scout02-brskt

Here is the "point cook" at the first check time. With the exception of the very large point farthest left, the points from these briskets seemed to be much smaller relative the flats than the others I had cooked in the past. These were Choice grade briskets from a Fareway Stores meat department. I was very pleased with the yield and quality of this meat.

My mouth is watering as I type this! This is just 1 of the 4 flats as I was preparing to slice it. I used the "fork test" on these flats and while I was pleased with the results, I didn't like the "gouge" left in the meat from where I twisted the fork to check for doneness. This brisket was VERY tasty and I feel I did a perfect job of trimming fat as there was very little left to scrape off while slicing.

For this cook, I planned on serving 75-80 folks (Scouts, Moms, Dads and siblings) so I went shopping for something on the order of 40 lbs of packer briskets. I ended up with exactly 40 lbs of Choice brisket which I separated into flats and points to reduce cooking time as well as eliminate a lot of the fat that wouldn't have completely rendered during the cooking process (that big piece between that never totally renders out.) Shown above is the "flat cook" after they had been in the cooker for a few hours. I fabricated an auxilary cooking rack out of expanded steel, increasing my cooking area by about 200 square inches and allowing all 4 flats to fit the SnP. At this point, the largest flat which had been on the upper shelf has been rotated to the first position from the firebox and the others shifted around as well.

Here's the final product. I was very pleased with this particular flat, it had an amazing smoke ring and there was no need to trim the very thin layer of fat that remained after smoking.

Below is my "tub-o-brisket" after slicing the flats. When the points were finished, rested/cooled and sliced, they were stacked on top of the flat meat. This tub of meat was dumped into my 18 quart roaster, along with 4 cups of reheating liquid consiting of cider vinegar, beef stock, rub and the defatted juices collected from the meat as it rested.