Looking good

Learned a lot for next time, thanks all.

Oh yeah! That looks great!!! We tried two grocery stores today to get a brisket and a whole chicken and came up empty. I'm going to try my butcher tomorrow as I'm hopeful to be smoking again later this week when it warms up.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
Learned a lot for next time, thanks all.

That looks fantastic. Beautiful smoke ring on that brisket! That's a first effort success which doesn't happen often with brisket.

I run my egg @ 275
Try higher temp next smoke
What was texture like on that one?

The only way I learned to make great brisket
Was making bad brisket....

Looks good Jeff! I'm curious why one side doesn't have the smoke ring.

Looks very good Jeff!

Nice brisket!

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Looks good Jeff! I'm curious why one side doesn't have the smoke ring.

I think due to either fat cap or how the smoke circulated? He could have had it in a foil pan which would do that too.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Looks good Jeff! I'm curious why one side doesn't have the smoke ring.

Side without the ring was the fat cap. I left 1/4 in on and it went on the rack fat side down.

The last two hours it was in a roasting pan, fat side down.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Looks good Jeff! I'm curious why one side doesn't have the smoke ring.

Side without the ring was the fat cap. I left 1/4 in on and it went on the rack fat side down.

The last two hours it was in a roasting pan, fat side down.

Blonde moment. I have to separate the point and flat because I don't have enough space in the smoker for a whole packer.

Well I'm going to try my first flat brisket Fri or Sat. My butcher only had flats but I was thinking that's probably better for me to learn with rather than trying a full packer brisket. He said I just needed to call ahead because they use the point piece for their ground beef. Next time hopefully.

Planning to dry rub and let it sit overnight. Figuring it should take ~6 hours give or take...plus I'm planning to rest it an hour. It's about 5 lbs trimmed up. I'm thinking I'm going to keep a drip pan beneath and start it at 225 for about 3 hours or ~160 - wrap it with peach paper and then turn up the heat to 250-275 to finish it.

Is ~202 the magic temperature to pull it or does it depend on the cut? Suggestions always welcome.

Brisket is done when it probes tender. When you insert your temp probe it should go in like butter. Flats are a bit more difficult to keep moist. Temp does not matter but generally they are done between 200 and 210. But if it doesn’t probe tender it’s not done.

Cool, thanks. I was planning to probe it from the get go and not remove it at all. Is that ok to do?

Probing in this case is not referring to sticking temp probes in. Probing to test doneness is the classic stick a fork in it. If it goes in easy and twists easy, the brisket is done.

I’d verify this with someone else because I’ll be doing my first brisket this week, so I have zero experience and I’m just parroting something I read in the internet.

I do get there's a textural element to testing meat doneness, I just never used my temperature probe for it. Thanks.

I only say temp probe as that is usually what is convenient. It can be a fork or thick toothpick. When your brisket is about 195 start sticking something in it to feel if it’s done.

Having some guests over Friday for the best pork chops they've ever had

Yes with putting a probe in to monitor temp but I don't recommend stick probing until it is 203-205F. No reason to stick a bunch of extra holes to let the juices out. Almost all of the top competition guys shoot for 204 so there is that, and yes the toothpick test is the final word, it should slide in like a room temp stick of butter.