Texas BBQ Rub's Rules for Your
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Article 2 of 8
Beef Brisket - Whole Untrimmed Brisket
In this article you are going to learn an easy, sure fire method of preparing whole untrimmed beef brisket for smoking.
This is the second article in a series of 8 articles you are receiving that will take your BBQ cooking skills to a higher level.
Brisket
Just the mention of the word "brisket" and some people will tell you that it is the hardest of all the pieces of meat you will ever prepare on your BBQ pit.
Don't listen to them. You are going to learn a simple but easy way to the brisket ready for smoking, what temperatures you should be cooking at, when and how to wrap a brisket, how to tell when the brisket is nice and tender, and how to cut your brisket for serving.
You are getting an easy to follow plan. When you follow this plan you will have great success in cooking or improving on the brisket you are now cooking. But remember, you have to take action and cook that great brisket.
Let's start with the basics.
The very first thing that you are going to have to find is a brisket to cook and depending on where you live you will usually find a brisket at either the grocery store, a discount chain, club store, or a local meat market.
The kind of brisket that you will find, either a whole untrimmed brisket and/or a trimmed brisket flat also is affected by where you live. Some of you will find both of these cuts of brisket and others will only find one.
If you can find an untrimmed whole brisket pick one up and get it home. These usually run in the 10 to 14 pound range and come in a cryovac package. Try to find one in the 12 pound range (the size I prefer to cook).
If you can't find an untrimmed whole brisket then what you should find is what is referred to as an "trimmed brisket" or a "trimmed brisket flat" which is basically part of the brisket called the flat that has been separated from the rest of the brisket and some of the fat has been trimmed from it. These are either in a cryovac bag or the butcher has trimmed the brisket and you will find it in the meat section with the steaks etc and it is usually in one of the plastic plates wrapped with food film. These will usually weigh in the 4 to 8 pound range.
First you need to know the advantages and disadvantages of cooking the whole untrimmed brisket versus the trimmed brisket. Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of both cuts of brisket:
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of Whole Untrimmed Brisket
1. costs less (usually about ½ of the cost of trimmed brisket)
2. more fat in the meat for the long cooking time - keeps meat moist
3. more servings - usually serves 20 people
4. more forgiving over a long the cook cooking time required by brisket
Disadvantages of Whole Untrimmed Brisket
1. larger piece of meat that may not fit on some smokers
2. larger piece of meat to handle on the pit
3. harder to find in some areas
4. a little harder to cut since grains run in different directions
5. if trimmed to much not much fat left on the meat for cooking
6. longer cooking times
Advantages of Trimmed Brisket Flat
1. smaller piece of meat may fit better on some pits
2. less waste in the end product
3. grain runs in one direction so easier to cut
4. less cooking time on the pit
Disadvantages to the Trimmed Brisket Flat
1. costs about double the price of untrimmed briskets
2. less fat for the meat to work with during cooking can cause drying out
3. If you are going to cook at high temps then you must inject this piece of meat or you chance drying it out
Take into consideration all of the advantages and disadvantages of the two kinds of brisket that you will find in the marker place. Your pit size and what is available to you in your particular market area will also weigh in the final decision you are making. Either one of these pieces of meat can be cooked to perfection but there is more preparation of the brisket flat in the initial preparation of the meat.
All said, I usually cook whole untrimmed briskets. But that is me and you will need to decide which cut is best for your particular circumstances.
I am going to share this little bit of information with you at this point. I will buy briskets 1 to 2 weeks in advance of my planned cook and keeping them in the cryovac package (you cannot break the bag open and the brisket you buy should be in a bag that has not been torn open or has opened because of a bad seal on the packaging. This bag should not have any large air pockets in it. The packaging will be tight around the meat). I will place them in my refrigerator until I need to cook them but not going over 2 weeks. This is what is called wet aging and it helps the brisket continue the natural aging process and helps the brisket break down and get tender over those two weeks. If the bag has been opened or you buy a trimmed brisket that is not in the factory closed cryovac packaging this will not work. In my opinion, after a couple of weeks in the frig wet aging the briskets will get more pliable and more tender. Do not be too concerned with the sell date stamped on the bag as this is what the store sell date is but you can also look for the packing date on the label as well.
Preparation of the Brisket
Whole - Untrimmed Brisket
OK you have a whole untrimmed brisket in the factory cryovac package. You may have had it sitting in the refrigerator for a few days and it is time to get it out and get it on the pit.
First, get your pit ready. I like to get the temps on my pit up to around 250 degrees and let it run at that temp for about 30 minutes before I put on any meat. The reason is to get the metal of the pit nice and hot and by getting the temp up any bacteria that could have been growing inside your pit will be killed and you won't have to worry about that at all. And I like to have around 250 degrees in the pit when I add the cold meat to the pit. Remember you will be opening the pit up and placing a large piece of cold meat on the pit and that will immediately move the temp of the pit down to around 220 or less which is where you should cook a brisket.
If you are using an offset smoker check the smoke coming out of the chimney of your smoker. It should be a pale while to almost clear. Clear is where you want to get the smoke exiting the pit which means you are not smothering the meat with a stale smoke. If you are bellowing out a really thick white smoke from you chimney you will need to make some adjustments to your pit. Best way to handle this is to open up the air intake valve on the firebox and using the amount of wood you are using and the damper on the chimney you can control your heat in the pit. One note: when you add logs to your firebox you will see a whiter smoke for a few minutes and that is fine it will clear back up. You should maintain a nice bed of coals in the firebox at all times so when you add a stick of wood it will catch fire from the coals that are already in the firebox.
Now you will focus on getting the brisket ready for the pit.
Take the brisket out of the refrigerator and place it in an aluminum pan with the fat cap facing up and the exposed meat facing down. Take a knife and cut the bag long wise down the center of the bag. Remove the brisket trying to keep as much of the red liquid that is in the package to stay inside the package as you remove the brisket.
Note: Many people believe the red liquid in a package of fresh packaged beef is blood. It is not blood at all as most of the blood is removed from the animal at slaughter. There is actually very little blood left in the animal after it has been slaughtered and it usually remains in the muscle tissue. The red liquid in the package is water from the beef combined with a protein. And it is harmless just mostly water.
Now you will focus on getting the brisket ready for the pit using the simple 1-2-3 method.
The brisket is lying fat up in the aluminum pan. There is not need to trim away any of the fat on the brisket unless you need to for space on the pit or if you just want to. The fat will actually render during cooking and help to keep plenty of moisture in and around the brisket. After cooking the fat can be removed very easily with the back of the knife or using your fingers.
You will need about ¼ to ½ cup of worchestershire sauce and about 1 ½ to 2 cups of Texas BBQ Rub to get the brisket ready for the pit.
Pour enough worchestershire on the fat side of the brisket to cover it and especially make sure that any exposed meat that you see while the brisket is laying with the fat up has some worchestersire sauce on it. Take about 1 handful of Texas BBQ Rub and first hit the exposed meat that you see on the fat side of the brisket with some rub. Don't worry about covering any of the fat with rub as it is pretty thick and the rub will not penetrate it and you are also going to be cooking fat side down on the pit and any rub on the bottom fat cap will just fall off so don't worry about getting any rub on the fat cap.
Take the brisket and flip it over in the aluminum pan. Now you are looking at the top of the brisket with the meat exposed. There will be some fat present on this side and especially you will see a large piece of fat off to one side. It is thick and hard. You can either cut it out or leave it on the brisket. I leave it on the briskets I cook. Again it will add moisture and flavor to the meat so why take it off now.
Take the remaining worchestershire sauce and cover the top of the brisket with it. Using your fingers, run the worchestershire all over the top and sides of the brisket. If you need some more worchestershire sauce add what you need to get a nice coating of sauce on the brisket.
Pour the remaining Texas BBQ Rub over the top of the brisket and using your fingers and hands cover the top of the brisket with a nice coating of rub. About ¼ inch will do fine. Do the same for the sides but it will be hard to keep a build up of rub on the sides so just cover them with rub.
You will see the rub and the worchestershire sauce mixing together and actually forming kind of a pasty substance on the top of the brisket. You are ready to take the brisket and place it on the pit.
Your brisket is sitting in the aluminum pan with the fat down and that is the way you are going to place it on the pit. Remove the brisket and place fat down on your pit and if you can point the thickest part of the brisket towards the firebox of your pit. Close the door and get yourself something to drink and sit back. You just have to watch the temperatures in your smoker at this point.
I like to cook my brisket at 210 to 220 degrees. Keep your pit in the 210 to 220 degree range for the duration of the brisket cooking or you may cook a little higher at 235 degrees. Don't worry if your pit spikes in temperatures for short periods of time. That is not going to make any major changes in the way the meat cooks. Check the brisket about every 2 hours and make sure it is not burning at the end facing the heat. If it has started to burn it is no big deal just move it further away from the heat source and watch the temps on your smoker. If you don't have room in your pit to move the brisket back from the heat then place a layer of aluminum foil under the brisket and that will help keep the brisket from burning.
After about 6 to 7 hours of smoking you will see the brisket is getting to be a really nice brownish color and it is at this point you should wrap the brisket. Do not worry about the internal temperature of the meat at this time. You are just looking for a great color on the outside of the brisket. You will probably see signs of moisture coming from the meat and making the rub look moist. That is what you really want. If you don't want to wrap your brisket that is fine, that choice is up to you.
Wrapping the Brisket
Wrapping the brisket is pretty simple and in my opinion makes a prettier, more moist brisket. Tear off 2 pieces of foil each about 3 feet long. Lay them on flat surface. If you have to carry the brisket a little distance from the pit to wrap it up, use the foil pan that you rubbed the brisket in. (It should have been washed out) Stack the 2 pieces of foil one on top of the other and lay the brisket fat side down on the top sheet of foil. Fold up the sides just a little as you are going to pour some liquid on top of the brisket and don't want the liquid to run on the floor. Gently pour ½ can coke or Dr Pepper over the top of the brisket. Fold up the sides of the first layer of foil over the brisket and I usually roll up the sides. Then repeat folding and rolling the second layer of foil over the first and you have double wrapped the brisket. Return to the smoker or if you want throw it in the oven since it will not take on any more smoke and all it is doing now is finishing the cooking process. If your oven will go to 200 or 210 degrees set the oven and put the brisket in the aluminum pan and slide it in the oven. No real need to keep the pit going just to finish off the brisket. You have greater control of the temps in the oven.
Cook for another 3 to 5 hours and check the internal temperature of your meat with an internal meat thermometer. You should feel the probe of the meat thermometer slide into the thickest part of the brisket with no resistance at all. You will be done with the cooking once the meat has reached 200-215 degrees or when you feel no resistance to the probe going into the meat.
If you don't have a meat thermometer just use a fork and slide it into the thickest part of the brisket. When you have no resistance to the fork sliding in you are done cooking the brisket.
Letting the Brisket Sit
It is important to let the brisket sit after the 10 to 12 hours of cooking in the heat. Sitting the brisket on the counter at room temps will allow the juices in the brisket to redistribute thru the brisket.
Just take the brisket out of the smoker or if you finished it off in the oven, remove place in a roasting pan or if it is in aluminum pan just leave it in there. Let the brisket rest for 1 to 2 hours if you can stand waiting that long to eat it. The rest is worth you holding off on slicing and eating it right out of the pit.
You can open the foil that is around the brisket or leave it tightly wrapped. Recommended: You leave the brisket resting for at least 1 hour and for the first 30 minutes leave the wrapped brisket just like it came off of the pit with the foil all closed up. After 30 minutes open up the foil and let the steam out of the package and this will actually dry the bark out and make a great bark that is not mushy.
Serving
The main thing here is to cut across the grain of the brisket. This will not only allow for cleaner looking slices but it will not get you stringy pieces of meat that will occur if you were cutting with the grain. So you need to identify which way the grain is running and cut across that grain.
When cutting the brisket cut cross grain on the brisket. When you get to the point end (the thick end) of the brisket the grain runs in two separate directions. You will see that the two have a layer of fat between them you can simply cut the point off of the flat where that layer of fat is and cut it separately or chop it for beef sandwiches. The meat in the point contains a lot of fat and in my opinion is some of the best tasting brisket meat there is.
You have succeeded in cooking a brisket.
Smoking the Flat Brisket
I am going to save the detail of this for next time. But you can basically follow the above but remember the flat has a lot less fat for the meat to work with than a whole brisket. So I usually lay some bacon across the brisket flat when I smoke one of these. You can also inject the brisket but we are going to discuss all of this in the next preparation email in a week or so. And your cooking time will be less. Figure an hour per pound (cooking at 210 to 225 degrees) then check the internal temp and see where you are.
This gives you plenty of information to digest and work on. Be looking for next week's Article 3 of in our series on cooking and preparing meat for the smoker. We will focus our discussion on cooking a brisket flat or what some people refer to as a trimmed brisket.
Throw Some Rub and a Pair of our BBQ Gloves in your shopping cart right now!
If you need some rub that will get the job done and leave you with a great tasting, juicy piece of meat go to our website and get some now. I would recommend the brisket blend rub for your briskets but we are also going to be discussing ribs in a couple of weeks so why no pick up at least a bag of each of the brisket rub and either the Original Rub or the Grand Champion Rub and then you will be ready to cook those ribs when that article is released. Note: the Original Rub or the Grand Champion Rub are both great on ribs but they are really nice on pork butt as well.
And don't forget to pick up a pair of the BBQ gloves so you can move the meat around on the pit, hold the meat while slicing it, or test the ribs for doneness. These gloves are a mainstay around the pit or kitchen.
Here's the link
www.texasbbqrub.com/shopping.html
You will love the rubs and the gloves. They make your life around the pit easier and more fun.
To your Best BBQ
Bill Cannon
President - Texas BBQ Rub
www.texasbbqrub.com
posted with permission from Bill Cannon
