Beef Brisket Tips for Bovine Bliss

Tip#1 Find the right meat. Of all the beef brisket tips, this is probably the most important. Brisket cooking in a smoker means using a packer brisket. It should include the deckle- the top piece. Also, it should have a large fat cap that covers almost the entire brisket.

Tip#2 Use the right wood. Brisket, which has a lot of mass, and takes quite a bit of time, needs an assertive wood. I prefer a mixture of oak, hickory, and pecan. For a big piece of meat like this, you could use mesquite and its very strong smoke.

This is probably one of the only cases where I would use mesquite to smoke, although I use it regularly for grilling.

Generally, though, I use what is local if possible- it keeps the cost down.

The only woods I avoid are fruit wood like the apple that is brilliant with ribs and bacon, but way too mild for brisket. And, it goes without saying to avoid woods with the pitch- right?

Tip#3 Smoke at the right temperature. Unless you have a super-deluxe gas assisted thermostat controlled smoker, making bbq at home is an exercise in controlling the heat and smoke of your fire.

I will go into more depth about controlling the fire in coming pages but ideally, you'd like to smoke the brisket at an average temperature of 200 degrees. It can fluctuate but try to keep it in this window.

Tip#4 Use the right rub. The right rub is the rub you like- after all- you are doing the work. I have said it before and I will again, the only rub for brisket that I use is KOSHER SALT and medium grind BLACK PEPPER.

Period.

This is one of the more surprising beef brisket tips that I give out. People just want to use a funky rub concoction.

I use the salt and pepper in a ratio of 1 part pepper for every 2 parts salt. Normally I put it in a Tupperware container, mix it up and apply.

Tip#5 Use enough rub. Don't be chicken. Remember: there is a lot of fat you are going to trim way. Also, there is a lot of areas to cover!

If you use enough rub, you will not need to apply any other seasoning after cooking, because as you slice the brisket, you will get a nicely seasoned crust along with the interior of the meat (unless you are making burnt ends and use some of this crust)

Tip#6 Do not turn your brisket. EVER! This is the easiest of the beef brisket tips. You need the fat on top to melt through the meat and keep it moist.

(Once in the early days of my second restaurant one of our less than intelligent workers smoked a whole case (70lbs) of brisket upside down. We had tho toss all of it in the trash- way too dry.

Tip#7 You really don't need to mop the brisket. If you want to, fine. But unless you are introducing a whole new flavor why bother? You have more than enough fat to lubricate the meat. And really, what are you basing? The fat cap?

Tip#8 Rub your meat (oh the jokes I could make) up to 24 hours in advance. In the restaurant setting, this rarely happens, and it doesn't make a huge difference anyway.

Tip#9 If you are making burnt ends, great. Love 'em. I would encourage you to use the deckle for this and the flat portion underneath for regular sliced plates. There are a lot of folks who just want plain sliced lean beef.

So, I use the deckle and it's ample amount of crust-to-meat ratio and its yes, lovely fatty meat, to do burnt ends.

Tip#10 You must serve your brisket plates with pickles and onions. If you're not from Texas, this will sound weird. But it works. Take a bit of brisket on your fork with a piece of pickle and onion. The acidity in the pickles and sharpness of the white onion temper the fat in the meat.

Tip#11 When making brisket sandwiches, you can use either a hamburger bun or a hoagie roll, or any bread really as long as it's white. (please don't ever think of wheat bread for this.)

I like to spread mine with butter and toast it on the griddle. This adds insult to injury. And for me, I like to "white trash it up a bit" and spread mayo on the toasted bun. Then step back and let the magic happen.

Tip#12 You can reheat brisket! It is great. (one of the beef brisket tips most restaurants never admit to)

Any large leftover pieces, once cold, should be wrapped in saran wrap first and then foil. In a 300 degree oven it takes a whole piece about 3 hours to heat up, so that is about an hour for every 2 pounds or so, I think.

Also, if you have the slices left- vacuum seal them. I like to take any big chunks and trim and cut them after they are cold. Then I seal and freeze them for later.

Tip #13 How much to serve? 4 oz. of cooked meat for a sandwich is fine.

8 oz. of cooked meat for a standard bbq plate with 2 sides is plenty.

If you have other meats or sides you will have to re-figure this, especially whether it is lunch or dinner.

I typically allow 8 oz (total) of meat and 2 sides for a hungry person at dinner. If I had ribs as well, It would be 6 oz of meat and 1 rib.

Godspeed my Beef Brothers and Sisters.

Cutting Pork Ribs: Spareribs

Cutting pork ribs- spareribs to be exact? Easy Peasy

You will notice (hopefully, it's a bit small) that the rack below is a whole rack of "4 and down" pork spare ribs. It has the telltale rainbow arch of the brisket portion (small cartilage bones)next to the tip of the knife:

If we remove this-- in effect "squaring off" the rack, we end up with "St. Louis cut ribs." See the picture below:

Why is this popular? Well, what you are left with is the leanest, meatiest portion of the rack. You then simply cut straight down to separate the ribs.

Or almost straight.

As you get to the smaller ribs, the bones curve. I recommend turning the rack over as shown below so you can follow the bones more easily:

One nice thing about making your own St Louis cut spare ribs, is that the ribs will be a bit more "even" and if you have kids at your house the brisket bones- some times marketed as "rib bits" are a perfect size for kids. See the little "cubes" on top of the main rack below?

Q: What if you don't want to make your own St. Louis cut?

(I am in this camp as I am like Jack Sprat's wife. I love all things fatty and chewy, and those little pieces of brisket cartilage are right up my alley.)

A: Simple, you just leave this cartilage section on. Some restaurants do this as it gives a bigger rib and more implied value. It should look like this on a typical "1/3 rack" rib plate with two side dishes. A bit blurry as it was the cocktail hour at the photo shoot!:

Carving Beef Brisket

Carving beef brisket is really easy. It may seem daunting because once you complete your beef brisket recipe, you have one big piece of blackened meat with no apparent road map on how to cut it up!

So, how to cut brisket? You just follow the direction of the muscle. Also, when carving brisket, you cut the meat against the grain.(meaning, the finished cut of meat should not appear to have long strands of meat all running the same direction)

To carve: you start at the triangular front called "the point" (many bbq restaurant customers will specify the point, or lean, or fat, or cutters choice). Slice on a bias, working your way back.

About midway, you are going to see a membrane and fat separating a meaty/fatty top portion. This is called "the deckle." You have two choices: you can continue on cutting the way you are. I do not recommend this.

Instead, when carving beef brisket, I run my knife through the fat and remove the deckle. Now, you can clean and trim both of these chunks up to your liking and start carving again.

Please, don't cut more than you need or it will dry out.

Now, brisket grasshopper, you MUST serve this meat with dill pickle chips and sliced onions. Sounds weird, I know, but once you try it this way, your life will change forever.

On a sandwich- hamburger bun or hoagie roll, it goes something like this: 6 oz. brisket pickles onions and sauce. For me, I like to get all white trash on it and put mayonnaise on the bun.
OK, a party's over. Now, what?

If you have some brisket left, I would chill it, then slice it. Trim it if you must but fat is good for you.

Now wrap it in saran and freeze - or better yet, vacuum seal it for your next bbq party or drunken office party where you come home half-in-the-bag and absolutely has to have some bbq beef brisket.

Oh- 1 tip- Restaurants always talk about "yield." This is how much actual servable meat you get after you cook it and it shrinks. Typically a 10-11# brisket yields about 6-7# of meat. So, it is about a 50% shrinkage. If you care, you can see that this effectively raises your cost per pound from $1.86 at the time of this writing, to about $3.60 per pound. FYI.

Oh- 1 more tip- this meat is so damn good, and, in many cases reminds me of Mexican barbacoa.

So, in addition to serving it the traditional way,I like to make FRESH refried beans, guacamole, and rice.

Next, I squeeze a bunch of limes and make real margaritas.

Rolled in flour tortillas, eating the brisket this way is nirvana.

Namaste.

BBQ Tips and Some Slick BBQ Restaurant Tricks

BBQ Tips? What kind of tips?

This tips page will run the gamut from what kind of wood to use, to food temperature guidelines, to how to pick out your meat.

From the restaurant world, we'll look at how many ounces of cooked meat or ribs to allow for per person when planning you are next to get together. I'll even tell you how to do what no bbq restaurant will admit to: reheat your meat.

Also, since no man is an island and I really have no idea what in the hell that means-I'll gives you some ideas on what to do with that beautiful meat you've smoked other than a standard bbq plate or sandwich.

Smoking tips for brisket Before you smoke your brisket read these tips as well as some restaurant blasphemies.

Instructions on how to cut pork spareribs If you have pork spareribs just off the smoker or out of the oven click here for a guide how to cut them!

How to cut your beef brisket A big 'ole brisket can seem daunting but click here on how to cut it up..