Brisket Flat

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tumbleweed1

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jan 29, 2015
491
201
Chicago suburbs
So I was gifted a brisket (flat only) by the in-laws over the winter & last Sunday it was on. I used Mesquite for the first time & although it worked well I would probably only ever use it on beef. After just some mild trimming on the topside, I slathered it in beef boullion base & applied my rub. I got it in the smoker by 5am at 260 & wrapped at 165, as it was getting pretty dark on the outside. It cooked for about 8 hours. When I wrapped, I added a cup of beef broth as well. I pulled it at 200 & let it rest for an hour before slicing, keeping all the beautiful liquid that was in the foil for aus jus. I also did some twice-baked potatoes & beans to go with it, using apple wood for the sides. I sit here today after just finally finishing it after eating it for the last four days & am still not tired of it! The middle wasn't quite as tender as the outer parts, but with the aus jus, at least it wasn't dry. It was the first time I ever did a flat-only smoke, but I still think it was a success.

Brisket 1.jpg
Brisket 2.jpg
Brisket 1.jpg
Brisket 2.jpg
Brisket 3.jpg
potatoes.jpg
beans.jpg
 
Dude, that is some fine looking brisket. I am really jealous. Those potatoes and beans looked phenomenal as well. Great job. I can't wait to do my next brisket on the 4th. I found a prime packer just under 13 pounds at Sam's. I hope that mine will be at least close to what you have rendered there.

George
 
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Nice!

Yeah brisket is done when it probes tender by stabbing all over with a tooth pic. I usually don't start checking for tenderness until about 198-200F Internal Temp (IT). The Flat is the most stubborn part of the brisket and I bet if you took it to 203-205F it would have likely probed as tender as butter :)

Briskets teach us something all the time and I'm sure if/when you cook another one you will be ready to test for tenderness around 200F and then pull when it tells you it is ready :)

Also I LOVE Mesquite for beef. Mesquite gets a bad reputation for being strong but I believe that comes from the difficulty in producing Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) with Mesquite. I run 100% Mesquite wood pellets via the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) with my MES40 for 14-16 hours on a brisket and it comes out AMAZING!!! I have to credit the perfection of the AMNPS as those 100% Mesquite pellets burn perfectly with no fighting to get that perfect smoke.

Good smoke from 100% Mesquite on beef is to die for! :D
 
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Nice!

Yeah brisket is done when it probes tender by stabbing all over with a tooth pic. I usually don't start checking for tenderness until about 198-200F Internal Temp (IT). The Flat is the most stubborn part of the brisket and I bet if you took it to 203-205F it would have likely probed as tender as butter :)

Briskets teach us something all the time and I'm sure if/when you cook another one you will be ready to test for tenderness around 200F and then pull when it tells you it is ready :)

Also I LOVE Mesquite for beef. Mesquite gets a bad reputation for being strong but I believe that comes from the difficulty in producing Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) with Mesquite. I run 100% Mesquite wood pellets via the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) with my MES40 for 14-16 hours on a brisket and it comes out AMAZING!!! I have to credit the perfection of the AMNPS as those 100% Mesquite pellets burn perfectly with no fighting to get that perfect smoke.

Good smoke from 100% Mesquite on beef is to die for! :D

Do you keep running the AMNPS for the entire smoke? I've heard a lot of people say that they stop doing it when the meat hits a certain temperature.
 
Do you keep running the AMNPS for the entire smoke? I've heard a lot of people say that they stop doing it when the meat hits a certain temperature.

I run 1 full tray of the AMNPS for my briskets that will go over 9 hours.
I'm not sure when the smoke stops but a full tray of Lumberjack 100% Mesquite is usually good for 8-12 hours of smoke. I've heard and read about meat not taking on smoke flavor after a certain temp BUT my taste buds seem to think differently so I just fill up the AMNPS for about how long it takes for the brisket or meat to cook. If the cook is over 9 hours I fill up the entire tray :)

For many faster cooks I often burn 2 rows of pellets at the same time. I do this for chicken, turkey, and ribs using a pellet mix of about 40-50% Hickory and the rest Bit Poss Competition blend (makes about a total of 65% hickory). This to me gives amazing flavor without getting too strong on the Hickory.

I do 2-4 hour smoked meatloafs of 80% pure ground venison and 20% pork back fat by burning 2 rows of about 70% pure Mesquite and 30% Alder. That comes out amazing as well! Mesquite on anything beef or beef-like is to die for!

I hope this info helps :)
 
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Thanks fellas for all the positive comments. I really appreciate it. Sorry it took me so long to come back, but being in the heavy construction equipment industry, this is our busy season!

So I thought I had finished eating this yesterday, but then the wife came home & hadn't eaten her portion of the last of it, which she had taken to lunch so last night I decided to make sandwiches with it. We had been to a BBQ restaurant last year in Madison, Wisconsin called That BBQ Joint, where I ordered their Chicago "Italian" Beef sandwich, where the roast beef was replaced by wonderful, chopped, smoked brisket. I haven't been able to stop thinking about how good that sandwich was. It was some of the best brisket I've ever eaten! So last night I decided to recreate it with some Hoagie buns, garlic butter & of course, cheese. It was downright heavenly!

So HERE is the last of that flat from last night.

Brisket Sandwich.jpg
Brisket Sandwich 2.jpg
 
That’s what’s awesome about cookin a brisket, all the different things you can do with the left overs. That sammie looks delicious
 
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