How to Make My Brisket More Tender?

S

SA_Town_Horn

500+ Posts
I'm smoking a brisket tomorrow (only a 4 lber) and I wanna know if there is any way to make the brisket more tender.

Since its only 4 lbs, I plan on leaving on the smoker the entire time for about four hours, cooking between 200-225 degrees.

Should I take it off earlier and put it in the oven for an hour?

Is there any trick to making the non-fat meat more tender?
 
4 lbs is small for a full brisket. You should be looking for something called "packer trim" which consists of two muscles (the "flat" and the "point") and a very large, thick fat cap lying across the whole thing.

At 4 lbs, it's possible you have a "market-trimmed" brisket which is not the whole thing. Those are an entirely different matter than a full, packer-trimmed brisket.

Do you know what you have?
 
You can apply light coat of yellow mustard to it. Not only will the vinegar help break down the meat, but it will help hold on the dry rub.
 
Its market trimmed.

Am I screwed?
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I have used the general rule of thumb of ~1hr per pound at 200-225F.

If you brine it, how long to smoke the brisket? I have read that brining cuts smoking time.
 
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I really don't have any advice for you. I just see a thread that talks about smoking a brisket flat, and even brining . . . . well, let's just say that this will probably not end well.

I guess you should smoke it for 4-6 hours -- I honestly don't know. I'd go with at least 4, then check to see if its internal temp is right. Then, I'd wrap it, add a couple of tablespoons of water to the packet, seal it tightly, and put it in the oven for a couple of hours. That MIGHT tender it up. I honestly don't know. I only work with packer trim briskets, with a good fat cap for moisture. For a trimmed flat, I'd be flying blind.

Good luck.
 
Agree with BT-- I can't really make any recommendation on a market trimmed brisket.

Although, I have seen one of our usual brisket guys around here (not sure which one) talk about how he often smokes just a flat and gets a smoke ring all the way around it (rather than the half-ring you'd see on slices of brisket that came from a packer-trim). I've never tasted anything done that way, but it looked good, so it's possible that it can be done.
 
OK, so I was kidding about brining, didn't expect anyone to take the bait.

Here is a link to a different forum with a thread that addresses your situation directly. There may be some other threads that help as well.
 
As someone who comes from a family that has NEVER done a brisket, much less smoked one, I LOVE these threads.

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SA:

I have had one of those briskets by you before. Good flavor, but tough. glad you made this easy for me. I never want to offend a good friend's BBQ skillz.

Anyway, the answer is simple. You just have to cook bigger, non "market trimmed" briskets. Actually for the tenderness issue, keeping it on the smoker the whole time may be worse for you. Wrap it in foil and finish in oven. or, cook whole time on smoker and then seal, wrapped in foil and towel in a cooler for a while. maybe an hour.
 
I'm sure there are many ways to smoke a trimmed flat that is fork tender (not mushy) just as there is with packers, but here is how I go about it.

I rub the flat down with W-sauce before I apply the rub. The best W-sauce I have found for this is the Cajun Power brand sold at Academy, but Lea & Perrins or other quality brands will work. The vinegar in the sauce will help tenderize the meat and the sauce will help your rub adhere to the flat. I believe that lower temps will help keep trimmed flats from drying out, so I smoke them more in the 180-210 range with pecan or oak for at least 6 hours before I wrap. Depending upon the thickness of the flat I might go closer to 8 hours. I'm looking for a good bark to form before I wrap and it seems that is usually around the 160-165 internal temp range. I mix up a little mop sauce consisting of dark beer like a Shiner Bock or Negra Modela, oil, vinegar and some rub and pour it over both sides before I wrap it in foil. If you are going to finish it the oven you might as well use a pan covered in oil to help contain the juices. I maintain the same temperature range in my smoker to finish it off and pull it at around 190-195 degrees and let it rest covered where it will peak at about 200 degrees and then soak up some of the surrounding juices.

Focus on internal temperature guidelines for your finished product and you will have more consistent results than going solely with time based rules of thumb. The rules of thumb are great for planning your cooking process, but internal temps are a better indicator of when your meat is ready.

Here is a pick of some slices from a pecan smoked flat.

brisketslices2.jpg
 
SA Town -- one tweak on your last strategy: if you want to cut it in half, do that AFTER you smoke it, not before. Smoking the whole brisket gives you the advantage of cooking it with the full fat cap, point attached to the flat to retain moisture, etc.

I often smoke a whole brisket, and then trim the fat and cut it into hunks. Those hunks freeze well, and they'll even withstand a 2-day mail trip to Alaska.
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12th Stud-- thanks for the post. I knew one of our BBQ guys around here did this regularly, and had posted pictures that looked like tasty results.

SA-- I agree with what BT said about smoking the whole brisket at the same time. That way you take advantage of all of the fat rendering through the meat, keeping it moist and delicious with minimal intervention from you.

A question-- is there a physcial reason why you seem to want to go with a smaller brisket? Do you have limitations on smoker grill area or something? If so, let us know, and we might be able to offer some suggestions on how to overcome those, without cutting up the brisket before-hand.

The primary reason the brisket is usually smoked or cooked using other indirect, low-and-slow methods, is because of its physical nature. The large fat cap, and the well-marbled point, as well as all of the connective tissue throughout, make it the perfect candidate for low-and-slow. But, if you start messing with its natural, physical form, then you're going to have to work much harder to get an end-product that is tasty and moist.
 
I think the "wrap it in foil and towels and put it in a cooler" thing really is the holy grail of brisket cooking.

I wrap mine in foil when it's about 160, then put it on the grill to get it up to about 210. This was scary the first time, but wow, it's the way to do it.
 
I did a market trimmed for my first brisket... Had good flavor, was tender, but dry dry dry. Now I only go for packer trimmed and save the rest. Ends up costing around the same as market trimmed briskets are nearly a $1 more per pound.
 
UTEE - regarding your ? about brisket size: smaller briskets (8-12lb'ers) tend to be more tender than larger briskets in the same way that small poultry tends to be more tender than larger ones. Meat from a younger animal tends to be superior to an older animal with all other things being equal. I look for small packers that are flexible and have a more reddish color and good marbling on the fleshy side with as thin as a fat cap as I can find on the fat side.
 
I christened my new smoker with a 14 pounder this weekend. I didn't want one that big, but it was the smallest they had, and I didn't feel like driving around to find the perfect size.

I had a little difficulty maintaining the optimal temperature. The smoking chamber easily gets up to 300+ with very little fuel in the firebox. Too little fuel and it will only stay above 200 for 15-20 minutes. I used way too much charcoal to get things going, and I had to wait an hour for things to cool down to the appropriate temperature range. I used the Kingsford lump to get things going, then added mostly pecan chunks as the primary fuel, with some mesquite chunks and apple and hickory chips to add some interesting variation.

I scored the fat cap, used a thin mustard paste (I didn't have any plain yellow so I combined some German bratwurst mustard with some honey mustard) and liberally rubbed on some HEB Brisket Rub.

I left it in the smoker for about 8.5 hours (mostly between 200 and 250, but occasional spans of hotter and cooler), then wrapped in foil and an outer layer of plastic wrap, and left it on the counter until it was almost room temperature. I put in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I removed the plastic wrap and popped it into the oven heated at 225. After 4.5 hours, I turned off the oven. After another couple of hours, I pulled it out of the oven and began to slice.

It is not the most tender brisket I have ever had, but obviously the size was a hindrance, and I don't quite have the optimal slicing technique down. I'm also not sure I cooked it long enough. That being said, it is one of the best tasting briskets I have ever put in my mouth.
 
12thStud, yeah, I typically go with 9-11 lbs for that reason. My question to the OP about size was because between originally buying the 4 lber, and then later asking about cutting a full packer in half, it seemed like he might have some kind of physical limitation on his smoking rig.

Anyway, from the follow-up, it sounds like the 9 lb packer was a success, which is great to hear. Keep up the good work.
 
UTEE - Sorry I misunderstood your question but am glad to hear you have the same brisket selection preferences.

Some people swear that freezing the packer brisket and then thawing it out before cue'ing it will make it more tender. I don't have an opinion on that yet, but I think I'm going to buy 2 similar sized and same grade packers and try the freezing technique on 1 of them and see how they compare. Does anyone have any experience with this technique?
 
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