I hope everyone is doing well.
On the Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC), I have had great success with most cuts of meat. Pork Shoulder, ribs, turkey . . . all have a success rate of 90%+. Brisket however, has been a 50-50 proposition. Its the toughest meat for me and most cooks, and that is fine.
In my 20 or so brisket cooks over 2 years on the PBC, I have learned a few things but still have way more to learn. Saturday 4/4/20 I am cooking a USDA Prime 10lb full packer brisket, and am looking to hit a home run. Here are my learnings and questions from my experience with brisket on the PBC. I would greatly appreciate some constructive thoughts or criticisms, specific to brisket on the PBC. Thank you in advance.
Learnings:
My Prime 10lb brisket for tomorrow was trimmed Thursday night 4/2/20 and dry brining with kosher salt, ready for tomorrow.
On the Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC), I have had great success with most cuts of meat. Pork Shoulder, ribs, turkey . . . all have a success rate of 90%+. Brisket however, has been a 50-50 proposition. Its the toughest meat for me and most cooks, and that is fine.
In my 20 or so brisket cooks over 2 years on the PBC, I have learned a few things but still have way more to learn. Saturday 4/4/20 I am cooking a USDA Prime 10lb full packer brisket, and am looking to hit a home run. Here are my learnings and questions from my experience with brisket on the PBC. I would greatly appreciate some constructive thoughts or criticisms, specific to brisket on the PBC. Thank you in advance.
Learnings:
- Meat quality - If cooking techniques are guided by some combination of any Meathead, Franklin, or even PBC, then I think the single most important factor in good great or bad brisket is the quality of meat as rated by the USDA. I have performed perfectly and had bad SELECT briskets, with CHOICE being 50-50. I have only had 1 bad PRIME brisket. Get PRIME or Wagyu always.
- Temperature - I do not "let the PBC do its thing" because I like more control. The temperature in my PBC can be well above 300, and that simply is not going to make the best meat. I use foil for some combination of the 4 holes, along with bricks to press down the lid, to control temperature and attempt to keep an average of 250 degrees. I am ok up to 275, but not below 225. I am willing to hear other opinions about lower than 250 average, but have found that the ART of the PBC is managing what many say is unmanageable - the temps.
- Early Heat Surge = Problem - From notes on my "B" performances, almost always the PBC gets too hot too early. I contend that a 15-20min surge of heat (above 300) at any point within the first 4 hours could push your brisket out of the potential for great and into "good at best". I think once meat hits the stall, it can handle a 300 degree surge more easily than when the meat is below 120 degrees. I feel this is what makes brisket so hard to cook, at least for me. If it cooks too quickly at any point, you cannot recover from that increase of velocity. Steady as she goes is not PBC's strength, as noted in the prior bullet.
- Charcoal - Always Kingsford original. Reason is that its simply a more controllable and way more consistent heat source than any other type of charcoal or brand. The PBC is a Kingsford machine in my opinion.
- Wrapping - I struggle with the choice of no wrap, foil, pink butcher paper.
- No wrap - Simply takes too long. I am unable/willing to cook for 12+ hours.
- Foil - Speeds up cooking the most, keeps meat the most moist. Bark is softer but I see no difference in flavor given the moistness.
- Butcher Paper - Does not speed up much, gets messy and less most than foil.
- Bottom line - cooking time and moistness should guide your decision. If you need to shorten some cook time to ensure holding 1hr+, and if you prefer moistness over all like I do, foil is the choice. Even though I love Franklin & his methods.
- Wood - Chunks in the charcoal bed is a requirement for all "smoked" cooks. As for type, my take is that type of wood has very little impact one wood vs another on the brisket. I prefer hickory to oak, only since hickory has a stronger flavor that I love.
- Rubs - I use big bad beef rub because of the bold flavor. With just pepper I dont find it as appealing personally.
- Hanging vs Laying on Grate? I have always hung, then to grate when wrapped. However with long briskets and ribs, I question why I should not just lay FAT SIDE down on the grate? In fact I am looking to try that tomorrow unless someone talks me off the ledge.
- Anyone use water in the PBC? With the grate, you could lay the brisket and a small tray of water, which I have never done.
- Hold time? I have had great briskets with 30min of hold time, and bad ones with 3 hours of hold time. It does not make a poor cook good. My hold time typically is a product of when dinner must be served and when I am complete. I have noticed during my faux cambro hold - the meat stays very warm, as in above 175 degrees after 2 hours maybe.
- Is holding at that warm a temp cooking the meat and drying it out?
- Should I lesson the heat retention so that the meat cools down to 140 degrees as recommended for slicing, in a reasonable time period of 1-2 hours?
My Prime 10lb brisket for tomorrow was trimmed Thursday night 4/2/20 and dry brining with kosher salt, ready for tomorrow.
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