Fat Side Up vs. Fat Side Down

What were you cooking on?

Masterbuilt 30" Electric Smoker. Have not worked up to the Cookshack yet, I gotta show the wife this is not a fad.

If you spray some oil, like PAM, on the rack before you put the meat on, it may help reduce sticking. I'm not really sure about that, but it seems like a good idea.

Of course,over the years,I've seen one guy hang all his briskets by hooks.No cleaning.

Another,made large parellel racks,like the small six pk of loinbacks,to cook packers side by side.Teflon coated racks.No cleanup.

Another,placed several, all in a full Al pan,filled with beef broth,covered with foil.cranked the temps to 375*-400* and boiled/steamed until they fell apart like pot roast.

Scoop them out,throw away all the Al pans,and there is no cleanup.

Lots of innovative ideas,to be sure we don't have to clean our cookers.

I heard there is a microwave bag,and you toss the bag-no cleanup.

Then,there are the folks that understand packer cooking is the test of the cook??

Maybe,they are more interested in cooking a great brisket,than whether the crockpot cleaned easily?

Inquiring minds want to know?

If cooking fat side down helped anything that I could tell, then I would not mind the extra cleanup, I just dump the racks in the dishwasher normally, with fat side down I had to scape all the crud off first. Not that big of a deal but it didn't give me any appreciable gain on my meat as far as flavor or moistness.

If folks are real concerned about cleanup, they should cook in a brown n' bag, in their oven. Then sell me their smoker cheap. Also, the brown n' bag is very forgiving and it won't matter if the fat is up or down.

Tyler,on the food channel,says if you just coarse grind your packer,it makes the best burger,or ground steak,and I can see cleanup of the racks could be easier,and fine dining.

Gees. Don't take any prisoners guys.

As far as clean up, I don't mind it if it is some good eating. I would hate to think I was wasting my time by always putting the fat side down,but hey, to each his own.

Now if you're wanting better flavor and more juicie meat, maybe a guy should pay better attention to the brisket he is selecting and cooking it properly, rather than worrying it might be more of a trouble cleaning up afterwards.

Smoke should flow freely around the meat, so why would the smoke flavor be any different? Your not soaking that wood are you?

JAS88, I've tried it both ways, fat up and fat down, and I was satisfied with the results almost every time. On the occasions when I wasn't satisfied with the outcome, I was able to trace the cause of my displeasure to something distinct and unrelated to the position of the fat cap. To be honest, I couldn't really tell much difference in the final result either way, ceteris paribus.

Since empirical testing didn't reveal to me a clear superiority of one method over the other, I settled on fat up for a pseudo-scientific (i.e., not scientific at all) reason; gravity. I figured there's a better chance some of the fat will seep through the meat and keep it moister if I cooked it fat cap up. I can't prove the fat does that, but it seems logical, in an Aristotelian way.

The problem with Aristotelian logic is that it doesn't express the nature of smoking (or the world) as it actually is. Aristotle couldn't decide if the sitting man was a different object from the standing man. The truth is that, fat cap up or fat cap down, there is only one brisket. The thing that differs is our perspective and our choice in describing the brisket at different times.

A caveat to consider is that I have yet to smoke a brisket in my Amerique, which I've had for just a week. I've smoked all my brisket to date in a Weber grill or in a Kamado. There is still only one object, but the environment is definitely different.

Now some say that a reason for putting the fat cap down in a CS is that it helps insulate the meat from the heat source, which is below. The benefit increases as the distance between the meat and the heat source decreases. The further the meat from the heat, the less the benefit.

There'll never be consensus. There is no right way or wrong way. There are only choices. Some may work better in some instances than others, but only you can decide what works best for you.

All words are grass. So too are all smoking techniques. If an empirical approach doesn't do the trick for you, as it did not for me, then just do what seems best to you and don't worry about consensus.

Time for another martini. This time with Beefeaters; appropriate for a smoking forum, don't you think?

That said, pissin in the wind is never a good idea. It helps if the wind is at your back.

The "reason" for fat side down is simple. When the brisket is close to a direct heat souce that is BELOW it, then the brisket, if it's close, should be fat side down to create a barrier.

As far as smoke difference I don't believe it. Smoke fills the smoker and hits all sides and in fact tends to settle on the meat. If the top is up, the smoke that settles is on the meat. Smoke doesn't penetrate only when it's rising.

Skip, My theory (hasn't been proven) about the Gravity method is pretty basic. At some point, proteins seize up and nothing will penetrate. That's why mops, rubs, etc applied late in the process don't work except for the outside. The internal fat will then stay in place and the outer fat will drip off. Gravity would meat the fat would also drip out of the meat that's fat down.

One key to good brisket is great internal fat, called marbling.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:

Skip, My theory (hasn't been proven) about the Gravity method is pretty basic. At some point, proteins seize up and nothing will penetrate. That's why mops, rubs, etc applied late in the process don't work except for the outside. The internal fat will then stay in place and the outer fat will drip off. Gravity would meat the fat would also drip out of the meat that's fat down.

One key to good brisket is great internal fat, called marbling.

SmokinOkie, that sounds like a pretty reasonable theory. It would be great to have a way to actually test it. Something I know from experience tends to support your idea; a poor overly lean cut of meat with little internal fat isn't going to be saved by cooking fat cap up.

Well, that went well, don't you think? Next up: my treatise on Ford vs. Chevy!

Yea. But let's not get the Red Sox and Yankee fans going.

Who?,do they even BBQ?

quote:

Originally posted by JAS88:
OK, so since there is no concessus on this, I tried my 4th brisket fat side down. I cooked the first 3 fat side up. It didn't make any difference in the moistness of the meat, but the meat didn't seem to pick up the smoke as well, and also the biggest diff is the fat sticks to the rack a lot and makes cleanup tougher. I am going back to fat side up. YMMV.

I always cook mine fat side up...I have talked to people who do it both ways, but it never made much sense to me to put a piece of meat with the fat side down. Seems like it would just drip lots of fat into the pan...

quote:

Originally posted by ILoveBarbecue:
I always cook mine fat side up...I have talked to people who do it both ways, but it never made much sense to me to put a piece of meat with the fat side down. Seems like it would just drip lots of fat into the pan...

The's Old School

Around here we try to understand what's going on, not just doing it the way thinks away were.

Shoot, I've only been cooking Brisket since 1965 and I'm still learning.

My thoughts (your individual mileage may vary)

You think the fat drips down through the meat, how does that happen when the protein seizes up and won't let any liquid in?

But you're obviously not familiar with the CS smokers, so let me explain.

When you're directly over the heat source, fat side down works as a heat baffle between the direct heat and helps.

Try it some time, on your cooker. Cook two briskets, side by side. One fat up, one fat down. EVERYONE I know that's done this has honestly responded and said they couldn't tell a difference. Until I can find a scientific way to test it and prove it that's what I do. Say try it for yourself.

There's absolutely NO right way/wrong way. Brisket is a tough SOB to learn to cook right, so more info is better.

The internal fat is the key to flavor, tenders; not fat dripping down through it.

For those who use brisket injections, David Bouska (ButcherBBQ) recommends cooking fat side down. It helps to prevent the injection liquid from cooking out of the meat.

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQue:
For those who use brisket injections, David Bouska (ButcherBBQ) recommends cooking fat side down. It helps to prevent the injection liquid from cooking out of the meat.

He also recommends doing it for a few hours, so I don't imagine any liquid draining out. But David is a GREAT Brisket cook, so he knows.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Try it some time, on your cooker. Cook two briskets, side by side. One fat up, one fat down.

Wouldn't I need 2 Elites to put the briskets side by side?

You bet Pags, just for you, you need to go buy a 2nd smoker

JAS88, thanks for sharing