The Official Brisket Thread

[Bo Diddley]

Cooked a Christmas brisket. It was a monster and took a little longer to cook than normal. I think it's the best brisket I've cooked so far.

[Moliere]

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Yikes. You’d think Cornyn was from New York or California with a broker like that. Pretty safe to say I’m not voting for the guy again after this atrocity.

[All-American]

I mean, you only need so much corned beef for St. Patrick’s day. So what to do with the rest of the brisket?

[All-American]

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[Jeff Lebowski]

[Bo Diddley]

I might be cooking brisket for the YSA Ward I'm in. They're telling me 60-70 people on the high end, so that's probably, what, three large (18#) briskets? Or would you go with four? That also probably means staggering my cooking, with two of them holding for longer than the other one or two.

I typically smoke for 5 hours and finish in the oven for another 4-5 hours, and hold for 6 hours. To make that all work, I'd either have to lengthen the hold time on the first batch and/or shorten the hold on the second batch. What would be the happy medium I should go for?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I might be cooking brisket for the YSA Ward I'm in. They're telling me 60-70 people on the high end, so that's probably, what, three large (18#) briskets? Or would you go with four? That also probably means staggering my cooking, with two of them holding for longer than the other one or two.

I typically smoke for 5 hours and finish in the oven for another 4-5 hours, and hold for 6 hours. To make that all work, I'd either have to lengthen the hold time on the first batch and/or shorten the hold on the second batch. What would be the happy medium I should go for?

There is a lot of fat in a brisket that you either trim off or it cooks down. It seems crazy, but in my experience a brisket will only feed a dozen or so people. I would be shocked if you could feed 60-70 people with three briskets, but I could be wrong. CJF should chime in (or you could PM him).

My advice would be to forget about the brisket and do pulled pork instead. You could easily feed that big a crowd with 4 big butts. 1 butt = 15-20 people when you do it on sandwiches.

[Bo Diddley]

There is a lot of fat in a brisket that you either trim off or it cooks down. It seems crazy, but in my experience a brisket will only feed a dozen or so people. I would be shocked if you could feed 60-70 people with three briskets, but I could be wrong. CJF should chime in (or you could PM him).

My advice would be to forget about the brisket and do pulled pork instead. You could easily feed that big a crowd with 4 big butts. 1 butt = 15-20 people when you do it on sandwiches.

I think the planning factor I remember was one pound brisket per person precooked, which is probably closer to 4 briskets. I did mention the pulled pork when they approached me about it, and they'll be good with that as well. I might go that direction just to be safe.

[Bo Diddley]

There is a lot of fat in a brisket that you either trim off or it cooks down. It seems crazy, but in my experience a brisket will only feed a dozen or so people. I would be shocked if you could feed 60-70 people with three briskets, but I could be wrong. CJF should chime in (or you could PM him).

My advice would be to forget about the brisket and do pulled pork instead. You could easily feed that big a crowd with 4 big butts. 1 butt = 15-20 people when you do it on sandwiches.

So getting back to the holding thing, have you ever cooked briskets staggered like that and adjusted the hold times? What's the max hold time you would consider?

[Copelius]

There is a lot of fat in a brisket that you either trim off or it cooks down. It seems crazy, but in my experience a brisket will only feed a dozen or so people. I would be shocked if you could feed 60-70 people with three briskets, but I could be wrong. CJF should chime in (or you could PM him).

My advice would be to forget about the brisket and do pulled pork instead. You could easily feed that big a crowd with 4 big butts. 1 butt = 15-20 people when you do it on sandwiches.

If someone were to like this post would that mean that by inclusion they like big butts?

[Pelado]

If someone were to like this post would that mean that by inclusion they like big butts?

I cannot lie.

[Jeff Lebowski]

If someone were to like this post would that mean that by inclusion they like big butts?

Yes, I like big butts and I cannot lie!

[Jeff Lebowski]

I cannot lie.

Dang it, pelado. He pitched that softball to ME.

[Jeff Lebowski]

So getting back to the holding thing, have you ever cooked briskets staggered like that and adjusted the hold times? What's the max hold time you would consider?

You can hold brisket for 24 hrs easily as long as it is tightly sealed so that it won't oxidize. I would hold at 160.

I have told the story a few times, but I toured the pits at Blacks BBQ in Austin one time and they had at least 50 briskets they were cooking. They looked mostly done and they told me that all of the ones I was looking at were to be served the next day.

[Pelado]

Dang it, pelado. He pitched that softball to ME.

He asked if someone liked your post, would that mean they liked big butts. I liked your post and then posted my reply. It's not my fault you're slow.