My wife and I have 3 boys under 5 at home, including a six week old, but we decided that it would be a great idea to host not one but two BBQs this weekend. The plan for Sunday was a full packer brisket, started late Saturday evening for a late lunch on Sunday. Ambitious for parents of three young kids, but we've been hosting people for all out summer cook outs for years and didn't want to break tradition.
On Saturday morning my four year old and I trimmed and dry brined the 11 pounder and threw it back in the fridge. At 11pm, after hours of prep work for side dishes I went out and fired up the kettle, with the slow n sear and Flameboss 300 and set things for 225. Simple stupid? Of course it was pouring rain and pitch black outside and this was my first overnight cook and my first cook in the rain. What could go wrong? I threw the brisket in the smoker and hoped to move on.
Its worth noting that I had just received my Fireboard from UPS on Friday afternoon so I decided to run it in the smoker even though I already had the Fireboss, just to try it out. For the next hour between the dark and the rain I was really struggling to get the temp stabilized. First it was running high so I spritzed a bit on the coals and then it was running low, very low, like 125. So I added about 10 hot coals and watched the temp go to 225. For some reason however the Fireboard was showing 300+. I should have gone outside and checked what was going on but because the meat temps seemed correct and it was cold and rainy and late so I convinced myself that the Flameboss had never failed and the Fireboard was new so it must be defective and I went to sleep around 2:00 AM.
At 3:30 AM my phone beeped, it was the Fireboard app telling me that my Flat was at 180deg. I opened the dashboard and saw the point closing in on 180 and the smoker at 425. This is 3.5 hours after starting the cook. Oh @#*@! I ran downstairs and out to the patio to see what was going on. I open the lid to discover that the Flameboss pit probe had fallen off the grate and was sitting in the beans. So when the temp was reading 125 that was the temp in the beans under the meat. The Flameboss had been running the fan at 100% trying to raise the temp until the beans had gotten to 225. Meanwhile the Fireboard had recorded temps close to 500 deg. I felt the brisket and it was tough as nails. I was ready to throw it out and just got back to sleep.
Instead I brought it inside. I turned the oven on to 225 deg and put a pan full of hot water on the lower rack right right under the brisket on the top rack and went back to sleep. I woke up at 7am, took out a ribeye from the freezer and ran to the butcher and bought a few pounds of ground beef and hot dogs. When the brisket hit 203 around 9-9:30 in the oven I probed it and it was still tough. I wrapped it and left it in there on warm until lunch time. Meanwhile I threw the ribeye in the sous vide and warned my guests, who were excited for brisket, that there was an issue overnight with the brisket and that even though I had tried hard to save it, it probably wouldn't be any good.
At lunch time I took the brisket out and put it on the cutting board. The point seemed soft and probe tender but the flat was tough in the middle. I cut a few pieces off the end of the point. Ridiculously tender. I passed the ends around and my guests were very satisfied. One commented it was the best bite of brisket he had ever had. I cubed about 1/3 of the point for burn ends and sliced up the flat. Then I sliced the remaindered of the point with the remainder of the flat below it. It was near perfect. Probably one of the best briskets I have ever made. Short of the slices from about 1/4-1/3 sized section of the flat being tougher than expected the whole thing was a success. Seven adults and five kids ate the entire brisket. Even those tough slices of flat i was planning to throw in the next day's baked beans were consumed.
I guess the lessons learned is not to rely too heavily on technology and not to give up unless the meat is completely destroyed or incinerated.
For Monday we had 4 families with two kids each in attendance. 16 guests total. I made two tthree rib sections of beef plate in the Kettle and three chickens in the PBC and hot dogs on the Genesis. Also tofu burnt ends and veggie burgers for a vegan family who was in attendance. Everything was executed perfectly and I have to say, shockingly, that the tofu burnt ends stole the show. Just cubed the tofu, let it dry, rubbed with BBBR, baked at 350 for 30 minutes then put the cubes on a wire rack on top of the pbc and let them smoke for about 20 mins then tossed with a KC style sauce. We ended the evening with smores from the firepit. By ,y count, no fewer than four outdoor cooking devices were used to make that meal but unfortunately that was one cooker too many for me to handle and take pictures.
On Saturday morning my four year old and I trimmed and dry brined the 11 pounder and threw it back in the fridge. At 11pm, after hours of prep work for side dishes I went out and fired up the kettle, with the slow n sear and Flameboss 300 and set things for 225. Simple stupid? Of course it was pouring rain and pitch black outside and this was my first overnight cook and my first cook in the rain. What could go wrong? I threw the brisket in the smoker and hoped to move on.
Its worth noting that I had just received my Fireboard from UPS on Friday afternoon so I decided to run it in the smoker even though I already had the Fireboss, just to try it out. For the next hour between the dark and the rain I was really struggling to get the temp stabilized. First it was running high so I spritzed a bit on the coals and then it was running low, very low, like 125. So I added about 10 hot coals and watched the temp go to 225. For some reason however the Fireboard was showing 300+. I should have gone outside and checked what was going on but because the meat temps seemed correct and it was cold and rainy and late so I convinced myself that the Flameboss had never failed and the Fireboard was new so it must be defective and I went to sleep around 2:00 AM.
At 3:30 AM my phone beeped, it was the Fireboard app telling me that my Flat was at 180deg. I opened the dashboard and saw the point closing in on 180 and the smoker at 425. This is 3.5 hours after starting the cook. Oh @#*@! I ran downstairs and out to the patio to see what was going on. I open the lid to discover that the Flameboss pit probe had fallen off the grate and was sitting in the beans. So when the temp was reading 125 that was the temp in the beans under the meat. The Flameboss had been running the fan at 100% trying to raise the temp until the beans had gotten to 225. Meanwhile the Fireboard had recorded temps close to 500 deg. I felt the brisket and it was tough as nails. I was ready to throw it out and just got back to sleep.
Instead I brought it inside. I turned the oven on to 225 deg and put a pan full of hot water on the lower rack right right under the brisket on the top rack and went back to sleep. I woke up at 7am, took out a ribeye from the freezer and ran to the butcher and bought a few pounds of ground beef and hot dogs. When the brisket hit 203 around 9-9:30 in the oven I probed it and it was still tough. I wrapped it and left it in there on warm until lunch time. Meanwhile I threw the ribeye in the sous vide and warned my guests, who were excited for brisket, that there was an issue overnight with the brisket and that even though I had tried hard to save it, it probably wouldn't be any good.
At lunch time I took the brisket out and put it on the cutting board. The point seemed soft and probe tender but the flat was tough in the middle. I cut a few pieces off the end of the point. Ridiculously tender. I passed the ends around and my guests were very satisfied. One commented it was the best bite of brisket he had ever had. I cubed about 1/3 of the point for burn ends and sliced up the flat. Then I sliced the remaindered of the point with the remainder of the flat below it. It was near perfect. Probably one of the best briskets I have ever made. Short of the slices from about 1/4-1/3 sized section of the flat being tougher than expected the whole thing was a success. Seven adults and five kids ate the entire brisket. Even those tough slices of flat i was planning to throw in the next day's baked beans were consumed.
I guess the lessons learned is not to rely too heavily on technology and not to give up unless the meat is completely destroyed or incinerated.
For Monday we had 4 families with two kids each in attendance. 16 guests total. I made two tthree rib sections of beef plate in the Kettle and three chickens in the PBC and hot dogs on the Genesis. Also tofu burnt ends and veggie burgers for a vegan family who was in attendance. Everything was executed perfectly and I have to say, shockingly, that the tofu burnt ends stole the show. Just cubed the tofu, let it dry, rubbed with BBBR, baked at 350 for 30 minutes then put the cubes on a wire rack on top of the pbc and let them smoke for about 20 mins then tossed with a KC style sauce. We ended the evening with smores from the firepit. By ,y count, no fewer than four outdoor cooking devices were used to make that meal but unfortunately that was one cooker too many for me to handle and take pictures.
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