Brisket- not the "Holy Grail" of bbq.

[Nuco59]

No- I have not been drinking... today.

I'm sort of puzzled (and amused) about the "mystique" attached to cooking a brisket. I see posts almost equating first briskets with - first kiss, first date, first "bow chicka wow wow", first car, first...well- you get it. (BTW- I remember ALL of those things - but not my first brisket :grin

I'm not one of the grizzled veterans of bbq. Only been smoking about 3-4 years and have not cooked untold hundreds of briskets like some. That said, I've never had one I had to bury in the backyard and swear the family to secrecy. They've all run from "purdy good to damn good" - maybe my bar is low but it's just not that hard to make a decent tasting brisket. (If your bar is WAY higher- feel free to knock yourself out over it)

It's just a big hunk of meat- trim it, simply seasoned (or however exotically you like) and cook- however you like- it until it's "done". Hot n Fast, Low and Slow, over wood, over coal, in the oven-doesn't much matter. (ok- not too sure about the "oven thing"... have not done oven brisket for years now)

Short version: If your family and friends rave over your brisket and they believe it to be a minor miracle that took long hours of hard work, dedication and planning- I'm sure not going to ruin it for you. :wink:

 

[rober]

my concern was getting to know how my new ( to me ) older OK Joe Longhorn performed before doing my 1st brisket because I did not want to waste a $30.00 hunk of meat.

 

[aawa]

Unfortunately brisket has a mystique of being hard to cook.

I think it is because you have to slice it tbh. Pulled pork, you cook a pork butt it till it is able to be pulled easily. You can slice it, but everybody wants pulled pork.

Brisket, People will know that your brisket isn't properly cooked. If it is under cooked it is tough and dry. If it is overcooked it falls apart and you have pulled beef. Getting the perfect slices, you have a much smaller window than a pork butt that is pulled anyways.

Once you get your timing to check for doneness and get the right probe tender feel of brisket, cooking brisket turns easy. For most, it takes several attempts to get the proper probe tender feeling though. For me, it took 2 tries to finally get the proper probe tender feeling.

 

[4ever3]

I think it's like Ren said, but it's far from a holy grail around here.

 

[GloriB]

For me, it's the challenge of nailing it. I always say I won't be defeated by a silly piece of meat. Once you get it perfect, that is satisfaction!

 

[16Adams]

After 12 shades of grey, it's all redundant anyway. I still find it fun to watch how others do it. I might accidentally learn something. I've seen Brisket called and cooked all kinds of things and all kinds of ways. I don't find it difficult at all to cook an any of my cookers- and they taste differently when cooked in the Primo XL and The Pit Barrel Cooker. I like experimenting with smoking wood blend and seasonings-rubs. I've never brined or injected but I enjoy reading about those who do. I've got a couple friends who express your exact sentiment. Both have pellet grills. Turn it on walk away. Maybe it's too easy to cook good Q and they don't feel one with their meat.

Holy Grail??
That's bone in rib eye. IMHO

And brisket tastes better at current $2 pound cost than it did st $5#

 

[pjtexas1]

I think so few people cook it and so many talk about its difficulty that is has a bad reputation. the only hard part is not having the information necessary to do it right. if you find a method that is tested your first cook will be good. Those that try to wing it just add to the mystique.

 

[Bob C Cue]

Smokin' a brisket is easy. Now if someone could just learn me how to cook the perfect hot dog! That's the real holy grail IMHO.

 

[Stlsportster]

I know this will be considered blasphemous but I feel the same way about pulled pork. Throw a butt on and 8-10 hours later pull it. It's foolproof. Hot and fast or low and slow. Wrapped or not. Cook it. Rest it. Pull it. And I still need sauce to eat it.

For me the best taste of Q coming off my smoker is ribs. Beef or pork. That's where I really taste the meat and the efforts of the smoke.

 

[16Adams]

Smokin' a brisket is easy. Now if someone could just learn me how to cook the perfect hot dog! That's the real hold grail IMHO.

It's called Snap Dog and you'll find it inside the Denver Airport.

 

[smoke ninja]

I think the mysticism is created by having average brisket over and over and then wow you finally have the real thing and it is so much more than yoy thought it could be.

As for it being no big deal and easy to cook you know the saying when your good at something you make it look easy.

 

[hammb]

I don't think Brisket is hard to cook, and I can turn out consistently VERY good brisket.

However, brisket is one meat that has a 2nd other-worldly realm. Occasionally I have turned out brisket that when put it in your mouth it's surreal. The fat on the outside carmelizes with the salt and pepper, the perfect smoke, it has enough texture to hold a slice, but is still melt in your mouth. Etc, etc.

I follow nearly the same procedure every time, I pull by feel as I've learned on this website, even my less than perfect briskets get rave reviews, but occasionally I'll put one out and even surprise myself with how freaking great it is. I think THAT is why Brisket has this mystique. It is not at all difficult to turn out a consistently good brisket (although it's still pretty hard to find it at restaurants in my experience). But there is still (at least in my experience) enough variance from brisket to brisket that when I knock one out of the park it just adds to that mystique to me. Maybe some of you can consistently get it to that perfect other-worldly realm, but I am not that good. One reason for that is that I can only afford (and justify) cooking a few briskets a year.

 

[Fwismoker]

I did a poll a while back between what's better, Tri tip, rib eye / rib roast or brisket.

IIRC most liked brisket better but quite a few liked TT and Rib cuts better. West coast people were hands down tri tip people.

I'm a ribeye fan for the holy grail but If i want something close to brisket but better than brisket IMO is cooking chuck roast like a brisket.

 

[wayne77]

Well you're in Texas. And in Texas, for lots of people brisket is a big deal. Around here it's pork. Depends on the person and even region if you're in one of the "main stream" BBQ areas. I.e. Kansas City, Texas, North Carolina, Memphis etc.

 

[tom b]

I have never cooked brisket nor have I ever had any worth going back for seconds

 

[frognot]

I have never cooked brisket nor have I ever had any worth going back for seconds

Tom, you need to head to Long Beach to Bigmista's.

http://www.bigmista.com/sammich/

 

[smoke ninja]

I have never cooked brisket nor have I ever had any worth going back for seconds

You poor, poor thing

 

[ClintHTX]

If you have had GOOD brisket you would change your mind. So often people eat brisket at restaurants that are so mediocre it makes it not even worth ordering. Then you have the typical unknowledged backyard bbqer that can cook better brisket than what you used to and it's pretty good. But if you ever have brisket from someone who really knows what they are doing and takes time and effort to perfect their outcome. Brisket is awesome.

 

[Jason TQ]

I have never cooked brisket nor have I ever had any worth going back for seconds

Tom I'm almost in the same boat about liking brisket. It is at the top of my list as one of my favorite things to cook, but even when it is as good as it gets I only like a few slices and on those I like 50/50 sauce/au jus. But 2 slices of the flat is about all I ever want.

People's taste buds are just different. I'd rather eat a ribeye steak or actually like doing chuck roasts and smoking those. Amazing brisket is just ok to me. I do very much like the point on briskets and will eat more of that :-D

I think that is one of the misconceptions about brisket it that is just this amazing euphoric experience for everyone. I've said this before, but it took finally tasting a few really good teams briskets to realize what amazing brisket actually tasted like. So I dumbed down my level of what I thought was perfect and now when I want to take more than 1 bite I know it is right :becky:.

 

[ClintHTX]

Not to mention when you slave all day drinking beer and sitting around relaxing to a perfectly cooked brisket. Not much beats that.