Big smoke (and other stuff) tomorrow!

[floridasteve]

Tomorrow, our friend Valerie is celebrating her birthday with a party at one of the local "sip and paint" places, starting off with a potluck dinner. I volunteered to bring the meat -- a brisket. The exact start time is yet to be determined, but "somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30. I got an 11 pound packer at Gordon's. According to my notes, the last one I did was 14 pounds and it took 12 hours at 230. To play it safe, I'd like to have this one done at about 5pm. I know it'll stay great in my cooler for 3 hours at least. So it looks like I'll be getting up about 4:30 in the morning.

It just so happens that I put two small pork cousins into a curing brine a couple of weeks ago, so I figure I might as well cook them at the same time.

This morning i loaded the MES with about 4 pounds of jerky that is smoking away. I have also removed the hams from their brine and they are soaking in water now. In a few minutes I'll give them a final rinse and bind them up with twine, season them, and put them back into the fridge.

Then I get to start hacking up the brisket. Nothing to drastic, just some mild trimming. Will then season with garlic, onion, salt and pepper before putting it to bed in the fridge.

Oh, and tomorrow after I get things loaded into the smoker, I have to take the wife to the doctors. She fell and really hurt her wrist, again. So we have to go see if it's broken. At least I should have some good jerky to knibble on ;-)

Hopefully I'll get some time in betwix and between to take a nap!

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Don't dorget that loading the smoker up may increase your cook time a bit. So you might plan on a bit more time.

 

[redheelerdog]

Dang Steve  hope your wife is OK.

Sounds like you've got that ol MES working double overtime!

Show us some pics of that grub.

 

[b-one]

Best of luck on both fronts!

 

[floridasteve]

Overslept 30 minutes, so brisket didn't go on until 5:30. I did not do a good job in picking my chunk of meat. I just went for the smallest one. Should have looked closer. LOTS of hard fat. Like 2" thick! Also lost lots of meat because of a seam of hard fat that separated t strip of meat from the main chunk of meat. Started with 11 pounds and removed almost 3 pounds of fat and 1.5 pounds of detached meat. It also isn't berry thick, some of the flat is only about an inch thick. So I done think it's going to take over 12 hours to cook. I have the smoker set to maintain about 260.

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• floridasteve
• Dec 28, 2015

Tried something a little different on the prep last night. I first rubbed it down with kosher salt the made a mixture of freshly minced (very fine in food processor) onion and garlic, and rubbed it down with that paste. After sitting for a while it got a little sticky, to I followed up with hand ground black pepper ans ground sea salt. We'll see.

As for the 1 1/2 pounds of meat o trimmed off, I cubed it, browned it, through it into the pressure cooker with some left over Chef Jimmy J au jus I had in the freezer. Then I threw in about a cup of barley and rattled it some more. Topped the pot off with store bought stock, some fresh carrots and celery, and frozen corn, green beans, and a can of black beans, followed by another short rattle to meld the flavors. Best soup I ever made.

 

[floridasteve]

This little brisket is moving right allong. IT is up to 159 already! And I've turned the temp down to 225. Don't think I'll need to foil to have it done by 6. Lol

 

[floridasteve]

Here are the two small cousin hams, all tied up and ready to go into the smoker.

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• floridasteve
• Dec 28, 2015

This brisket is at 160

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• floridasteve
• Dec 28, 2015

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• floridasteve
• Dec 28, 2015

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Lookin great ! Thumbs Up

 

[floridasteve]

Brisket FINALLY probed tender at nearly 210 IT. Has been wrapped up in cooler for about an hour. Getting ready to leave. Will post pictures and results when I get home.

Hams finished at about the same time. Still foiled and resting on counter. Haven't unwrapped yet, will have to wait until I return. Wife is in charge of moving to fridge when coll enough.

 

[floridasteve]

EVERYTHING TURNED OUT GREAT! The brisket was flavorful, juicy, tender and the hit of the party! Here's a picture of me carving.

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• floridasteve
• Dec 29, 2015

As you can see it's already almost gone.. Onlybrought home enough for 2 or 3 Sandwitches. Ended up serving 23, including 2 kids. Here's a shot of everyone having fun with creating their art.

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• floridasteve
• Dec 29, 2015

And my creation.

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• floridasteve
• Dec 29, 2015

Fortunately, I cook better than I paint!

And the hams? Delishous! Read about them in their own thread.

Oh! And the wife's wrist was only a bad sprain!

 

[redheelerdog]

You are one multi-talented man Steve!

Glad your wife's wrist is only sprained.

Keep up the good work!