Beef Brisket on the BGE

I have cooked some beef brisket before on my old offset smoker but I had never tried it on the BGE.  It is such an expensive piece of meat and it is also more difficult to cook right that I don't cook brisket that often.  I remember on my offset smoker that the brisket came out a little tough to chew and just wasn't right.  Since everything else has been so easy to cook on the BGE, I decided to have another go at the brisket but this time on the BGE.  I ended up buying a 6.21 lb brisket flat $50 ($7.99/lb).

I decided to follow this recipe for cooking a brisket flat. http://www.biggreenegg.com/features/brisket-flat/

Since the recipe calls for flipping the brisket over after the first 4 hours, I started early in the morning and set up the egg for indirect cooking with the plate setter legs up and a drip pan on top.  While the BGE was heating up, I trimmed the fat off the lean side but left the fat cap fully in tact with no trimming.  I then seasoned both sides of the brisket with McCormick's Cowboy Rub.

Brisket rubbed and ready

Stable at 250 degrees with pecan wood and brisket fat side down

The BGE got up to the cooking temperature (250 degrees) at around 7:30 AM.  I then put the brisket on the egg at around 7:45 AM and placed the fat side down.  I closed the lid on the egg and then had some breakfast and coffee.

Brisket after 4 hours cooking at 250 degrees

At around 11:45 AM, I opened the lid to the BGE and flipped the brisket over so that the fat side was now facing up.  I closed the lid again and cooked at 250 degrees for another 2 hours.

Brisket in heavy duty foil with coffee poured into bottom

At around 1:45 PM, I brewed some coffee for the next step in the brisket cooking process.  I chose to use Starbucks Pike's Peak whole bean coffee and ground it up from the freshly opened bag.  I set the brisket fat side down on a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and poured 1 cup of coffee into the bottom of the foil.  As I was closing up the foil to make an enclosed package containing the coffee and brisket, I spilled some of the coffee onto the deck.  So, I poured about another 1/2 cup of coffee onto the foil and carefully wrapped up the brisket.  I placed the foil packet onto the egg and cooked the brisket for another 2 hours at 250 degrees.

Brisket is already measuring 183 degrees

Also during this stage, I put a meat thermometer into the brisket so I could measure the internal temperature.  I was surprised to see that the brisket was already at 183 degrees and started to get a little nervous since I didn't want to overcook this $50 piece of meat and I still had 2 more hours of cooking time per the recipe.  I researched brisket doneness and tenderness and found out that each brisket seems to be different in terms of final temperature.  The better test is the "tenderness test" which is where you stick a fork in the brisket and give a slight twist.  You start testing for tenderness after the temperature reaches 185 degrees. If the fork slides into the meat with the same consistency of hot butter and the meat pulls away during the twist, the brisket is done.  Since this is not an accurate measurement, it will take me a few times to really know the right feel.

I let the brisket continue to cook for another 2 hours and kept checking the tenderness.  The internal temperature reached 200 degrees but I didn't think the brisket had passed the tenderness test yet so I let it cook longer still wrapped up in the foil.  When I finally decided it passed the tenderness test, the brisket temperature was reading 209 degrees.  I took the brisket off the egg and then let it rest for 30 minutes still in the foil.

Brisket ready to slice against the grain

One trick that I used before cooking was to make a small cut against the grain so that I would know which way to slice the brisket once it was done.  This seemed to help since it can be hard to tell which way the grains run on the brisket after it has been cooked and has a nice crust.

Slicing against the grain

Fully sliced and ready to eat

I did save the coffee drippings into a bowl and my wife made a au jus dipping sauce out of it.  This complimented the brisket but it wasn't a requirement in my opinion.  The brisket had an excellent flavor by itself but some of meat towards the point ended up being a little dry.  The rest of the brisket was fabulous.  I guess an improvement for next time would be to ensure the position of the point is not over a hot spot where the plate setter lets up the heat.  It might also have just been the brisket itself since the fat cap was more prominent over the larger end of the flat and not as much over the point.

After we ate it for dinner, I placed the remaining brisket in a plastic container and we poured the au jus sauce over it for storing in the refrigerator.  We're going to make some Brisket Chimichanga's with the leftovers.

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/groves-brisket-chimichanga/162298

http://www.nibblemethis.com/2010/01/brisket-chimichanga.html