A guy at a Memphis gas station changed how I see brisket fat

I was filling up my truck last fall, and a man in a beat-up apron came out from the station's tiny smokehouse. He saw me looking at his brisket and said, 'You gotta leave more fat than you think, about a full pinky finger's width.' He explained that in his old brick pit, that fat cap protects the flat from drying out over the long cook, acting like a built-in baste. I tried it on my next cook, leaving a solid quarter inch, and the flat was way juicier. How much fat do you all leave on before a cook?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix1471mo ago

Learned the hard way to leave a thick fat cap. Trimmed one way too close once, and the flat turned out like shoe leather. Now I go for a good quarter inch, maybe a bit more on the end where the flat is thinner. It really does melt and keep things moist, just like that guy said. My last brisket was the juiciest I've ever made.

ben_nguyen1mo ago

Man, I used to trim it down to almost nothing. That Memphis guy's pinky rule totally changed my game, the difference is crazy.

simon_coleman1mo ago

Honestly, my first brisket looked like a hockey puck because I got scissor-happy with the fat. Took me three dry attempts to learn that lesson.