Practicing brisket recipe without brisket - probably sacrilege

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MeatStreet

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Before anyone jumps all over me, I know that I should practice everything I'm going to do at a competition beforehand. I also know that there is no way to perfectly replicate a brisket cook unless you are cooking the actual brisket.

However, given the time it takes to actually cook a brisket and given the fact that I have three kids under the age of four and a wife that would MURDER me if I spent all of my free time cooking briskets, I was wondering if there was a way to cook a similar cut of steak to figure out a good flavor profile.

I'm trying to figure out a good combination of injection, rub, glaze, etc.

Anyone experimented with steak and have a "good" recommendation on how to do it?

Given that ribeyes are pretty fatty, would they be a "good" cut to use?

Any thoughts on how to cook it? I think anything over medium well is a crime against humanity, but is there any way to cook steak that best "replicates" brisket?

Also, after I figure out a good combination, I'm going to practice like hell on actual briskets. Just wanted to be sure that was out there.
 
The hardest thing to nail on brisket is tenderness and that should be your focus. Injection, wrap liquid, sauce, wood all affect the taste. Personally, I think it would be a waste of time to taste test on steaks you are going to grill directly over coals. Now that being said, it seems like a great excuse to tell your wife for why you need to cook rib eye every night.
 
I would go get the biggest Choice or Prime brisket you can find, trim out the flat, split it in the middle (along the grain), make one or two cuts across the grain. This will give you 4-6 nice sized chunks that you can use for injection & rub testing. Now run a couple of different commercial injections and 2-3 commercial rubs, cook and test. You can try different finishing combos on each chunk.
 
agreed with others, the hardest part about comp brisket is nailing tenderness. there is no small cut of meat that can mock that. Are you cooking hot and fast? with aggressive trimming you can get an entire comp flat done in 3.5-4 hours. could probably knock it out after the kids go to bed one night if you don't mind sacrificing some sleep.
 
For pork we use pork chops to test flavors but haven't found a good substitute for brisket yet.

The best idea is what Mike said above. When you do practice brisket do several pieces.

I've got 3 young kids too. Just practice when you can. It'll be easier in only a few short years. Enjoy them while you can. I get the oldest one to help season. Makes it more fun
 
I have used flat irons to try out different flavors for brisket. I would try to duplicate a brisket cook with injecting, cooking to color and then wrapping. It's not the same but sliced thin it is pretty close. They are not a good substitute for tenderness but for trying out flavors in less than 3 hours I thought they worked well.
 
If you can’t practice just use the following:
-Injection: Butchers or Kosmos
-Rub: Smoking Guns Hot
-Sauce: Combination of Blues Hog Original and Head Country or Head Country alone
If you nail tenderness, that will get you a call if you use quality meat and depending on what other teams are there.
 
Pappy Q stole my answer.
Couple yrs ago I took Tuffys class, and learned not to worry so much about coming up with the next great rub, rather focus on the cook. I went with the commercial runs, sauces and injections he used in the class and went from bottom 20 to top 20. I suggest you take the guess work out of it and focus on cooking great bbq, which is far easier than trying to create a new recipe for a great rub. It may not sound fun buying rubs and sauces, but getting calls is.
 
I'd agree with Pappy Q. Smoking Guns Hot rub plus some variation of Head Country sauce is the basis for most comp teams. There are a couple of other rubs that I layer on, but the basis is a nice coat of Guns Hot. If you wanted to replicate what a brisket is like on taste and tenderness, I would use a flank steak and grill it until it is a medium well. That would give you some meat to try out rub combos and sauce combos on.
 
MikeJ65 said:
I would go get the biggest Choice or Prime brisket you can find, trim out the flat, split it in the middle (along the grain), make one or two cuts across the grain. This will give you 4-6 nice sized chunks that you can use for injection & rub testing. Now run a couple of different commercial injections and 2-3 commercial rubs, cook and test. You can try different finishing combos on each chunk.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking of doing but trying to cut a brisket in half to nail down tenderness. As it stands right now, not only and I not impressed with my current flavor but I cannot get a brisket tender to save my soul.

Do you think that one could nail tenderness by cutting the brisket into smaller pieces as well?
 
If testing flavors is what you're after, grab a chuck roast. You can make "Burnt Ends" out of it, and it tastes remarkably similar to the real thing. I make these at home frequently, and they're delicious.

However, I agree with the others, nailing tenderness is the most important thing, and what you should be most concerned with. Brisket is the only way to practice that.
 
eap0510 said:
Do you think that one could nail tenderness by cutting the brisket into smaller pieces as well?
Click to expand...

Yes, cook time might be a little less, but you will still learn the right feel with the probe.

Are you wrapping? It might be possible to make jerky (tough and overcooked) if you don't wrap, but in foil a tight brisket simply needs more time. An overcooked brisket will fall apart when you try to slice, an undercooked one will have resistance to the probe. Some people misinterpret a tough brisket as being over, when it is actually still under.
 
I can attest that tenderness is where it's at. I use all of the typical rubs and sauces and still can't get a call in brisket.

Focus on tenderness and less about flavors until you start nailing it.
 
MeatStreet said:
Before anyone jumps all over me, I know that I should practice everything I'm going to do at a competition beforehand. I also know that there is no way to perfectly replicate a brisket cook unless you are cooking the actual brisket.

However, given the time it takes to actually cook a brisket and given the fact that I have three kids under the age of four and a wife that would MURDER me if I spent all of my free time cooking briskets, I was wondering if there was a way to cook a similar cut of steak to figure out a good flavor profile.

I'm trying to figure out a good combination of injection, rub, glaze, etc.

Anyone experimented with steak and have a "good" recommendation on how to do it?

Given that ribeyes are pretty fatty, would they be a "good" cut to use?

Any thoughts on how to cook it? I think anything over medium well is a crime against humanity, but is there any way to cook steak that best "replicates" brisket?

Also, after I figure out a good combination, I'm going to practice like hell on actual briskets. Just wanted to be sure that was out there.
Click to expand...


FWIW, I never wanted to compete, but did for several years.

Why? Because my teenage son wanted us to. When your teenage son WANTS to spend time with you, you take advantage of that. This was the story of our first comp: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53056

When my son was in college and doing summer internships my brother and I continued competing and my son would join us for a few hours. Haven't competed the last two years due to other things going on, and now my son has graduated college and is working 900 miles away in Atlanta. My competing days may be over.

This was a lead up to asking you a question, for your own personal thought.

With a wife and three very young children, and without even the time to practice brisket at home, are you sure that you have the time to compete?

Don't get me wrong. If your kids were a little older and wanted to do this and it was a family thing, that would be great! Without the free time to really get away from the family for 2 full days each competition, probably not so much.

Everyone has their own reasons, and each person should make sure that their reasons are what is best for them.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice.

I feel pretty good about nailing tenderness, so all of this advice helps. It's often said that we are in a tenderness competition, not a bbq one.
 
Tim,

I appreciate that. Do I have the time to compete? No. :)

But I make it. I do a couple of comps a year and my wife suffers for those two days. She also travels a great deal more than I do, so I spend much more time with the kids alone.

I'm not "neglecting" them in any sense. I spend most of my non-work hours with them. They're not golf or football orphans.

I like to bbq and I love competitions. I'm okay with spending my free time away from them for a couple of days out of the year. Keeps me sane.


timzcardz said:
FWIW, I never wanted to compete, but did for several years.

Why? Because my teenage son wanted us to. When your teenage son WANTS to spend time with you, you take advantage of that. This was the story of our first comp: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53056

When my son was in college and doing summer internships my brother and I continued competing and my son would join us for a few hours. Haven't competed the last two years due to other things going on, and now my son has graduated college and is working 900 miles away in Atlanta. My competing days may be over.

This was a lead up to asking you a question, for your own personal thought.

With a wife and three very young children, and without even the time to practice brisket at home, are you sure that you have the time to compete?

Don't get me wrong. If your kids were a little older and wanted to do this and it was a family thing, that would be great! Without the free time to really get away from the family for 2 full days each competition, probably not so much.

Everyone has their own reasons, and each person should make sure that their reasons are what is best for them.
Click to expand...
 
MikeJ65 said:
Yes, cook time might be a little less, but you will still learn the right feel with the probe.

Are you wrapping? It might be possible to make jerky (tough and overcooked) if you don't wrap, but in foil a tight brisket simply needs more time. An overcooked brisket will fall apart when you try to slice, an undercooked one will have resistance to the probe. Some people misinterpret a tough brisket as being over, when it is actually still under.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am wrapping with leftover injection in my foil pack. I just do not seem to have the feel for the correct tenderness. I am going to get a brisket cut it up into a couple of pieces and pull one when I think it is done and let the over cook another 15 or 30 minutes and see what happens.
 
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