Wager
Full Fledged Farker
so I did my first packer this weekend and I'm wondering if I can get some feedback on the results that I got.
First I trimmed the hard fat off the fat cap of a 13lb packer and then rubbed with yardbird's bovine bold. stuck it on the WSM at 250 at 7:00 in the morning. checked it at 2:00 that afternoon and it wasn't close to being "like butter" so I closed it up and came back at 4:30. much more tender but it still wasn't probe tender. checked again at 5:00 and then at 5:30 it seemed like I hit the level of tenderness that I was looking for. probe went in with little to no resistance just like a pork butt when done. so far so good.
here it seems that I screwed up...
I pulled the packer off the smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes. then i wrapped in 3 layers of foil for an hour. at the end of that hour I pulled the point off and rewrapped the flat without any trimming of the fat or anything else. i then chunked up the point and stuck it in a foil pan with some sauce and back on the smoker for 1 1/2 hours. 45 minutes after seperating the point I unwrapped the flat and it was stiff as a board. went to slice it and it was the consistency of a roast beef coming out of the fridge or a well done steak. why did it go from being so tender to being so stiff? it wasn't chewy when I ate it and although it didnt pull very well it also wasn't leather. did I pull it too soon? i was scared to leave it on the smoker once it no longer had any resistance to the probe but should i have left it on? it seemed to be fairly juicy when initially cut but dired out quickly after slicing. another thing, it had a pot roasty type of taste again???? is that what brisket really tastes like? i started another thread on that and i got a bunch of various responses but i was really hoping that it would taste more like beef instead of roast.
on the bright side the flat has made the best chili i've ever had and the point meat came out really well.
What do you guys think happened with the flat?
First I trimmed the hard fat off the fat cap of a 13lb packer and then rubbed with yardbird's bovine bold. stuck it on the WSM at 250 at 7:00 in the morning. checked it at 2:00 that afternoon and it wasn't close to being "like butter" so I closed it up and came back at 4:30. much more tender but it still wasn't probe tender. checked again at 5:00 and then at 5:30 it seemed like I hit the level of tenderness that I was looking for. probe went in with little to no resistance just like a pork butt when done. so far so good.
here it seems that I screwed up...
I pulled the packer off the smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes. then i wrapped in 3 layers of foil for an hour. at the end of that hour I pulled the point off and rewrapped the flat without any trimming of the fat or anything else. i then chunked up the point and stuck it in a foil pan with some sauce and back on the smoker for 1 1/2 hours. 45 minutes after seperating the point I unwrapped the flat and it was stiff as a board. went to slice it and it was the consistency of a roast beef coming out of the fridge or a well done steak. why did it go from being so tender to being so stiff? it wasn't chewy when I ate it and although it didnt pull very well it also wasn't leather. did I pull it too soon? i was scared to leave it on the smoker once it no longer had any resistance to the probe but should i have left it on? it seemed to be fairly juicy when initially cut but dired out quickly after slicing. another thing, it had a pot roasty type of taste again???? is that what brisket really tastes like? i started another thread on that and i got a bunch of various responses but i was really hoping that it would taste more like beef instead of roast.
on the bright side the flat has made the best chili i've ever had and the point meat came out really well.
What do you guys think happened with the flat?
