As some of you have read I went to the store the other day to get a prime brisket to smoke for my wife’s church group. I came home with a select brisket because I waited until much too close to the 4th to go get one. I was worried about this one. It was going to expose several people who’ve never had anything I’ve cooked before to my work. If I were a competition cooker I’d have been in trouble but since I was cooking for a group I could use any means necessary to get a good end result. Here’s what I did.
I trimmed pretty aggressively but left a good 1/4 inch fat cap which I always put on the bottom as a heat shield. I left the point and flat together to get the benefit of the fat between them. It’s usually after I wrap the brisket before it renders. That gives me some good tallow in there keeping things more moist. I seasoned with SPG and put it on the kamado at 300 F with two chunks of post oak for smoke. The brisket was still pretty cold from the fridge when I put it on which gave me some time to get smoke flavor. I had some nice blue smoke for about the first two hours then it pretty much went away. My plan was to cook hot to get as much bark as I could before the stall. In my way of thinking if I have a brisket I’m worried about getting dry the last thing I want to do is leave it in the smoker evaporating moisture for over a hour at a rate that actually cools it. I want that moisture. I wrapped in two layers of heavy aluminum foil at 172 F internal. I had good bark, but it was still as tuff as a boot. I brought it in to the oven and continued to cook it at 230 F. After two hours I checked but it was still too firm for me. At three and a half hours it probed like butter but my IT was 209 F. I rewrapped it and left it in the oven with the oven off. Four hours later it set it out to start cooling. At midnight I slid it into the garage fridge to cool over night. It sliced nicely this morning. There was quite a bit of gelled liquid inside the foil. I added some of it to a bit of water to use when I put it in the crock pot to warm up. After it was all sliced and some of the excess fat trimmed off it went in the crockpot with about a half cup of the gel and water to get me some moist heat. I set it on high until the meat was just warm and some condensation was forming inside the lid. That took about 30 minutes. I then turned it to the keep warm setting. The last thing I wanted was steam rising when someone opened the lid. I tried a piece at this point, it was just fine. I had hit my moisture and tenderness targets spot on. All that was left to do then was wait to get feed back after the meal. I must admit it exceeded all my hopes. I tried some more when we got home with the few leftovers. It was a good brisket. Select brisket is more challenging to smoke than prime but if you watch the details it can be delicious. There are at least a dozen other ways to accomplish what I did here I’m sure. This is my way.
I trimmed pretty aggressively but left a good 1/4 inch fat cap which I always put on the bottom as a heat shield. I left the point and flat together to get the benefit of the fat between them. It’s usually after I wrap the brisket before it renders. That gives me some good tallow in there keeping things more moist. I seasoned with SPG and put it on the kamado at 300 F with two chunks of post oak for smoke. The brisket was still pretty cold from the fridge when I put it on which gave me some time to get smoke flavor. I had some nice blue smoke for about the first two hours then it pretty much went away. My plan was to cook hot to get as much bark as I could before the stall. In my way of thinking if I have a brisket I’m worried about getting dry the last thing I want to do is leave it in the smoker evaporating moisture for over a hour at a rate that actually cools it. I want that moisture. I wrapped in two layers of heavy aluminum foil at 172 F internal. I had good bark, but it was still as tuff as a boot. I brought it in to the oven and continued to cook it at 230 F. After two hours I checked but it was still too firm for me. At three and a half hours it probed like butter but my IT was 209 F. I rewrapped it and left it in the oven with the oven off. Four hours later it set it out to start cooling. At midnight I slid it into the garage fridge to cool over night. It sliced nicely this morning. There was quite a bit of gelled liquid inside the foil. I added some of it to a bit of water to use when I put it in the crock pot to warm up. After it was all sliced and some of the excess fat trimmed off it went in the crockpot with about a half cup of the gel and water to get me some moist heat. I set it on high until the meat was just warm and some condensation was forming inside the lid. That took about 30 minutes. I then turned it to the keep warm setting. The last thing I wanted was steam rising when someone opened the lid. I tried a piece at this point, it was just fine. I had hit my moisture and tenderness targets spot on. All that was left to do then was wait to get feed back after the meal. I must admit it exceeded all my hopes. I tried some more when we got home with the few leftovers. It was a good brisket. Select brisket is more challenging to smoke than prime but if you watch the details it can be delicious. There are at least a dozen other ways to accomplish what I did here I’m sure. This is my way.
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