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First Time Separating a Packer

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    First Time Separating a Packer

    Okay, so back in late August, I got this small Angus packer at Sam's Club. Following the advice of Huskee and others, I went for a wet aging.

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    It's at a little over three weeks of aging now, so I'm going to cook it overnight low and slow tonight.

    I also just replaced the probes for my CyberQ Cloud, as my old ones were getting worn. I like their new "upgraded" probes. The pit probe has a bigger clip on it, so I'm pretty sure it will stay attached to the grill much better. Also, I splurged and got three meat probes. I've previously only worked with one meat probe at a time.

    Having been married over 40 years to a native of Kansas City, it is an embarrassment that I've never cooked burnt ends. To rectify that and take advantage of the new multiple meat probe capability, I decided to split the packer so that I can cube up the point when the time comes. This was my first time splitting a packer. Hope I did it the right way. The point looked like it went even further into the flat than where I cut. I chose to make the cut at a spot that gave what I hoped would be a fairly consistent thickness to the flat. Here they are separated:

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    The flat was 4.6 lbs after trimming.

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    The point was 3 pounds after trimming. So we lost a little over two pounds of fat, most of which I saved to render later when needed.

    And here is the fat cap side of the flat after dry brining at half strength and applying @Henrik's Bonafide beef rub.

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    I'll put the rest of the cook in this thread. We'll be sharing the bounty with a local family that is dealing with the mother on chemo and a couple of small children in the house.

    #2
    And with a little further thought, I've decided to just get an early start tomorrow and cook in the 250-275 range instead of 225. Even at the lowest, a four pound flat might force me to get up a lot earlier than I would like to pull it. And I would prefer no more than a 2-4 hour hold before slicing and delivering.

    Comment


    • ecowper
      ecowper commented
      Editing a comment
      that makes sense to me

    #3
    Looks like a good plan. Keep us posted! Send burnt ends!

    Comment


      #4
      Gotta cook burnt ends! Little meaty bites of goodness.

      Comment


        #5
        Interested in seeing/reading about how your cook goes. I plan to do the same thing on my next brisket.

        Comment


          #6
          I tried this with the last prime packer I got, only I trimmed all the surface fat off, both the point and the flat. Also injected. Took the rub nicely.The point was great. The flat was dried out. That was even with wrapping with pink butcher paper around 170. Maybe I should have wrapped earlier, like 150 on the flat. But the point made excellent burnt ends. I will probably keep them together like usual from now on, and leave 1/4" fat cap. Live and learn.

          Comment


            #7
            And we're under way. I love my trusty old Kamado. Even before I got my first cup of coffee, it dialed right in to the 250 I wanted.

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            I never wrap on this beast. I'm going indirect with some water that I won't refill (just enhancing the early steam for smoke flavor) and lots of mesquite chunks.

            Controller is set for a target temp of 203 on the flat and 185 on the point. Comments on if that is a proper target for bringing the point in, cubing and searing inside in cast iron with rendered fat and then returning in aluminum pan with mix of sauce and beef broth are encouraged.

            Comment


              #8
              Five hours into the cook, pit temp has held between 250 and 275. Flat is at 193 and point is at 173.

              These days, I can't do a big smoker cook without also making a batch of ecowper's Drunken Texas Beans. For today's batch, I'm slumming a little bit as I'm out of Rancho Gordo pintos and so I soaked some dry Publix pintos overnight. For the meat, I'm going with pork jowl bacon. I just cooked up what started as a little under a pound of it. I rendered pretty thoroughly, but I'm hoping the bacon will soften up a bit when I throw it in earlier than Eric's crumbled bacon at the end.

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              The good news is, as you can see, even after leaving enough of the bacon drippings in the stock pot for browning the onions, there's plenty of smoked pork fat goodness to use for searing the cubed up point when it comes off.

              I'm having fun today.

              Comment


              • Jim White
                Jim White commented
                Editing a comment
                I forgot to mention the slaw. It's chilling.

                I don't plan to cook again for about a week.

              • ecowper
                ecowper commented
                Editing a comment
                And slaw? Died and gone to heaven!

              • Jim White
                Jim White commented
                Editing a comment
                And I forgot to mention that while my wife was shopping, she found us another package of premade uncooked jalapeno poppers. I put them on the cooker while I was starting the beans and getting the burnt ends ready to go back onto the grill.

              #9
              It's probably because the separated pieces were so small, but this cook keeps me thinking that actual stalls are pretty rare in my cooker. I almost never see one.

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              Of course, there was also a bit of benign neglect as the pit temperature slowly increased through the time that would have been the stall. I was happy for an increase at that time of the cook, so I didn't close the upper vent to slow the increase.

              Here's how they looked when taken off:

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              Opening and then cubing the point:

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              I added a bit more Bonafide Beef Rub during the sear. Here's how it looked after:

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              I opted for a 2:1 ratio of beef broth to sauce to go back on the grill since I intend for it to be there at least an hour and don't want it to thicken too fast:

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              Comment


                #10
                Flavor bomb alert! The burnt ends are ready. I chose not to take them to super sticky, but did add more sauce near the end of the cook to thicken some.

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                Yeah, I know. The pan isn't as full as it started. Blame shrinkage during cooking. Well, and maybe a little quality control...

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                  #11
                  Okay, here's the flat sliced:

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                  Nice smoke ring. Not too dry, but could have been a bit more tender. I knew it was a tad short of buttery probe tender when I pulled it, but I feared that with at least a 4 hour hold, going too tender first would leave it crumbly.

                  And here's everything dished up in containers for drop off:

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                  There was more sliced brisket in the container than that picture suggests.

                  The recipient was very happy.

                  And I was definitely ready to do my own feasting by the time I got back home. The pic of my plate is over at SUWYC,

                  Oh, and my wife has already picked the next recipient of #BBQDriveBy. Not sure what the next cook will be.

                  Comment


                    #12
                    Wow, what a great cook!

                    Comment


                      #13
                      Nice job!

                      Comment

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