Huge Brisket

[Daranator]

Newby cooking first brisket.  Just picked it up from the butcher shop and it weighs 14#.  I looks like it needs to be cut in half to fit on the racks.  The thick end is about 6" thick and doesn't look like any cut I have typically seen at a BBQ joint.   Any advise on smoking this beast?  I was planning on a dry rub tonight and in the smoker in the morning.     

[beefmann]

I would trim the brisket then cut it as close to the middle as possable.. then rub both pieces  throughly... then in the  fridge over night

then start  early  early  with a 2 hour  cold  smoke after the  cold smoke  turn off the  smoke and  trun on the heat to 190 to 200 and be  ready  for a  long  wait.. 8 to 10 hour  cook.. while once  an hour  rotating the  meat top to bottom and  front to  back...

i have  done a large voulme of meat like  that it  takes  a long  time depends on how tender you  want  it longer  is better

also spray it with apple  juice or  orange juce or orange soda


good  luck and smoke on

[westexasmoker]

Welcome to the forum Daranator!

Your brisket has two distinct parts the flat and the point, I'm guessing the 6 inch end would be your point.  At 14 pounds it will probabley not fit on your rack, about the biggest I've ever gotten to fit was a 12 lb.er, as the beefman pointed out you might need to seperate the two.  I would guess that you have a pretty thick fat vein in between the two, try and cut away this vein which well kinda leave ya a flap and you might be able to squeeze it onto your rack, if not thats where you want to seperate it.  Leave your fat cap intact, and put your choice of rub all over it, prefereable the night before, but you can still pull it off today!  Let the meat sit on the counter while the smoker comes up to 220 and then pop it in for 4-5 hours of smoke...and yep use mesquite...at this point you can finish in your smoker or pull it and put in your house oven.  I go the house oven route, out of the smoker and into a foil pan still fat cap up covered tightly with foil in the oven at 220 overnight for another 14-18 hours then out of the pan and FTC for another 4-5 hours and then its dinner time!  Remember to slice against the grain as the flat and point run different directions!  Good luck and keep us posted!

C

[HCT]

Sounds like a beautiful point cut. Watch the flat they dry out fast.

[FLBentRider]

Good luck with the Brisket.

This is what I did - http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7661.0

[Daranator]

Thanks for the support it is going in the smoker tonight with 4-5 hours worth the bisquets and then we'll see how it goes tommorrow. 

[Pachanga]

Being from West Texas, I had always smoked on large offsets and as I mentioned in a previous post (http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7457.0) (Texas Brisket Bows to Bradley and Thanks to the Board), I was shocked at how narrow my six rack digital looked.  I didn't know how I would ever smoke a brisket and even thought about hanging them vertical.  I started off by buying ten to twelve pounders but now I just buy the best looking piece of meat that is available that is still at a decent price.  I look for short thick and compact briskets but these are sometimes hard to find.  If a brisket is too long, I just wrinkle it a bit or bend it a little in the middle.  I use the sides of the rack to help hold the brisket in a slight inverted U.  When the brisket shrinks it will relax and flatten out.

Sometimes the meat is still too long.  I find that usually the brisket is very thin toward the end of the flat.  This is one reason it is so long.  Measure the brisket against your Bradley rack.  Cut the thinest part off and lay it fat side down under the thinest part of the main brisket which is fat side up.  If you match the taper of both pieces of meat by matching thick to thin, you will end up with a uniform thickness that cooks evenly and retains moisture well.  No one will know the difference when serving.

I smoke three to four briskets in one smoke all the time and this works well for me.  Just one man's opinion and method.  Good luck and slow smoking.

[Oldman]

Pachanga I just read your review. Nicely written. Brisket is one of my favorite cuts for sure.
Olds

[Pachanga]

Thanks Olds.  I smoke many briskets three or four at a time in the Bradley.  I guess I just hate to see wasted smoke.  It couldn’t be easier since I streamlined the process.  I have tried to simplify my prep and smoking so that it is fun and doesn’t turn into a chore.  And believe me when I say that I do not mind going the extra mile to turn out a superior product when I cook  I now spend about a quarter of the time I did when I first started with the Bradley and the results haven’t suffered a bit.  .

Here is a funny story illustrating the reason I smoke so many briskets.  My daughter is a Junior at New York University.  She likes to cook as much as her old man (me, not you).  She cooks Mexican dishes from scratch up to and including homemade flour tortillas.  We get pretty serious about our Mexican food and even make corn tortillas starting with dried corn kernels (that's how serious I am about going the extra mile).  Her New York friends dearly love her Mexican cooking (of which many had never been exposed except for fast food chains) but they like brisket even more.  My daughter takes my frozen smoked brisket in her luggage on the plane from Dallas/Fort Worth to New York.  The first time she served brisket in New York accompanied by Dutch oven pintos and cornbread, her friends said that they didn’t realize food could taste so good.  They felt they had been denied good food all of their life and were very disappointed in all their wasted years of sub par culinary experiences.

The other day we were at the airport with two briskets in the luggage.  Unfortunately, she was 11 lbs over on the scale (50 lb. limit).  I told her I would take the briskets back home which weighed 13 or so lbs.  She said “no way”.  People in New York were depending on this brisket run for a badly needed fix.  She dumped her backpack contents into her luggage, removed the two briskets, stuffed them into her backpack and started through security.  She couldn’t even zip the backpack and the briskets were hanging out. Needless to say, her backpack was searched and all of the security personnel laughingly threatened to confiscate at least one brisket but “let her go” eventually.

The Labor Day brisket sales are upon us and with brisket at 99 cents a lb. what smoker can resist his inner urges? Gotta go pick up six or eight.

See you around the pit.

Pachanga

[easyridinole]

OK OK, after reading all about these briskets and looking at all the pictures, I can't take it anymore so I am going to call the butcher today and reserve my own to try this weekend! I guess my only question is, do I cold smoke it for a couple of hours or do I put the heat to it right away?

Ole

[westexasmoker]

Ole.

I throw mine in at 220 and the temp drops to about 150 and usually takes about 2 hours to recover to 220, so in essence its getting a bit of a cold smoke!

C

[easyridinole]

WTS,

What do you usually get your IT up to before you pull it out and WTC? I plan on just leaving it in the smoker to finish it off. Should I leave the temp @ 220 after the smoke is done or crank it up a bit? Of course I am going to use Mesquite just in case you were going to ask!  ;)

Thanks for the help,

Ole

[westexasmoker]

Ole,
You know I've never taken the IT when I do brisket, don't ask me why!  But I'd guess it would be in the 190-205 range..  And 220 temp on your BS or house oven is perfect IMO, always remember low and slow is the key to good brisket!

C

[bflosmoke]

When I did my first 2 weeks ago I smoked for about 200 -220 for 5 hrs and left in bradley for 6 more hours and the IT reached about 165 I then put in oven for another another 13 hours. Then ftc for another 5. I never took a final it though.

[easyridinole]

I got my brisket last night and they told me that the meat is already aged so I took it home and trimmed off some of the fat and seasoned it and stuck it in the fridge. After trimming the fat vein out it seems that my brisket isn't as thick as some of them I have seen on here. I am just wondering how much this will affect my cook temp and time.

Ole