Brisket, trying some new techniques

[das85]

Smoking a packer for the first time in over a year...trying a few new things and will see how they turn out.

First, I went to YouTube to refresh myself on brisket trimming...and seems now the cool kids are using the long slicers to trim instead of boning/filet knives. And with even more emphasis on shape to make it aerodynamic and avoid pooling.

So I figured why not give it a try, I always hated trimming brisket... And I am never going back. I found the slicer MUCH easier to use than the curved flexible knife that I use for trimming everything else. My mind is blown. Instead of dreading the next time I have to trim a brisket, I am almost looking forward to it.

I felt so good after trimming that I decided to render the trimmed fat...and I am not beyond making a chef's treat out of the residual bits from rendering (see photo).

After trimming the way the videos said, though, the seam of hard fat in the meat side was just staring at me...so I end up removing a bunch of that without fully separating point from flat. I have a feeling I may regret that. I may also make burnt ends from the point, haven't decided yet.

Tuffy's video said his sweet spot is seasoning 8 hours before going on cooker...I ended up with 9 as I got delayed starting up the cook.

And I'm going fat side up because it seemed like the trimming approach was designed to make a good shape with fat side up.

I am smoking overnight tonight for dinner tomorrow and therefore starting at 225, as I'm terrified of waking up in the morning to burnt brisket.

Attaching photos so far and will post more over the course of the cook!

[RickyBobby]

Looks fantastic, brother !!! I truly hope you have sausage plans for all of that trim!!!!! I have actually bought and smoked a full Packer on several occasions JUST so that I had enough trim to make sausage!!! Can’t wait to hear how your cook turns out!!!

[Jerod Broussard]

Very nice trim. I been meaning to use a longer knife to trim. I just have so many fillet knives.

People ask about the difficulties in smoking 14 briskets. Smoking? The smoker does that, I have to trim the darn things!!

I love the oppositeness of brisket.

Flat- muscle striations whichever direction, lean, but can get fattier as you go UP the flat on top the Point
Point- muscle striations always perpendicular to the overall length of the brisket, fatty, but can get fattier as you go DOWN the point under the Flat

[Henrik]

That trimming looks like a 5 star trim! Good job. I haven't thought of using the slicer, I always use my deboning knife. Please share a video on YouTube that you would recommend for this new (to me) trimming technique.

Love the aerodynamic shape, looks killer!

Anywho, fat side up is the way to go.

[das85]

Thanks! Of course it's still pooling a bit now as the thin end has curled up...hoping bark formed before that happened.

This was the one I found most useful/easy to follow: https://youtu.be/CZMV0rQt_7c?feature=shared

And this one pretty similar: https://youtu.be/B5N1TRKYH8o?feature=shared

[das85]

So 12.5 hours in and so far so good...the point seems to be around 190 and probing tender, parts of the flat are still 165 and definitely a ways to go.

Unfortunately despite my shaping efforts, there is some pooling...I think because the end of the flat has curled up while cooking - it's no longer flat on the grate. Maybe I should have trimmed off even more of the thinner end of the flat?

Thinking I will wrap soon. Debating whether to separate the point when I wrap for burnt ends...but since it's so early in the day, maybe leave it all together through wrap and rest since if I separate point now I dunno how I will hold it another 9 hours. (Advice on this, as on everything, very welcome!)

[RickyBobby]

For me personally, I never separate the flat and point. Mainly because I always screw it up when I try it and have decided I get a better end product when I just leave it whole and figure it out at the end. Perhaps it’s because that’s what I’m used to and it’s more predictable? Either way, the trim and cook look great on your cook!

[Sweaty Paul]

Trim looks great and the cook looks fabulous also!

[Mosca]

I took a brisket trimming class this spring. It was at the Texas Meetup, though, and in all the hoopla I forgot to post it!

Yes, to the streamlining. Maybe, to the seam of fat. For me it depends on how big it is. I trim it to even up the overall thickness.

There is this thing called the Mohawk. It’s a big hunk on the fat side that you can squeeze up. It’s on the left here:


If I was saving the trimmings to grind for burgers, I’d cut that off. But I can’t bring myself to shave off that much meat. I leave it on. I don’t notice any difference, so I’d say for one brisket in a backyard environment it’s a non issue. Commercially, they’re trying to ensure consistent results. We did about 30 briskets, and when they were done they were all the same size and shape.



As far as fat cap up or down, I’ve always done down. I think it depends on your cooker, a lot. It looks like you’re using an offset. In my kamado, with the heat source below, the bark develops better with the fat side down. I did my last one fat side up, and that was the one thing I was unhappy with; the brisket tasted great, but I didn’t get the meteorite.

[Oak Smoke]

I feel the same Tom. In my kamado I get the results I want with the fat cap down. It’s a bit of a heat shield.

[Henrik]

As for the fat side: yes, it depends on the cooker. Kind of assumed an offset here.

[das85]

Henrik Oak Smoke Mosca This was a charcoal gravity feed cabinet smoker...the fire itself was effectively offset; hot air pipe from fire to cabinet is below the meat but then there's a shield it has to go around, and a pan of beans for part of the cook...I cant really tell where it's getting more heat. The bark on top was better than the bark on bottom, dunno if that's an indication?

[das85]

Results and conclusions!

I ended up waiting until 16.5 hours to wrap. Flat was still in stall. I had added some beans on shelf under brisket at hour 14.75 and wanted to give them time to catch drippings.

Wrapped in foil and cranked to 275 for about 1.5 hrs then pulled. Flat was probing tender and temping between 205 and 210.

Rested in blanket about 4 hours, then separated most of point (it pulled off without even using a knife) and cut up to make burnt ends which turned out great.

Slices of flat were very flavorful and tender...but some a little dry. Holding up a slice vertically it split it half and bottom fell, so maybe too tender? Bites that included a bit of fat cap were great, and fat was mostly thin enough that people weren't tempted to cut it off.

I noticed there was almost no liquid (either rendered fat or juices) in the foil when I opened it. Thinking next time I will wrap earlier. Also probably ideally would have pulled it 20 mins earlier, the temp really zoomed up in the last 45. (My real preference for next time would be to cook hotter/faster, that didn't work with schedule for this one.)

But it was very tasty and good enough that everyone ate a ton, so I'm taking the win! I didn't do an awesome job photographing the slices as everyone was hungrily watching, but snuck in one below.

And more than enough left over to make hash this morning, which also went over very well.