Too bad that your pictures are so small (640x480 should be made the minimum viewing size). I have to ask some more:
The pics seem to be fine for me to see, maybe it's your screen? I know that when we upgraded our computer, the larger screen made smaller pics look bigger than the old one. Also, they're that size because it seems that if theay are much larger than that, it takes longer for the forums servier to download them. I've tried to upload larger pics, but it takes a while and they seem to be so larger it makes a scroll bar at the bottom of the screen necessary to see the whole picture.
- So you did not trim the fat cap at all (the downside in the two pictures of the first row)?
I did trim the fat cap a very little bit only where I felt hard fat. If it felt soft, I left it alone. Reason being, I cook fat side down and the fat acts like a heat shield.
- Did you smoke it fat cap facing downwards?
I did cook it fat side down because my heat source on this cooker is directly under the cooking chamber, and the bottom of the cooker is always hotter than the top because of a heat plate I have in the bottom of it.
- The fat cap completely disappeared during the cook (I can't see any fat in the picture showing the slices)?
The fat is there, it's just underneath the slices. I really should have turned the brisket over so I sliced through the fat first though. It doesn't completely dissapear during the cook, but a lot of it does cook off.
- What influence does resting at 170°F in an oven have compared to resting in a cooler?
I got the idea of resting it in the oven from Aaron Frankln. However, after further research, I learned that he holds his in a 200* box versus 170*. What I gather this does is that it keeps the meat in the jiggly state so it doesn't firm back up while resting. I would say that if you're going to only rest for an hour before eating, a cooler rest would be fine. But for longer periods, I now understand why a 200* oven is the way to go.
- For such a simple rub, does it make a difference which kind of salt is used (there is no Kosher Salt available here, we only have coarse or fine grained sea salt and fine grained saline salt, they all are iodized)?
I thin that the type of salt does matter. The larger the crystals, the more you will need, the smaller the crystals, then the less you will need. For example, Morton Kosher salt here is a finer salt than Diamond Crystal Kosher. If you look at the salt content per serving, Morton is much higher than Diamond Crystal. This is mainly due to the fact that you can fit more Mortan Kosher salt in the same sized measuring device than you can Diamond Crystal. So, if you use a finer grain salt, just use say 1/3 of a cup versus a 1/2 cup. As far as being iodized, I would try and stay away from it if you can. Iodized salt has a tendency to leave a medicinal after taste in my experience. You guys don't have any natural sea salt that you can grind yourself?
This will be my third brisket in total this Sunday. My first brisket had an unpleasant layer of fat on the fat cap side on the resulting product due to the lack of trimming, the second was trimmed as good as possible, and the resulting product overcooked and slightly dry. I read a lot about fat cap up / down and trimming to a fat layer of about 1/4", so I am not sure how to proceed with my third brisket cook.
I have always only used the cooler for resting so far, so it may be interesting if resting in a heated oven makes a difference.
And again the question of the used salt. I guess the coarse sea salt is a little more coarse than Kosher Salt, my wife used it at the beginning, but exchanged it with simple fine grained saline salt (= table salt), because it sticks better to the meat (rub applied dry only).
I am a little nervous about this cook, I really need a success with a nice moist but lean product featuring such a beautiful smoke ring as shown on your pictures (using some precious Mesquite for the very first time).
