On the heels of my Pork Butt experiment....

[shush]

I want to try a Beef Brisket. Yes, I realize that this is me going from the wading end of the swimming pool to the rip current, massive wave, shark infested waters of the Pacific Ocean. I have looked up a local source, and sent them an email asking about a smallish CAB... this is their response:

"We do carry CAB whole brisket, however they usually run 15-17#, and on CAB you wont get any smaller than a minimum of maybe 13. After looking at what we have on hand, most are larger than your request. We can however cut and trim to your specifications. Our current price is $8.99/lb."

I also asked about aging, and they said they are all wet aged, 21+ days.

Before I plop down ~$150.00 on a piece of meat, can anyone talk me off of the ledge, or are all of you going to push me to get it done?! Would I be better off just doing a flat, as a test run, or should I just jump in with both feet? I plan to follow the write up here for brisket, so I know I will at least have a good guild line to start from and I won't vary far from the methods... Whaddayasay?

[Jerod Broussard]

Take a dive, the waters are more calm than you realize.

[Abom]

but everyone knows that danger lurks beneath the still waters...

[smokinfatties]

That seems insanely pricey for a full packer. You may want to try Brandt Beef- they have excellent beef and have advertsied a 14lb Prime Grade brisket at 77.99. I know they ship, not sure how much they charge for shipping but i would think it would be less than $75. Even so, they would probably be better quality than a CAB. Their tri-tip is insanely good too!

http://www.brandtbeef.com/steaks/competition-brisket-prime/

Also maybe try your local Costco- in CA they have them at less than $3/lb . You may even be able to try to make friends with the meat dept manager to see if they can get them.

I feel like $8.99/lb is what you pay for a trimmed flat, not a whole packer

Good Luck!

[Bob's BBQ]

I've bought prime from Costco and it was probably the best brisket I've had. Don't be afraid to dive in. There's a lot of wiggle room between "hey - this pretty good" to "man - I've ruined this". Follow the instructions here and you'll be much closer to the former. It always takes a few to dial in your preferences, but with a little attention to detail - your first can be very good. ENJOY!

[Mr. Bones]

Shush,

Were it me, I'd say Go For the Brisket!!!!

But, when I do my first, soon, it won't be no ~$150.00 one, t' start with...

Best regards!

[Lakeside Chef]

I've cooked about a dozen briskets over the last couple of years. I've tried several prime briskets. Last month, I bought a whole choice brisket at Walmart for $1.97/lb. It was in the meat case with a bunch of select briskets and a few other choice ones. It was by far the best brisket that I have cooked to date. Delicious and tender. Passed the Franklin Pull Test. I believe the secret to great brisket is to stick to the basics, simple rubs, thin blue smoke and PATIENCE. I let the brisket cook over 10 hours until it was soft to the touch, wrapped it in butcher paper and then placed it in a cooler for over 3 hours.

Save yourself a bunch of money and learn to cook a choice or Costco prime brisket first.

[Breadhead]

I don't know where you live but $8.99 per pound for brisket is highway robbery! I've smoked many, many briskets over the years and I've NEVER paid anywhere near that much for even a USDA Prime grade brisket.

Don't let the hype concern you about a brisket being this magically difficult cook. After the prepping process it's exactly like smoking pork butts. Trimming and prepping your brisket is well defined by Meathead and many Pit members. Just study what you find in the Pit and make your plan. Some inject a brisket and some don't. That depends on the type of cooker you have I think. I smoke brisket in a Kamado and I don't inject it. Some people separates the point from the flat and cook it as 2 pieces of meat, some don't. Some people wrap after the stall, some people don't.

My suggestion is start your cook very early. A faux cambro is your friend on a brisket cook. If your stall is short and there is no double stall your brisket can finish smoking hours before your guests arrive, no problem. You can leave it in the cooler for about 4 hours safely. Just leave a probe in it so you can monitor the meat temperature while it's in the cooler. That beats being late by a long shot.😡

Find a better source for your brisket... $4 or $5 per pound would be a very high price here in California.

Fire your smoker up and cook that lovely clod of meat. You'll feel you've achieved a great feat and then look back and say, that wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be.👍

Good luck.

[Spinaker]

Every hobby, sport and job needs a white whale. And Brisket is it for BBQ.

I've said this before in the Pit. I think the brisket is overblown. Its my favorite BBQ'd meat and its not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be. I've cooked them on many different cookers in my day, and I would say that as long as you watch the temperature in the meat. Your gonna be just fine. Buy a good dry rub or use BBBR. If you think its gonna dry out, inject it. Or buy Prime. But when you get down to it, the process is not that much different from cooking pork butts. They both take time and energy. But the results are the best in BBQ. (IMHO) I would say go for it.

[AZRedneck]

shush First of all, at $8.99/lb yer gettin' robbed! Second, like everyone has said, it aint that hard to cook a good brisket if you watch your meat temp. I have only cooked one brisket in my life, and that was 3 weekends ago. I stressed, worried, micromanaged grill temp etc. It came out great! Oh, last thing, I paid $2.89/lb for Prime full packer from Costco. I know everyone can't get them that cheap, but 9 bucks is just dumb.

[shush]

Wow! You all are so awesome for the words of encouragement.

I live in Northern Virginia, and to be honest, just about everything around here is Highway Robbery. The "Butcher" is in Fairfax, VA. I will run by Costco and see what I can find. I know around here they sell tri-tip (Morton's IIRC). I haven't see brisket, but then again, I really haven't looked. I guess I am on my way out. I certainly feel more at ease hearing from all of you experienced smokers! Thanks!

[Thunder77]

Yeah, I'm up in Baltimore, and the best I have seen for a choice flat is $4.42/lb. And that was not trimmed.

[ecowper]

Go for it .... Advice along with go for it?

1. Read Meathead's entire article on brisket
2. Watch Aaron Franklin's video's - both selecting and trimming and cooking
3. There's a ton of great information in the Beef sub-forum of the Pit. Highly recommend reading through the brisket posts.

I find that when I'm doing something like this, visualizing it helps me immensely. So I would recommend just walking the cook through in your head, based on the above.

Then, go do it.

Also, if you have a Costco nearby .... the Prime Packer is almost impossible to beat for price and quality.

[bep35]

Take that $150 and go buy a good bottle of wine and a couple of ribeyes for reverse searing on your grill. After that great meal venture out and find an appropriately priced brisket for around three or four bucks a pound. Two awesome cooks for the price of one!

[fzxdoc]

I've cooked about a dozen briskets over the last couple of years. I've tried several prime briskets. Last month, I bought a whole choice brisket at Walmart for $1.97/lb. It was in the meat case with a bunch of select briskets and a few other choice ones. It was by far the best brisket that I have cooked to date. Delicious and tender. Passed the Franklin Pull Test. I believe the secret to great brisket is to stick to the basics, simple rubs, thin blue smoke and PATIENCE. I let the brisket cook over 10 hours until it was soft to the touch, wrapped it in butcher paper and then placed it in a cooler for over 3 hours.

Save yourself a bunch of money and learn to cook a choice or Costco prime brisket first.

I had the same experience last week. At Walmart to look at Halloween costumes, moseyed over to the meat case and there were half a dozen choice briskets--something I almost never see there. They were $2.57 a pound. I chose a really nice-looking 12 pounder, came home, trimmed about 3 lbs fat off of it, dry brined 48 hours before, injected 12 hours before, and smoked it Sunday on my WSCGC. It was one of the best briskets I've made. I sliced it like Aaron Franklin does, and the point was just as tender and succulent as could be. The flat was delicious too.

For $30, we had a really tasty meal (and leftovers) and I had the fun of introducing brisket for the first time to my new Weber.

FWIW, almost every store around me sells brisket for $8.99/lb, and the closest Costco is 2.5 hours away. So to find this great-looking CAB at Walmart was like finding buried treasure!

Kathryn

ETA: that Walmart CAB was done in 7 hours, unwrapped, at 275 degF on the WSCGC. Cambroed in a 170 degree oven for 4 hours, since it finished earlier than I expected and before the Ryder Cup was over.

I kept the oven at 160-170 degrees by putting it on warm, placing the wrapped brisket in it, and propping the door open an inch or so with a wooden spatula. Otherwise, when the heat kicks on, the oven temp can go up to 190+. With the wooden spatula mod, it stayed nice and consistent, at or just below 170.

[Steve R.]

I worried about my first one, was totally confident on the 2nd, and they both turned out excellent. So go for it, but shop around for a better deal!