2nd Brisket Ever - 1st Was 3 Years ago

[Nuco59]

I will meet you part way: if you get complaints on either, you need to spend more time working out your short comings.

I get no complaints on either but if I had to give one up? Buhbye brisket :grin:

 

[Czarbecue]

Removing fat is not an offense - might not be the way you'd do it.

Neither is smoking a brisket naked... unless it's you- not wearing clothes- doing it in your driveway.

Lots of ways to do bbq - how boring it would be if there was only one way.

I will paraphrase Chris Rock on this...

Yeah, you could do it that way, but that don't mean it's to be done! Hell, you can drive a car with your feet if you want to, that don't make it a good farking idea!

You spend all that time smoking the meat and just end up scraping the flavor profile of the brisket right off. That's down right nasty. It's like shaking a bottle of beer and drinking it after the CO2 escapes the bottle. It's a shame when people do that to champagne and more shameful to beer.

I understand some people like to be political with how meats are smoked, but there is a line to be drawn. Otherwise you might as well praise the guy who boil his ribs...

 

[BlueandGoldBBQ]

If you don't like much fat trim it before you cook it. Scraping that bark made me recoil in horror

 

[electron_si]

That video was like watching a train wreck.

I cringed so bad. He had no clue what he was doing and that place seemed to pride themselves on brisket

 

[dadsr4]

TBH- brisket is not my favorite thing to eat but I do I enjoy cooking one. I like it "ok" -I take a slice or 2 to see how I did but I mainly do it for friends /family who really like brisket

I realize I've only cooked 2 briskets so far, but I'm wondering if I'm one of those people who just isn't into brisket. I want to taste some award winning brisket, so I have something to compare myself to. Odds are, I would say something along the lines of "OK, if I could cook it like THAT, I would cook it more often."

I've read from more than one seasoned cook here that they just don't care for the taste of brisket that much. I'll go by what my guests say. If they like it, I'm good. Sometimes, you wonder if they are just being nice. To figure it out, I finally realized they REALLY like it if they go back for more.

I've learned that I would rather cook a chuck roast than a brisket, we prefer the flavor, and it's less expensive.

 

[wire-it-up]

I've learned that I would rather cook a chuck roast than a brisket, we prefer the flavor, and it's less expensive.

Funny you would say that. I've heard that before, but prior to ever hearing it, I said it myself to my wife. I'm sure I'll try more briskets in the future though.

 

[dadsr4]

Funny you would say that. I've heard that before, but prior to ever hearing it, I said it myself to my wife. I'm sure I'll try more briskets in the future though.

The last brisket I bought, it was marked down and I bought it to cut up for stew beef because it was cheaper than chuck. Before BBQ got popular, brisket was poor people's food, and frequently corned to make it more palatable.

 

[ClintHTX]

I’ve ate good bbq. But it’s hard to come by good brisket. For that reason right there is enough to cook it and attempt good brisket. Texas bbq is brisket. period. Just something to strive for. Not many can do it but when it’s done right. Like ninja said....it’s sex.

 

[wire-it-up]

For those more experienced with brisket... is it like everything else, in that if you spend more you generally get better quality? In other words, you get what you pay for? While we're on the subject, how do they grade the meat to begin with, relative to select, choice, and prime? I know the wagyu and kobe beef are raised on a strict diet, right? Sorry to ask such newb questions. I just don't know much about beef. I cook way more pork than beef. Thanks for any input, and all of the input so far.

 

[Beentown]

For those more experienced with brisket... is it like everything else, in that if you spend more you generally get better quality? In other words, you get what you pay for? While we're on the subject, how do they grade the meat to begin with, relative to select, choice, and prime? I know the wagyu and kobe beef are raised on a strict diet, right? Sorry to ask such newb questions. I just don't know much about beef. I cook way more pork than beef. Thanks for any input, and all of the input so far.

Not necessarily. I use Costco PRIME brisket almost exclusively. They are cheaper than anyone Selects or Choice pricing.

Purchased 2 cases yesterday. Paid $2.42/pound for PRIME.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[wire-it-up]

Even more incentive for me to look into a Costco membership.

 

[Czarbecue]

For those more experienced with brisket... is it like everything else, in that if you spend more you generally get better quality? In other words, you get what you pay for? While we're on the subject, how do they grade the meat to begin with, relative to select, choice, and prime? I know the wagyu and kobe beef are raised on a strict diet, right? Sorry to ask such newb questions. I just don't know much about beef. I cook way more pork than beef. Thanks for any input, and all of the input so far.

There will be a logo for USDA Select or USDA Choice in black on the cryovac if you buy your packers from Walmart. It's more of a gamble if it's Select but it can be done well if you have the experience. Huge difference going from Select to Choice. Not much more from Choice to Prime in my experience.

My experience with brisket before I made it myself was Dickey's BBQ and I swore it off for a good ten years. Then I had my friend's brisket who mirrored his style from Aaron Franklin's videos. It was pure heaven. I have yet to try Franklin BBQ's brisket directly but that's the bar for most who do Texas style brisket.

 

[wire-it-up]

Thanks for posting that. That info is more valuable to me than you probably realize. So the grade is printed on the cryovac itself, not on the label with the weight and price? I did see printing on the cryo, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I'll look for Choice or Prime from now on. I suspect the one I bought was select.

I ate at Dickey's BBQ a handful of times when I lived in FL, until I bought my own smoker. But I never tried brisket there. Speaking of Franklin, I tried to model this cook after his method as much as I could. I don't have any butcher paper, but I would have used that instead of foil if I would have had it on hand. I went with a 50/50 salt/pepper mix, like Franklin. I watched Franklin's trimming video twice before I trimmed my brisket. That part wasn't bad at all.

I think the most succulent beef I've had (that I made) was some short ribs about a month or so ago. My only complaint is that it's such a small amount of meat on those. Malcom Reed has a video showing how to cook full beef ribs, and they look enormous. I've looked around at the various supermarkets and butcher shops in the area, and none of them have beef ribs like that. I even asked about it at one place, and was told they don't cut the beef ribs down into shorties on site. They come to them that way.

 

[Czarbecue]

Yep. Something like this...

Short ribs are like brisket points on a stick so if you liked what you had, that's what a solid brisket would taste like.

 

[wire-it-up]

Yep. Something like this...

Short ribs are like brisket points on a stick so if you liked what you had, that's what a solid brisket would taste like.

That's the flavor and texture I was hoping for. So if that's how brisket is supposed to be, I want to keep trying until I get there. Just thought of another question. WalMart stocks brisket portions and by that I mean I believe they are points and flats that have been separated. If one wanted to make brisket that tasted like short ribs, would it be best to buy the point if you didn't want a whole packer?

 

[Czarbecue]

That's the flavor and texture I was hoping for. So if that's how brisket is supposed to be, I want to keep trying until I get there. Just thought of another question. WalMart stocks brisket portions and by that I mean I believe they are points and flats that have been separated. If one wanted to make brisket that tasted like short ribs, would it be best to buy the point if you didn't want a whole packer?

I have only seen flats sold separately and pre-seasoned at Walmart. Check the ground meat section to see what they did with the brisket point, lol.

 

[wire-it-up]

I'll check my local wally world tomorrow if I get near there. My work takes me all over town throughout the day, so stops like that are pretty easy for me. I drive a service van for an electrical contractor, and pass various local wal marts frequently. Also going to look into Costco membership. I appreciate the tips. I'm getting an education in this thread, and I'm happy to store the info for later use.

 

[ncmoose]

I've only seen overpriced and over-trimmed flats when they are separated. I assume they must be grinding the points. Do many others see separated points?

 

[wire-it-up]

https://m.costco.com/join-costco.html

Very affordable to join Costco. Less than I expected. Could tell my mother-in-law I want it as a Christmas gift. I'm 46, and she still insists that I give her a list ever year, LOL.

 

[wire-it-up]

I've only seen overpriced and over-trimmed flats when they are separated. I assume they must be grinding the points. Do many others see separated points?

We all thought the point had way better flavor and texture than the flat. Burnt ends come from the point, right? Is it pretty much universally agreed upon that point meat is better than flat meat?