Help needed - 1st Brisket

[padrote]

Alright, so I'm smoking my first brisket in the morning. Problem is...the only briskets I have been able to find are flat side only (most of the fat has already been trimmed). How should this affect my cook times and temps, if at all? Thanks for any info.

 

[NB_LONGHORN]

Where are you shopping? The biggest thing is internal temperature when cooking any kind of protein. With brisket you want to slowly bring the internal temp to 135-145. That flat cut would do better in the oven, but if you are going to smoke it, wrap it tight in foil and add a 1/2 cup water, beer, or whatever you like. No bbq sauce, only dry rub. A new favorite of mine since moving to Houston is Tex-Joy. That is my 2 cents. Believe me you will be bombarded with several opinions on this topic. Everyone has their preference.

 

[padrote]

I live in the DC metro area. I've checked all of the major grocers in the area (Safeway, Giant, Harris Teeter, Costco, etc). If I wrap it in foil, does that not defeat the purpose of smoking it? How's it supposed to pick up the flavor of the wood?

PS The biggest shock was the price. $4.49/lb

 

[ReyDelSol]

Are you using an indirect smoker (firebox on the side of a grill) or a direct smoker (fire underneath)?

 

[padrote]

Indirect.

 

[politically correct horn]

You really only need to smoke a brisket for three or four hours to get the smoke taste. If you are worried about it drying out, add a water pan to the smoker. After the four hours at 225, take the brisket out and wrap it tightly with aluminum foil and stick it in the oven at 225 for a couple of hours. it will come out tender and delicious.

 

[Roger]

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[MrPhlegm]

Ah the fun of living in the land of BBQ ignorance. These fools here think that baked pork drenched in sauce is BBQ.

I had the same problem when I got to Florida, flat cut briskets only. We finally ended up going to a packing house to get briskets. You might try that to get a whole brisket. Fortunately here we finally found some wal-marts that carry whole briskets in cryovac and when I find them I buy four or six (if they have that many good ones) and put them in our non frost free freezer for use later. I am currently on the lookout for some as there wern't any available for Memorial day

One of my favorite things to do is introduce these BBQ naifs to REAL BBQ, the reactions are astounding. When these peoples taste buds are exposed to the real stuff I get comments like I can't believe BBQ could taste so good. When they ask for sauce I tell 'em to taste it first and then they don't want sauce.