We just finished putting the leftovers away on the second brisket I have ever attempted and I am pleased to say it was very much a success - thanks to all the tips and techniques I've picked up on here of course. While not, the best brisket ever, it is moist and flavorful with the main negative being that the bark ended up pretty mushy, but I know why and expect to get better next time.
Highlights of the cook are:
Highlights of the cook are:
- Bought a 10.4lb market trimmed brisket at HEB. It was labeled "Prime", but not USDA Prime, so I don't know if this was strictly a marketing designation or what. It was $4.97 per pound and they had other briskets which were $3.97 per lb, so this was the best they had in the meat case. I didn't talk to the butcher to see if they had others because frankly, $50 was plenty to spend
- When I brought it home I rubbed it down with yellow mustard and then applied a thick coating of the Salt Lick BBQ rub. I also injected about 4 loads of beef broth. It was then covered and sat for about two hours while we grilled some pizzas for dinner
- At about 8:00pm I put the brisket, fat side up on the Weber kettle with a full load of coals in the Smokenator. I added about 4 chunks of Pecan and Hickory on top of the coals
- I set the PitMaster IQ110 to keep the temp at about 250 and then watched the Heisman awards, the 30 for 30 debut of "The U. Part 2" and some netflix episodes of 30 Rock - a show I never watched when it was on the network
- At midnight, I was ready to go to bed, so I opened up the kettle, shook out the coals in the Smokenator and filled it up with a couple more pieces of Hickory and Pecan. I then flipped the brisket on the grate and noticed the bottom side, which was sitting above a water pan was very moist while the top was very DRY. I sprinkled some more of the Salt Lick rub on at that time.
- I waited for the kettle to heat back up and then went to bed with my ET733 at bedside. The internal temp was about 160 and had been there for about an hour
- Slept pretty well and woke up about 7am. When I checked the ET733 it freaked me out because the Kettle temp was 175 and the meat temp was 156!!! Neither I nor my wife heard any alarms during the night, so I guess I must have silenced the unit.
- So I ran outside to check on the meat. When I opened the kettle, it looked pretty good but the coals had burned down to almost nothing. I ran into the house and turned on the oven to 250 and then grabbed the meat. I injected it again about 4 times, then wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven.
- About 10 minutes later the internal temp probe was reading 148, so I was really getting anxious. I upped the oven temp to 265 and then watched it start climbing
- After about 3 hours, the internal temp hit 200. This was around 10:00am, so the 10 pound brisket had been cooking for about 14 hours. Pretty close to the 1.5 hours per pound estimate I have heard before.
- I removed it from the oven, checked the temp in multiple spots and confirmed it was consistently around 200 and the probe went in and out without too much effort so I wrapped it in a towel and put the whole thing in a faux cambro while we went off to church.
- About three hours later, we got back and it was the moment of truth! I unwrapped and started slicing from the flat end. While the bark was VERY soft, the inside was very tender and I saw a nice smoke ring. Great taste!
--Ed
Comment