So my family threw a curve-ball at me this year and switched up the menu for our big Thanksgiving dinner. Originally I was going to smoke a bird and fry one, and one of my aunt’s was going to bake a bird and a ham. I guess someone figured 3 birds was too much and we needed more variety, so the decision ended with 2 birds, a ham and some beef. Beef I said…? How’s about a nice smoked brisket for the menu? It was welcomed and I was happy! I decided to go ahead and do it this weekend, since the festivities are 300+ miles away and I’m already committed to doing the bird Wednesday morning and then driving said 300+ miles Wednesday night.
Anyway, I got both the 14lb bird and the 8 lb brisket from Wal-mart for around $25 which wasn’t bad. When compared to the original plan of a smoked and a fried bird (the oil alone costs $20!) that would have been at least $45 said and done. I saved some money and added variety!
Now on to the beef…
Here it is:
I slathered with mustard:
then hit it with some rub:
wrapped with plastic and refrigerated (fri night – sun morn):
I fired up the box at 7 this morning, got the temp around 250 (according to my side mounted thermometers), put the water pan and wood in and about 7:30 it was ready to go.
The meat went on at 7:39 with a potato in the back holding a second probe:
after 1 hour I noticed the box temp was at 288 so I lowered to 225 and spritzed:
and another spritz at hour 2:
I’ll save you the boredom of the rest of the spritz pics…so at hour 4, it hit the 170° mark and I pulled it, wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven at 250°:
Some may ask why the oven? Well I figured it was gonna be another couple of hours at least, so why waste the gas when the oven will do the exact same thing…provide heat! It had been in the smoker for 4½ hours taking on the nice aroma of the hickory/mesquite mix and now with it wrapped in about 3 layers of HD foil, I figured there was no more need for smoke…so the oven it was!
Anyway, I got both the 14lb bird and the 8 lb brisket from Wal-mart for around $25 which wasn’t bad. When compared to the original plan of a smoked and a fried bird (the oil alone costs $20!) that would have been at least $45 said and done. I saved some money and added variety!
Now on to the beef…
Here it is:
I slathered with mustard:
then hit it with some rub:
wrapped with plastic and refrigerated (fri night – sun morn):
I fired up the box at 7 this morning, got the temp around 250 (according to my side mounted thermometers), put the water pan and wood in and about 7:30 it was ready to go.
The meat went on at 7:39 with a potato in the back holding a second probe:
after 1 hour I noticed the box temp was at 288 so I lowered to 225 and spritzed:
and another spritz at hour 2:
I’ll save you the boredom of the rest of the spritz pics…so at hour 4, it hit the 170° mark and I pulled it, wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven at 250°:
Some may ask why the oven? Well I figured it was gonna be another couple of hours at least, so why waste the gas when the oven will do the exact same thing…provide heat! It had been in the smoker for 4½ hours taking on the nice aroma of the hickory/mesquite mix and now with it wrapped in about 3 layers of HD foil, I figured there was no more need for smoke…so the oven it was!
