First Brisket in WSM

[Guy]

Jerod, thanks glad it is my photography and not my cooking. LOL Last night I wrapped some meat in foil with BBQ sauce and stuck it in the toaster oven. It came out great on a sandwich. Still tender with plenty of flavor and the sauce hydrated it pretty good.

[CandySueQ]

Thanks 3DJ! Got all 9s for appearance! Ended up 12th overall with a score of 170.8228. First and second place in brisket had 180, which is perfect. That means that 5 of 6 judges gave the entry 999. When all 6 judges give 999 it's a perfect perfect!

[CandySueQ]

I'll be there! One of Ivan's helpers came by to see me in Hammond, she told me when the date was. 3rd weekend in March maybe???

[3DJ]

That looks amazing Candy Sue! Wow! That bark, the richness of the color and smoke ring. I'm guessing you did pretty well with that entry!

Jim

[Jerod Broussard]

I see brisket that has been left out waaaaaaaaay too long to take a picture.

Smoke ring is good for a WSM, it really is. It seems the flow of the gases in that thing allows them to bypass the meat, and get the heck out of dodge. Unless you put the brisket in frozen or really cold from the fridge and spritz the ever-living chrud out of that thing.

Yeah, that bark is kickin chickin.

[Guy]

CurlingDog, when do you determine to slice or cube?

[Guy]

Jerod, please be brutally honest and tell me what you see in my picture of brisket. I see very little smoke ring. I think the bark that you can see on one of the end pieces is pretty good. The rest of it looks like school lunch roast beef. LOL kidding not that critical of myself.

[Guy]

Candy Sue, I knew you were in a cook off so I did not expect you to reply being busy. But I am thrilled you did. Hope you come to Smokin at the Square in P.cola next year.

[Guy]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the encouragement. I will have more questions soon after I digest all of this info.

[Guy]

John yes I got the lowest on the pole. However, it did have a lot of marble and fat. And I paid a premium. It was not even rated. Very few briskets at all around here.

[CandySueQ]

You really have to go by feel with brisket. Some give it up at 190ish and others 210ish. Here's a photo of my brisket box last Saturday in Hammond, LA. Didn't inject. Was done at 203. Started later and only held it for about an hour. I only turned in 7 slices because I didn't want to share!

[Jerod Broussard]

Great advice from Jeff.

I like to just go til it gets barked, then once I wrap, take note of probe tenderness/internal temp. That lets me know how tight or loose it is, and how far I am from 200. I add a little water to the bottom of the foil when I wrap.

Also, brisket slices, especially from the flat, oxidize VERY fast. Lotta surface area. I served about 5 pounds of sliced flat last week, along with the 23 pounds of chopped. I made it a point to pour any and all juices over the slices, and as soon as they were cool enough for a plastic bag, in they went.

The more you cook, the more you get the hang of it.

My first was a Prime flat that I took to 203. I panned it, and it got to 200 quicker than I thought. It wasn't bad, but probably would have been better at 195-ish. Tender galore!!!

**Edit- If you have good bark when you wrap, no matter how long it is wrapped, it always bounces back as it steams off when you unwrap it.

[_John_]

Those things do better after quite a while in the cambro. Did you get the ungraded stuff at Walmart? That is all they carry here now and while it was more challenging I had good results.

[Guy]

One of the great and constant truths.

[scorched_porch]

Don't give up. You had a small flat at 4 Lbs so I'd think that would get to temp pretty quick. Your pit temps sound fine to me. I'd wrap at 160 like you did and consider yanking it anywhere from 197 to 205 (I'd err on the lower side). Throw it in the Cambro after that. I add a couple of tablespoons of Ketchup to the broth and drippings for a sauce. Seems to work well for me. All I can think of is that you might have left it on a little long. Hope this helps somehow.