Geoff’s Brisket, Texas Style

[Geezy]

Recipe

 

Geoff’s Brisket

 

12-13 lb brisket preferred

Rub of your choice (I prefer kosher salt and coarse ground pepper)

Apple juice (optional)

Squeeze Butter (optional)

Heavy duty aluminum foil or butcher paper. (I’m really liking the butcher paper better than foil these days)

Good Thermometers

 

The night before:

 

Trim fat cap to ¼” as well as remove any heavy white chunk fat on the top and where the point meets the flat.  Square off flat end as well so it cooks more evenly. The trimmed fat can be made into tallow.

 

Apply GENEROUS amounts of rub all over starting on the fat cap side and finishing with the meat side up. If doing kosher salt and black pepper, do the salt FIRST liberally, pat it in and top that with heavy pepper …more than liberally.   Pepper on top of salt…..always

 

Place in fridge wrapped in cling wrap and let sit until ready to be put on smoker.  I usually do this the night before and smoke the next AM, but the brisket can be put on immediately after rubbing as well if needed.  Your smoke ring will pop a little more if you let it sit overnight.

 

Day of:

 

Place on smoker at 250 degrees.  I prefer fat down to protect the meat from heat from the bottom and the grate doesn’t mess up your bark on the meat side.  Either is ok.   I put my temperature probes in the thickest part of the meat at this time. (I have a remote temp sensor for both the meat and smoker temps, I highly recommend them)

Spritz with apple juice every two hours (if you choose to)

Don’t open the smoker a lot because “if you are lookin’ you ain’t cookin’…”

 

Foil or butcher paper wrap at 160-165 internal temp if bark looks right or at the stall…. whichever comes first. If bark needs a little more time then take it to 170.  If using the squeeze butter, put it on the brisket liberally then close up foil and put back on smoker.

 

Continue to 203 deg …. (total cook time “guideline” is 1.00 - 1.5 hours per pound for completion…but go by internal temp for actual).   (if you want to chop the whole thing, I would take it to 205 no matter what.)  

 

Pull off smoker and set in cooler still wrapped covered in a towel or in a cool oven still foiled to rest for 1-2 hours before slicing.  One hour minimum so that the briskets moisture that was forced outward in cooking can re- distribute while cooling slowly.

 

Slice the flat for sliced brisket (AGAINST THE GRAIN OF THE MEAT) and you can either slice (against the grain) or chop the point …. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some thoughts on probing and done-ness….

 

Monitoring needs to be in the center of the thickest part of the flat ...  I like to angle it in to get more of the probe in the meat without passing through the other side   I have had to change the location of the probe as well after my target temp was reached because it wasn't right..     ie the probe says 200 but it's still tough and I find the real center is still at 190-195..

 

This is what works for me.  I am not a pro....Just a backyard hack.

 

I take it to 200 with the monitoring probe.  When you reach that temp, I like to take a handheld insta-read thermo like a Thermopop or Lavatools Insta-read and check other areas of the meat for their temp as well just to see how it is going.   While doing that I am probing the brisket for tenderness.    The probe or knife even needs to pass through all areas of the meat like a hot knife through butter...and if it doesn't....keep taking that center up another couple of degrees.   Check at 202...then 204 if need be.  200 is not a magic catch all number for me.  It is just a number for me to start probing.  Luckily it usually is done at 200-203 but I have had to take it further like described above.  

 

 Personally, I’ve rarely had a brisket done under 200 and I've messed up my share taking them off before. The ones I have pulled at 195 or less due to time constraints are like many experience…..dry and tough.  It's done when it's done....not before.”   A dry tough brisket is an underdone brisket….not an over-cooked brisket.  Underdone does not allow the collagen and connective tissues to properly break down and become moisture and subsequently tender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Old Marine]

Hey, Geoff!  I’m new here as of today, when I watched your interview on Healing Humanity.  I was looking for a vid to send to some family members who really need to try this Carnivore Diet, but seem to want to tell me how cutting out veggies and carbs is not good health science!  I could only reply, “Well, how’s that working out for YOU?”  I’m only hoping and praying that they will hear something in your testimony that will cause them to perk up and give it a mere 30 days out of their unhealthy & obese life.

I’ve got a few years on you…in age (81 in Sep).  I was researching for over 2 yrs trying to find something to help my wife, when I came on to the Carnivore diet. Last Dec 28th we were preparing to go on a Daniel Fast for 21 days along with our church starting on Jan 5th (which we’ve done for the past 13 yrs)…never a problem, but it’s just opposite of the C.D.!  And it never really helped her healthwise, but we were doing it for other purposes.  I approached her with us trying the Carnivore Diet at the same time time period of the Fast, but she was reluctant…until she watched the vid I asked her to view, “Dr. Ken Berry’s 33 questions answered!”.  I really thought at that time there was something about this diet that would help everyone…even though I’ve heard doctors say, “It’s NOT for everyone!”  I guess that might be true IF you are in perfect health and have no weight or disorders!  But, even if that were true, it’s only be a matter of time BEFORE you do have issues as you age.  Who knows what the Carnivore Diet would have prevented, had you been on it?

My wife said, “Well, if we do this I think we ought to give it a minimum of 90 days!”…and THAT seemed like a little miracle to me!  So, I agreed to do it with her…and we started on Jan 5th.  Today is Mar 30th and she is looking great, lost a lot of weight already, and her “gut issues” have not flared up after week one!  

I, on the other hand, have a problem…I can’t GAIN any weight!…which is my goal in recovering from the effects of Covid 19 and blood clots in the lungs…and circulation issues that seem to cause my fingers on the right hand to turn Yellow from the 2nd knuckle out to the end…if exposed to cold things…like shopping and handling meat at the grocery store, etc.  Back in July I had a recurrence of the clots (and was put back on a blood thinner Apixaban (VA says for the rest of my life) and have gone from 200 down to 175lbs at 6’3”…which I haven’t weighed that little since Vietnam in 1969! (in my 12th month was wounded pretty badly and after 10 days in a mash unit in DaNang I weighed 154!  (I was 217 lbs when I went over and barely 10% body fat!)  Marine Corps kept you in pretty good shape!

I seems to be in a catch-22.  The Carnivore Diet fills me up and I’m not really hungry, but I’ve lost a lot of muscle weight from the condition I was facing when we started on the Carnivore…so, I’m not losing weight BUT just can’t seem to gain it!  I’m too skinny, bro!  I’d love to hear any comments from anyone who might be able to give me some pointers to gain about 20 lbs of muscle!  Which I had and was working out on weights & riding my mountain bike at 79…then suddenly, POW!…this thing hit me.  Most say it’s just my age, but I simply cannot or refuse to buy that explanation!  I just don’t think you look and feel one way at 79 and you turn 80 and just go to pot!!  I will kick this…with the right help, as I AM motivated!  (Trying to figure out how to reach out to someone like Dr. Baker who’s a body builder, maybe for some advice.)…any help there would be appreciated as well.

Thanks, and sorry for the long message…just wanted to stir up some help comments for me, if possible!  And, may help others as well.

Semper Fi - jerry

P.S….below pix my hand at H.E.B.!…and my brother WWII Navy vet died last year at age 95 (our dad died in 1994 at age 94!  He was a ranch foreman for Gov “Ma & Pa” Ferguson of Texas back in the day! (What stories they both had for me growing up in Central Texas!)

[Geezy]

Welcome to our little tribe Marine. 
Wow, I’m humbled that my interview with Kerry may help with your family. I pray it does. 
It’s great that your wife joined you in carnivore. That makes everything so much easier. 
Gaining weight can be a tough one on carnivore for the very reason you mentioned and that’s appetite. It’s hard to eat when you just aren’t hungry. Have you been slim most of your life? For some people gaining weight is difficult even if they eat a bunch of carbs. I’ve never had that problem myself. 
Now I don’t know how you eat but the best way I know of for gaining weight is to eat plenty of dairy.  I know I have to be careful of how much I eat of it. Then hitting the weights and putting on muscle. That’s what I’m doing right now because I’m struggling to add a little back after losing about 10 pounds too much.
But there’s also the theory that when we eat a proper human diet our bodies will settle into their optimal weight so maybe I’m where I’m supposed to be, who knows. 

Your blood clotting issue is really strange, especially in your fingers. I have one finger with a circulation issue similar to that but mine is due to an injury years ago. 

HEB? Are you in Texas? 

Thank you for your service Marine and welcome home. My brother was over in Nam back in 67-68 at Tonsonute. My dad was there in 68-69 at Nah Trang. I was in basic training when it officially came to an end. 
 

[PeterT]

5 hours ago, Old Marine said:

cutting out veggies and carbs is not good health science

Yeah, who'd have thought the science writers would could be so deceitful. We do suffer plenty of opposition but of course 'real life' experience is on our side. 

Hey Old Marine, do you have Raynaud's phenomenon? also know as 'white finger'. I had this nerve damage (now reversed) from years of chain saw vibration.  

[Scott F.]

Welcome. Digging the hat. Thank you for your service. 

I can't speak much to the heart health issues but I'm currently gaining some weight. I started last May and dropped 92lbs in 10 months or so. My neck and face were so thin some said I looked sickly. At times I could catch that same look when looking in the mirror. 

I'm back in the gym and lifting consistently and with some purpose. I'm eating to build muscle. I'm at 218 this morning which is 5-6lbs heavier over the last month. It swings up and down but around 218 is my current number. I'm guessing my ideal bodyweight is around 200, give or take. I'm trying to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal bodyweight. Eating that much is really hard. I'm full and good to go on pretty much one meal. I push the other two down just to hit a target. I have put on some muscle but I can't imagine it has been 8-9lbs in the last month or so. Mid month I had to let my belt out one notch so I did regain some of the girth I had lost.

For me, the big difference between my previous dumpster diet and now on carnivore is that one is really hard to lose weight and the other is really hard to gain weight. Most of us can figure out which is which, LOL

Best of luck to you and yours. Good luck with the lifestyle change and again, thank you for your service.

Scott

[Scott F.]

My son is knocking it out of the park on his briskets. He is starting his 'competition career'. His first competition he won best "butt/pulled pork", which was an incredible accomplishment first time out. His chicken thighs were l15 out of 60, which is good on the first trip.

His first brisket ever was my favorite but I quickly learned competition cooking is so much different than me being the backyard hack as well. He spent an hour removing the skin, trimming, re-wrapping thighs before they hit the grill. I am more of out of the pack and onto the grill kind of guy. His very first brisket he picked it up and let it bend over the backside of a knife. His fell completely in half. it was the most tender brisket I had ever had, it was fatty (I was a fatty meat guy before Carnivore as well) and the fat had rendered perfectly. I was stoked and he was disappointed. 

I told him his approach was competition and I sort of get that but I told him when we fire up the grill it is all about "pushing turds and making friends". Enjoy the company and enjoy as the food nourishes the body.

His approach is really similar to yours. He trims like he is Michaelangelo with a blank canvas. 

Scott

[Geezy]

4 hours ago, Scott F. said:

I told him his approach was competition and I sort of get that but I told him when we fire up the grill it is all about "pushing turds and making friends". Enjoy the company and enjoy as the food nourishes the body.

Yeah and that’s why I don’t do competition. It’s two different ways of cooking. 
Competition doesn’t want melt in your mouth brisket or fall off the bone ribs but that’s how I cook mine and nobody that I’ve ever come across thinks competition style is any good. 

[Scott F.]

The thighs are the perfect example. The view is not worth the climb. LOL

Scott