Sunday is shopping day at the Buddha household. On this particular Sunday I was pleasantly surprised to find a brisket flat on sale in the butcher department. If you do not know what a brisket flat is, it is one of two muscles that make up a whole packer brisket. The other muscle is the point (or Deckle) which is very fatty and used to make burnt ends. The flat is the meatier muscle of a brisket and it is the one most people are familiar with when eating brisket in their favorite BBQ restaurant. If you would like to learn more about brisket read this post from a favorite site of mine, Amazing Ribs. Since I didn’t pick up this brisket flat until Sunday morning and wanted to cook it later that same day I had to cook it “turbo” style. I have cooked pulled pork BBQ this way before but have not cooked brisket this way. If you are looking to try this method I am happy to share my experience with you – it turned out great! Now sit back, grab an ice cold Dale’s Pale Ale, and enjoy this post on How to Cook a Turbo Brisket Flat.

How to Cook a Turbo Brisket Flat

Here is the brisket flat I found at the grocery store this Sunday. Not a bad price for 7 pounds of meaty goodness!

It is important to trim all the fat and brisket membrane off the opposing side of the fat cap. In this way you expose the meat to the salt and rub helping to create that delicious crust.

For this cook I used a favorite rub Cow Lick from Dizzy Pig BBQ Company. This rub really gets that down home Texas style BBQ flavor we all know and love.

To cook the brisket in 5 hours I had to go “turbo” style which is a higher heat for a shorter period of time. I preheated the Big Green Egg to 350° using a plate setter for indirect heat. For this cook I used pecan wood and waited until I saw a thin blue smoke coming from the top of my BGE. I placed the brisket in fat cap down and let it cook.

After 3 hours the brisket flat hit an internal temperature of 170° which was my call to action. I wrapped the flat in aluminum foil and placed it back in the BGE for 2 hours until the meat measured 190°.

It is important to note that when your meat measures 190° you still need to check for the correct texture of the meat or you risk a chewy brisket. For this cook the fork test did not signal good results; I was met with resistance when pushing a fork in the meat. So, I let the flat cook another hour until it measured 205°. At that point my fork met with little resistance and it was time to pull and let the meat rest.

I pulled the brisket in the foil wrap, wrapped that in a towel, and placed the meat in a cooler (no ice). The brisket rested this way for another hour while I enjoyed a cigar and a beer! All in all I was able to smoke this brisket flat and serve it for dinner in under 7 hours. Look at the smoke ring!