7lb Prime Packer Brisket

[Mike in Roseville]

I know what you're thinking...

A 7lb USDA Prime Packer? "They don't exist"...or "I've cooked briskets for 30 years and I've never seen one."

Yeah I know. I thought the same thing.




So I picked it up and inspected it...

Point...check
Flat...check
7.05 lbs untrimmed

Alright...I'm game...even if it means I can shave 4-5 hours off of my brisket cook. I also picked up a 10.5 lb brisket as well (which will be cooked Sunday).

Yesterday, I decided to do the 7lb brisket with a snake burn on the 26.



After 3 hours


After 5 hours post stall


Wrapped after the stall


So how did it go?

Decent. I'm so impressed with the 26.75" every time I cook on it. It is a sheer joy to cook on. But, back to the meat. This brisket took 8 hours and some change from start to finish. Flavor and Smoke level were amazing. Even though I cooked it to 203+, checked a few spots for ease with the probe and let it rest, it came out a little under. I could tell as soon as I unwrapped it and put it on the cutting board. I had to guess with the thermometer placement in the point (smaller than usual) so that may have been part of it? Plus the point was a bit thinner than I'm used to. But there was no resistance when checking for doneness.



I did things a little differently with this one. Instead of 225-250, I opted for 250-275. I read you could still get a decent render. Perhaps? But portions of the top were rendered, but not completely so. Again, this may have.m been attributed to not cooking it long enough.

Also the wind was giving me some problems. At one point I had everything wide open and I was struggling to keep 225 (whereas I had 275 for the first few hours). It never dipped below that...but it wasn't cranking like I wanted it to.

I added a few Kingsford Professional briquettes to the end of the snake to around hour 6 to bolster the temp...it worked.

One thing I took away from this is Aaron Franklins advice of..."feel it" to know when it's done. Thermometers are great, but I have a feeling if I would have picked it up and tried to bend it, I would have probably let it go for one more hour and it would have been great.

Lesson learned.

Best part is...even though it was a little under, one of these two briskets was destined to be taco meat for my moms birthday dinner this weekend (hey she wanted me to make tacos). So flat and point chopped fine, seasoned again, and cooked together will make freakishly good tacos.



Back to the drawing board with the second brisket this weekend. Totally pumped for round two...stay tuned!


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[SMOKE FREAK]

Very very nice...
I cooked a 7#choice packer once...Damn thing took as long to cook as any 12# brisket I ever cooked...

[Mike in Roseville]

Very very nice...
I cooked a 7#choice packer once...Damn thing took as long to cook as any 12# brisket I ever cooked...

I got the same impression with this one. I thought: less weight = shorter cook. Which really didn't seem to be the case. These smaller ones might be good candidates for a full Texas Crutch.

[Mr.CPHo]

Nice cook! Thanks for sharing details.


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[iCARRY]

Wish my Costco was selling brisket at that price.


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[Joetee]

When you are fighting to get your temp up, try adding a little lump coal. It lights easy, fast and burnes hotter.

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[Mike in Roseville]

@Joetee

Thanks for the tip. I probably would have if I had some handy. However, I did have a fresh bag of Kingsford Professional...which I don't normally use except for searing steaks as in my experience it burns much hotter than KBB, Stubbs, RO, Etc.

A few briquettes added to the snake did the trick.
Held 280 for the rest of the evening.


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[kob]

Looks great Mike. Nice post.

[mhiszem]

Looks delicious! I need to make time for a brisket.


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[Davescprktl]

Brisket taco meat is awesome!  Nice cook!

[HoosierKettle]

No fucking way. Check out that smoke ring!  This deserved a cuss word. Nice one.


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[inkaddictedchef1]

No fucking way. Check out that smoke ring!  This deserved a cuss word. Nice one.


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+1 fucking A right it does! Great cook

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[bbqking01]

Hot diggity, logs!  That just looks too good.  And on tacos to boot?! Where do you live? I'm coming over for you moms b-day.

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[Mkrause]

I did my first brisket last weekend and picked up a 12 lb prime packer from sam's... didn't realize they were hard to find. Strange thing was, the prime packer was cheaper than a smaller choice flat. I was in costco yesterday and there wasn't a prime piece of meat to be found.

Mine didn't look nearly as good as that one.

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[bbquy]

Great job! Looks sooooo goooood! I've been doing my briskets at higher temp too. My next one I'm trying Myron Mixon's recipe and it calls for 300 degrees. I did my last pork butts at 300 as well and it came out awesome! The two 9lb butts were done in 6 hrs.