SRF Black Label (16.4 Lbs) Massive Fail

[NavarreQ]

Call Kevin at the butcher shoppe in Pensacola, fl! He is shipping grade 9 wagyu briskets to competitors all over the country! It makes regular wagyu look like choice! Though it ain't cheap!

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Originally Posted by Beentown

If your used to probing Choice, an undercooked, much more marbled brisket can feel the same. Warm fat that hasn't rendered can feel like a well cooked CAB.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I'm pretty certain this is exactly what happened. Good call and thanks for the input. Still not sure I'm going to invest in a wagyu brisket again though.

[bvbull200]

Did you ever give wagyu another try?

I'm trying my first one in a couple of weeks (ships from SRF soon). I cook Prime by feel, but am thinking I need to consider internal temp a little more for my first wagyu cook as I keep reading that the feel is a little different.

If it both feels done AND temps at 205*, I was going to pull and rest. Decent starting point for wagyu?

[sudsandswine]

It may cook faster from a time perspective (my limited experience is that it's almost the same), but at the temp you were cooking at, I would guess the actual finishing temp would be 210* or maybe more to render all that fat properly. I undercooked my first wagyu and I think they're just so tender and well marbled to begin with, the feel good to a probe at a lower temp, but they're not done.

Sorry....just realized this was an old thread and my suggestion had already been pointed out.

[Burnt at Both Endz]

Originally Posted by SmoothBoarBBQ

Hey All,

So I just went to my 2nd KCBS competition at the Smoke on the Harbor BBQ Throwdown in Mt. Pleasant, SC. I decided to "up my game" so to speak and pick up a SRF wagyu brisket. It was my first time cooking wagyu so I brought along a CAB Choice as a backup. I read a lot of threads in here and everything seemed to suggest that wagyu cooks much faster.

So I did my normal cooking method for a competition : good trim, injection, rub, and smoked it at 250-275F for about 10 hours. I started doing the probe test once it hit 190F and the flat really didn't get tender until about 198F. So I pulled it, gave it about a 3 hour rest, and was super excited to start slicing it for the turn-in box. Problem : it was nothing but un-rendered, disgusting, fat. I tried getting 6 good slices from the flat but the entire thing was just nothing but fat and the mouth feel made me nauseous.

Luckily I had my CAB as a back up and that came out perfect and I took 6th in brisket.

Just wondering if anybody has any ideas as to what I could have done differently. I wish I had taken some pictures to show but the entire flat was just nothing but fat. On a wagyu do you need to do the probe test differently ? I just was so mad... $180 straight into the trash because none of it was edible at all. The point was very much the same and it was nothing but a mess of fat. I actually trimmed all of the fat cap off of the point and I'm just lost as to why that brisket came out so poorly. Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks!

My first waygu, I too cooked a Creekstone prime with it. I too wasn't able to turn in the Waygu, but I did get a 5th place finish.

That was the last time that the waygu was left out of the box. When you think it's ready, it prolly needs another 20-30 minutes of cooking,IMHO.

[ClintHTX]

Fat takes time to render. If it hasn’t rendered you either didn’t trim it enough or didn’t give it enough time. Nuff said.

[pharp]

Pretty much the same thing happened to me the first time I tried SRF. I am sure people have differing opinions on why this might be...but this advice from a respected KCBS cook solved my problem immediately. Add more time to your unwrapped cooking time. The fat needs somewhere to go. How long do you cook unwrapped? I would say cooking at 250-275 (I think that is what you said you cook at) add 20% to your unwrapped cook time. Up until this weekend I had 5 consecutive top 5 kcbs brisket calls (not saying that to say I am the worlds greatest cook but just to back up that I feel like this advice improved my brisket game). I know its an expensive experiment but when you nail it you will see why.

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Originally Posted by bvbull200

Did you ever give wagyu another try?

I'm trying my first one in a couple of weeks (ships from SRF soon). I cook Prime by feel, but am thinking I need to consider internal temp a little more for my first wagyu cook as I keep reading that the feel is a little different.

If it both feels done AND temps at 205*, I was going to pull and rest. Decent starting point for wagyu?

No, I haven't gone back to wagyu yet, but I might in the future. Most advice in this thread suggests to cook it longer than you think in needs, so keep that in mind when you're doing your cook.

Good luck!

[m-fine]

Originally Posted by bvbull200

Did you ever give wagyu another try?

I'm trying my first one in a couple of weeks (ships from SRF soon). I cook Prime by feel, but am thinking I need to consider internal temp a little more for my first wagyu cook as I keep reading that the feel is a little different.

If it both feels done AND temps at 205*, I was going to pull and rest. Decent starting point for wagyu?

Some people say Wagyu cooks faster, others say it takes longer for that fat to render. Who is correct? Both.

How can that be? Because there are two VERY DIFFERENT meats being sold as Wagyu.

Real pure bred Wagyu cows have a fat that is higher in Omega 3’s with a much lower melting point than regular angus or traditional western breeds. This one will usually cook faster.

What SRF sells is a Wagyu Angus hybrid. It has more fat, but is otherwise closer to angus than real Wagyu. More fat at the same melting point may mean more time or higher temp to render.

The short answer is if you cook prime by feel, cook the Wagyu by feel. “Feel” is more than just probe tender. It should also include the look and the feel in your hand, flex/bend feel, jiggle etc. You should be able to tell if the meat is cooked and fat rendered if you have been cooking primes successfully. Switching to internal temp is a huge step back.

[JoshuaJEarle]

I only use SRF in comps and consistently do well, highly recommend sticking with it and getting the practice as with anything else...it will be worth it in the long run.

[srfannella]

Hello Gang! Sorry for being so late to the party here but thought I'd maybe give my two cents for what it is worth. The whole "wagyu cooks faster than other briskets" thing is a bit out of context and not always true. As with any brisket some times they can cook a little quicker sometimes a little longer. A wise person gave me a great answer when I asked how long you cook a brisket, he said, "until it's done." I've attended a lot of classes, I've cooked a lot of briskets and I've had the fortune of being right next to some pretty amazing cooks when they are cooking. When attending a class by one of the top pitmasters in the country we were told, "wrap on color, pull on feel." It didn't seem to stop folks from asking for temps (and they were given as guidelines) but that weekend we probably heard that phrase over 100 times.

It is not unheard of to take SRF briskets up to 214 (depending on your cook style etc.). Do you have to cook the gold burnt ends a little longer? Probably so. There is a lot more internal marbling you have to render down so you just want to make sure you're staying on top of them.

With regard to our product being closer to Angus than it is to Wagyu, this is actually not the case. Yes, American Waygu cattle are in fact crossed. SRF cattle are cross of purebred wagyu and traditional cattle breeds such as angus for a 50/50 cross. Our genetics are traceable and we maintain a 100% Wagyu herd for cross breeding purposes. This is what allows us to provide the highest quality, most consistent and winningest brisket in BBQ.

As with any product we sell, if you ever have questions or have a problem please just reach out and let us know. If you're new to cooking it and want tips, suggestions or advice we're but a click or call away and always willing to help. We have a lot of experience on our team, we work with a lot of pitmasters and are always willing to help out with anything you might need.

We hope you'll give it another try and if we can be of any help just let me know!

Happy Smoking!

[m-fine]

Originally Posted by srfannella

Hello Gang! Sorry for being so late to the party here but thought I'd maybe give my two cents for what it is worth. The whole "wagyu cooks faster than other briskets" thing is a bit out of context and not always true. As with any brisket some times they can cook a little quicker sometimes a little longer. A wise person gave me a great answer when I asked how long you cook a brisket, he said, "until it's done." I've attended a lot of classes, I've cooked a lot of briskets and I've had the fortune of being right next to some pretty amazing cooks when they are cooking. When attending a class by one of the top pitmasters in the country we were told, "wrap on color, pull on feel." It didn't seem to stop folks from asking for temps (and they were given as guidelines) but that weekend we probably heard that phrase over 100 times.

It is not unheard of to take SRF briskets up to 214 (depending on your cook style etc.). Do you have to cook the gold burnt ends a little longer? Probably so. There is a lot more internal marbling you have to render down so you just want to make sure you're staying on top of them.

With regard to our product being closer to Angus than it is to Wagyu, this is actually not the case. Yes, American Waygu cattle are in fact crossed. SRF cattle are cross of purebred wagyu and traditional cattle breeds such as angus for a 50/50 cross. Our genetics are traceable and we maintain a 100% Wagyu herd for cross breeding purposes. This is what allows us to provide the highest quality, most consistent and winningest brisket in BBQ.

As with any product we sell, if you ever have questions or have a problem please just reach out and let us know. If you're new to cooking it and want tips, suggestions or advice we're but a click or call away and always willing to help. We have a lot of experience on our team, we work with a lot of pitmasters and are always willing to help out with anything you might need.

We hope you'll give it another try and if we can be of any help just let me know!

Happy Smoking!

My comment on your Wagyu being closer to Angus than pure Wagyu was not in regards to the percentage of breeding or in any way a comment on the quality of the meat or its suitability for BBQ (I think it is better than the real deal for smoking).

The point is, the fat in SRF briskets does not exhibit the much lower melting point that is a characteristic of the pure bred (and traditionally raised) Wagyu. In this respect, it is closer to a prime Angus brisket and the cooking method will need to account for that.

[Sidd Finch]

I actually just did a 12.75lb (pre-trim) SRF black wagyu brisket this past weekend (1st time cooking waygu). Went to about 206 before I pulled it - 14 hours (no wrap). Totally went by the feel when I'd probe rather than temp. Came out great. It sounds like it just needed more time on the cooker.

Also, almost filled the grease bucket with rendered fat - first time that has happened with 1 brisket!

[Hog1990]

I've always been told, when you think it is probing tender - take it another 30 mins.

[EyeBurnEverything]

I never understood this "probe tender" method. To me, its all about being at a certain temp for a certain amount of time. To me, "stall" makes no sense. I don't care what grade the brisket is, If you bring that thing up to 160F IT wrap it and hold it there for 24 hours , its going to be butter tender. Lets take this a little further and say 180F for 16 hours maybe even as little as 12 hours, butter tender.

Where did this probe at 200F+ even come from?