First time smoking a brisket

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

Just put a brisket on the smoker for Mother's Day lunch tomorrow. My mom just got out of the hospital this afternoon after three days for having a series of smallish strokes last weekend. Suffice to say I really want it to be perfect so any quick tips I'm open ears. My current plan is an overnight smoke at 180 and in the morning wrapping it with some tallow and back on at 250 until I hit an internal of 205 then in an ice chest to rest for about an hour. Any issues with this or pretty much on the mark.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Use a good rolling paper or, if using, be sure the bong is clean.

 

[biodawg]

Just put a brisket on the smoker for Mother's Day lunch tomorrow. My mom just got out of the hospital this afternoon after three days for having a series of smallish strokes last weekend. Suffice to say I really want it to be perfect so any quick tips I'm open ears. My current plan is an overnight smoke at 180 and in the morning wrapping it with some tallow and back on at 250 until I hit an internal of 205 then in an ice chest to rest for about an hour. Any issues with this or pretty much on the mark.

That’s basically my recipe, but the longer the rest, the better IMO. Just my $0.02. I’m sure it’ll turn out great.

 

[57stratdawg]

How many lbs? Full packer or just the flat?

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Time. Don't get in a hurry.

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

How many lbs? Full packer or just the flat?

It's the full thing but not sure on lbs. It's from a cow I had processed so there's no sticker. It's probably 2" thick and as long as a sheet pan and almost as wide in the middle.

 

[Crazy Cotton]

As somebody said, longer rest is better - a hot brisket, when cut up in slices, goes from succulent to dry in about 5 minutes. If you can let it rest till and slowly cool down until the temp is in the 170s it will be much better. If I've cooked a whole one I'll usually let it rest at least 4 hours before I mess with it, and often that's more like 6 hours.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

As somebody said, longer rest is better - a hot brisket, when cut up in slices, goes from succulent to dry in about 5 minutes. If you can let it rest till and slowly cool down until the temp is in the 170s it will be much better. If I've cooked a whole one I'll usually let it rest at least 4 hours before I mess with it, and often that's more like 6 hours.

Temp. Don't skimp on proper rest.

 

[aTotal360]

Time doesn’t matter. Tenderness does. Different cows take significantly different times for their collagen and fat to render depending on the quality of the meat and what it was fed. Slowly get it to 200. Keep it at 200 for at least and hour. I back my temp down to 180 when I hit that mark. Like others have said, wrap it in foil and then wrap that in a few old towels and put it in the Yeti for 2-4 hours.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

The tallow schtick is overrated in my opinion. It effectively ruins the flavor of your bark. You are just adding a coating of lard or crisco to that beautiful, crispy, flavorful bark you spent 8-12+ hours creating.

Tallow Fad

My take is, some of the Instagram/YouTube brisket folk use it to add extra juice/shine/glisten to their brisket for pictures/video. Unless you are drying out a brisket during the cook, why add more fat? We don't want to add fat flavor, we want beef and smoke. I'd recommend trying half a teaspoon of tallow on its own and ask yourself if you want to coat your brisket in it.

 

[PBRME]

The tallow schtick is overrated in my opinion. It effectively ruins the flavor of your bark. You are just adding a coating of lard or crisco to that beautiful, crispy, flavorful bark you spent 8-12+ hours creating.

Tallow Fad

My take is, some of the Instagram/YouTube brisket folk use it to add extra juice/shine/glisten to their brisket for pictures/video. Unless you are drying out a brisket during the cook, why add more fat? We don't want to add fat flavor, we want beef and smoke. I'd recommend trying half a teaspoon of tallow on its own and ask yourself if you want to coat your brisket in it.

I agree with this. I tried using some homemade tallow once and it completely mellowed the flavor. Won’t do it again.

 

[Dawgbite]

I usually smoke to 165-170 unwrapped and wrap with pink butcher paper til 203-205. The perfect brisket will jiggle almost like firm jello when done. The longer you can rest in a cooler the better it will be. All the tallow is going to do is sog your bark, the juicyness doesn’t come from fat. There’s no need for it. Foil is perfectly fine for wrapping but it also will make the bark a little more soft, that’s why I prefer pink butcher paper.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I usually smoke to 165-170 unwrapped and wrap with pink butcher paper til 203-205. The perfect brisket will jiggle almost like firm jello when done. The longer you can rest in a cooler the better it will be. All the tallow is going to do is sog your bark, the juicyness doesn’t come from fat. There’s no need for it. Foil is perfectly fine for wrapping but it also will make the bark a little more soft, that’s why I prefer pink butcher paper.

I don’t know what it is about that pink butchers paper but that stuff is the best by far.

 

[aTotal360]

The tallow schtick is overrated in my opinion. It effectively ruins the flavor of your bark. You are just adding a coating of lard or crisco to that beautiful, crispy, flavorful bark you spent 8-12+ hours creating.

Tallow Fad

My take is, some of the Instagram/YouTube brisket folk use it to add extra juice/shine/glisten to their brisket for pictures/video. Unless you are drying out a brisket during the cook, why add more fat? We don't want to add fat flavor, we want beef and smoke. I'd recommend trying half a teaspoon of tallow on its own and ask yourself if you want to coat your brisket in it.

I disagree. Especially for cheap briskets. There’s no way to make a Kroger brisket “rich” without it. Does a SRF brisket need it? No. But some do. I think Costco choice briskets do. Costco Prime briskets do not.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

I disagree. Especially for cheap briskets. There’s no way to make a Kroger brisket “rich” without it. Does a SRF brisket need it? No. But some do. I think Costco choice briskets do. Costco Prime briskets do not.

I would push back on that.

Old school Texas BBQ joints like Louie Mueller, Black's, and Cooper's have been cooking amazing briskets and clods for 50+ years without tallow, most of which are/were choice. For the longest time when I got into brisket smoking in 2008 or so, people actually sought out better grades of choice over prime brisket because prime had too much fat and less beefy flavor. Though I do personally think prime is considerably easier to cook than choice.

Rich is an arbitrary/subjective word when it comes to flavor. Hell even Meat Church did a video a while back where the guy that got the tallow craze going (Jirby from Goldee's) where he says using tallow makes the brisket more "rich" but also a little "bland." Maybe I am on my own island here, but I think of rich flavor being intense and bland being the exact opposite. Not sure how it can be rich and bland at the same time. I think it's just that fatty coating that lines the pallet and cuts my ability to taste flavor that people are calling "rich."

Beef tallow is very bland to me. Again, if you want to see what flavor it adds to the meat, just warm some up and taste a teaspoon.. tastes like crisco to me. Would be great to fry up some tater slices or something I bet, but I am not putting crisco or tallow on my brisket again. I think it makes it really shiney for pictures, but I'd rather just use butter or bacon grease if I want to add an enjoyable flavor.

Render the fat, create a good bark, and cook until tender. I have had and have cooked dozens of choices briskets from Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and everywhere else over the last 15+ years. No thanks on the tallow. I did it once and didn't like it at all. If I am drying one out during the cook, which happens, I just wrapped in foil vs paper to hold the moisture in and sacrifice bark crunch a little.

My take is it will certainly add moisture to a dry brisket, but so will injection and wrapping in foil vs paper. If strong beef, smoke, and rub flavor is not your thing, tallow will cut it back and you'll enjoy it more than a traditional.

See 9:45 mark in video below for "the tallow is a little bit more rich, but a little bit more bland" comment from Goldee's owner.

No Tallow vs Tallow Meat Church

 

[aTotal360]

I would push back on that.

Old school Texas BBQ joints like Louie Mueller, Black's, and Cooper's have been cooking amazing briskets and clods for 50+ years without tallow, most of which are/were choice. For the longest time when I got into brisket smoking in 2008 or so, people actually sought out better grades of choice over prime brisket because prime had too much fat and less beefy flavor. Though I do personally think prime is considerably easier to cook than choice.

Rich is an arbitrary/subjective word when it comes to flavor. Hell even Meat Church did a video a while back where the guy that got the tallow craze going (Jirby from Goldee's) where he says using tallow makes the brisket more "rich" but also a little "bland." Maybe I am on my own island here, but I think of rich flavor being intense and bland being the exact opposite. Not sure how it can be rich and bland at the same time. I think it's just that fatty coating that lines the pallet and cuts my ability to taste flavor that people are calling "rich."

Beef tallow is very bland to me. Again, if you want to see what flavor it adds to the meat, just warm some up and taste a teaspoon.. tastes like crisco to me. Would be great to fry up some tater slices or something I bet, but I am not putting crisco or tallow on my brisket again. I think it makes it really shiney for pictures, but I'd rather just use butter or bacon grease if I want to add an enjoyable flavor.

Render the fat, create a good bark, and cook until tender. I have had and have cooked dozens of choices briskets from Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and everywhere else over the last 15+ years. No thanks on the tallow. I did it once and didn't like it at all. If I am drying one out during the cook, which happens, I just wrapped in foil vs paper to hold the moisture in and sacrifice bark crunch a little.

My take is it will certainly add moisture to a dry brisket, but so will injection and wrapping in foil vs paper. If strong beef, smoke, and rub flavor is not your thing, tallow will cut it back and you'll enjoy it more than a traditional.

See 9:45 mark in video below for "the tallow is a little bit more rich, but a little bit more bland" comment from Goldee's owner.

No Tallow vs Tallow Meat Church

The absolute last person I would listen to is the meat church guy. I'd listen to him for marketing advice though. That's what he's good at.

Muellers and Blacks are getting good meat. All I'm saying is standard "grocery store" briskets can stand the help of tallow.

If the bark is set, the tallow won't make it peel off. If that's the case, you're doing it wrong.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

How about y’all settle this at the tailgate this fall? Each of you bring one, we’ll vote, loser has to cleanup the whole area.

 

[ronpolk]

The tallow schtick is overrated in my opinion. It effectively ruins the flavor of your bark. You are just adding a coating of lard or crisco to that beautiful, crispy, flavorful bark you spent 8-12+ hours creating.

Tallow Fad

My take is, some of the Instagram/YouTube brisket folk use it to add extra juice/shine/glisten to their brisket for pictures/video. Unless you are drying out a brisket during the cook, why add more fat? We don't want to add fat flavor, we want beef and smoke. I'd recommend trying half a teaspoon of tallow on its own and ask yourself if you want to coat your brisket in it.

Agree with you. Tried it a couple times and didn’t think it helped. It does make for a great video or picture though. The most important trick I’ve learned is a long heated rest. If I have the time, I’ll put it in my oven overnight on the lowest temp my oven will go.

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

I decided to go no tallow. Guess we'll wait and see if that was a mistake or not. I just wrapped it at 170 and got it back in the smoker. Temp at 225 but may go 250. Looking like it will be an early supper instead of lunch.

 

[Dawgbite]

I used to “cook” brisket all the time for tailgating, family get togethers, and other events. Everyone bragged on my brisket and requested it. I’d always bring it pre sliced in a pan of aujue. I finally came clean to my tailgate group that I was buying the pre cooked Lawlers brisket at Sams club and warming it in a pan of beef broth with a packet of Aujue mix thrown in. You honestly can’t beat it. It’s always good and I wasn’t sitting up all night watching a brisket just to give it away. I know how to cook a good brisket but if I bring one to your event, odds are it’s bought.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

I used to “cook” brisket all the time for tailgating, family get togethers, and other events. Everyone bragged on my brisket and requested it. I’d always bring it pre sliced in a pan of aujue. I finally came clean to my tailgate group that I was buying the pre cooked Lawlers brisket at Sams club and warming it in a pan of beef broth with a packet of Aujue mix thrown in. You honestly can’t beat it. It’s always good and I wasn’t sitting up all night watching a brisket just to give it away. I know how to cook a good brisket but if I bring one to your event, odds are it’s bought.

Buc-ee and two overdressed old white guys approve:

 

[57stratdawg]

It's the full thing but not sure on lbs. It's from a cow I had processed so there's no sticker. It's probably 2" thick and as long as a sheet pan and almost as wide in the middle.

I think this is probably just the flat. It’s like the sirloin part of a brisket, but if you get a 10, 12, 15 lbs’er, it’s two muscles (the point and the flat). The Point is much fattier, similar to a ribeye. People usually make burnt ends out of the point, and it’s like a large ball on one end of the fat.

Anyway, flats are trickier, IMO. They’re less forgiving. The worst briskets you’ve ever had are almost always overcooked flats.

VS

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

I think this is probably just the flat. It’s like the sirloin part of a brisket, but if you get a 10, 12, 15 lbs’er, it’s two muscles (the point and the flat). The Point is much fattier, similar to a ribeye. People usually make burnt ends out of the point, and it’s like a large ball on one end of the fat.

Anyway, flats are trickier, IMO. They’re less forgiving. The worst briskets you’ve ever had are almost always overcooked flats.

VS

Mine looks like the top picture

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Mine looks like the top picture

How's she doing?

 

[dawgman42]

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

Pics or it didn't happen.

This was just before the wrap. Smoked 17 hours in total. Turned out perfect.

 

[Dawgbite]

I love it when a plan comes together!