brisket....fat up or down??????

K80Shooter · Feb 2, 2013

Man there's as many answers to this question as which cooker is best. There seems to be no definitive answer. I just did one in my egg indirect heat and did it fat up. I'll know in a little while if I like it or not.

Here's how I look at it. The heat goes up to the plate setter then reflects off of it to the sides where the gaps are. As there is not much room here the heat goes to the top of the egg following the shape of it, once at the top it swirls back down onto your meat. Who knows? That seemed logical to me so thats the way I went.

The_Kapn · Feb 2, 2013

I do "Fat Cap Off"--unless it is a skinny little flat.
We like bark, not fat.

Works fine for me and has brought in some serious cash at comps.

TIM

Fo Sizzle My Nizzle · Feb 2, 2013

Ron_L said:
I am in the fat cap toward the heat camp. As mentioned, whether that is up or down depends on the cooker. In the Akorn I would have the fat cap down.

Big Mista did some comparative cooks in his Spicewine a while back with briskets and butts. He cooked one of each fat cap up and one of each fat cap down. He couldn't detect a difference in the end product :-D

I wouldn't trust that guy. He isn't even eating meat these days!!

shirknwrk · Feb 2, 2013

When an indirect piece is used, a kamado is hotter near the top, Having said that, I'm not sure that it matters much as there is more radiant heat from the stone even though the air may not be as hot as up near the exhaust.

BobM · Feb 2, 2013

Fat down in my WSM.

Sent from my Android phone.

K80Shooter · Feb 2, 2013

Ok after slicing and eating my brisket which was cooked on the egg indirect fat side up I can honestly say.............. Next time it will be fat side down.

HankB · Feb 3, 2013

K80Shooter said:
Ok after slicing and eating my brisket which was cooked on the egg indirect fat side up I can honestly say.............. Next time it will be fat side down.

Why? What would be improved fat side down?

Ron_L · Feb 3, 2013

shirknwrk said:
When an indirect piece is used, a kamado is hotter near the top, Having said that, I'm not sure that it matters much as there is more radiant heat from the stone even though the air may not be as hot as up near the exhaust.

I've found that the radiated heat from the indirect piece (platesetter in my Eggs) is more intense that the higher dome temp, so that's why I cook fat cap down in the Egg.

DubfromGA · Feb 3, 2013

K80Shooter said:
Ok after slicing and eating my brisket which was cooked on the egg indirect fat side up I can honestly say.............. Next time it will be fat side down.

Saw those pics, too.

Great looking brisket!!!!

---k--- · Feb 3, 2013

Hang it. :wink:

I'm struggling here, but I'm disagreeing with Boshizzle. I do fatcap down on my drum, 250* for 12 hours, NO foil, and I get Texas style bark. I also like fat cap down, because then it is the fat cap sticking to the grate and not the meat.

But really, fat cap up versus fat cap down, is in my opinion, a boogie man and excuse people use to explain away other problems that they can't figure out.

Big George's BBQ · Feb 3, 2013

I do mine fat side down I thing the fat helps to protect the meat and the bark looks better- no grill marks

LoneStarMojo · Feb 3, 2013

Done em both ways.....I even have done brisket (and butts) with no fat cap. I enjoyed them all.

K80Shooter · Feb 3, 2013

HankB said:
Why? What would be improved fat side down?

For me the bark (which is the best part) got too much heat and formed a inedible layer of meat, sort of like a hard crust. This could have come from a couple of things, too high of heat for the cook or because I didn't foil/wrap. I know if I had done fat side down that the fat would have taken most of the heat and I would have had that wonderful bark up top to eat. Another thing was it got done way faster than I thought it would. I foiled and wrapped in towels for about 5 hours, this could have had something to do with it, I dunno, this was my 1st brisket.

Now on the flip side the brisket was wonderful! Very tender and moist, so much so that juice would run out of it as it was being sliced. I just wish that I would have had some of the bark to eat.

bigabyte · Feb 3, 2013

Truth be told, the real secret that the "pros" use, is to wrap the fat cap all the way around the meat so that the fat faces all sides, and rotate the meat every 5 minutes.

I also have a nice bridge for sale.:becky:

DubfromGA · Feb 4, 2013

But my "work" today was a different matter, indeed.

Had to get java before anything else. I let this brisket flat sit out while I fired up the coals.

This bag of Wicked Good is nearly done. Time to reload.

Black Ops rub smells great and takes pretty easily.

4:50am

bigabyte · Feb 4, 2013

Looking good!

DubfromGA · Feb 4, 2013

Thanks guys.

I was here at four hours.

I'm afraid I done goofed early this morning and didn't even pay attention to where the fat cap was laying.......arghhhhhhhh !!!!

I went ahead and foiled at this point.

Funny thing is my pit temp recovered almost immediately after closing the lid.....but the brisket temp is holding...even dropped two degrees over the next thirty mins.

Do briskets stall like butts?

I went ahead and turned up the heat a bit.

bigabyte · Feb 4, 2013

Yep, they too have "the dreaded stall". Just keep on keeping on!:thumb:

jestridge · Feb 4, 2013

Kinda like flipping a coin however it lands when you throw it on the smoker

DubfromGA · Feb 4, 2013

bigabyte said:
Yep, they too have "the dreaded stall". Just keep on keeping on!:thumb:

Thanks!

It finally bumped up two degrees.......then two more........

brisket....fat up or down??????

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