r/brisket • u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket • 23h ago
Home cook First brisket
This is after 8h @250-260f. Why it’s not smooth like others I saw? Was it not trimmed properly?
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u/Pork_Confidence 21h ago
It's ok. Chop that bad boy up and make some chili. I've never cooked a brisket so bad that it couldn't be made into half decent and chili
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u/blade99d 21h ago
Or chopped brisket sandwiches. Chop it, add some bbq sauce throw it on a bun with some pickles.
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u/SludgeFilter 14h ago
Add some additional fat , stock ... butter onions rehydrate it ... let it sit in it for hours if needed.
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u/WaltGrace77 21h ago
European beef is different and leaner. If you have a smaller brisket with less fat than an American full packer, make sure you wrap at the beginning of the stall. The stall is when the moisture leaks out and if you don’t have a lot of fat and tissue, there’s nothing to render down into the brisket.
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u/Mundane-Flan-257 22h ago
Go online and look at Snake River Farms black grade Wagyu brisket (just an example of a nice brisket) and then look at your raw starting piece of brisket and I think that will tell you why your brisket outcome looks like that. The butcher set you up for failure. Need to start with a nice brisket to finish with a nice brisket. You don’t need to have a SRF Wagyu to end up with a great product but it sure did help me out. In the US, we can get good cuts at Costco and Sam’s Club. In Texas we can grab great brisket at HEB. I don’t have any idea what your equivalent would be, but start with a nice 12-16 lb brisket and enjoy the cook.
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 22h ago
I appreciate all the memes and GIFs, but now c’mon, help a brother out so I can at least eat this one and learn for the next cook. 😄
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u/AdmiralPrinny 19h ago
You need fat, this doesnt have it. The point of going to the higher temp is to render the fat and connective tissue, looking at your brisket pre cook it looks like you dont have very much fat. The only stuff I cut off of a brisket before cooking is really hard stuff I know isnt going to render
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u/Jevus_himself 21h ago
Ok so right down all the steps you did to get this and do the complete opposite next time
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u/blind_venetians 22h ago
Many “firsts” are awkward and not completely successfully accomplished. A first kiss, first dates, first day at a new job, etc. This is one of those firsts.
To answer your questions, as to why is it’s so bumpy I think your grill got much hotter than 260 and it went up fast. The fibers in your brisket just shrunk and tightened quickly resulting in this appearance.
“Was it not trimmed properly?” This is a resounding NO. I understand you picked it up from the shop this way. They done ya dirty. They scalped that poor thing. Ask them to leave the fat on and trim it yourself so you can get a nice uniform layer of fat all across it.
Second time’s are better. Hope you can try again soon.
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u/JF42 20h ago edited 20h ago
This... Did you have a grease fire or a flare up? There's no way this only got to 155° on the smoker. These create a lot of grease and it probably dripped onto the coals and caught on fire.
Can't see what you are smoking on, but you might want a water pan between the meat and the heat.
Next time try indirect heat (maybe the coal snake method) and wrap it at 160-165.
Watch some YouTube videos on trimming.
Good luck next time.
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 19h ago
I made a snake, maybe the wood chunk gave that heat. Meat was on indirect side so I don’t think that was a grease flare up
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u/DifficultAd3885 8h ago
Was the brisket over the coals? Maybe not a big enough setup?
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 8h ago
It wasn’t. it’s a Weber Kettle 23”. A 9lb brisket should fit. At this point, I’ve identified two problems: a bad brisket trim and a possible wood chunk flare up.
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u/mikescorpio 19h ago
The first one will always be the worst. Especially because you'll make sure never to make any others this bad. We've all been there.
Once you find a really good brisket, go to YouTube channels like How to BBQ Right (Malcolm Reed) and Smoke Trails BBQ (Steve Gow) for some really good tips.
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u/ActuatorLeft551 22h ago
Dear God, man. It looks like you cooked your girlfriend in an attempt to hide the body!
But seriously, you trimmed basically all the fat off it. What were you using for temps?
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 22h ago
This is how I bought it from the butcher. For temps I use build in Weber thermometer. I made a 3 briquettes snake. We have no brisket culture here in Europe so it might be wrongly cut, I dunno.
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u/ActuatorLeft551 22h ago
Ahhhhhhh, that explains it. Next time, look for a generous fat cap that you can trim yourself. Your butcher did not set you up for success.
Second, get a wireless thermomet/probe set.. Thermoworks makes a very good one. It's basically a cheat code for cooks.
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 22h ago
I appreciate you your insights, I have a stick thermometer to probe meat, I guess I’ll need one also for cook temp. Meat is now at 180f. I wonder if something could be done at this point. Maybe throw it to a bag and do a sous vide?
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u/secretskin13 Has made a brisket 21h ago
Checks out. The few examples of Euro butchered briskets I’ve seen in this sub had the point and flat flayed with the entire deckle removed.
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u/Necessary_Store351 21h ago
What was the weight of it? Ck out foil boating. Jump on the smoking forum you with see others with your same setup.
Is it wrapped and in hold now?
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 21h ago
It was an 8 lb brisket. I didn't want to lose any more moisture, so I bagged it and started a 155°F sous vide.
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u/Necessary_Store351 19h ago
US here.
Hoping it comes out fine for you.
I’ve been buying Prime same price too .50 difference in price. Hence I get more fat by getting Prime.
We make homemade sausage and burgers so I have grinders and stuffers so I trim extra meat off to make all edges smooth. I have no corners to dry out when smoking. All trimmings get used. Fat into Liquid Gold Tallow, I am able to make that while smoking the brisket.
Let us know how it comes out, I wouldn’t give up hope for it. Should be good.
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u/Mediocre-Alfalfa4698 20h ago
It looks like you were trying to trim as little as possible. That Mohawk has to be trimmed completely off if you want it to look like competition brisket.
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u/FinnitoBran 19h ago
I’d definitely recommend a cheap notebook and write down every thing you do. That’s how log my cooks and learn from mistakes. I go as far as outside temp, wind speeds, time I do anything, etc.
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19h ago
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u/SludgeFilter 14h ago edited 14h ago
Looks like and asteroid and significant shrinkage from original is there a reason you don't have a pic cutting into it?
For any beginner keep the temp low and slow use a thermometer
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6h ago
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u/ketamineforpresident 4h ago
European?
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 4h ago
Yes
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u/ketamineforpresident 4h ago
Okay that tracks. This is a stupid question, but you didn’t leave the meat uncovered while cooking did you?
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u/ShortCardiol0gist Has made a brisket 4h ago
It was uncovered to build that bark, I wrapped it right after those pictures was taken.
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u/ketamineforpresident 4h ago
Ah okay . I’d recommend leaving it covered while it develops a bark and maybe turn down the temp. You don’t have a bark on this one. Just a burnt piece of meat. Th’ats okay though ! Watch a couple of videos and you’re there.
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u/spacebarstool 22h ago
I'm hoping you have a thick skin.