Weird Little Brisket cooked up great

My very pricey brisket point turned out to be the most oddly shaped and tiny packer ever. Still, it turned into a lovely sandwich. As always, no need to click to the blog, it is all here.


On Saturday, I hit my normal meat counter, and lo and behold, what looked like a brisket point was right there. For me, I love the point far more than the flat of the brisket and here was a small grass-fed brisket from my favorite Humboldt County producer. Purchased! Woke up Sunday morning, fired the pit and took a look at my little brisket point, and was surprised to see, it as a full 4 pound packer, well, a weird, tiny, 4 pound packer with the smallest, thinnest excuse for a flat I have ever seen. By the time I got done trimming off the membrane and such, it was probably around 3 pounds. No matter, I seasoned it up with Ted & Barneys Meat Rub, a product that comes from just over the river from where this apparently tiny steer once sort of fed.


From here, I decided to roll it, that paper thin flat would never hold up in the cook. So, a little butcher twine and I had a brisket roast. The meat was so soft, it barely held in the butcher tie I used. Onto the smoker which had locked into 250F by then.


It sat at the 250F temperature for 2 hours, then I wrapped it in some butcher paper and forgot about it for another 2 hours. The temperature somewhere along the line approached 375F, and the paper got a little crisp. But, after a mere 6 hours, it felt about right, so I probed and it was tender. Pulled, wrapped in new paper and rested for about an hour. I had no idea what to expect.


Well, I ended up with tiny little slices of brisket, but, where they tender, they sure looked good. A tiny little smoke ring, almost no visible fat, let's check if it bends.


So, the slices flopped right over, I didn't bother with the slicing knife, just a regular scalloped utility knife, but, cut like a champ, no crumbling and very soft. Yep, I can cook a brisket still, darn fine one actually. Time to build a sandwich.


A little horseradish mayo, some dill pickles and a soft white roll, lightly toasted. Who needs a plate, I got a cutting board.


While the whole thing was smaller than expected, the flavor was all brisket. First off, the Ted & Barney's Meat Rub was excellent. I am surprised every time I use it, it mostly look like salt and pepper, but, it gets the job done. While the brisket was weirdly shaped and tiny, it cooked up just like a full size packer, and rendered out beautifully. A tender, flavorful brisket in every way.

Cook Detail:
UDS cooker
temps: 250F (2 hours), 250F to 375F (2 hours), 325F (2 hours)
wrapped after 2 hours (butcher paper)
unwrapped after 4 hours
rested 1 hour or so (wrapped in clean butcher paper)

Bull, I think it came from a bull about the size of a great dane. It probably rode to the feed lot in a Prius.

Ryan, I truly think the only way I could cook this was to tie it up into a roast. That tiny flat would never have cooked up right on it's own.

Bludawg said:

:eusa_clap That looks amazing and bears a striking resemblance to my dinner tonight right down to the china.:icon_smil

Click to expand...

I pulled out the good china, you can't see, but, that is a canning jar I am drinking from :bow:

As usual, I have a theory Ryan. It goes like this, and it is based on trimmed weight.

Any brisket under 6 pounds is too small to cook slow, and too small to reliably cook to tenderness without some technique to shelter the meat from drying. I chose rolling, but, foil or Dutch oven would also work.

From 7 to 10 pounds, they can be done using a more traditional method, but, with wrapping. If it is a large flat, then maybe not. But, too many small briskets out there right now.

From 11 to 14 pounds, this is the sweet spot, these cook up reliably great, and you can find thicker flats and decent points in this weight group. Any brisket in this weight range will cook up with any method done well.

Above 15 pounds, these again get tricky, they often have very thick flats and can take so long to get tender, the surface is hard to keep moist.

This was a neat experiment, but, amongst other things, I want more brisket and there is almost none left. And it was odd, with too much waste, that piece of meat ended up costing more than a steak. Just not worth it.