiding for several reasons. 1) That's a heck of a lot of meat, and until I recently got a vac sealer, didn't want to risk having way too much left over that we couldn't store properly. B) I have been loving the results from the chuck roasts I've made (with one exception when they came out uber-dry for some reason), as well as chuck and dino ribs: scratching the brisket flavor itch in many ways. Ω) Simple fear of screwing up a large and costly piece of meat.

Game plan for this will be to keep it as simple as possible, likely just dry brine overnight then ground pepper and garlic powder as the rub prior to smoking. Might need to do it overnight, but there's ample time to plan that out... wish me luck

[captainlee]

Enjoy the cook, post pics.

[tbob4]

May the force be with you

[WayneT]

Can't wait to see pix, Omega man.

[hoovarmin]

She's a beauty

[rlozinak]

Enjoy! Make sure you show us pics, or else it did not happen!

[bbqLuv]

Good to plan your cook and cook your plan. There are a lot of really good YouTube videos I watch a couple before the cooks. Below is an outline for brisket I use. I add notes and track time as the cook goes along.

1-trim and prep
2-smoke at 225*F to internal 165-170*F
3-wrap Foil/paper
4-cook at 250/275 to internal 205*F and or probe tender
5-rest

Happy first brisket to you and PBR too.

[DaveD]

Thanks for the support folks! I think I've qualified as one who provides ample photo documentation in my cooks...! I've checked out lots of YT vids, read tons of threads here... lots of info resources to draw on. Hope it works out!

[grantgallagher]

Brisket is my arch nemesis. Next time ill just smoke 90 bucks.

[Alan Brice]

Dry brine overnight. SPGO on top before smoke. Low n slow pull 190 plus yummm
Easy peasy. Don’t be scairt!

[grantgallagher]

Ive done it a bunch of times. Its not bad at all, dont get me wrong, it just never recreates that really good authentic bbq restaurant brisket and it frustrates the hell out of me, lol.

[DaveD]

Pretty sure Alan Brice meant do all that to your MONEY. My only add there is it's probably a good idea to wrap those bills before they stall...

[RonB]

You have been hanging around here long enough to have absorbed all the knowledge you need. Ya got this.

[DaveD]

I'm really not very concerned Thanks for the vote of confidence!

[jfmorris]

Good luck! I think if you have time, while I've done plenty of brisket at 250 and 275 to speed the cook up, running it at 225 all the way, wrapping AFTER the stall (170 or so), leads to the best results. I.e. more bark than if you wrap sooner, and the wrap (I use foil) helps keep the flat from drying out so much. With your pellet smoker, that ought to be a piece of cake.

One piece of advice - don't pre slice more than you will eat while the brisket is still hot. It leads to loss of moisture. If you want to slice it up for vacuum sealing in individual meal portions, do it after its cooled overnight in the fridge.

A second piece of advice - once its cooked, separate the point (very easy once its cooked), cube it up, and use that for burnt ends for a second meal. I always serve the sliced flat for lunch, then brisket burnt ends for dinner. Or in one case, I vacuum sealed a whole cubed up point, and made the burnt ends months down the road. That was a pleasant surprise - several pounds of cubed up point, and I had a quick and ready meal of burnt ends after about 2 hours on the smoker.

[DaveD]

Have to say, the point is my favorite part of the brisket... I wanna eat that on the day When I lived in the Houston area, my buddies and I would hit the local Rudy's every Friday. Not the best but they're pretty damn good and extremely consistent. They sold brisket as "moist" or "lean" depending on whether it came from point or flat, and hands down, I was moist all the way. Burnt ends next time, I reckon... Thanks for the excellent input!

[DaveD]

Coming back to say, excellent advice about slicing hot vs. cold. I'll lop off what I figure we'll eat and leave the rest in the fridge. Thanks again

[Sdell]

Good luck!

[Michael_in_TX]

You'll be fine. I did my first brisket over Memorial Day weekend and it turned out fantastic. You've already set yourself up for success: good, quality meat.

Your pellet smoker will help keep those low temps for a long time that the brisket needs with a minimum of effort. Just let time and heat do its thing. Wrap when you're in the stall and the bark looks right.

Have you decided how long and how you will rest it yet?

[DaveD]

Thanks Michael, and no, those details still tbd. If I go for 225F/107C, that would likely work best as an overnight cook, which would mean perhaps a longer rest. If I instead get up at oh-dark-thirty to start, it'll likely rest for a shorter time cuz we gotta eat.

[DaveD]

Been thinking about this for a bit now, and in light of advice that 225F/107C is very desirable if one can manage it for brisket, I think I will in fact do the overnight thing. Very confident the Pit Boss will hold temp with ease (unless the power goes out of course). If it finishes up around midday or early afternoon, that'll be great for dinner...

[Michael_in_TX]

That is basically what I did. I put the brisket on at 200 F around 10 pm. By the time eight am rolled around, it was sitting right in the stall and I wrapped it then and let it keep going.

[Mosca]

Have fun! And, remember to keep it simple. It’s a big hunk of meat: cook it. That’s all there is.

[Smoked Transistors]

Great Brisket tips from Chud's BBQ

[DaveD]

Yup, I've watched that one! BTW your screen name is EPIC.