Brisket Success!

[earlybird]

All,

After a year of Q'ing with the Smokenator and the help of experienced, nice folks on this board, this past year I've figured out baby backs, pork spares, beef ribs and pork shoulder.

I realized I could no longer avoid the Everest of BBQ: brisket. I did my first one a weekend ago, and it frankly ROCKED. Here's how I did it:

Night before:

13.5 lb whole packer brisket (Prime grade). Trimmed the fat cap a bit, but removed quite a bit of hard thick fat between the flat and point, which won't render and just makes it harder to cook. Injected it with plain beef broth, then rubbed it with oil, then a heavy salt and pepper rub (kept it simple), wrapped it in plastic and refrigerated it.

Morning of Smoke:

'Nator topped off with unlit Kingsford blue.
5 lit Kingsford blue poured into filled 'Nator and mixed it around to ignite everything.
Brought kettle to 230 degrees (kept it there throughout the smoke).
Put on meat fat side up and added boiling hot water in water pan.
Temp dropped precipitously.
About 30 minutes later it recovered to 230.
Added a fist sized chunk of cherry wood and a fist sized chunk of apple wood.
Smoked for three hours, checking/filling water pan hourly
Turned (did not flip) brisket after three hours so that other side of point got closer to the 'Nator.
Continued smoking for another three hours.
After the 3rd hour I spritzed the beast with a combo of root beer and beef broth once every hour whenever I checked the water pan.

Overall, I smoked the beast for a total of 6 hours. Then I double wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven at 230 degrees for another three hours, while I napped.

Checked the point and flat with a quick read thermometer after the 11th hour and it went into it "like buttah" and held about 208 degrees - a little "over done" by some standards, but really, each piece is different and it's about tenderness test, not necessarily internal temp.

Flat was very juicy and tender, but still sliceable. Point was shreddable, a bit too tender to truly slice. Bark was excellent.

Next time I will do this without crutching and just stay at the kettle forever. I think that could make for an even better bark, but it risks drying out. But we gotta do what we gotta do.

[ncsmoker]

I think you'll be fine not crutching. I never do and with the water in the 'Nator you'll get a great beast. Might want to try some Oak along with the fruit woods which is a standard Texas wood. I like it a lot maybe 1/4 oak the rest fruit woods.

[earlybird]

Thanks for the information, NC. Yes, I'd like to get my hands on some post oak, to try to recreate the flavor I enjoyed on my Central Texas BBQ pilgrimage I did a couple of years ago.

[flbuckeye]

Look at this recipe. I followed it and had great results. Pretty much what you did except for another two hours in a faux cambro.


www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html

Also has slicing instructions.

[earlybird]

Thanks, Buckeye. Yes, I'm very familiar with that site, and in fact got most of my technique for the brisket from it.

I was unclear, however, on the point of resting the brisket in a faux cambro for two hours. I understand the need to rest cooked meat, and in fact I rested mine for 45 minutes before slicing.

But is the two hours in the faux cambro only to keep it warm while waiting for guests, or to do more than merely "rest" it? Put another way, is there is a difference in the end result between resting the meat for 45 minutes under some foil vs. the two hours in the faux cambro?

[flbuckeye]

Jul 30, 2013 14:28:28 GMT -5 earlybird said:

Thanks, Buckeye. Yes, I'm very familiar with that site, and in fact got most of my technique for the brisket from it.

I was unclear, however, on the point of resting the brisket in a faux cambro for two hours. I understand the need to rest cooked meat, and in fact I rested mine for 45 minutes before slicing.

But is the two hours in the faux cambro only to keep it warm while waiting for guests, or to do more than merely "rest" it? Put another way, is there is a difference in the end result between resting the meat for 45 minutes under some foil vs. the two hours in the faux cambro?

The one time I didn't have time to let it rest so long in the faux cambro the brisket didn't seem as tender. My wife made the same comment and she wasn't aware of the resting difference. TIFWIW

[mylo]

Hello,
 Late post to this question, but I am a huge fan of resting in a foil/insulation device.  Even wrapping the meat in foil, then putting it in a paper bag helps tremendously.

Mylo

[ncsmoker]

Mylo welcome. Brisket is the hardest of the meats to learn to do well. Have done a lot of them now using the SN. Here is my standard procedure. My standard size brisket is a whole packer with flat and point of 12-13 pounds.

Smoke for 10 to 12 hrs. Take temp to 185, remove from Weber. Wrap in HD foil and heavy towel. Let sit for at least an hour to allow for carry over cooking and to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the brisket. I let it cool down and put in the fridge. Since cooking takes 16-20 hrs, I do this a day ahead of when I am serving it, don't believe in getting up at 1 or 2 in the morning anymore LOL, then reheat in a low oven the next day prior to serving.

This will give you a nice smoke ring and great flavor, and a nicely slicing flat and point. If you want the point for burnt ends cut it off along the fat line between it and the flat and put it back on the Weber for another 2hrs. with smoke then cut it up in pieces for sandwiches. YUM! Do this when you first take it off before foiling.

NC

[whiskeycharlie]

Friends,

Last Sunday I smoked my first whole brisket. I picked up a 14 pound USDA Choice packer from my local market. After consulting with the butcher, we split the brisket into two pieces; one piece was the point and part of the flat, the second piece was the remainder of the flat. The idea was to reduce the total cooking time a bit, this appears to have worked. With a 14 pounder I had estimated I'd need 17 hours, more or less, of cooking time. By splitting the brisket, my cooking time was reduced to 11 hours. Works for me. When I pulled the meat out of the smoker, the internal temperature was only 175 degrees; however, my tester probe was sliding in and out of the meat quite easily. I wrapped the meat in foil and placed it into the microwave to rest (and stay safe from the cats!). Once it was cool, I moved the meat to the refrigerator. After the meat was cold, it was stiff as a board. Drat! All I could hope for was it would soften up when it was warmed back up.

We had a potluck scheduled at work for lunch Thursday and I was asked (challenged?) to bring BBQ. I'm still working a five-day week, so the brisket stayed in the 'fridge for four days; Sunday through Thursday. I had decided to try two methodologies for warming up the brisket. I set up a crockpot with a cooking grate in the bottom, added about 1/2" of water and then added two of slabs of meat. I set the pot on high and left it 'til lunch. Another piece, I microwaved just before lunch until it was heated through. I sliced up everything and placed it out on the buffet line. Both methods warmed the meat through and it was all tender and moist; all the meat softened back up nicely. I think the microwaved portion retained its color better and this will be my rewarming preference in the future.

The results were excellent; however, I paid $9.99 a pound for USDA Choice brisket (yep, that's about $140, ouch!). I have found whole USDA Select briskets for $3.59 a pound (or about $50 for a 14 pounder). I'm thinking I'll smoke up a Select brisket before the season's over to see how it turns out. If anyone's been smoking Select briskets, I'd love to hear about your experience(s).

Respectfully submitted,
Whiskey Charlie

[ncsmoker]

Hi Whiskey Charlie you found out why the championship grillers use Choice it is very good, glad it came out so came well for you. Some teams have now gone to Prime to try to gain an edge. I use Select but look for clean white fat and check the meat in the packages for good layers of lean to fat. If you don't want to do a whole packer, Costco sells some beautiful flats in the 6-8lb. range. Looked at them with my brother when I visited him last spring, as he wanted to get started smoking a brisket.

Cooking wise I bring the packer up to 165 about 14-16 hrs. keeping oak on it the whole time. Then I wrap it in foil and put it in the oven at 220 until it's done about 190. Put a little of my mop in with it. Let it cool put it in the frig. I'll reheat in the oven in the foil if I have time or in the microwave.

Very tender and delicious.

Regards,

NC

[ncsmoker]

Hi, all. Here is a step by step way to handle a brisket. This from a guy who has cooked and judged in championships. bbq.about.com/od/brisket/ss/aa092708a_8.htm . This is from my news letter that he writes bbq.about.com. I hope this will help anyone wanting to try there 1st brisket whether a whole or just a flat.

NC