Brisket Low and slow or hot and fast?

[krshome]

I'm going to start a war here probably. I'm just looking for some feed back on the best temp to cook a brisket. L&S or H&F??? I have been cooking at 275 and wrap at 165 till it probes tender. My meat is still a little chewy. If I take it longer than when probed it dries out. I blame the quality of the meat but it might just be the cook. Does the temp the meat is cooked at have any baring on the tenderness of the finished product or juiciness? 275 has been my favorite temp for every thing but poultry. Any need to change? Any tips or secrets to getting a really tender brisket? Thanks

 

[aawa]

At 275 degrees the internal temperature of the brisket when it probes tender is going to typically be between 200-210 degrees. Mind you this is a guideline and not a hard and fast rule.

From the sounds of it, chewy meat is typically signs of undercooked meat. If it was overcooked, it would be tender and fall apart since the collagen holding the muscle fibers together are rendered out.

Here is a good clue on how your brisket is cooked by the moisture and texture of the meats.

Dry and chewy. When you slice pencil thin slices it holds together - Undercooked
Little bit chewy but slightly moist, pencil thin slice holds together - slightly undercooked
Tender and moist, pencil thins slices hold together - perfectly cooked
Tender and moist, pencil thin slices start to slightly crumble - slightly overcooked
Tender and slightly moist, pencil thin slices don't hold together at all - overcooked
Moist and falls apart (pulled beef) - very overcooked
Dry and falls apart - very very overcooked

Depending on where your think probe tender is, you might need to recalibrate your feel. If you are falling in the undercooked categories, get to your probe tender and let it cook for another 30-45mins and reprobe it. Then pull it off and rest it, then slice it and see what you come up with. Repeat until you nail the perfect texture.

 

[Seefyre]

Do you know what grade of beef you're cooking?

 

[wmarkw]

Keep it at 275 nekkid and wrap in BP for the rest. Mix it up.

 

[AlwaysSmokey]

I'll say it. You can NOT get the results with H+F that you get with L+S on brisket. I have done both... many times. I stand firm on my opinion. Brisket cooks at 225-250.

This is my opinion, and my style. I liked my hot and fast briskets,.. I just did not love them. Low and slow is the way to go ! If it sizzles,.. your cooker is too hot!

You want tender Brisket, get some patients. It takes time and fire management. Pay attention to the meat. Know your time frame, and check doneness often as it pulls closer to the finish line. Hot and fast will have you movin. The window opens and slams shut again a lot faster than the low and slow style. So if you choose hot and fast,.. be on your toes. I just think that you don't get the rendering that you do with L+S. Time is your friend with that tough ol' hunk of beef.

Either way, they are a fun cook and feed a crowd.

Have fun!

Kevin

 

[krshome]

The briskets I have been getting are from Wal-mart unfortunately that is the only place around that I have found a full brisket. I know, I know!!!!!. I can't recall the grade on the meat but I'm thinking select. As per the butcher paper that is another fail can't find it locally (no butchers) I use heavy duty aluminum foil.

 

[PatAttack]

I'll say it. You can NOT get the results with H+F that you get with L+S on brisket. I have done both... many times. I stand firm on my opinion. Brisket cooks at 225-250.

This is my opinion, and my style. I liked my hot and fast briskets,.. I just did not love them. Low and slow is the way to go ! If it sizzles,.. your cooker is too hot!

You want tender Brisket, get some patients. It takes time and fire management. Pay attention to the meat. Know your time frame, and check doneness often as it pulls closer to the finish line. Hot and fast will have you movin. The window opens and slams shut again a lot faster than the low and slow style. So if you choose hot and fast,.. be on your toes.

Either way, they are a fun cook and feed a crowd.

Have fun!

Kevin

That may be your experience but I and many others will heartily disagree.

 

[aawa]

The briskets I have been getting are from Wal-mart unfortunately that is the only place around that I have found a full brisket. I know, I know!!!!!. I can't recall the grade on the meat but I'm thinking select. As per the butcher paper that is another fail can't find it locally (no butchers) I use heavy duty aluminum foil.

Walmart sells what they can get. Sometimes it is select sometimes it is choice. It will be stamped on the cryovac.

I personally like to use foil instead of butchers paper as the moisture retention is a lot better. However, if you wrap too soon you can end up with a pot roast texture and flavor. This is why I don't wrap by time or internal temperature, but I wrap by the color and texture of the bark. A lot of briskets were cooked at different temps and techniques to find out what I wanted.

 

[AlwaysSmokey]

That may be your experience but I and many others will heartily disagree.

Yep. It is my opinion.

You like hot and fast. Good for you. It's all about what the individual likes and is willing to do.

Regards,

Kevin

 

[Mattb82]

Great info in this thread. I'm a big fan of cooking around 315 for the first 4-5 hours to get a nice dark almost black bark and then moving to 245-250 the rest of the time. I wrap in bp around 170-175 depending on what the bark looks like. Sometimes I don't wrap at all.

 

[ClintHTX]

Figure out where your smoker temp likes to be and cook it till probe tender.

 

[bam]

275 til done

 

[gtr]

If I don't feel like getting up early in the morning, I'll cook low and slow in the UDS overnight. If I wanna get cracking in the morning and can focus on cooking that day, I'll cook hot and fast in whatever I'm gonna use that day, so basically I let circumstances dictate which method I'll use. You can get great results (or in my case spotty results!) either way.

 

[Jason TQ]

Yep. It is my opinion.

You like hot and fast. Good for you. It's all about what the individual likes and is willing to do.

Regards,

Kevin

Totally get what works for you, but here is one I did last weekend that was cooked at 350 for most of the cook and at the end when it was wrapped I had it up close to 400 to finish. I detected zero difference vs when I do them low and slow. Appears successfully rendered.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXqwkNRWBfc"]Brisk - YouTube[/ame]

I know nothing will change your mind. :-D

 

[Mattb82]

Love the video

 

[AlwaysSmokey]

Totally get what works for you, but here is one I did last weekend that was cooked at 350 for most of the cook and at the end when it was wrapped I had it up close to 400 to finish. I detected zero difference vs when I do them low and slow. Appears successfully rendered.


I know nothing will change your mind. :-D

LOL,.. I have tried them many times. And,.. I would love to be able to punch one out with the same quality in a fraction of the time,... hence all the times I went hot and fast... I'm sure I'll try again, because I am in no way stuck to any one way. I simply speak from my personal experience with both methods.

I know this forum well enough to know there is an overwhelming number of people in the H+F camp. However, my low and slow briskets trump any of my hot and fast attempts. By a wide margin. From bark type, to slice moisture, to rendered fat in the point, general appearance, and that almost sticky quality of well rendered fat through out the entire brisket.

So,.. with a smile on my face, I say great job on your brisket and keep on smokin !

Regards,

Kevin

 

[thenewb]

Figure out where your smoker temp likes to be and cook it till probe tender.

New guy here. What do you mean "probe tender?"

My UDS loves to sit at 225. I've had good luck with the shoulders and wings I've cooked. But I did my first brisket today. Pulled it when the internal was at 190. But I pulled it a lot earlier than I expected to (probably because the people managing the temp let it spike high early on).

 

[pjtexas1]

i cannot believe we are still arguing about this. seems like this is 2005 again.:boxing: no wrong way but we don't need to be told that something can NOT be done. hot and fast is nothing new. bbq joints all over have been cooking at 300+ for decades. some of us will stick to the low and slow and never let go but that is their right same as it is someone else's right to cook hot and fast. i like many of you have done both and many temps in between. briskets can be good at any temp you just need to practice. doing a couple of briskets at any temp and deciding it is bad is not really giving it a chance. my first few L&S were not perfect and neither were my first few H&F. pick your temp and stick to it. once you have it dialed in then try the other. i would concentrate more on the probe tender part and giving the brisket a really long rest. that to me is more important than what temp the cooker is running at. so whether it takes you 4 hours or 15 hours as long as we get to eat brisket what else really matters.

 

[Dr. Trout Bum]

Also, make sure you are probing in the middle of the flat. If you were probing on the point, you pulled it too soon - the point will always probe tender before the flat is done.

 

[krshome]

Thanks Dr. Trout Bum, Good advice I had not heard that before.