Superb x Avogadro's Number!!!!!
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Congrats on the Beautiful Brisket Bonanza. It doesn't look as though it could not have been any more perfect. Lucky friends to get to haul off some tasty slices.
KathrynComment
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YUM!!! Those are beauties!Comment
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Yes Paul you sure did. Are those pics of you? Great great job. I am doing my first brisket on a WSM 18.5 tomorrow. I have practically memorized your tread and pics. Why do you think the paper worked better than the foil or did it. I hate to wrap but I am told with a brisket I need to. Right Jerod Broussard?Comment
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@Jerod_Broussard, you are my Brisket Hero! I want to cook 7 briskets this week! -
Guy, please keep us updated on Brisket #1 - I'm sure it will be great!
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How do I keep missing these posts?! Great job PaulstheRibList ! Wow that's some good looking brisket slices. I am starting to crave it again after seeing the last few brisket posts by all these talented pitmasters.
Guy you'd likely find the flat to be boot leather if you didn't wrap. Point would probably be ok like a pork butt.Comment
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Guy for wood? Whatever I have the easiest access to. Right now I've been using ash, I'm pretty sure white ash to be specific. I have a lot of it for free, just cut it and haul it. My personal opinion on most versatile wood is apple (crab apple included)- good on absolutely anything, from salmon to brisket. I have stacks of ash and apple in my yard right now. I've bought splits of cherry, red oak & whiskey barrel oak, pecan, apricot, peach, etc from www.FruitaWoodChunks.com occasionally for specific things.
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Huskee, I have to ask these dumb questions so bear with me. Do you use the same wood for smoke and fire/heat. This is what confuses me because when I cook on the WSM I only use about 8 ounces of wood for smoke. Say if you used hickory for your fire would that not ruin the meat with too much smoke flavor? Hope that makes sense.Last edited by Guy; March 29, 2015, 09:40 AM.Comment
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Yes Guy , burn the same wood for heat and flavor, just build a small bonfire is all you're doing. A stickburner has such massive airflow that burning all logs doesn't oversmoke your food. This is, of course assuming you are able to get 'good' smoke by having a smaller hotter fire. The rules for stickburners are different than using chunks in a lower flow device like a WSM or kettle. There are other factors to consider too, Meathead has a great beginner's article on stickburning here. Hickory is a wood that can be very strong to many people, especially if you had been used to apple or something milder. DWCowles uses hickory logs in his stickburner and it seems to be his favorite. The key is a small hot fire without belching grey/white smoke. The fun part is learning how big that 'small, hot' fire needs to be. A BBQ Dragon is a huge help! Make sure you use good quality burning wood, seasoned. If you cut green wood and don't want to wait all summer for it to season you can dry it in your smoker, I have done that before.Originally posted by Guy View PostComment
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Huskee, I'm going to try cutting my splits into shorter lengths, to get more of that small, hot fire. And I'm totally going to try out accelerating the seasoning on some wood by smoking it. I have 3 half-chords of wood (minus what I've burnt so far), and none of them are more than 5 months split, and I think that's making it harder for me to keep a good fire, trying to burn wood with that much moisture still in it.
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Guy yessir, I highly recommend it. Also, get a GOOD set of rechargeable batteries, I picked up some Eneloop pros w/ charger on Amazon, they last a long time on a charge. Or get the charge kit that comes with the Dragon. There will be days when there's no wind and that Dragon saves the day.
PaulstheRibList Sorry to hijack your thread! Unintentional.Comment
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Nobody poses like Paul, dats for sure Sha!!!Comment
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PaulstheRibList Try preburning them. Burn them roughly half way, then stifle them somehow. Use these prebrunt ones, the moisture will be out or mostly out, and they will light up and get hot so much quicker...and produce great smoke. Kilning them @220F will ideally take ~30 hrs to get them to <30% moisture (15-20% is ideal)...but that's really hard to know unless you have testing equipment. I 'smoked' mine (split green wood) for maybe 12 hrs and it seemed to help alot, but I was perhaps at 1/3 the ideal dry level. I always preburn them anyway though when doing an all wood cook. When tossing a chunk on the charcoal in a kettle I don't bother.Comment
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Welcome to Paul's preburning wood party! Wood on the fidelity, and s whole smoker full of wood! Thanks @Huskee!
Ps. I'm lost on how to do pics from my phone. Need more practiceAttached FilesComment
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Pics look good! Keep doing what you're doing
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Well, Brisket Practice continued this weekend. I took last weekend off to go out of town with my beautiful bride for our 22nd Anniversary! I didn't even try to bring her to a BBQ joint in Houston while we were there...I was a good boy.
But good ole' WalMart had this Choice brisket for $2.98 a pound, so, It's on! The brisket was quite tall in the Point, and narrow, which I would not have preferred, but she was the only one in the cooler there Thursday night, so that will do.
Huskee mentioned in another thread pre-burning logs to get a clean fire, so I lit the firepit Friday at sunset and got to pre-burning. Here are some of the graduates.
I also loaded up the smoker and put some of my less-than-adequately-seasoned oak and pecan in the smoker to get a little moisture out, while we had time.
I'm getting better and better at trimming. My fat cap had NO Bald Spots, and when I cut into it after cooking, found from 1/8 to just over 1/4 inch fat. I am happy with the trim job. I injected here with Butcher BBQ Prime about midnight, then oiled and rubbed here with Kosher, 1/2 Tsp per pound, and put on a generous amount of Big Bad Beef Rub, from our old friend Meathead.
The fire was still going in the smoker when I got up at 3:30 am and stoked the fire, putting the brisket on at 4 am. 250 degrees.
Hour long naps, waking to put a log or so on. Fire was really nice in these early hours.
Then, about 6 am, a front came through and the wind went to 25 mph gusts...much harder to keep a good fire and the right temps steady. I found I needed more wood to maintain temp, then it would spike to 325 sometimes. Every time I encounter these new environmental conditions, I learn something. I'm determined to be an excellent fire manager.
Here she is about 8:30 am. Progressing nicely!
I wrapped her, with a nice, dark bark, at 11 hours in, 3 pm. Parchment paper wrap, no broth. The fire had died when I got back at three, and the lowest IT in the flat was 179. 2 house in the wrap, then I pulled and put in the warming drawer under the oven. (I cooked some Chicken legs and Country Ribs for additional fun for the princesses to enjoy.)
Here are the results:
The Bark was Great! The fat ring and the BBBR and the nice, long smoke...Great!
It was tender, but a little overcooked. The Point was overly mushy.
The flat pulled apart a little more than desired.
Still, very tasty, and far better than any bbq joint within a hundred miles or so (that I've found so far).
I'll keep practicing!
OK, My IT was too high in the point, resulting in the overmushy, while the flat was lagging behind. What should I have done? Pull it and let the rest bring my flat to probe tender?
I called up 4 friends to come and get the BrisketPractice meat, and they all loved it, of course. #theRibListExpands
Isn't this fun!Attached FilesComment
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Those first two wood pics are a scene I'm all too familiar with. How did the preburnt logs perform for you? I forgot to mention when I kiln dried my smoking wood, I used pine firewood for the fire...lots of it around and then I'm not wasting my valuable fuel. If you're using your preburning to do it, that's all the more efficient! I wondered if my pine burning might transfer some off-ness to the apple & ash wood I was drying, but absolutely nothing noticeable, for what it's worth. I suppose too much pine would cause a lot of creosote buildup, but you get it anyway in a stickburner.
On that note, watch for your cooker lid to get flaky with creosote, if you don't scrape it regularly it will fall as little black flakes on your food. Noticeable on ribs, but might not be so noticeable on a black-barked brisket. -
Well, with the high winds, it was hard to keep the fire consistent, and my observations were off. They did seem to have cleaner smoke and that is fantastic. The bark on this brisket was great, and I know cleaner smoke really contributes tot that!
I'll keep practicing!
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QUESTIONS:
1.) What is your target fat amount to leave on? 1/4 inch?- I leave it all on as I buy the packer briskets- cook fat side down.
2.) How successful are you at achieving that across the brisket?- Great
3.) How many of you trim off all that silverskin on the non-fat-cap side? Do you find a difference if you leave it on?- I leave on all the fat
4.) How hot are you cooking your briskets? - I shoot for 225 for the full run using charcoal, pecan and hickory wood mix.
5.) Do any of you vary temps during the cook? I've heard of guys cooking it at a lower temp, like 190, for 4 hours, so get the smoke in there (and smoke ring), then turning it up to 275 for the rest of their cook (8 hours ish), then resting. I'm not that good yet. - Nope
6.) What else am I not asking for you big brisket producers (@Jerod Broussard) that makes a difference in your brisket?
I rub mine down and 24 hrs. prior to cooking – 1 cup Kosher Salt, to 1/3 cup course black pepper, paprika , and Cayenne pepper to one’s own taste (we like our bark with a little kick here in Texas). Not sure where you live but https://www.fiestaspices.com/ is a good link for fresh spices. They are available in Kroger stores if you live in Texas.
I also shoot(inject) my brisket with 1 part beef broth, 1 part shiner bock beer and about ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar. ( I also use this in a spray bottle to spray the brisket during smoking every few hours).
I try to put the brisket on about 3-4 pm and smoke till about 11 to 12 pm or when it reaches 170 degree inside temp, I then boat it/crunch with 2-3 cans of Shiner bock beer and let it cook all night, (Hopefully I have beer left at this point, make sure and hide a few cans if you have friends helping.) It is important to get the brisket up to 205 during this time as it breaks down the fat (see the brisket section).
In the AM I un-boat the brisket (be careful it will fall apart if you’re not careful) and then I keep it on for about 2-3 hrs. to firm up the bark.
Afterwards I try to let it rest for about an hour or so before serving ( I usually have to stand guard over it during this time).
Good Luck!
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