Beef
Brisket in a Boat: A Smarter Way to Smoke the Flat
To scroll through Instagram, you’d think that everyone cooks a full packer brisket—that monster cut of beef weighing 10 to 16 pounds, comprised of both the fatty point and the lean flat.
A whole packer does, indeed, represent the summum bonum of barbecue, but not all of us have the 12 to 14 hours to cook it properly. Or can even find it at your local supermarket (unless you live in Texas.)
No, if your supermarket is anything like mine, what you’re more likely to find is a flat—the lean part of the brisket that weighs 4 to 6 pounds. And that you can cook in 6 to 8 hours.
That’s the good news. The not so good news is that, because it’s lacks the abundant fat of the brisket point, the flat requires special measures to keep it drying out.
Brisket in a Boat
One method, which you’ll find in my book The Brisket Chronicles, is the foil pan and bacon technique. You smoke the brisket flat in an aluminum foil pan to shield the meat from direct exposure to the fire.
You drape it with bacon to keep it from drying out: the bacon fat bastes the meat as the brisket cooks.
Lately, I’ve been using a new method, called the brisket boat.
The brisket boat was discovered accidentally. One story goes, at LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin. An employee forgot to close the foil wrapping after checking the brisket’s temperature. The brisket finished cooking in an open foil “boat.”
Far from being ruined, the open foil allowed the bark (crust) to stay crisp and smoky, while the rest of the brisket cooked in the meat juices and rendered fat.
I’ve always maintained that there’s no such thing as a mistake in the kitchen, just a new recipe waiting to be discovered. The brisket boat is a great way to cook a lean brisket flat, because the foil shields the meat from the heat, while allowing a smoky crust to form on top.
It looks cool. It tastes killer. And it guarantees you a moist smoky brisket flat every time.
Smoked Brisket Flat Recipe
Check out our 1000+ Recipes section here on Barbecue Bible.ComAlso, sign up for our Up in Smoke newsletter so you don't miss any blogs and receive some special offers! PLUS get Raichlen's Burgers! PDF for free!
Follow Steven on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest!
Check out our store powered by BBQGuys!