Bull Saturday's prime brisket

[Greg Jones]

Grocery stores such as Costco can call their meats prime, and they may be fairly graded as prime…

As someone who has raised cattle (and hogs) on my family farm and butchered my own cattle that I raised from a bottle calf, I want to add a clarification on this. Grocery stores such as Costco cannot just ‘call their meats prime’. All commercial meat sold in the US is graded by government agents of the USDA, so Costco, and other retailers, that list a grade on the packaging must adhere to what the USDA grading is.

This has been a sore spot with small cattle operations that are not permitted to sell individual cuts of beef smaller than a quarter to individual customers unless it has been USDA graded. It will come as no surprise that USDA only inspects beef local to the Larger beef producers. Kentucky is the largest beef producing state east of the Mississippi yet I cannot go to one of the cattle farms local to me and buy a brisket.

 

[Jim6820]

Was at Costco today and checked the meat counter for brisket. The pickin’s were pretty slim with only a half-dozen briskets in the case; all Choice and 15-18 pounds. Nothing caught my attention. I like smaller briskets and much prefer Prime, so decided to pass…until my eye caught one more brisket misplaced in the in the adjacent section.

Apparently, someone had picked it up and put it back down with the adjacent cuts. Turned out to be a 12#, Prime (nicely marbled, too) brisket priced at $4.29/lb. Not quite as good as the $3.99/lb mentioned above, but I never see that kind of price at our Costco. Prime brisket is usually north of $6/lb.

We have family coming for the Labor Day weekend, so this brisket will rest in the freezer until a few days before then. You can color me a happy camper!

 

[Jim6820]

And, here’s the trimmed version, ready to be vacuum-sealed.

I may trim up the fat cap just a bit more before I put it in the smoker.

 

[SmokeZilla]

I am glad your experience was somewhat successful. My process doesn’t vary except that I do a dry rub and put it in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours. I personally like 36 to be honest. I also use Wagyu tallow for the binder and usually inject with my own home made solution that includes beef concentrate butter and other special seasonings. Another consideration is to make sure you use a high quality hickory, oak, or similar hardwood pellet. It is amazing how much of a difference it can make for the final results. Note: The injection method also works well on tri-tip.

Jim,
If I can be a little forward, have you considered scoring the fat cap using a square pattern? If done properly (don’t score the meat), it allows better penetration of the seasoning as the cap renders resulting in a better flavor profile for a typically bland area of the beef. After scoring, place your hand under the meat side so it bends in the middle (fat side up) and season so the seasoning can get into the now scored inside of the fat.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Jim6820]

Jim,
If I can be a little forward, have you considered scoring the fat cap using a square pattern? If done properly (don’t score the meat), it allows better penetration of the seasoning as the cap renders resulting in a better flavor profile for a typically bland area of the beef. After scoring, place your hand under the meat side so it bends in the middle (fat side up) and season so the seasoning can get into the now scored inside of the fat.
Just my thoughts.

Excellent point, @SmokeZilla; thanks. Yes, I will give that a try. I generally trim the fat cap down a bit more than I did with this one, but thought I’d leave this one a little thicker. Scoring the fat makes good sense.

Now, a follow-up question for you: when the fat cap is scored, do you cook with it up or down. I have generally cooked brisket with the fat cap down toward the heat. Will the scoring change that?

 

[SmokeZilla]

Excellent point, @SmokeZilla; thanks. Yes, I will give that a try. I generally trim the fat cap down a bit more than I did with this one, but thought I’d leave this one a little thicker. Scoring the fat makes good sense.

Now, a follow-up question for you: when the fat cap is scored, do you cook with it up or down. I have generally cooked brisket with the fat cap down toward the heat. Will the scoring change that?

Jim…

I usually cook with the fat cap up. I don‘t know that it makes a difference but at least all the seasonings don’t fall off and I don’t have to pry the brisket off the grate for wrapping. (lol). I‘ve heard you should turn it with the fat side towards the heat source to protect the meat but the Bull is like a big convection oven and shouldn’t have a problem as long as it remains over the drip pan. One thing I think made a difference was using the large RT shelf (or 2 small shelves) to raise the height of the brisket on the pit and putting a small wood block under it to keep the grease from pooling on top of the brisket. When done, it seems to pick up a little more smoke because of better circulation under the bottom of the packer (just my opinion). I also noticed raising it further from the fire pot/drip pan seemed to keep the full packer’s temperature more even when measured from top versus bottom when I used my insta-probe. It also allowed me to capture the renderings in a drip pan add some veggies and a little beef broth to kick start the gravy for later use by pouring it over the brisket after it has rested. Another tip is to use the beef tallow, clarified butter and a little brown sugar on the paper when you wrap. The tallow helps seal the paper against the loss of moisture and the butter/brown sugar adds to the flavor profile of the finished product. Have a great cook.

 

[Maule Guy]

DenStinnett

We run our Briskets on "LO" (180) for 8 hours, with a Smoke Tube full of Comp Blend
Wrap with Smoked Tallow and back at 270 for another 6 -8 hours until she gets to 200 - 205 internal
Comes out like this:
View attachment 17014

Great flavor throughout

Awesome looking brisket. Is that just a coarse pepper & salt rub or something else?

I really like the 8hr "low" setting technique. You can go to bed and wrap in the AM and have it off in time to rest and not stress about it being ready by dinner time.

I usually dry brine my brisket over night then use Meathead's "Big bad beef rub" I haven't given the TX standard Salt & Pepper rub a try yet.

For adding tallow when wrapping, I put some in a plastic squeeze bottle like ketchup comes in at a diner and squirt it on the inside of the pink butcher paper before wrapping. I am not convinced this helps anything (thoughts?).

 

[DenStinett]

Awesome looking brisket. Is that just a coarse pepper & salt rub or something else?

Thanks MG
All I use is:
Hand ground Pepper Corn, or Kirkland Coarse Ground Pepper, if I'm in a hurry
Hand ground Dehydrated Minced / Flaked Garlic and Onion
And ground Ancient Sea Salt .... the Sand in the Sea Salt is the best part

DenStinnett

I really like the 8hr "low" setting technique. You can go to bed and wrap in the AM and have it off in time to rest and not stress about it being ready by dinner time

That's the main reason we bought our Bull and gave away our Offset
Got real tired of setting-up all night, watching the Fire, the Gauge, open this Damper, close that one, for hours on end
Sitting alone, in the weather, so Momma can have Her (fill in the blank) for this Family Meal or that Dinner Party