More Brisket and Burnt Ends

For my first brisket of 2011, I got a hold of a nice 14lb packer brisket to smoke up.  This round of brisket was the most tender (almost too tender) I've smoked yet.  The burnt ends that I made from the point were some of the best I've had.  Here's the process for this incredible batch of meat.

• The night before the smoke trim the top top of the brisket of any extra fat.  Leave the bottom with the fat cap mostly intact.  Then give the meat a good rub down with your favorite BBQ rub.  I used John Henry's Texas Brisket rub.
• Now it's time for some smoke.  I fired up my Yoder Smokers pellet grill to 225 degrees and threw the meat on, fat cap up.  The time was around 10pm
• Leave the meat on the smoker until it reaches 140 degrees internal temp, measured at around the center of the flat.  Time was around 3am.
• Now it's time to foil.  Transfer the meat to either a foil pan or a double layer of aluminum foil, with the fat cap down.  Add to this around a cup or so of beef broth.  Seal the pan with foil.  I finished cooking the meat until it reached an internal temp of 205.  Time was around 2pm.  Around 16 hours of cooking time!  As usual, the Yoder pellet grill held a consistent temperature over the entire cook.  The consistency of the Yoder allows me to get some good periods of rest while I'm doing these overnight cooks.

Now it's time to fix up some burnt ends.  Once the brisket is done, remove the point from the flat.  Keep the flat wrapped in foil and return it to a cooler lined with some towels to rest, at least a couple of hours.  Cube the point into some some small, bite size chunks and transfer to a foil pan.  Give those chunks of meat a good sprinkling of  some rub and smoke them for around 1.5-2 hours at 225, until they are slightly dried out.  Then give those burnt ends a good helping of some BBQ Sauce.  I used Pappy's BBQ this time around and that made some great burnt ends.  I don't think I'd do them any other way again.  Leave the pan of sauced burnt ends on the smoker for another 1-1.5 hours.  Here's how everything looked when it was done.

The sliced flat, ready for consumption!

The burnt ends.  Smoky and flavorful!  Some real meat candy!