Brisket Burnt End Nachos
Pile on the delicious with these Brisket Burnt End Nachos. Tender, saucy burnt ends are layered on tortilla chips with melty cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and finished with your favorite toppings. Yum!
Ingredients
1 1/2 Whole packer brisket, choice grade or higher
BBQ Rub
Traeger ‘Que BBQ Sauce
18 Ounce yellow corn chips
24 Ounce shredded Mexican blend cheese
pico de gallo, for serving
fresh or jarred sliced jalapeño peppers, for serving
24 Ounce sour cream, for serving
guacamole, for serving
1 1/2 Bunch green onions, chopped, for serving
1 1/2 Bunch cilantro, chopped, for serving
Instructions
When ready to cook, set Traeger temperature to 275°F and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes.
Trim the excess fat and silverskin from the brisket. Also, remove any “hard” pieces of fat as they will not render off during the cooking process. Trim the fat off the bottom of the brisket leaving only 1/4 inch fat. A brisket is comprised of two muscles; the point (the fat end) and the flat (the lean end).
In order to be able to cook brisket burnt ends, you need to butcher the brisket a bit more than you would for a traditional packer. Therefore, after your traditional brisket butchering, you need to start to separate the flat from the point. In short, you want to remove the fat layer between the point and the flat. Using a sharp boning knife, expose the point meat so it can absorb smoke. You don’t have to completely separate the muscles.
Season brisket liberally with BBQ Rub and place the brisket in your Traeger. When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160°F, double wrap the brisket in Traeger butcher paper or aluminum foil. The bark should have formed nicely by this point.
Continue to smoke the brisket until it reaches 195°F internal temperature. The brisket is not completely done at this point, but we need to separate the point to make burnt ends.
Unwrap the brisket and separate the point from the flat. Re-wrap the flat and return it to your Traeger. Continue to smoke it until the meat is “probe tender” which means when you probe it with an instant-read thermometer there is no resistance. Think of inserting a toothpick in a cake and pulling it out clean. Each piece of meat is different but this will likely be at around an internal temperature of 203°F.
Rest your brisket flat in a cooler for at least one hour.
Take the point and cut it into 1 inch cubes. Place the cubes in the aluminum pan. Season and toss the cubes with more Meat Church Holy Cow BBQ Rub. Cover the cubes with Traeger ‘Que BBQ Sauce. Finally, toss the cubes thoroughly to ensure they are completely covered.
Return the pan to the smoker and cook for another 1 to 2 hours or until all liquid has reduced and the bbq sauce has caramelized.
Allow to cool for a few minutes and build nachos.
Increase the Traeger temperature to 350°F and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes.
Place a layer of chips, cheese, then another layer of chips and more cheese. Add the brisket burnt ends and bake in preheated Traeger for 10 minutes, or until cheese has completely melted.
Top nachos with pico de gallo, green onions, jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole and cilantro. Enjoy!
Recipe and photo from Traeger.
