First cook on new smoker, first brisket......PRON!!!

So I FINALLY had a chance to break in the new OK Joe's this past Saturday. I called and told both my brother and my brother-in-law to come and bring something to throw on the smoker. I've been looking to cook my first brisket for a couple of weeks now, and all they had at Sam's on Friday night was 4 flats to chose from. I chose the biggest (7 lb).

My brother dropped off a 5 lb pork butt and some beef short ribs on Friday after work, and when I finally heard back from the BIL, he said he went and got a 4 lb "corned beef". He picked up one of the pieces of corned beef brisket in the brine at the grocery store. After throwing up a couple of threads in Q-Talk about cooking ONLY a flat and a brined corned beef, I recieved much (appreciated) help and asked my BIL to soak the corned beef ovenight and change the water out a few times, which he did.

Here's how the cook went down.....

I rubbed the brisket flat with KC's rub (no shocker there.....just about everything I do get's that rub) with 1/2 the brown sugar -- per the recipe. The pork butt got the regular blend of KC's rub. Both were put on the smoker about 8:20 am, after the cooker had been rolling at 225 for about an hour+. I was slacking in the photo department until after I got them both on:



Took a little while to get the smoker tuned in (forgot to preheat the wood for the first couple of refills), but eventually, there it was......the blue:


As suggested, at 160 (turned out to be at about the 4-4.5 hour mark) I foiled the brisket flat, adding about 1/2 c of beef broth during foiling. I also foiled the pork butt (which also happened to be at 160) because it was looking plenty "barky". Here's a photo just prior to foiling:


My BIL didn't show up until about 1:00 pm:shocked: with the other brisket. I rubbed it with a pastrami rub that I got from the Brethren, and the beef short ribs got KC's regular. Put them on the smoker at about 1:30. (didn't get a photo of ALL of it on the smoker for some reason.....

I made up 2 fatties and about 15-18 each of "PIGGLES" and ABT's as well, with cream cheese, saute'd button mushrooms, garlic and onion stuffing. I ALSO mad2 didn't get a photo of these cooking. I made the ABT's and PIGGLES in 2 batches and added the 2 fatties on the second batch. I took them off, had my son take them inside and before I could even go in and sample the fatties, they were GONE!!! I did get some of the ABT's and PIGGLES from the first round, but they sure were popular (as always:becky. Here's a pic of the fatties and ABT's/PIGGLES after the second round:


The butt was done (buttah) at about 6 hours, so it got pulled and coolered. I probed the brisket at about 190 d, and it was still exhibiting a bit of resistance, so I let it go for about another 1/2 hour (and another 8-10 degrees, not that THAT mattered) and was buttah! So it got pulled and rested for about an hour. Total cook time on the 7 lb flat was about 7.5 hours.

I unfoiled, trimmed and sliced the brisket:


Poured the beef juices back on the meat:




No pictures of the pork shoulder doh but the DEFINITE star of the show was the brisket!!!

The (now pastrami) was taking for EVER to get past the 150 mark. It stalled for like 2 hours at 150. I probably could have let it go longer, but I was tired at about 9 or 10 o'clock, it was at 165 and the beef ribs were done as well....so I pulled them both and shut down the cooker. Here's the pastrami and short ribs just before foiling (the pastrami has the probe in it, and the other 3 are the ribs -- top one was huge, though not as big as the pastrami as this photo makes it look):

Finished pastrami:

Short ribs:



My family (had Mom & Dad over too, and a niece brought some friends -- 15 total) DESTROYED the brisket. I had enough, but there were NO leftovers!!





The next morning..........HASH!!!:thumb:
Here's how much I took off of the pastrami:


Diced about 1/4", as well as some taters:


Cooked with butter, and they were HUNGRY....


My plate:


Closeup (best hash I've ever had):








Believe it or not, that was not only the first brisket I've cooked, but it was really the first time I've ever even HAD brisket!! I may have had a bite of it at a restaurant, but I'm not sure.

THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE CUT TO COOK AND EAT, I think!!!
I'm now an official BRISKET FANATIC!!!! Next is a whole packer!!!


Thanks, BBQGrail and Saiko for all your help during the cook (many PM's -- appreciate ya!)

Thanks for looking, y'all!

Wrench_H said:

Great looking grub. I have a pastrami in some brine right now. I think I'll be stealing that hash idea the next morning as well. Awesome new smoker too.

Click to expand...

Thanks Wrench!

Now, help me out here, because my Mom and Dad were asking me and I was really guessing......are pastrami and corned beef just two different ways to prepare brisket? Both get brined, right? Or is it that you do something EXTRA to a corned beef to get pastrami?

Thanks all!

Forgot to mention in the original post that the entire cook was with wood. Lit the fire with a chimney starter of K and some beech, once it reached temp, cooked the majority of the cook with cherry, and then did a bit of apple when the ABT's, PIGGLES, and fatties went on.

The cooker did FANTASTIC!! I was really impressed at how well it held temp. Another cook or two, and I'll get the timing of the fuel down just right and this thing will be on-da-money!!

Got a lot of advice from the Brethren as well on the smoke, burning with all wood, vent control, etc. during the cook:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90390


As I always say in "Cattle Call!":

THIS PLACE ROCKS!!!
:clap2::thumb::becky:

Saiko said:

Wow, that's one hell of a day! Can't believe you took all that on, learning a stick burner and a brisket at the same time! Everything looks great dude, that's a heck of a spread there.
I'm a converted pork guy myself. Being from Georgia, I used to think BBQ was all about pulled pork, but brisket and tri-tip are now king for me (will, tri-tip is more grilling but you know what I mean).

One thing you can do if you want more of a bark is to pull the brisky from the foil for the last hour or so of cooking, this will help firm it back up. It's a little easier with a packer because of the longer cooking time, so you end up plenty of time to firm it back.

Still can't believe you took on that much and nailed it. I'm impressed!

Click to expand...

Thanks, really.
I LOVE beef, and I realized after I got to thinking about it, that ALL I'd really done was mostly pork (chops, butts, fatties, ribs, hams, etc. -- NTTAWWT). I was talking to the guys during the Chambers cook about brisket, and it got me going on the idea. I've always been paranoid to try it. I can't say enough how AWESOME it was. I still love pork, but I feel a serious shift coming on. Still working on finding tri-tip, though. No luck at Sam's.

BEEF.....it's what's for dinner!:becky: