Brisket with no smoke taste

[Ahumadora]

I was doing a demonstration cook today at the local Howard Johnson hotel as the are set on buying a pit, when another client called.
Eat catering, the top catering in Argentina. I had showed them how to cook brisket a couple of weeks ago at the embassy event, but the owner wanted me to come see what the problem was, as they were doing just as I had showed them.
Pics he sent looked fine as had a lot of color.
Finished at Howard Johnson where I cooked ribs, small pork shoulder , beef ribs in 3 hours at 350f.
I then drove the Eat catering. Started studying what was the problem. The cook took me through the steps, using the same Oak I used the other day, made the rub the same and cooked on one of my pits that been there 3 years.
All looked fine, so I tried a piece. Yep something not right with it. Went back over the procedure with him, then he mentioned when he wrapped it he added 2-300ml of apple vinegar/ apple juice.
Yep. Theres one of the problems... the other was that the briskets were 5-6 pound without an ounce of fat about 1 " thick and 2 " on the point. Can't make brisket of a weiner snitzel no matter how great of a pitmaster you are.
. For those of you who don't know all that vinegar n Apple juice will kill the smoke taste.

They have an event Saturday for 600, (all blacks rugby team). They are going smoke another batch tomorrow. I left them with some Mesquite to give it a good touch of smoke and they can use a bit of beef broth with wrapping or nothing at all. Rub was just SPOG.

[mountainsmoker]

Glad you got if figured out.

[Greygoose]

If I’m gonna spritz,,, I don’t spritz beef . ribz with apple juice and beer and chicken with nothin,,,,
works fer me
lamb,,,totally oil and herbs and lemon

[smokin fool]

I wouldn't have know that apple juice and vinegar combo kills the smoke taste so definitely won't go that route in the future.
Love those chrome stacks on your smokers, are they Freightliner or Peterbilt.

[Ahumadora]

My biz partner found the stainless tubes in a scrap metal yard with 90* bends in them. We just cut the bend for that style then sent it out to be polished.

[jgreen]

Darn fine looking cookers. Wish i lived in your area.

[texastweeter]

Some people have to learn the hard way...im one of them, lol.

[Jerod Broussard]

Butter in a sous vide bag will also "steal" whatever flavors you put in there. I think Kenji figured that out.

[Henrik]

Too many folks here in Sweden also insist on adding 0.5 cups of apple juice (or similar) to their ribs when wrapping. I keep telling them they are boiling them, creating one gooey mess, ruining the bark and all.

[Elton's BBQ]

Same in Norway..

[Steve R.]

THANK YOU! I feel like all the work I put into creating a decent bark is wasted when it just gets braised/boiled away. I stopped adding liquid to any wrapped meat after a couple of tries.

[holehogg]

Besides no smoke flavour does it change the beefy taste.
The for sharing winter making that mistake

[Ahumadora]

Yep Tastes like Roast beef.

[fzxdoc]

Interesting. I've never heard of adding vinegar when wrapping, but then I always prefer the brisket or chuckie wrapped nekkid to preserve the barky goodness.

Let us know how their next cook goes. Those smokers rock!

Kathryn

[ColonialDawg]

The late famous southern comedian Lewis Grizzard once said there is a difference between naked and nekkid, the latter implying "you are up to something." That beef is definitely up to something good.

[Steve R.]

+1 just for working in a Lewis Grizzard reference, ColonialDawg!

[DeusDingo]

this is great information i'm glad you shared it

[Troutman]

Hmmmm....I would agree that the liquid caused the smoke flavor to dissipate. Reading through this though I'm inclined to think that adding that much liquid and sealing in foil caused a braise to occur. The reason I say that is you mentioned it tasted like pot roast. It's one reason why I've gotta away from foil wrapping briskets, the braising effect. I've had it happen to me when I put a brisket in a pan after the stall with beef stock. Turned it to pot roast.

So is it the liquid or the braising effect? Or is it both?

Pink butcher paper is the answer.

[Ahumadora]

Pink butcher paper is pretty much un obtainable in Argentina. Also dealing with emaciated fatless briskets.

[Troutman]

Doesn't Amazon deliver to Argentina or is it way too expensive? I would be more inclined to go nekkid if that's the case. I hate it when brisket ends up tasting like it just came out of a crock pot. How do you normally do yours A?

[Ahumadora]

275-300 range until it has good color (don't even worry about internal temp or having the pit at an exact temp). When it has good color /bark wrap it foil (may splash it with a little apple juice but not much). Then 300 -350f if I am in a hurry.

[Ahumadora]

The chef just sent me pics, problem solved and brisket apparently tastes great. Used espinillo at start of cook , lowered it to 275f initially then wrapped without juice. Per my recommendations.