My rant--Brisket is not a mystery meat!

Then I guess I'm a big "slow", knuckle dragging, mouth breather that slobbers out the side of my mouth. Because brisket isn't "easy" for me. I attribute it to being a different animal to cook than ribs and pork butt. Not necessarily "harder" but different with regard to the method of determining when it is done or not.
 
Bamabuzzard said:
Then I guess I'm a big "slow", knuckle dragging, mouth breather that slobbers out the side of my mouth. Because brisket isn't "easy" for me. I attribute it to being a different animal to cook than ribs and pork butt. Not necessarily "harder" but different with regard to the method of determining when it is done or not.
Click to expand...

Maybe all the slobber is washing the rub off of the meat? :becky:

If there's one thing I've learned in BBQ, it's that everyone has some meats that are "easy" for them and others that are harder. For whatever the reason, I've never had a problem with brisket, but competition chicken kicks my butt! I can't seem to get it right. Right now there are dozens of Brethren laughing at me because chicken is easy for them.

We all just need to realize that there are folks here at different experience levels, regardless of how long they have been on the site. Join date means nothing more than when you first signed up. There are folks who have been here since the beginning and have purple user names but only cook a couple of times a year and there are folks here who joined last week but have been cooking BBQ for 30 years. The color of our user names and our join date do not equate to experience or wisdom. We all can learn from everyone.

This also means there there will be questions that come up often and questions that may seem silly to some of us, but are very serious to the person who posted it. They all deserve our best answer and it should be done in a courteous and friendly manner. That's what made this site the best BBQ site on the Internet.

The other thing that quickly becomes obvious after reading the posts for a while is that there is more than one way to get good results, even with the same equipment. If someone's method or equipment is different than yours that doesn't mean that they deserve anything less than your best advice and definitely doesn't mean that they deserve ridicule or a nasty response. If you do things differently and feel that they can benefit from your techniques then point out what you do and let them know why you do it. It they are using different equipment accept their decision and either don't reply or try to help them with what they are using. Don't put them down because you don't think their equipment is as good as yours or doesn't meet your definition of BBQ. There is way too much of that going on around here lately.

Sorry for the mini rant, but thanks for reading :rolleyes:
 
It is very hard to communicate with text on the WWW

I never intended to "ding" folks who ask questions.
My post was meant to be about the folks who answer the questions, but do more to complicate the situation than fix the problem.

This post nails the concept I was talking about.

Fo Sizzle My Nizzle said:
When I joined here last year I had never cooked a brisket before. After seeing all the "help me" threads everyday, I thought this must be a tough cut of meat to cook. Some people sounded down right scared to cook the thing. People that have been putting it off for YEARS!! That combined with the landslide of advice saying how brisket SHOULD be cooked and not always necessarily how it COULD be cooked made it seem intimidating.
Click to expand...

All over the WWW are folks who make it seem like VooDoo or something and in many cases do not even read the question completely.
I have seen folks state that it took hundreds or thousands of practice briskets to get it right.
I recently saw a reply that told the OP they needed to buy a different smoker if they wanted to cook brisket.

Best example I can give is that many times, all the OP needed to do was cook it longer. Not always, but that is the answer to many of the problems encountered.
But, there follows a avalanche of "cook it hotter", "cook it cooler", "mess with the fat cap (more or less), and so forth till the OP would need to change each and every thing they did. And, that is if they could even figure out all the changes folks recommend.

Bottom line, IMHO, is that many of us make it harder to cook brisket (and other things) when our goal should be to help make it easier.

If I were just coming into the wonderful world of brisket cooking right now, I doubt seriously that I would have the nerve to try one based on the info on the WWW these days 8)

Lots of good posts above.
Thanks

TIM
 
My "problem" is I don't cook brisket enough so I haven't gotten used to "the feel" of when it is ready. I've only cooked brisket three times and overcooked all three of them.

I'm actually cooking one today. Wish me luck. :shock:

Ron_L said:
Maybe all the slobber is washing the rub off of the meat? :becky:

If there's one thing I've learned in BBQ, it's that everyone has some meats that are "easy" for them and others that are harder. For whatever the reason, I've never had a problem with brisket, but competition chicken kicks my butt! I can't seem to get it right. Right now there are dozens of Brethren laughing at me because chicken is easy for them.

We all just need to realize that there are folks here at different experience levels, regardless of how long they have been on the site. Join date means nothing more than when you first signed up. There are folks who have been here since the beginning and have purple user names but only cook a couple of times a year and there are folks here who joined last week but have been cooking BBQ for 30 years. The color of our user names and our join date do not equate to experience or wisdom. We all can learn from everyone.

This also means there there will be questions that come up often and questions that may seem silly to some of us, but are very serious to the person who posted it. They all deserve our best answer and it should be done in a courteous and friendly manner. That's what made this site the best BBQ site on the Internet.

The other thing that quickly becomes obvious after reading the posts for a while is that there is more than one way to get good results, even with the same equipment. If someone's method or equipment is different than yours that doesn't mean that they deserve anything less than your best advice and definitely doesn't mean that they deserve ridicule or a nasty response. If you do things differently and feel that they can benefit from your techniques then point out what you do and let them know why you do it. It they are using different equipment accept their decision and either don't reply or try to help them with what they are using. Don't put them down because you don't think their equipment is as good as yours or doesn't meet your definition of BBQ. There is way too much of that going on around here lately.

Sorry for the mini rant, but thanks for reading :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
Bamabuzzard said:
My "problem" is I don't cook brisket enough so I haven't gotten used to "the feel" of when it is ready. I've only cooked brisket three times and overcooked all three of them.

I'm actually cooking one today. Wish me luck. :shock:
Click to expand...

Luck!

I think that may be the most challenging part of brisket. In most parts of the country it's not cheap, so most of us don't cook them enough to perfect it.
 
And in addition to beer, there is not one damn thing you can smoke, grill steam or bake in your chosen patio cooker that you can not dump, dice,chip or shred into a pot of pinto beans and be absolutely amazing. Drink up and smoke on brethren. Smoke on
 
Most of us have forgotten that almost all smoked or bbq meat started off as the lowest cut of meat available, and was given to poorest of the poor. which were slave or migrant workers. This is what they had and they made it work for them. It really bothers me to see the price of not just brisket but all meat skyrocket in price the last couple years, but what really bothers me is people paying outrageous money for kobe beef or other high dollar cuts to do almost the same thing a cut of meat 1/3 the cost will be when done right.

For pete sake if you want to squander that kind of money on a hunk of meat why not do it right and get a rib roast or a beef tenderloin? Sorry it just pisses me off.:tsk:
Dave
 
Although I may be as guilty as anyone of making my own cooks over-complicated, I do have to say, for the first time I can remember, yesterday, I did post that I felt the OP in the specific thread should abandon his chosen process. I agree with Tim, that too many people make statements that simply are not true, 1000 briskets to get one right? C'mon.

That being said, if they post that they want help, they are going to get the multi-tude of answers. Winnowing through the chaff is certainly difficult. But, there are many ways, and putting them out there, that has to help in the end.
 
We all have to start somewhere with learning how to cook briskets. My first was circa 1988 and I had no clue as to what I was doing. I "grilled" my first brisket over a open gas flame grill...at least I knew to keep the temp of the flame low. :roll: It was my first cook for my new in-laws and was a chard mess. :doh: Fortunately they all took it in good humor as we all laughed...digging through the chard crust for some edible meat. lol

And today, after years of learning curves, I smoke terrific briskets for family and my company's special events. Everyone raves about them. :grin:

Today's newbies are fortunate to have access to the WWW and forums like this to give them guidance before they ever start.
 
I have smoked brisket with varying results for at least 10 years. Until I found this site, I never knew what I had been doing wrong. Or better yet, identified other techniques that could lead to improved results. This is over the traditional x minutes/pound or to x temperature.

As far as the many Should vs. could options, everyone has to weed out the things that won't work for them. Also, as far as flavors and approaches...if you only eat vanilla ice cream, you will never find out that you really like some other flavor even more.
 
VA-Dave said:
I know, it's a tall order.

But I'll take the friends.

:grin:

Dave
Click to expand...

Feed me and I'm your friend :mrgreen:

superlazy said:
I lived with a gal that could not boil water:shocked: How somebody could burn water confuses me to this day
Click to expand...

A buddy married a very pretty girl who walked into the room during a football game and asked if bubbles in the water meant it was boiling. Seriously. He does the cooking
 
100% of my brisket problems are due to undercooking. It doesn't matter whatever you rub with, that's just a percentage of the flavor profile. Keeping the flat super moist should be the question.
 
Untraceable said:
100% of my brisket problems are due to undercooking. It doesn't matter whatever you rub with, that's just a percentage of the flavor profile. Keeping the flat super moist should be the question.
Click to expand...



I know it would be expensive, but it would be an interesting experiment to intentionally leave some on after a well tuned expert said "it is done" and see exactly how long the window actually IS low and slow to hot and fast. The perception from the neophyte perspective is that you hone only seconds to spare when it is done. If you KNEW that you had 30-45 minutes HNF and an hour or two low and slow....well then you could chill a bit :).

The frequency the old hands check at gives some "feel for this"..........."check every 30 minutes after the IT hits 200f, pull when it probes like butter".

But if you cook HNF like some do, say 300, wrap in butcher paper after the first 4 hours, then check at some interval until it probes done, what happens if you leave it on an extra hour AFTER it probes done ??

Bill
 
willbird said:
I know it would be expensive, but it would be an interesting experiment to intentionally leave some on after a well tuned expert said "it is done" and see exactly how long the window actually IS low and slow to hot and fast. The perception from the neophyte perspective is that you hone only seconds to spare when it is done. If you KNEW that you had 30-45 minutes HNF and an hour or two low and slow....well then you could chill a bit :).

The frequency the old hands check at gives some "feel for this"..........."check every 30 minutes after the IT hits 200f, pull when it probes like butter".

But if you cook HNF like some do, say 300, wrap in butcher paper after the first 4 hours, then check at some interval until it probes done, what happens if you leave it on an extra hour AFTER it probes done ??

Bill
Click to expand...

Your Windows of time seem spot on to me. I have been on the anti "feels like butta" wagon for a while.
 
I like the probe method, as it allows for every variable but one, my own skill in using it. No matter which cut of meat, how tender the steer, how hot I am cooking, how humud it is, it always comes down to the feel.

Now, I can lift a brisket and have a pretty good idea if it is done, there are cues. But, the probe is cheap, battery free insurance. I think if you are cooking hot and fast, you have at least an hour to pull a decent brisket. Thus, no need to get weird for at least 30 minutes.
 
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