Last year, at the start of the pandemic when grocery stores were picked clean, the wife brought home the only meat the store had left...a full 16.27lbs brisket. Its been sitting in my freezer ever since. I have don't have a smoker, just a propane grill and no idea how to cook this thing...surfing the interwebs and youtube videos just raised more questions. I'm not even sure how to best defrost a cut of meat this big. Help
I'd be tempted to braise it. You'll want to do it low and slow, and if you don't have a smoker, I've had great luck doing them in a big dutch oven. I'd sear the fuck out of it on a bbq for 5-10 mins to get the outside nice and brown, but then slow cook it in the dutch oven and some fluid for hours. Just google "braised brisket" and tons of options come up. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/red-wine-braised-brisket
And if it's too big, then put it in a waterproof bag of some sort (garbage bag, etc), then let it soak in a warm tub... then cut it up.
So, a couple of options here... First, I'm going to assume that you don't have any other specialty cooking implements (thinking specifically of a sous vide circulator). If you DO... then you can do it that way in a big cooler. I've done a bunch like that in the past. 24 hours at 155* then finish under the broiler in the oven. If NOT, assuming at that size it's a full packer brisket, I would recommend separating the point from the flat (you can find all kinds of videos on YouTube on how to do that) and then you can take a point, cube it, and try and make some faux burnt ends on the grill. As far as the flat goes, you could just do a super high-temp sear on the grill with that and then just finish it in the oven covered with some foil and a bit of beef stock.
do you have a grinder? Or a butcher you can take it to in order to grind up? In addition to the great suggestions above, making burgers from brisket is always great. I did it at the beginning of the pandemic when ground beef was hard to find but brisket was still like $2.25/lbs
Thanks all for the input. We don't have any sous vide or anything, just a Weber propane grill. I think we will try searing on the grill and then braising it. More than likely will need to cut into sections. I'll post photos of it when we cook it; planning to over Memorial Day weekend. ROTN, neighbors from back home butchered several cows last fall and we bought half a cow...already have a ton of ground beef as it is.
you can also cut up the point section into basically steaks and grill them that way, and portion out the flat then marinade for fajitas. The brisket is two muscles -- point and flat -- and you can really do a lot with it. If I was stuck with any one cut of meat for the rest of my life, primal or otherwise, brisket would be it.
I am late to the discussion, but wanted to add that you can make a pretty good go of a brisket in a turkey size oven bag, like Reynolds makes, and your oven with 1 rack removed. Stays super juicy, very tender. It is not bbq for sure, but spice it up (dare I say rub your meat?) and give it a go if the other excellent suggestions don't grab you.
https://pitboss-grills.ca/collectio...ss-copperhead-5-series-vertical-pellet-smoker So I just bought this and hope to have it by the end of the week.
I have read a brisket is the most forgive and usually a good first thing to try and smoke. Anyone got any other ideas or a good recipe?
Thirded on the brisket not being an easy first cook. Pulled pork is extremely forgiving IMO and I've had really good luck with doing "turbo butts" if I can find a butt around 7lbs. The temps are too hot for a butt over 10lbs
If you're not taking care of it throughout your cook, it will dry out quickly. Like the others had said, pork butt is a piece of cake. It has so much fat that you would really need to fuck up for it to dry out. After that, I would give ribs a shot. Once you get those two down, then go for brisket. As for recipes, Aaron Franklin's videos on Youtube is what I usually abide by.
I'll echo what everyone else has said as far as pork butt being the safest; however, I always recommend to people in their first smoke on a new rig, go with something like a couple of whole chickens or a batch of wings because it allows you to monitor and check for temperature zones throughout the whole smoker and it's relatively fast compared to a whole butt. Plus, if you do ruin it, you can at least save the bones and make a good stock out of it.
So the first smoke was a great success. It was the best chicken i have ever had. And thanks to jdoogie for the idea to check temps in different places. I noticed a difference between the 3 chickens in temps.
Did our annual day of turkeys on Sunday. Ended up with 12 full sized turkeys and a single breast this year. 4 of which are being donated to a mens and womens halfway house in town for their Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Those look really good, how did you cook them? Looks like a rub? I committed to smoking turkeys for my family this year and I would love a bit of advice.