First Brisket Help - 101 follow up

I would leave all the fat intact. Cook fat cap up. Leave it whole, and fold under the small end. Cook at 225 or 250, its your choice, but I would go at 250 till you find reason to use a lower temp. Remove the deckle after the smoking is done and put back in smoker top finish. Or I slice and put on a charcoal grill with sauce to finish too. mmmmmm....

bob

This site has been of great help to me, hopefully you will find it helpful as well.

http://www.lamaine.com/bbq/brisket.html

Orinda-

I trim the fat on the top (above the deckle) to about i/4 inch depth.

I would fold it rather than cutting it.

I pull my briskets at about 185-190. Usually, mine is ready before my guests arrive- so, I cover it in heavy foil, and, put it in an Igloo cooler with towels wrapped around it. It will cook another 10 degrees or so after removing it from the cooler. So far, this has worked fine for me. I have never had a dry flat, or uncooked brisket.

I remove the flat from the deckle. Makes it much easier to carve, and especially if you want to see the "grain" to cut across!

All the above, good comments from some folks who know quite a bit.

quote:

supposed to remove the fat

Nah you don't have to, it's personal preference.

For me, for new folks, I wouldn't worry about trimming a brisket. For a newbie that extra fat might help, might not. It's just an extra step. Lots of folks like to trim it down to 1/4" but I've yet to find anyone who can know when it's a 1/4"

quote:

remove the flat from the deckle

All that is for is to create "burnt ends". If it's your first cook, it's up to you if you want to go that length. For the first time, you can cook it whole. When it comes time to slice, separate the point from the flat (Brisket 101 shows some separated) but the fat will be very obvious between the two so just separate and cut them individually.

Me, first time out. Season it, cookit, cut it, eat it. After that, you have a baseline/first cook and can spend the next 30 years getting it right. I'm still working on it after that long, that's the fun part.

Yep,Smokin' knows stuff.

Certain parts of the country ,folks like to eat the brisket fat on slices.

Others serve the point chopped with the fat in it.

Smokin's advice" to learn to cook the meat first" and then make adjustments is usually the first given by any good cook you talk to.

Hey uall,

I too am using my 066 for the 1st time and put the probe in the deckle and took it to 190 then removed it and tented the meat in foil. Should I have probe the flat instead of the deckle? What of this wrapping in foil it that to continue the cooking process or just to keep it warm to serve when you are ready. I also cut off the end of the deckle rather then folding the flat under. Bad thing?

If you are happy with your results,then don't fix it.

The meat can rise in temp,in the foil-as well as just stay warm and allow time for the juices to redistribute.

I'm not sure how you could cut off the end of a deckle to shorten a packer.

Some butchers/processors/cooks may cut some of the point off,perpendicular to the flat for a "nose off brisket".

I'm not sure how you would place a probe in a deckle,or what 190º would indicate.

There is one cook that teaches hot/fast cooking that advocates putting the probe in the point to 190º.

Most ,that I cook with, use the flat.