Chuck Roast vs. Brisket
So I still haven't done a brisket and it's probably time I rectify that situation. What are the major differences in smoking and eating these hunks of cow?
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Looks goodComment
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Chucks are easier, especially for doing as pulled beef. Briskets, assuming you want it to be the standard sliced method, are a little more nitpicky. not hard I wouldn't say if you're experienced with your smoker, just more nitpicky in that you need more finesse when trimming it. And depending where you get your meat, chucks can be considerably cheaper. If there's a Costco near you, many Costco sell Prime briskets for three bucks a pound or less.Comment
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texastweeter You ain't lyin', she got the raw end of this deal.
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That's what I gathered, Huskee, that briskets are more difficult, which is why I've waited. I plan to go to the best butcher in my area. It'll be my first visit there since I like to go to my neighborhood butcher, but it should be fun to finally check out this renowned butcher. I'm not a costco member as I don't have one conveniently located near me. But now I have a price point for comparison.
How about the difference in taste, and texture? Same ballpark, or fairly different?Comment
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What Huskee said. As for taste: I guess the point is closer to a chuck roast, taste wise. But I don't know, there's just something special about a brisket.Comment
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Attjack I did a chuck smoked to 180-ish for slicing like brisket (got the recipe here on the site) before doing a brisket. Everyone liked the chuck. Everyone LOVED the brisket. Huge difference was time of course, and I crutched the brisket somewhere between 150 and 160, adding a cup of beef broth to the foil, per Meathead's recipe, and probed through the foil to monitor the temperature. I pulled it around 203 to 205, and wrapped in a towel and dropped in a cooler, where it stayed for almost 5 hours. It was still over 160 when I pulled it out to slice.
Your real difference in the cook is how super long it can take, especially at 225, with a full packer (mine was 16.5 pre trim, 14.5 after trimming). I stressed and stressed over that full packer as it sat in the fridge or freezer from November to January, and in retrospect, aside from crutching it, and holding it in cambro once its done, it was not that much harder than a Boston butt. You just gotta figure out the slicing direction on the flat versus the point.
I've got to do it again, but I need to be feeding a lot more than just me and the missus to justify another full packer. And schedule the cook, as if I do it on my offset, it means sleeping on the couch in the den so that I can feed the fire every hour or two, and not wake the wife getting in and out of bed all night. I may just increase the temperature to 275 or 300 to get it done faster next time.
Another idea is just smoke it until the crutch at 150 to 160, and then just move it to the oven at 225F next time. It's not like the smoke is getting into the foil anyway.Comment
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Attjack, I wanted to simulate sliced brisket with the chuck, versus pulled chuck, and followed this recipe:
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Attjack I recommend finding a full packer if you can. The point was by far my favorite part of the brisket. I fed 8 lunch the day I smoked it, and then my wife and one daughter got the flu, and everyone else had food plans the rest of the week. I ate beef lunch and dinner by myself until Thursday, by which time I was sick of it. Go for a 10-12 pound packer if you can find one.
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jfmorris I feel like it'll be too much meat. Plus I won't know my timing well enough, and don't want to invite a bunch of guests for a meal I might screw up. I'm thinking of starting small and gaining some confidence, and experience. Then I can do a full packer for a party. I could always do a flat then a point the next time so I can get a feel for their respective characteristics. When I do 5+ pound chuck roasts that's close to too much beef.Comment
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For a practice run, go get a store bought corned beef point side ( I can always seem to find these). That way it’s only 3-5 lbs and you get an idea. It’s almost as thick so timing is still fairly long but you can practice getting bark the way you want it. -
If you are getting a whole packer it’s worth it because if you get flat only you are missing out big time. You could cut the packer in half smoke the flat side for practice (which is still good) , then smoke the point side for guests another day. -
Just plan on 12 hours at 250, if you are done in 10 just wrap it up and put it in a cooler. As for leftovers, shrink wrap and freeze. i let them defrost and heat the bag in boiling water and it's great.
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Dude, this is the single best motivator for me to do things I didn't know I could do. My very first brisket was for a houseful of people, because I knew it was way too much meat to justify doing it for just the family. Then I studied the directions given on this site and everything else I could get my hands on to figure out how to get it done. Yes, it's nerve-wracking, but that kind of pressure can be a good thing. No guts, no glory!Originally posted by Attjack View Post
Having said all of that, the point I would make is that your margin for error will be somewhat greater when you go ahead and cook the packer, instead of a small flat.Last edited by Steve R.; April 10, 2018, 03:01 PM.Comment
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I've seen full packers at Costco that were under 10 pounds. You will trim a couple pounds fat off those. Not sure why they are so small, but they are. I think you get a lot more leeway with the larger cuts.
Do you have a food saver or vacuum sealer of some sort? I find that to be great way to preserve smoked meats in the freezer, and thaw for meals later. I would be tempted to smoke the full packer, and then put portions WITH some of the "juice" that collects in the foil, into food saver bags and freeze. Sure, it won't be as good as right off the smoker, but it will still be good. I do this with pork chops, pork loins (sliced), pulled pork, and even with a good portion of a medium rare beef strip loin I smoked. I just sorta overlapped slices of the strip loin, threw a few spoons of the "gravy" in with it, and sealed the bag up on the "wet" setting, and it came out of the freezer and through the microwave reheat just fine.Comment
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Just talked myself into getting a brisket the next time I am at Costco, and smoking it even if its just me and the wife. I'll let you know how the freeze and reheat works out. That said, I tend to smoke on Sundays for us to eat through to Thursday night, and I bet between the two of us and 2 or 3 kids coming through for a meal or two, we would knock out a 8 to 10 pound brisket by Thursday.
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I've frozen extra brisket cut into 2" or more full-brisket-width strips (depending on how many I wanted to feed), and add some of the juice I caught during the cook & faux cambro to the bag. I've even added a little butter to the bag before vac sealing if I didn't have enough beef juice. Reheated gently then sliced or even pulled for a meal. Mighty good.Comment
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Here are my comparisons..... cooks were about 2 weeks apart.
The chuck is a coarser meat - not nearly as smooth textured as the flat of the brisket. I would compare the chuck cook to 180 to the flat of the brisket cooked to 203-205 (I forget what temp I pulled the brisket at). The point of the brisket, which I do not show slices of here, is far moister than either.
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Wow One heck of a smoke ring!! Looks great!! I've got 2 packers wet aging in the fridge right now. I'm beginning to think they are aged enough!!! Your a great inspiration!!
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GadjetGriller Thanks! I think the smoke ring on that brisket comes from the fact I did it on a stick burner, with a little charcoal to get things going, then mostly apple chunks and small pieces of oak from my wood pile. I've never seen a ring like that on my Weber with the SNS, just using charcoal and a few wood chunks.
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Whether you do a 4lb flat or a 14lb packer, the timing should be roughly the same. My average using Prime, whether kettle+SnS or the stick burner, is about 7 or 8 hrs of smoke, 2-3 hrs wrapped, and 2hrs-ish of faux cambro hold time...for a total of roughly 12 hrs, 10 on heat. This is both for a small flat and a whole packer. Only when I do16-17lber does my time seem to increase increase by 2 hrs, for 12 on heat + 2 cambro. I might on occasion get a smaller flat done an hour quicker, it jut depends on little variables.
I hope you have fun with your first brisket, and if I may offer a word of advice- err on the side of leaving a little too much fat cap on vs trimming too much off. That strip of soft salty fat on each slice is heaven. It's, in my opinion, one of the key things that makes brisket tastier than chuck, all those slices of fatty+meaty goodness. But a properly smoked chuck is to die for too, so it's win win for you!Comment
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Starting to get excited about. Thanks, guys!Comment
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That's the key. And hey, it's a little trickier than some other cuts of meat, but millions of people have cooked millions of briskets. And that collective expertise is distilled on this site. My only thing to add based on my own mistakes: make sure you allow a little extra time. You can always cambro it and wait for everyone to be ready to eat, but it's not easy to rush a brisket and end up with a good result.Originally posted by Attjack View PostComment
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