brisket seasoning/injection(?)/wood combo?

[LittleDick'sBBQ]

Greetings,

Given what I have to work with, which of these would YOU use on the Christmas brisket?? I am planning on prepping a packer.

I also have choice of hickory or apple chunks tou use Minion-style on the Weber OTG.

Thank you,
Little Dick

(It's a sample pack with Kosmo's injection as an add-on.)

[bigabyte]

I would use Apple for the wood. Other than that, I'd say you pretty much can not go wrong with those.

[LittleDick'sBBQ]

....would you inject?

[bam]

Any of those rubs will work fine. Inject and use hickory.

[bigabyte]

Me? No. I don't inject briskets I cook for friends and family. I have a simple method I follow that everyone loves, and I do that. However, I have had the pleasure of using Kosmo's Beef Injection on brisket and thought it was quite good! I'm not sure it's the kind of stuff you want to use regularly for "meals" though.

I'm sure some folks (especially some comp folks) probably only cook briskets with it and serve it to everyone, even friends and family who are over for a brisket meal, so the answer is probably personal really.

Are you still new at brisket? Do you have a regular method you like? If so, use that to avoid unpleasant surprises as much as possible.

As for the rub I use for brisket, the Season-All is the closest approximation to my brisket rubs. Mike (bbqbull) made brisket at the American Royal this year using Sweet Seduction and Kosmos, and it was very tasty. All of Steph's rubs are good, and I don't think you can pick a wrong one, to be honest. Also, Yardbird is one of my primary go-to seasonings for everything (except brisket that is).

[bigabyte]

OK, after thinking about it, if it were me (and there is absolutely no reason you should have to do it this way), I would make my packer brisket for Christmas dinner this way, using those ingredients:

After coming in from lighting your charcoal (or whatever method you use to get your fire started...

Sprinkle on some Yardbird, followed by some Season-All. Not too thick, just get a thin layer all over the meat with each one.

Dust with black pepper, a fair coating, but do not cake it on, just enough for it to stick.

If you have some Montreal Steak Seasoning, put a layer of that on over the top of everything, as much as you can get to stick on. This is for the chunky bits of salt, pepper, garlic and stuff.

If you have some Crushed Red Pepper flakes, sprinkle some on for a little kick, based on the heat you would like.

Let the meat rest until the pit comes up to temp, then put the brisket on, fat cap down (since your heat is coming from below...remember this is just the way I would do it).

Leave it be, only opening to refuel as needed. If you plan on foiling or any of that, do as you normally would, or planned to do. I do not foil, but then again, I don't make briskets on a kettle grill either.

Pull the meat when it is probe tender in both the flat and the point. They will not both become tender at the same time, and you must wait for it. Don't pull to early, wait for both to be probe tender.

That's it. That is how I would do it. You can do it any other way you wish, but since you basically asked what I would do, there it is.

[southernstyle]

i use low sodium beef broth coffee and butter to mix in with kosmos then season with just about anything there. i am partial to apple for smoking brisket

[JD McGee]

My two cents...the evening before (or about 8 hours) inject with the Kosmo's @ 1/2 cup powder to 16 oz water then give the brisket a heavy dusting of Season All followed by a moderate dusting of Yardbird. One hour before you put your brisket on give it another light dusting of both rubs...then smoke it the way you like it using the hickory! Have fun!
JD

[Ole Man Dan]

I like to rub with Olive Oil, then apply a 'rub', spray with Apple Juice.
It becomes nearly a paste. Then I cover it and put it in the refrigerator
for the night. The next morning I add a little more rub and put it on the UDS.
(Fat Cap down)

[LittleDick'sBBQ]

Greetings,

Thanks for the replies. I am leaning toward an overnight injection and an early morning rub application (GAWD that sounds durty!). I do not want the salt in the rub to extract too much moisture. Thoughts?

Little Dick

[big brother smoke]

Dick,

If I were in your shoes, I would inject 8 hours before smoking that brisky. After injecting, I would hit it with the season all, coarse black pepper, garlic and onion powder. Wrap brisky in saran wrap tight and place in the fridge. Smoke at 250º for approximately six hours or 160º, wrap in foil, put an ounce or two of leftover injection in the wrap. Start checking the brisky if using a temp gauge of some sort at 187º. After this step, stop looking at the temp and go by the "butter feel" or probe tender. Let brisky rest for a minimum of 3 hours (YMMV). Doing this step, my brisky has a 9 hour cook time +/_.

Slice brisky, serve, receive praise and enjoy your holiday/s.

Steph

p.s. do not ask GroundHog66

[Flavor Gangster]

QUOTE=LittleDick'sBBQ;1889406]Greetings,

Thanks for the replies. I am leaning toward an overnight injection and an early morning rub application (GAWD that sounds durty!). I do not want the salt in the rub to extract too much moisture. Thoughts?

Little Dick[/QUOTE]
Just exlplaining some meat sciences:
Salt actually retains moisture, at least the amount in a seasoning rub or any injection.

Salt is not the enemy, it is your friend. It helps the protein cells retain water.
Acids of anykind are the enemy. Citrus, vinegars etc drop the ph in your meat which then looses the ability to retain water. Isoelectric point of meat is critical.
Have your ever tried mixing Dijon into a burger mix and cook it? Your burger will most likley become dry and crumble. The acids in the dijon are tribute to that.


Phosphates work well in a meat? They are Alkalines. They raise PH, high PH means high wtaer retention. They are not mandatory, you can inject with Salt, Water and maybe some onion powder.
AVG Brisket WT say 12 LBS
We inject 20%. 2.4 LBS or close to 38 OZ of Marinade. You will leach out about 4% or 2% depending on your injector. Always over inject what you tune for.

Weigh your meat Raw, Then injected and rested for 60 min., then cooked.
Divide the injected wt (bigger number) by the raw wt and read the numbers to the right of the decimal. That is your pickup in %
So if my brisket weighs 14.4 LBS after injecting and resting
and my starting weight was 12 LBS that = 1.2 or drop the 1 and you have 20% pickup.

Sholders or picnics you need to account for bone wt and fat. Neither hold water.

Here is a starting point. Tuned for range of 18-20% pickup.
Basic Marinade:
5%, OZ, GR, LBS of Salt
2.5%, OZ, GR, LBS Onion Powder
92.5%, OZ, GR LBS Water(less than 40 F)


You avergae 30-40% cook loss depending your cooker and cycle. What is being lossed in the meat? You guessed it, Water?

By injecting 20% or 30% before cooking now you yielded 80-90%. You retained water.

These not exact, becuase every scenario is custom.. But it I just thought I would clarify some things.