Perfect point, dry flat. Any ideas?

[mschlee]

Looking for some help on a brisket cook. my butcher cut me a nice half brisket and gave me 2 pieces, about 3 pounds of flat and 3 pounds of point. Here is what I did. The flat was a bit dried out so any help would be much appreciated.

Injected them and let them sit in the fridge overnight
Got the big green egg stabilized at 225
Setup indirect with a water pan
rubbed the brisket, inserted separate portions in each
After about 3 hours the but 160
Tightly wrapped in foil
Continued to 203 on each piece
Temp stayed pretty much locked at 225 entire time
Took off, wrapped in towels and into cooler for 3 hours

It was good, but not great. The flat was a bit firm and dry.

Any thoughts?

[texastweeter]

you can try seperatingthe two muscles, and cooking the flat to around 190 (probe tender), and the point to 203 (stick a fork in it test). Ican tell you that I struggle more with half briskets than I do with whole packers myself.

[Huskee]

Congrats! You had a great cook. Flats are always drier by comparison. You did nothing wrong, that's just the inherent qualities of flat vs point. A generous fat cap left on the flat will help the slices taste that much better.

[texastweeter]

if I want to do half a brisket, I usually do a whole flat for slices, or a whole point for burnt ends and or chopped beef.

[mschlee]

Thanks all. I did seperate them with a seperate temp probes in each. I took the flat off before the point because it got 203 first.

Sounds like I should either keep them together so the flat is drenched in point goodness or separate like I did and take flat off at 190

[Huskee]

You will alwyas notice the flat being drier than the point, no matter what you do. It's lean muscle. You're less likely to notice it if you only cook a flat, but by comparison to the point? Nothin' you can do.

[texastweeter]

What huskee said. I like my flat at ABOUT 190for slicing, and my point at about 203.

[mschlee]

Thanks husky. I just think about the bbq joints and how juicy and delicious the flat is. I think they slice it thin and soak it in butter or something. I'm gonna keep at it!

[mschlee]

Sorry, huskee (spell corrector got me)

[texastweeter]

a thin texas style mop can fix that right up usually.

[Steve R.]

+1 for texastweeter. I totally agree!

[kmhfive]

Did you check for "probe tender"?

[mschlee]

Just went by temp

[HouseHomey]

Take the flat. Make pastrami.

Carry on with the point. Or, make the flat and dress it while it's hot for enchiladas, chili, flautas, tortes etc...

[texastweeter]

Just eat it...

[Ernest]

This is exactly why I don't smoke whole briskets. I despise the flat.

[dirtman]

Prior to slicing I always put the point on top of the flat with the grain the same direction. I then cut across grain and serve a bit of the point and flat at the same time. I serve a pencil width slice of flat with some of the point on top. It gives it the moisture/fat of the point for the best of both worlds. I also dip the slices in the juice from the cutting board as I am serving.

[Jerod Broussard]

Best flats I've done were wet-aged for quite a while. Even still, there so much surface area they oxidize pretty quick as soon as you slice.