I made a brisket for the first time today. It worked out nicely.
I didn't want to make a full packer because it's just my wife and me, plus the technical challenge of the flat and point seemed like a step too far. So this was a point from Savenors butcher, prime. 5lb, about $85 (I know, I know). I trimmed it and salted it and left it overnight. Note that there was a massive fat seam running through it. Not much you can do about that, so I let it go.
After trimming it looked like this:
Still not optimal from a fat-to-meat perspective, but whatever. Also the shape is clearly weird.
Next morning at 6am the process started. Standard slow n sear with hickory, GGG, combustion engine (which worked pretty well). Put ground pepper and garlic powder on the meat before popping it on the grill.
It was cold
This is how things looked at the start of the cook. Target temp was about 270 on the GGG so about 230 at pit level. I used hickory chunks for smoke throughout the cook and I have to admit I may have oversmoked it a bit. Next time I can a) smoke less; b) use oak, which I understand is more traditional for brisket.
At about 160 degrees I wrapped in butcher paper. Not super airtight but enough to beat the stall. I also increased target temperature to 330, or 280 at pit level.
You can see in the chart that the wrapping and heat increase at 2pm allowed me to pull and rest at about 4:45pm. By that point, a probe went in with almost no resistance.
I gave it about a 1.5 hour rest between 5 and 6.30pm, which you can see on the graph above. I did use the oven at 155 degrees for a part of it when the temp dipped below 180 degrees.
I then had a package of.. .something… to unwrap.
Ooh, a meteorite of meat.
It was actually quite nice looking!
People pull their brisket apart like this on youtube. I think it's stupid but it pulled nicely, so I guess I passed the youtube test.
Here was the final plate. The brisket was smoky, fatty (we had to cut around the remnants of that fat seam), but super tasty and flavorful. The only question is, is it worth doing it again, this time with a whole brisket (point AND flat)? Seems like adding the flat may be massive technical challenge, plus the whole "ten pounds of meat" thing seems impractical.
For next time, if there is a next time:
1) Get a point that doesn't have a massive fat seam
2) Maybe cook at a higher temperature from the outset
3) More restrained smoke, maybe using oak instead of hickory
Overall, a success! Drinking champagne now, which goes very well with smoked brisket.
I didn't want to make a full packer because it's just my wife and me, plus the technical challenge of the flat and point seemed like a step too far. So this was a point from Savenors butcher, prime. 5lb, about $85 (I know, I know). I trimmed it and salted it and left it overnight. Note that there was a massive fat seam running through it. Not much you can do about that, so I let it go.
After trimming it looked like this:
Still not optimal from a fat-to-meat perspective, but whatever. Also the shape is clearly weird.
Next morning at 6am the process started. Standard slow n sear with hickory, GGG, combustion engine (which worked pretty well). Put ground pepper and garlic powder on the meat before popping it on the grill.
It was cold
This is how things looked at the start of the cook. Target temp was about 270 on the GGG so about 230 at pit level. I used hickory chunks for smoke throughout the cook and I have to admit I may have oversmoked it a bit. Next time I can a) smoke less; b) use oak, which I understand is more traditional for brisket.
At about 160 degrees I wrapped in butcher paper. Not super airtight but enough to beat the stall. I also increased target temperature to 330, or 280 at pit level.
You can see in the chart that the wrapping and heat increase at 2pm allowed me to pull and rest at about 4:45pm. By that point, a probe went in with almost no resistance.
I gave it about a 1.5 hour rest between 5 and 6.30pm, which you can see on the graph above. I did use the oven at 155 degrees for a part of it when the temp dipped below 180 degrees.
I then had a package of.. .something… to unwrap.
Ooh, a meteorite of meat.
It was actually quite nice looking!
People pull their brisket apart like this on youtube. I think it's stupid but it pulled nicely, so I guess I passed the youtube test.
Here was the final plate. The brisket was smoky, fatty (we had to cut around the remnants of that fat seam), but super tasty and flavorful. The only question is, is it worth doing it again, this time with a whole brisket (point AND flat)? Seems like adding the flat may be massive technical challenge, plus the whole "ten pounds of meat" thing seems impractical.
For next time, if there is a next time:
1) Get a point that doesn't have a massive fat seam
2) Maybe cook at a higher temperature from the outset
3) More restrained smoke, maybe using oak instead of hickory
Overall, a success! Drinking champagne now, which goes very well with smoked brisket.
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