syndicate559
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2011
- Location
- Fresno, CA
In the few weeks I've been hanging around this forum, I've learned a ton. You guys helped me settle on getting the 22.5" WSM and convinced me to make a UDS my next project. And, with a lot of research through previous threads, the roadmap, etc, I hit a BBQ milestone today with the completion of my first brisket. I want to say that basically everything I did was the result of one discussion or another on here. Unfortunately, I read so many posts that I don't remember who was responsible for each and every idea. I just know that as I did my research, a game plan came together and if you see your own influence in here, I offer my sincerest thanks.
Got an 11.5 lb. packer and prepped it Monday afternoon. First I did some trimming of excess fat, rubbed with mustard and sprinkled with Lawry's (wanted that fine first coat of seasoning). After it sat in the fridge for about 4 hours, I injected with my evolving beef marinade (this time I went 1:1 Spicy V8 and beef broth, plus several dashes of Worchestershire), then hit the top and bottom with my own House Rub, which I love on beef.
I had a very late hockey game, but got home at about 12:30 AM, lit my fire and got the meat on by 2:00 when the white smoke had died down and it settled in with a nice dome temp of around 260.
I couldn't fall asleep for a long time, because this was only my second cook on the WSM and I was totally paranoid about keeping a steady temp. Finally caught some Zzz's on the couch some time after three. Set my phone alarm to wake me up about every hour and a half. I have to say, I got the WSM dialed to hold a nice steady 250 and it never failed. Of course, my kids woke up eventually and made it impossible for me to get more than maybe 4 hours of sleep total, but I was on an adventure! By mid-morning, some nice bark was forming. I wrapped with foil when it hit 175 IT, which I think was around noon or maybe 1:00. Added a splash of beef broth at that point. I checked every hour or so for temp and texture and finally got that "hot-knife-through-butter" feel in the flat at about 4:30 PM.
Pulled the brisket, put it in my ice chest with towels and the foil and let it rest until about 6:30. I gotta tell ya, I was nervous unwrapping that baby, because I had put so much time into it and I prepared it for Family Dinner with my folks, one of my brothers and his wife, plus a friend and his son. There were 11 people waiting on this thing with high expectations!
All in all, I was really happy with my first attempt. The flat wasn't what I would call juicy, but extremely tender and flavorful. I have only had brisket 3 or 4 times prior to this (it's rare out here), so I honestly don't have much to compare it to. This was the first time I got to experience the whole cut of meat and really get familiar with it. I have to say that the flat, sliced up made incredible sandwiches. It's so much easier to eat than tri-tip sandwiches, which are so popular here. The tri-tip can be chewy and hard to bite all the way through when it's on a sammie. Not so with my brisky! This stuff melted in your mouth. I didn't get any good picks of it all sliced up, because everyone was hovering as I carved and eating it as fast as I could put it in the dish.
Not having experience with brisket, I never knew until tonight what the point was all about. I knew that a lot of people like burnt ends, but didn't really have any point of reference on it. Now I know and holy crap, what a revelation! I didn't put the point back on, just let it rest and separated when I sliced everything, but OMG! What an amazing little piece of meat! So tender, so juicy, I mean it literally melted in your mouth. I couldn't get people to leave it alone. Even my mom, who really isn't into beef and absolutely detests tri-tip, was freaking out. Seriously, that was about the sexiest piece of beef I've eaten that wasn't prime rib. It was that good.
Next time, I might foil in a foil pan and add a little more broth to see if I can get the moisture content up in the flat, but again, I'm really stoked with how the first one turned out and I literally could not have done it without you guys.
Got an 11.5 lb. packer and prepped it Monday afternoon. First I did some trimming of excess fat, rubbed with mustard and sprinkled with Lawry's (wanted that fine first coat of seasoning). After it sat in the fridge for about 4 hours, I injected with my evolving beef marinade (this time I went 1:1 Spicy V8 and beef broth, plus several dashes of Worchestershire), then hit the top and bottom with my own House Rub, which I love on beef.
I had a very late hockey game, but got home at about 12:30 AM, lit my fire and got the meat on by 2:00 when the white smoke had died down and it settled in with a nice dome temp of around 260.
I couldn't fall asleep for a long time, because this was only my second cook on the WSM and I was totally paranoid about keeping a steady temp. Finally caught some Zzz's on the couch some time after three. Set my phone alarm to wake me up about every hour and a half. I have to say, I got the WSM dialed to hold a nice steady 250 and it never failed. Of course, my kids woke up eventually and made it impossible for me to get more than maybe 4 hours of sleep total, but I was on an adventure! By mid-morning, some nice bark was forming. I wrapped with foil when it hit 175 IT, which I think was around noon or maybe 1:00. Added a splash of beef broth at that point. I checked every hour or so for temp and texture and finally got that "hot-knife-through-butter" feel in the flat at about 4:30 PM.
Pulled the brisket, put it in my ice chest with towels and the foil and let it rest until about 6:30. I gotta tell ya, I was nervous unwrapping that baby, because I had put so much time into it and I prepared it for Family Dinner with my folks, one of my brothers and his wife, plus a friend and his son. There were 11 people waiting on this thing with high expectations!
All in all, I was really happy with my first attempt. The flat wasn't what I would call juicy, but extremely tender and flavorful. I have only had brisket 3 or 4 times prior to this (it's rare out here), so I honestly don't have much to compare it to. This was the first time I got to experience the whole cut of meat and really get familiar with it. I have to say that the flat, sliced up made incredible sandwiches. It's so much easier to eat than tri-tip sandwiches, which are so popular here. The tri-tip can be chewy and hard to bite all the way through when it's on a sammie. Not so with my brisky! This stuff melted in your mouth. I didn't get any good picks of it all sliced up, because everyone was hovering as I carved and eating it as fast as I could put it in the dish.
Not having experience with brisket, I never knew until tonight what the point was all about. I knew that a lot of people like burnt ends, but didn't really have any point of reference on it. Now I know and holy crap, what a revelation! I didn't put the point back on, just let it rest and separated when I sliced everything, but OMG! What an amazing little piece of meat! So tender, so juicy, I mean it literally melted in your mouth. I couldn't get people to leave it alone. Even my mom, who really isn't into beef and absolutely detests tri-tip, was freaking out. Seriously, that was about the sexiest piece of beef I've eaten that wasn't prime rib. It was that good.
Next time, I might foil in a foil pan and add a little more broth to see if I can get the moisture content up in the flat, but again, I'm really stoked with how the first one turned out and I literally could not have done it without you guys.
Once you know, you know. Now you know!:becky:
