Brisket Probing Video - Doneness Description

[Happy Hapgood]

Thank you Jason for this Great video. Man, I just did the best one I've ever done yesterday and hope to document the cook next time.

What grade was that briskey? I can't get those results with anything less than a Choice cut. Your's looks Amazing!

 

[Jason TQ]

Thank you Jason for this Great video. Man, I just did the best one I've ever done yesterday and hope to document the cook next time.

What grade was that briskey? I can't get those results with anything less than a Choice cut. Your's looks Amazing!

It was a prime, and my first prime in a long time that a friend got for me. I did a select today with the same results. Flavor was a little different, but the done feel was the same. I normally do choice.

 

[rikun]

Ok,

I think I finally got it. I was pretty darn close with my last one, maybe just a hair under.

But it was still very dry. Granted, it was a small flat, but some of them have turned out pretty juicy. Passed the bend test, didn't break on itself, flapped itself on knife and had a just little bit of the accordion effect, but broke with ease. And chewed fine.

Any tips? Or was it just the meat? It had a decent marbling for a flat, but then again you never know...

 

[Cylee]

Thank you SO much for posting this! I am currently smoking my first ever brisket on the bge, and had no idea what "probing" was or how to do it!
Thanks again!!

 

[Silenoz]

That was very helpful. Thank you Jason! Us rookies sometimes need our hands held so to speak.

Also... was that old school pron music in the background or did my mind subconsciously add that after watching that meat get piston probed for 3 or so minutes?

 

[SDAR]

Great video. I like to probe against the grain very very slowly to see if I can feel any really subtle "snap" of the collagen between the meat cells. If I can, it's not quite done.

 

[weave1499]

Nice job. Very accurate description, and I agree with you and the others about the butter comparison. When I smoked my first whole brisket years ago, I was told to cook it until a skewer went in like it was butter. I couldn't even slice that one, it crumbled apart so badly. We all live and learn. The prime looked really good. Thanks for posting that.

 

[V1VRV2]

Great video Jason. Some of the advice you gave me in PM's when I was struggling to get consistently good brisket really helped a lot. That's why I enjoy this place so much!

 

[WareZdaBeef]

I may have probed it for a few more minutes after I stopped filming........:loco:

I agree. You should have poked more holes in it. Especially when its still in the 204-208F range. Definately needed more moisture loss.

 

[Dave M]

Good video, thanks for posting. Did I hear a niner in there?

 

[Bperkins01]

Thanks for the video - I never liked the butter description either. If you decide to do another video, could you do it showing undercooked and probed? The contrast of the two would be great. thanks again.

 

[Jason TQ]

Thanks for the video - I never liked the butter description either. If you decide to do another video, could you do it showing undercooked and probed? The contrast of the two would be great. thanks again.

So I kind of have what your looking for. I did a full brisket cook and here is that video. At 22:07 I check the brisket when it is at 202 degrees and show that it is pretty close to being done, but not quite there. I'm probing pretty fast, but especially in the middle it is not as done as when I check it again at 24:30 when it is at 206 internal. Again since you can't feel exactly what I'm feeling even describing it while filming doesn't quite "teach" everything you need to know, but hopefully it gets folks closer.

Also around the 20:00 mark I show when I first wrap and it is in the 150 range I think. That is definitely tight and I show me probing and you can very much see the difference of very underdone. Obviously this is way low a temp to be done, but you can really see it here, vs the first time I check for doneness when it was close, but not quite done.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2F71VwKJUw"]Full Brisket Cook/Smoke - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Jason TQ]

Ok,

I think I finally got it. I was pretty darn close with my last one, maybe just a hair under.

But it was still very dry. Granted, it was a small flat, but some of them have turned out pretty juicy. Passed the bend test, didn't break on itself, flapped itself on knife and had a just little bit of the accordion effect, but broke with ease. And chewed fine.

Any tips? Or was it just the meat? It had a decent marbling for a flat, but then again you never know...

Flats can be a little trickier and smaller window to nail as a lot of time to cook and isn't much fat at all, so can dry out faster with less mass there if you aren't watching it.

 

[Jason TQ]

Great video Jason. Some of the advice you gave me in PM's when I was struggling to get consistently good brisket really helped a lot. That's why I enjoy this place so much!

Glad to pass along all the stuff I have learned. Brisket was tough for me in the beginning. Took a bunch of reading, talking and then cooking a bunch to figure it out and am still learning :loco:.

For me a big part (and this sounds weird) was actually realizing what "awesome" brisket tastes like. And when I finally tasted some amazing team's brisket it hit me that the great or euphoric taste and experience people get to brisket isn't the same for me. There are many other types of beef that taste way better. I still cook it a lot because I very much enjoy cooking it (might be my favorite meat to cook) and others like it and I can certainly still eat it just fine as a meal (I love brisket leftovers for other dishes).

So not saying everyone will be this way and I'm in the minority here, but when I realized that I just don't think amazing brisket is as good to me as medium rare ribeye or burger or chuckie, then I knew what I was chasing and how to get there :becky:.

 

[Bperkins01]

Thanks for the video. I haven't tried flat up like you did it.. May give that a shot.

 

[leanza]

Jason, thanks for the video. As a backyard guy, I cook briskets less often, usually for large get togethers. I've done my share with great results. I am always learning and I learned from your video. No big deal but, for me, the term "budda" nails it. I get what your presenting and I appreciate your demonstration......But you lost all cred. when you downed the pig eyes.

 

[Jason TQ]

Jason, thanks for the video. As a backyard guy, I cook briskets less often, usually for large get togethers. I've done my share with great results. I am always learning and I learned from your video. No big deal but, for me, the term "budda" nails it. I get what your presenting and I appreciate your demonstration......But you lost all cred. when you downed the pig eyes.

I figured I lost all cred a long time ago so that's a compliment :caked::biggrin1:

 

[IslandSmoke]

This clip is very helpful, Mahalo!! Question: Did you cook the brisket in the foil pan? Oh, just watched your other clip - never mind! Thanks again

 

[Jason TQ]

This clip is very helpful, Mahalo!! Question: Did you cook the brisket in the foil pan?

In the probing video I panned that brisket after smoking by itself on the rack of my stick burner. So it wasn't panned the whole time. I do full pan cooks though too sometimes.

 

[rikun]

Flats can be a little trickier and smaller window to nail as a lot of time to cook and isn't much fat at all, so can dry out faster with less mass there if you aren't watching it.

I think I provided my own answer. It was just a hair underdone and that's why it was a bit dry. Certainly didn't dry out for being too long in there...

From my experience, cooking at 300 F, I'd say the window for perfect flat would be in the range of 10-15 minutes. Yikes, maybe I need to dial my cook temp down a bit.