Smoked Brisket

[drobinson]

I read an article (in the Epoch Times) stating that the "traditional method" of smoking brisket has a drawback. The author went on to say that long hours over heavy smoke allow cancer-causing compounds called heterocyclicamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to accumulate in the meats. These compounds form when proteins and fats in meat are exposed to high heat and smoke for extended times, with longer heavier smoke exposure increasing their concentration.

The author presents the following as a solution: a brief smoke ( one hour ) with a long ( five to ten hours ) at 225 F in a covered steam tray. The covered steam tray creates a moist environment keeping the meat's surface temp lower than that of a dry oven or an open grill and the trapped moisture prevents the meat from drying out.

Comments?

[Spinaker]

Meathead discusses cancer and cooking over fire here.

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/safety-and-health/does-grilling-pose-cancer-risk/

While the steam tray will keep the meat moist, you are not gonna build any bank at all covered in a steam tray. This defeats one of the reasons I smoke anything. Smoking at a higher temp does produce a cleaner smoke, with less carcinogens present. (More on that here)
I want clean smoke anyway. The thought of white billowing smoke filling there air is not something people serious about outdoor cooking ever shoot for. Clear to thin-blue is what we want. That is clean and full of flavor.

When it comes down to it, everything is gonna kill us. I doubt me smoking meat every once in a while is gonna make it much worse. If it does, oh well, at least it tasted good.

[drobinson]

Meathead, as usual, is right on point!! He is THE MAN!!

[Henrik]

Words of wisdom

[randy.56]

We are going to die from something, Meatheads study is an very good on the issue of smoke. How often do we eat smoked meat? One year beacon is bad for ya, Eggs, Sweet tea, Salami, and the list go on. That covered steam idea ? is that much different than TX crunch? I would thing you would lose all flavor with the steam idea. Try it.

From Meathead
Bottom line


The real message here is that good food is also good for you and that if you’re going to grill, do it good. The average life expectancy is now about 79 years. If you eat three meals a day you will eat 86,505 meals in your lifetime. You can have grilled food whenever you want. It is just a tiny teensy bit of your intake. If you really want to reduce your health risks, keep grilling and quit driving.

[SheilaAnn]

1000 times all this!!!

[Uncle Bob]

There are always going to be people who gain attention and/or financial benefit from fear mongering, it's the human condition. They can take a fragment of truth and expand it to a crisis through speculation and bombast.

A few years ago I was given an all expense paid trip to a SE Asian jungle experience, along with a bunch of other young men and women. Some of my brethren from that experience want to blame any cancers they acquire as the result of exposure to Agent Orange no matter whether that exposure was incidental or extreme. The extreme exposure folks have a reasonable case, the incidental, not so much. There is a financial incentive involved if one wants to pursue it. I've had a couple bouts with cancer the past few years but doubt it's the result of Agent Orange. My father died from cancer, my mother fought it well and died of other causes. Her parents died from cancer. I suspect that it's some form of genetic predisposition to cancer I "suffer" from. And in spite of those situations I've exceeded the life span noted above. I'm sure it's the result of clean living...

[realdocBBQ]

Diets high in meat at all lead to higher colon cancer rates. Oh well.


That's why we have cancer screening.


Honestly IDGAS. I ain't going vegan, just freaking kill me first. If I develop alpha-gal syndrome, I'm going on Hospice care, too.


Jus'sayin'...

[Mosca]

Let’s skip the cancer part and talk about the cooking part. The smoke-then-braise is pretty much the essence of the “hot and fast” method we were taught at the Mason-Dixon BBQ Supply one day brisket class.

If it’s 8AM Saturday morning and you’ve decided you want smoked brisket for dinner, but didn’t start yet, you can go to the store, buy a brisket, trim it, season it, have it over smoke by 10AM, and have smoked brisket by 6PM.

Will it taste good? YES.
Will it taste as good as if you’d smoked it all the way through? NO WAY.

What you get is smoky braised brisket. It’s tender, but in that fall apart, slow cooker, chuck roast way.

Your friends and family will love it, and compliment you. You will know that it’s as good as it could have been considering when you started, but that you made compromises based on that.

[Hulagn1971]

I ride motorcycles, therefore have a much higher risk of death. I also smoke brisket hot and fast at 300-325°. When it's time for me to go, I will have lived a fun filled life, full of freedom and smoked meats.
Side note: My briskets take 6 hours max cook time and have great reviews from my eating clan.

[Richard Chrz]

Life is a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate.

[Sweaty Paul]

As with everything moderation in all things.

[Richard Chrz]

As a friend of mine say’s …Including moderation

[Sweaty Paul]

Indeed!