Smoked brisket and burnt ends are a special treat these days in the Carr household. This past weekend was the second time I’ve made brisket on the smoker, and it’s a significant time commitment, but the payoff is worth it. I wrote a few weeks ago about how my butcher has hiked their price for brisket from $3.99 to $5.99, which is a significant jump in cost for smoked brisket. Thanks to a neighbor, I was able to get an 18-pound packer (both point and flat cuts) for $3.69 per pound at Costco. Despite my wife raising the alarm when I brought it home, I didn’t quite consider how damn big this chunk of meat was, and as it turned out, had trouble fitting it on my 18.5″ Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. There are worse problems one could have, I suppose, when making smoked brisket.