Posted on 09/07/2013 5:32:18 PM PDT by beebuster2000
here is what i got so far:
butcher cut the brisket off the hanging beef this morning, it had been aged a while. bigger than i thought it would be, around 15 pounds. he trimmed it up, but still plenty of fat on board, i guess i ll leave the fat on.
took it home, seasoned it liberally with kosher salt and black pepper, sitting overnight in the fridge .
got my gas barbeque tricked out. plenty of mesquite chips and a couple chunks of used wine barrel soaking in a big pail overnight.
gonna place the meat on the top rack, on the right, big fat side up, but use only the left burners. smoke box placed directly on on the left burners, pulled the rocks and grill out of that side.
one problem, i cant get the gas flame down below 250 degrees. 225 is the absolute tops i have seen as a reccomeded temp, but gonna have to go with it. plan is:
fire that sucker up around 6am sunday, let it roll for 9 or 10 hours, lashing the smoke box with soaked wood chips, until internal temp hits 175. then pull it, wrap it in foil, put it in the small cooler to sit for an hour. then slice, with homemade bbq sauce.
anyone else got any ideas?
It almost looks like you have a mountain range there. ;-)
Hickory might be a better wood choice than Mesquite for a long slow cook. Mesquite is good for quick cooking chicken. Applewood is good, has a sweet taste. Too much smoke can make your brisket taste like creosote. (You don’t want people thinking you cooked it over some old railroad ties!) See what you think. Try to add soaked chips toward the end of the cooking. Cook long at lower temperature. You want people focus on the moist meat.
If you put a tray underneath you might be able to cut down on the direct heat and catch the drippings. (use them to baste as long as they are still juice. A metal bowl with water in it keeps some moisture in the cooker. Good Luck!
Michigan mountains come and go.
You need to go perfesshunal.
When you think you’ve cooked it long enough, cook it some more! ...a well cooked brisket will pull apart with little effort.
Aaron Franklin is the BBQ brisket king and judge on BBQ pit masters. We don’t use gas grills here in Texas, but you may get something out of this.
Try, instead of using the gas, putting a steel tray in the bottom with maybe six or so charcoal briquets. Get those going, and that handful of briquets will keep the grill at a nice 200 degrees even. Skip the gas entirely—it won’t work.
I use the water that I soak the chips in, as the hydration pan liquid (with a slice of orange rind). We prefer real charcoal and vast quantities of beer for smoking up here.
Keep the temp 200 and the beer 40 degrees. A good book and/or a guitar work nicely with this project.
Bon apetite!
Dude, don’t bogart that brisket!
Seriously, restaurant grade smoked meats in about the same time it takes to get take out. I use mine daily. Even doubles as a crock pot, and plain pressure cooker.
Smoke at approx. 230 degrees for as long as it takes.
Whatever you do, use a meat thermometer and cook the brisket until it is 190 degrees on the inside.
Rubs? If I told you, I’d have to kill you.
(Psst. Salt, pepper and garlic and rub it in with some mustard so that the spices adhere to the meat. Cook the brisket with the fat side UP!)
If 250 is your lower limit, I would smoke it for no more than 4 hours. At that point, I would tightly wrap it in foil and put it back on the pit. Cook it until it’s internal temp gets to 180.
Should keep the temp. down.Replinish as needed.
I tried with two drip pans, one 1/2 full of water above the flame side, and one with beer below the meat. The extra pan over the flame worked very well to regulate the heat.
That's beautiful.
I’ve used a drip pan full of ice to keep things cool . It will take a lot of ice for a brisket .
Smoking a brisket is like cruising in a low-rider. Low & Slow. 9 to 10 hours is hurrying things along. You’ve already been told about the heat.
You can cook them low and slow (225 to 250deg) or hot and fast (300 to 350deg). I've done them both ways and they come out just fine. They are both good - the main difference is (I think) I get a better smoke flavor (and a deeper smoke ring) cooking low & slow. Hot & Fast works when I'm short on time. I've heard that once the outside gets cooked over, no more smoke can penetrate and that has been my experience. I've only cooked full, packer-cut briskets, which sounds like what you have at 15lbs. I usually can only get select grade; choice full briskets are mythical in my area.
Not that I'm any great chef, but smoking brisket is not as hard as it seems. Here's what I do and there's nothing saying you have to do it one way or another: Either low and slow or hot and fast, I'll cook it fat-cap up until it hits 175 to 185 internal temp (thickest part of the flat) and start probing it with a bamboo skewer to check for tenderness. About every 5 degrees after that, I'll probe it until the flat part of the brisket probes nearly as tender as the point part. There should be little to no resistance when you probe it. When I get that similar probe feel (between the point and the flat) it's done. Take it off the heat, wrap it in foil and stick it in a cooler lined with folded towels and cover it with more towels. Let it sit like that for at least an hour. I try to time it so that it sits for about two hours before I slice & serve (it will still be almost too hot to hold when you slice it).
Then there's turning the point into burnt-ends (it's the bacon of beef!). That's worthy of it's own thread.
Good Luck with it!!
Yep. If it's a whole brisket, the flat and the point should be separated before slicing because the slicing need to be done against the grain on both pieces, and the grain in each piece is different.
Also, smoked beef brisket is, traditionally, a Texas BBQ thing, done with mesquite smoke. I've done it with hickory and it's good too.
Good luck. Tell us how it turns out.
Been cooking brisket the same way for almost 50 years, my buddie and I used to earn extra money catering parties and get togethers. We always figured about 2 lbs per person. My grill is 12 ft long and on a trailer, simple setup with a fire box on the end and 3 adjustable stacks. Never used gas so I can’t help you there but as others have said just raise the lid a little if you can’t get the heat low enough. I usually do 15 pounders and have done as many as 12 at the same time. I give them a good rub of salt, pepper and garlic powder then throw them on the hot end of the grill until they get a nice brown to them. Then I take them of the grill and double wrap them in heavy tin foil pouring in a large can of crushed pinapple while wrapping, juice and all. Then they go on the far end of the grill and I try to keep it at about 200 degree’s. My grill has 1/4 inch thick walls so one you get it hot it’s not that hard to keep it that, just takes a minimum amount of wood. I might grab some of the coals with a shovel and even it out a little if needed. I’ll start them at about 5 PM and cook them until the next day, turning them about every 2 hours and check the fire. By the time everybody’s ready to eat I’ll have the beans and potato salad ready and when I open them up the meat is falling apart. In all these years I’ve never had one complaint. I always use mesquite and never ever get in a hurry, thats the worst thing you can do to a brisket. I’ve been know to drive down the road heading to a party and still cooking briskets as I go.
Dusty, my son does it the exact same way except he uses oak.
I saw above others said to slice?? My son’s always just falls apart, there is no slicing.
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