Another Brisket

threw on another brisket this weekend to continue learning my new Texas Original smoker....wasn't as good as the last one but still pretty good.

The only lesson learned from this one is I usually try to let the brisket sit at room temp for 2-4 hours depending on size to warm up a bit. This one I was in a rush and only sat out for an hour or so while I got the fire going....the point hit temp right about the same time as the end of the flat. But where the flat and point meet, the temp was around 195 so made the decision to leave it on 30 min longer, which made the flat not as juicy/tender. Point was spot on.

Looks pretty good, yeah I have learned to let it rest, it's hard to let it rest but it's worth it.

Fantastic!

Looks great to me. Would.

Looks good, nice smoke ring. I have a hypothesis that putting a cold brisket on the smoker helps create the smoke ring. When I've put a room temperature brisket on, no smoke ring. Next time I cook more than one, I'll warm one up and keep one in the cooler.

On a side note, it looks like a couple of your slices were cut with the grain (the ones in the back in the above picture). You may cook to the perfect internal temp, let it rest the perfect amount of time, but if you cut with the grain it won't be as tender as if you cut against the grain. I've seen people at competitions screw up a perfectly good brisket by slicing it incorrectly.

Your bark looks really good as well. I've gotten away from wrapping mine at all. If I need to speed it up and a hotter fire doesn't do it, I will wrap in butcher paper.

Yeah I wrap in butcher paper now, gotta keep that bark.

Noticed the same thing about the slicing.

OP, what temp are you cooking at? Still looks like a fine brisket to me. Not all pieces of meat are the same.

cooking between 250-260. Yep, I didn't turn the point once I separated from the flat....long day with the little one haha

nice bark and smoke ring (misconception), I'd give it a go

I usually separate the two muscles when I'm slicing, it keeps me from having to cut one with the grain and one against the grain at the same time. I know some people slice until they hit the point, then turn the brisket 90* and keep slicing.

Thankfully, a brisket is a very forgiving peice of meat and can be cooked at different temps and produce similar results. I've found anywhere from 225-275 is just fine. Over 275 and you risk drying it out but it can still be done.

Here's a slice of one of the two i cooked this weekend for a company ranch trip. I wish I had a pic of the bark.


Here's a pic of a brisket I got 6th place with in a cookoff in October.

I hear that on the little one haha. Still looks like a good job to me

Looks good- nice smoke ring and bark.

What did you use to season it with..... Looks great

Just good ole Salt & Pepper

Yep.

Looks very, very and I mean very edible

X2

Lordy, I'd eat that whole thing.

You're hypothesis is correct, Aaron Franklin explains in his book why you get the smoke ring when starting with a cold brisket and not a room temp one.

A smoke ring is pretty, but adds nothing to the taste. People over think it.

Makes sense, I taught him everything he knows. I wish! His brisket is what I try to replicate, and I'm really close. I think I have the flavor but the meat he gets is better quality than Costco Prime. I need to try waygu sometime.

You done good. Would

That looks awesome to me.

However, just because there isn't a smoke ring doesn't mean there won't be a smoke flavor. I like seeing a good smoke ring, makes my brain think it's gonna be a great brisket. Sometimes the best visual looking brisket doesn't always taste the best.

Totally agree. I cook on an offset smoker using REAL wood. I use a small Old Country Pitt (from academy) at home and two different reverse flow trailer smokers at my deer lease and for competitions. A friend of mine cooks on a green egg. He uses my rub, buys his briskets at the same place I do (Costco) and cooks to the same internal temperature that I do. His briskets look like they have a lot of smoke but it's not the same smoke as any of the smokers I cook on. His briskets taste like a roast. Mine have smoke flavor throughout.

The comments above make me think a smoke ring is bad, if all it means you put a cold brisket on the smoker, which is what you should not do.

Good read here on smoke rings...does not say anything about cold brisket.

https://barbecuebible.com/2014/07/11/science-smoke-ring/

I don't know the science behind it, but I have cooked many a FINE brisket that when on the smoker fresh out of the fridge seasoned the night before. I think it is mostly personal preference. It may slightly speed the cooking time to let it warm to room temp etc. I don't know, but neither way is in any way detrimental to cooking a GOOD brisket.

It would take a few hours for a brisket to come to room temp prior to cooking it, I don't take mine out of the fridge until I am ready to get the fire going which happens to be usually early in the morning. So it's only out for an hour tops. Since you're cooking at a low temp it slowly comes up to temp anyway.

This says 1 hour brings to room temperature.

That looks like pork.

Probably because they didn’t throw it on cold.

It has worked out OK for me. This is for the brisket pictured above in the styrofoam box.

Scott I didn't know what caused smoke rings till this morning, but I learned a lot today on this subject per the link I gave above, and read some more during lunch.... I tried to google and find where it explained why putting cold brisket on the smoker made a better ring, the link below explains it, but I like the first sentence "Let me drop a hard truth-bomb on you: as an indicator of well-cooked barbecue, the smoke ring is useless."

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/the-science-of-the-smoke-ring/

Thanks for the links. The only time I try to have a smoke ring is in a competition because people eat with their eyes and most of the judges are backyard BBQ people, not certified judges. We only do IBCA competitions, haven't done a KCBS competition which requires certified judges and also scores presentation.

Most of the time when I'm cooking, brisket takes the longest so as soon as the smoker is ready for it, it goes on. Last week it was 35 outside so the hour the meat was sitting out didn't allow it to warm up much from the cooler.

I agree that there's no flavor difference with a smoke ring vs no smoke ring. I don't wrap my briskets in foil or paper unless I just have to speed up the cook and then only in paper. With the internal temp I cook to, my briskets get lots of smoke and turn out very tender.

Again, thanks for the science lesson. It's very interesting.

This is a quote from the Texas monthly link I posted above..

"The smoke ring isn’t something Perkins chases in his restaurant’s cooking method. “We’re looking for tenderness and juiciness,” he told me. As part of achieving this, they let their briskets warm up a bit (but not above health department mandated temperatures) outside the cooler before they go on the smoker. This is a common tip for home barbecue cooks to help accelerate the cooking process (colder briskets take longer in the smoker). As it happens, it’s also the best way to kill the smoke ring before it has a chance to form."

Again, I'm not an expert, I didn't know anything about what causes a ring in a brisket till yesterday when I read your post about putting one on cold to get a better ring. Don't listen to me when it comes to science, I slept through science in high school.

But if red ring is what you are after, here is my redneck interpretation of the science I posted above...

* 2 things go on, 1) brisket will lose its red color as it warms/heats up. At 140, it loses its color. 2) when brisket is put on smoker, brisket molecules interact with smoke gases, magic happens, and the red color is locked in. So the colder the brisket is on the smoker the better, don't lose red color, give time for the magic to happen and lock in the red color. Once it reaches 140, red ring magic is all done.
* Keep brisket moist, with mop or spray, this helps magic work deeper into the meat for a thinker ring. But don't use acidity vinegar, red ring magic doesn't like that.
* Use green wood, produces stronger magic red ring gasses.

I might have to try all this.