Howdy All,
I finished my first brisket cook on my Rec Tec pellet popper with mixed results. Took about 15 hours at 225.
Pics attached include the rubbed brisket pre-cook, some plated slices from the flat and a look at leftover, unsliced portions of flat and point.
General technique and notes:
Followed Meathead's technique from the free site.
This is where the questions start.
1) When I pulled it, the point was passing the "wobble" test and the fork test, and looked great (again, point was attached to flat still). The flat however was certainly not passing the wobble and fork test, but was at 203 and I was afraid to push it any longer.
Question: Should the flat pass the wobble and fork test and be pulled-pork tender? I just don't see that possibility when I look at the flat and look at past brisket's I've eaten.
Tasting Notes:
More questions:
2) Leftovers (see pics). Any reason I can't cube these up and reheat them and then turn them into burnt ends?
The bark has even better flavor now that it's cold. Good stuff.
Thanks as always for your feedback and advice.
I finished my first brisket cook on my Rec Tec pellet popper with mixed results. Took about 15 hours at 225.
Pics attached include the rubbed brisket pre-cook, some plated slices from the flat and a look at leftover, unsliced portions of flat and point.
General technique and notes:
Followed Meathead's technique from the free site.
- Meat was a 14lb Prime Packer from Costco
- I trimmed the fat cap off. Did Not leave 1/8 to 1/4" of fat cap as Meathead recommends (my fault, didn't reread that part first)
- When trimming, I found a large amount of connective tissue and fat running up the long axis of the Brisket, between the flat and the point. I trimmed most of that out. Don't know if that was good, bad or neutral move.
- Dry brined with 3 parts kosher salt to 1 part Lawry's seasoned salt for 24 hours before cooking.
- Injected with beef stock.
- Dry rubbed with Meathead's BBBR (with a few mods) for 1 hour or so before cooking.
- Put it on the Rec Tec at 225 at Midnight, the night before serving, with a goal to maximize smoke time on pellet popper.
- Left myself option to either push through the stall or crutch it if it wasn't progressing fast enough.
- The point was kind of overlapping the flat. First Brisket, so I don't know if that is normal or not. After I trimmed out the connective tissue there was a clear flap of point I could lift off the flat.
- The thing stalled much quicker than expected. About 3 to 3.5 hours in above 150. (The "Temperature Chart" on the Rec Tec app is awesome, BTW, for really understanding what happened during the cook). I thought for sure it would be done much earlier than I expected.
- I let it push through the stall and didn't wrap, hoping to maximize bark. Had the option to wrap later if it just wasn't moving.
- I had probes in both flat and point. After it came out of the stall, the point took off and started cooking faster. I asked for help in this post and got excellent advice (thanks all).
- It kept rolling slowly toward the finish. Finally took it off about 3 PM when the flat hit 203. The point had gone beyond 203 a bit.
- I pulled it. Cut off a few inches of each end (for burnt ends), then put it in a faux cambro and held it for 3 hours.
- Sliced and served the final meal when the meat in the cambro was down to about 145.
This is where the questions start.
1) When I pulled it, the point was passing the "wobble" test and the fork test, and looked great (again, point was attached to flat still). The flat however was certainly not passing the wobble and fork test, but was at 203 and I was afraid to push it any longer.
Question: Should the flat pass the wobble and fork test and be pulled-pork tender? I just don't see that possibility when I look at the flat and look at past brisket's I've eaten.
Tasting Notes:
- Bark was awesome. Tons of flavor. Very thick.
- However, bark was hard and made it hard to cut through, even with my slicer
- Point was great, fatty like a ribeye, slices had good balance of beef and fat.
- Flat was tough, hard to cut, a bit dry. Generally a disappointment.
- I also thought flat seemed thin overall, but it's my first one, so I don't know what to look for. Please see pics and comment.
- For burnt ends, I cubed up the parts I cut off the ends when pulling, and used Meathead's method of crisping them up in rendered fat from the trimmed fat cap. Then tossed them back on the smoker with my preferred sauce and a few pats of butter and gave them a couple of stirs until it was glazed up well.
- Burnt ends were a hit even though meat was tough and dry. Great flavor from bark and glaze.
More questions:
2) Leftovers (see pics). Any reason I can't cube these up and reheat them and then turn them into burnt ends?
The bark has even better flavor now that it's cold. Good stuff.
Thanks as always for your feedback and advice.
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