I shall brave the pitchforks and torches to ask the masses for their thoughts on this one.
Has anyone tried cooking a brisket with the fat cap completely taken off? We know that fat doesn't penetrate meat so we don't need to cook it fat side up and as long as we smoked it while in a pan to retain the juices, would we even need to worry about having the fat cap on at all?
I've done it pretty much off. What I do now is get it down to about 1/8" and bare in spots. Even the fat vein b/n the two muscles gets down to almost nothing.
I know some folks here have trimmed all the fat off. I'd still keep 1/8-1/4" if ti were me. Fat is flavor, you just don't want so much guests/you cut it all away, leaving precious rub on the plate.
Last brisket I forgot to trim the connecting fat, wish I had. Esp now that I have that Rapala knife. My goodness, that makes trimming painfully easy. I like my $$ knives, but honestly, they suck at trimming fat caps.
Brisket is still one of those things I haven't gotten the hang of yet. Guess I gotta practice more.
I like 1/8" of fat cap. The fat tastes great. Too much fat and it's like too much icing on a cupcake, but the right amount of fat cap gives the brisket a nice flavor. The fat doesn't melt into the meat, but it does get happy with the rub.
Started Low-N-Slow BBQ in 2012. Obviously, it's taken hold (in chronological order:
1.) A pair of Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5's
2.) #LilTex, a 22" Expensive Offset Smoker (looks like a Yoder Witicha)
3.) #WhoDat1, a HUGE Gravity Fed Insulated Cabinet Smoker (cooking chamber 3'x2'x6')
4.) A Full Size Commercial Dryer/converted to Vertical Smoker.
5.) Jambo Backyard stickburner (my FAVORITE Pit so far)
6.) GrillMeister, a huge 24"x48" Adjustable, Charcoal Grill from Pitmaker.com
7.) 22" Weber Kettle with Slow-N-Sear
8.) Vault insulated reverse-flow cabinet smoker from Pitmaker
9.) BarbecueFiretruck...under development
10.) 26 foot BBQ Vending Trailer equipped with HUGE Myron Mixon 72xc smoker is HERE, Oct 2016!
11.) Opened www.PaulsRibShackBarbecue.com Food Trailer officially in March 2017
12.) Austin Smoke Works 500 Gallon Propane Tank Offset Smoker, named "Lucille" as travel pit for PaulsRibShack, Oct 2018.
12.) Opening Brick & Mortar location at 4800 Nelson Rd, Spring 2019. Had a pair of 1,000 Gallon Austin Smoke Works pits, both in RibShackRed for our new place!
Fabulous Backlit Thermapens, several Maverick Remote Thermometers (don't use any remotes anymore), Thermoworks Smoke, Other Thermoworks toys, Vacuum sealer, lots and lots of equipment...
I'm loving using BBQ to make friends and build connections.
I have #theRibList where I keep a list of new and old friends and whenever I'm cooking, I make 1 to 20 extra and share the joy.
I've been separating point and flat and leaving 1/8 inch (with some bare spots...oops). Like it! I keep getting distracted in the cook and having to leave the house, so haven't gotten that perfect ending temp in the last 4 attempts. None of the guests said anything buy, Wow! Oh well, I'll just keep practicing!
I did a small (2lb.) flat yesterday with no fat cap at all. Dry brined and rubbed with Big Bad Beef Rub. Turned out really moist and tender and VERY flavorful!
I've smoked everything from lean flats to whole 14 lb packers recently, and the flat always seems consistent as long as you're hitting temps. I've been smoking 4 to 6 packers at my restaurant a day since we opened. I season only with salt and pepper and trim very little because I have been crunched for time until I can get more employees. I heavily season the bottom side where there is little fat and hit the top with some salt and pepper too. I am considering separating before smoking and smoking flats for brisket slices and corning the point for corned beef/pastrami. The only problem I have found with going flat only is the ridiculous price increase compared to packers.
Business has been amazing so far! We have served thousands of meals in a little over 2 weeks. I have sold out of pork and brisket on numerous occasions. I only smoke fresh... no cooking ahead of time and reheating, so when I'm out that's it. Fortunately, many customers have commented that the burgers are the best they've ever had. Yes, by the way, I am using a FEC 120. I have had some very interesting results with the brisket wrapped vs. unwrapped and how I hold the meat as well.
Ok, so I finally got around to giving this a shot. I went and got a small flat to experiment on and trimmed every bit of fat off of it. I salted it the night before and let it come to room temp before hitting it with some pepper and putting it on my weber. I set a full water pan underneath and another full pan over the coals and used a single large chunk of oak for smoke. It seemed to have a lot of juice still inside it so I didn't wrap it until it hit an internal temperature of 160. I hit it with some apple cider vinegar, wrapped it in aluminum foil and then continued to cook it till it hit 203 internal. I let it rest for an hour before slicing.
I have to say, this is one of the better briskets I've made. I didn't really miss the fat and the texas style rub and smoke were delicious.
Gas Grill: NXR Tabletop/Portable Propane Charcoal: Weber Performer Silver (i.e., 22.5")
Charcoal: Weber OTG 22.5" Kettle Accessories: Slow 'n Sear, Smokenator and Vortex and bound to be more on the way Smoker: GOSM Propane 38" 2-drawer
Pellet: CampChef/Browning Deluxe PGP24LTD Thermometer: 2 Mavericks, Red backlit Thermapen
Anova Wi-Fi Sous Vide
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
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