The Official Brisket Thread

[Jeff Lebowski]

We are going to do brisket quesadillas tomorrow with fresh tortillas and extra sharp cheddar. Should be good.

Ended up doing brisket quesadillas with smoked Gouda (Costco) and fresh whole wheat tortillas (Target). Served with avocado and mango salsa.

Holy cow. Maybe the best quesadillas I have ever had. Incredible.

[mtnbiker]

See post #1 in this thread.

I thought maybe you'd do something different once in a while. Sometimes it's nice to go with what works, and sometimes it's interesting to change things up and see how other methods work. For instance, my daughter got me a book by Myron Mixon, and he says he cooks his briskets at something like 350 for about 5 hours because he doesn't want to be up all night tending a fire.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I thought maybe you'd do something different once in a while. Sometimes it's nice to go with what works, and sometimes it's interesting to change things up and see how other methods work. For instance, my daughter got me a book by Myron Mixon, and he says he cooks his briskets at something like 350 for about 5 hours because he doesn't want to be up all night tending a fire.

I arrived at that technique via trial and error. If you read the opening post, you will see that the recipe at the bottom is a recent edit. I am certainly game to try something new, but it is a nice consistent method.

[Joe Public]

Kind of a mixed result on my end. Brisket was moist and tender but a little too tender so I think it was a little overcooked. Result of flying blind without my temp probe I suppose. Also, as much as I love the original Salt Lick brisket, I have not had good success with their rub. I used it more sparingly this time, but it still had a very strong black pepper taste. Didn't ruin the flavor, but definitely sub-optimal. Going back to my own rub next time.

We are going to do brisket quesadillas tomorrow with fresh tortillas and extra sharp cheddar. Should be good.

A few pics:

This looks great. Slicing brisket is one of the few times I think about paying for an electric knife.

I maxed out my kamado this weekend with a brisket (seven-pound flat) and two pork shoulders. I tried apple juice instead of beef broth for the liquid this time, and I like the beef broth better.

[Coach McGuirk]

[YOUTUBE]pGZ39yYxeBk[/YOUTUBE]

[FMCoug]

Doing a 17 lb'er for Sunday.

[CJF]

Doing a 17 lb'er for Sunday.

Last time I was in Don's they asked me when you were coming back.

[FMCoug]

Last time I was in Don's they asked me when you were coming back.

this is the last of that group ... I'll be back. No worries.

[mtnbiker]

This thread's been quiet, so here are a couple of pics from today's cook. Brisket and jalapeno poppers on the Traeger.

[FN Phat]

Very nice!

[Surfah]

That brisket looks damn good.

Good bump. I was just going to post to ask if anyone has done jerky. I've done it in a dehydrator before but never on the Traeger. Any tips? Recipes?

[mtnbiker]

Oh, by the way, the Traeger salesmen were at the Orem Costco last week. It looks like they're making the rounds to the local stores, even though it only shows them at the Bountiful store on their website. Costco Events

Surfah, regarding making jerky, I think I'd just stick with the dehydrator. I hate to think of the cost of pellets to make jerky in the Traeger.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow, mtnbiker. That brisket looks fantastic. What method did you use?

We did brisket today also. My favorite Traeger dish currently.

[mtnbiker]

Wow, mtnbiker. That brisket looks fantastic. What method did you use?

We did brisket today also. My favorite Traeger dish currently.

Pretty much a cross between what I've done before and what you have in your modified 1st post of this thread. The largest briskets at Costco were dinky 6 lb-ers, so I got 2. I kind of wanted to see if 2 would take longer to cook than 1. The answer this time was 'no'. Starting at midnight, I smoked them for 2 hours. I didn't think I would want to wake up at 4 and start the process then. At 2am I just had to turn the knob from 'smoke' to 225 and go back to sleep.

At 7:30 they were at the stall stage, 165 degrees. I put them in foil pans with apple juice, covered with foil, and put them into the oven at 225 to conserve pellets. I figured they wouldn't get much more flavor from the smoker after that, anyway, and it turned out that they were fine. That also freed up the smoker for the poppers (although the briskets would have been off the Treager and in ftc stage by the time I wanted to cook the poppers anyway).

After they reached 195, I turned the oven down to 180 and just maintained temps, although I had to put them into a cooler a couple of times while a birthday cake and rolls were baking. They rested for 20-30 minutes out of the oven before carving & eating. We didn't even carve into one of the briskets. Looking forward to some fantastic leftovers all week!

How about you? Do you have any pics or tales to share?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Pretty much a cross between what I've done before and what you have in your modified 1st post of this thread. The largest briskets at Costco were dinky 6 lb-ers, so I got 2. I kind of wanted to see if 2 would take longer to cook than 1. The answer this time was 'no'. Starting at midnight, I smoked them for 2 hours. I didn't think I would want to wake up at 4 and start the process then. At 2am I just had to turn the knob from 'smoke' to 225 and go back to sleep.

At 7:30 they were at the stall stage, 165 degrees. I put them in foil pans with apple juice, covered with foil, and put them into the oven at 225 to conserve pellets. I figured they wouldn't get much more flavor from the smoker after that, anyway, and it turned out that they were fine. That also freed up the smoker for the poppers (although the briskets would have been off the Treager and in ftc stage by the time I wanted to cook the poppers anyway).

After they reached 195, I turned the oven down to 180 and just maintained temps, although I had to put them into a cooler a couple of times while a birthday cake and rolls were baking. They rested for 20-30 minutes out of the oven before carving & eating. We didn't even carve into one of the briskets. Looking forward to some fantastic leftovers all week!

How about you? Do you have any pics or tales to share?

Awesome.

No I didn't take any pics today. I have been watching the bins at Costco and they have not had any big ones for a couple of weeks now so I just picked out one of the 5+ lb packages that was nice and thick and had a uniform thickness. I did the 4 am start at 225 thing and it worked out fine. Nice and tender and couldn't really tell much difference between this one and the bigger ones. Much better than my last experience with a small one. Maybe the trick with the smaller ones is to pick out a think one.

I should have done some poppers too. We love those things.