Brisket....It's what's for dinner tomorrow.

[da toad]

I bought a full brisket a couple of weeks ago.  I did the flat.  The meat texture was excellent but I was not all that excited about the overall taste.  Tomorrow morning at 3:00 AM I will be attempting to smoke the point.

The point was 8 +lbs but I cut nearly a pound of fat away from the outside of it so I am figuring 7+ lbs.  I am totally staying away from the rub and wood that I uses last time.  Too much mesquite and hickory and a rub that I bought from Costco that was great on pork but in my opinion sucked on the brisket.  For whatever reason I just thought the overall brisket sucked flavor wise.

For tomorrow here is the rub recipe I am using.

4 tbs kosher/course salt

4 tsp course black pepper

4 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp oregano ground

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp granulated garlic.

4 tbs Lawry's mix.

This whole shebang above was just about to to cover the brisket which I did after coating with olive oil.

Here is what is looked like before going in the fridge for a all night nap until 3:00 AM tomorrow when it will be transferred to my 30"MES.....you can see the mound of fat off to the right in the first picture.

P1000359.JPG

• da toad
• Oct 6, 2015

P1000360.JPG

• da toad
• Oct 6, 2015

The plans for tomorrow's actual smoke is as follows.

Put the point in MES @ 3:00AM with smoker temp set at 225*

I will only be using apple chips.  I have mesquite, pecan and hickory but I don't want to mix them up like I did on the flat brisket.

I will smoke for the first 2.5-3.0 hours.  No more smoke after that.

When internal temp hits 175* (I figure around 6-7 hours) I will remove and wrap in foil...and place back in smoker until internal temp reads 195-205*.

At those temps brisket will be removed and placed in a cooler with towels around it for at least an hour.

Total cook time tomorrow I estimate to be around 11-12 hours and then the rest period....chow time around 5:00 PM.

Probably fry up some mushrooms and onions and have a nice hard bread with a tomato & cucumber vinegar salad on the side.

Am I going wrong anywhere on this?  Suggestions/corrections/comments are welcome.  I am learning and like to lean on the good experience of others.

Will update pictures and post when the brisket comes out of the fridge from it's nighty flavor nap.

I'm am loving this schitt.

 

[gwschenk]

Looks Maaaahvelous

 

[andrewv]

I am by no means an expert, but i have read that you can choose to foil once you've gotten the desired bark that you are looking for rather than an internal temp. Just a thought

 

[floridasteve]

The last one I did get a stall at about 165° high. That's when I foiled.

 

[andrewv]

Was that to speed up the cook or to maintain the bark?

 

[da toad]

Into the smoker at 4:30 this morning.  I wanted to get it in around 3:30 but I slept longer than intended.

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• da toad
• Oct 7, 2015

 

[slickjack]

I put chicken broth in with the brisket when foiled.

 

[floridasteve]

Was that to speed up the cook or to maintain the bark?

By the time you hit the stall, your bark is already formed. The purpose in foiling is to shorten the stall time and to retain some of the moisture that evaporated off the surface of the meat, which is what caused the stall in the first place, making the final product more moist.

Foiling does not affect the bark's flavor, but it will prevent it from getting hard and crusty. If you like that, you can unwrap the meat after it gets to the proper temp & doneness, and bake it a little longer to dry out the bark. Be aware, though, that doing so will cause a secondary stall and your internal temp will fall, so don't do this until it passes the probe test.

 

[r290]

OMG you trimmed fat because your doctor said so? Just kidding, it must have been super thick, I never trim, but might grill it a bit.

Try a couple rosemary leaves, not much as its super strong. It grows like a bush in my front yard, I will toss some fresh cuttings in the fire near the end for a bit of flavor

 

[da toad]

Well it was an 11 hour smoke and cook and a one hour nap in the cooler. The meat was excellent, like melt in your mouth excellent, and the flavor was much better but still lacking something or maybe too much of something? Neither sue or I can put our finger on it. I thinking that maybe we just don't really like brisket all that much. I will try again but only on the flats.

The smoker doing it's thing.

What it looked like after coming out of the cooler.

All cut. Like I said it was tender as hell. You could cut it with a fork but it still held together in slices just fine. Just have to work on the flavor.

Seems lots of guys say don't cut the fat.    I am not crazy about the fat.  On this particular point the meat was very well marbled throughout and you can see a large vein of fat running down the middle of the slices.  Like I said plenty moist....plenty tender......still have to get the taste right.
 

 

[floridasteve]

Looks pretty taste to me, Toad!  I wouldn't give up on brisket yet, and I also would stay with the whole packer.  Here's how I do mine...

I trim the fat cap on the top side to about 1/4 inch.  That's all that's needed and trimming to that thickness makes it easier for your rub's flavor to get into the meat.  Then I score the fat cap with a sharp knife.  I make sure I'm scoring with the grain on one of the cuts and I use this as a guide when I slice the meat to make sure I'm cutting across the grain.

I inject my brisket with Campbell's canned beef stock.  I think it strengthens the beef flavor and the moisture helps as well.

Use the rub of your choice and smoke as you have been.

When it is done, I scrape off the fat cap on the top of the whole brisket.  You'll loose some bark, but the flavor should already be in the meat.

I then separate the flat from the point.  The flat I slice -- this is what's for dinner that night.  The point I chop/pull for sandwiches or to use in various casseroles (I made some Shepherd's Pie last night using chopped brisket point that was killer!).  I personally don't like to slice the point, because the grain is running every-which-way and it's hard to slice thin and across the grain. 

Just my two cents :-)

Steve

 

[tropics]

Looks good to me,I do not like fat,my plate looks like a surgeon cut it. LOL Nice job for the MES

Richie 

 

[driedstick]

Looks very good, 

DS