Night train brisket unsuccessful

First, I'm a big time KC BBQ fan. I'm from Columbia MO and rarely get good bbq. This weekend I went to Oklahoma Joes and fattened myself up with some brisket and burnt ends (see picture!). I came back home and decided I wanted to make some nice, tender brisket in the oven since I don't have a way to smoke. Only other real beef cooking experience I have is a couple crock pot roasts and some cast iron steaks.

I purchased a 5lb flat brisket ($20 :shock:, but worth it for the experiment) that looked a little lean on the fat cap after I opened it. I rinsed it and patted it dry, liberally sprinkling a mixture of 2tbl black pepper and 3tbl celery salt.

Wrapped it up in 2 pieces of Al foil, crimping the edges tight. I put it in a glass baking dish and put it in a 275F oven for 4hr 15m. Rested 30 mins, turned on the broiler, removed steak from pouch and broiled on a cookie sheet until it looked well browned on the fat cap, about 12 mins.

Waited 15 more minutes, and started slicing. Taste was excellent, the beef pulled apart fairly easily, but was dry dry dry in the mouth! This was confusing since the foil pouch was still filled with juice, though some did collect in the baking dish. I chopped about half into cubes and mixed it up with BBQ sauce, though it's still dry when I eat it. 1/2 is still in steak form in the fridge, and I saved all the juices in a tupperware container.

1) What can I do to make it "juicier" next time? I feel like I followed the directions perfectly (I was a baker for a little while), but I'm very inexperienced with roasting/braising meats.
2) Any way to salvage the brisket I have left over? can I rehydrate with the drippings?

Thank you brethren

PS also open to other meat ideas that I can mock up with BBQ sauce to simulate the experience. I have not been impressed with the bbq shops in Columbia, MO.

In hindsight, the resting period did seem a little short (I reread the NT post and it gave a range, with 30m being on the low end). With all this talk about tempermental cuts, I also believe the trimmed fatcap may have contributed. I bought the steak at walmart and they blacked out the fat side, so I couldn't gauge how much fat there was (I was actually worried it was all fat and I was wasting good money). Too many variables, will have to just try it again and make a note of what, if anything, I changed.

In the mean time I'm also researching smokers in the $200 - $250 range. WSM 18" looks good, but I'm wondering if a propane one would be easier since I don't really have too much time to master this craft :sad:. I saw some posts of how easily a propane smoker will hold 225F and it's tempting to go that route...

Saiko said:

Exactly. Most people seem to be missing that point. The longest learning curve in smoking a brisket is knowing when it is done. It's just a "feel" that you develop over time. Instead of spending 10-15 hours at a time learning this curve, the idea is to do a couple in the oven and learn it quickly.

Click to expand...

Yep, it seemed like it was such a "follow these steps to get this texture" technique, I *had* to use it for my first attempt at brisket. Again, I actually have no idea specifically why it ended up as dry as it did, I just have a guess it was because the rest wasn't as long as it should've been.

Whats interesting about brisket prices is that a full packer is the same price as a trimmed flat! I might just get the whole thing to get practice cutting it down, I'll figure out what to do with the point later...