- Joined
- Jan 14, 2006
- Location
- At home...
A few short months ago my Sam's Club stopped carrying Grobbel's brand corned beef brisket. It was a really nice product, the brine was not overly strong, the trimming of the fat was quite good and they had an even thickness. The flat cut usually had a strip of meat from the point which was a little bonus. The replacement product carries the Member's Mark brand and is USDA choice Angus beef. Not CAB, but Angus nonetheless. I pastramied two of these over the weekend for a going away pot luck party, the 4th and 5th Member's Mark ones I've smoked,... so I decided a product review was in order.
First off the packaging has a pretty small label, so you can really check out what you're buying. Only a few patches of silver skin were on the inside face, the fat side was 1/8" to 3/16" thick. All 5 I've done have had a strip of point meat, maybe 2 fingers wide.
I do a rinse followed by a 6 hour refrigerated soak-out, changing the water once, then patted dry and applied my homemade pastrami rub along with a layer of my garlic pepper seasoning, then rested in the beer fridge (uncovered) for 15 hours. I use a V-notch to indicate grain direction.
Smoking time was just over 4 hours, to an internal of 155° using pellets mixed within the charcoal and an 8" long mini log of hickory.... and they were hung in my BDS with a 250° pit temp.
I use a 40 minute pressure finish at 13psi with natural release, and added 1 quart of beefy broth from Minor's concentrate.
After 30 minutes on the counter, I sliced a tester... then did a quick chill, and wrapped until the following day. You can see some of the point muscle in this slice.
I sliced them cold, placed into long vacuum bags, added 2 or 3 ounces of the finishing juices and sealed with only a slight vacuum. I left the bags long so I could let them hang over the counter edge and avoid any juice being sucked into the sealer. Reheating was done in a Nesco roaster with 2" of water depth, set at 200°, for 35 minutes.
For transport and serving I put the slices into butcher paper lined clamshells and spooned some of the juice over the top. I took along some Jewish rye, and coarse brown mustard.
Overall impression: The quality of the meat and the brining was equal to Grobbel's brand.
The tenderness was equal to the Grobbel's, but a pressure finish is always consistent. The flavor of the broth was excellent, but all Minor's concentrates are pretty good (I save the leftover to use for soups or dipping sandwiches). And the overall flavor was actually better than the Grobble's, although I like the drum flavor on pastrami, and the mini log was a good piece of hickory. Bottom line is, I hate to see a favorite product I've used for so many years go away, but I'm happy with the replacement. Six people asked me to make one for them next time I make pastrami, and hanging in the BDS makes that a breeze. I stagger the smoker start times by 1 hour for each pair of briskets to compensate for the pressure finish time.
First off the packaging has a pretty small label, so you can really check out what you're buying. Only a few patches of silver skin were on the inside face, the fat side was 1/8" to 3/16" thick. All 5 I've done have had a strip of point meat, maybe 2 fingers wide.
I do a rinse followed by a 6 hour refrigerated soak-out, changing the water once, then patted dry and applied my homemade pastrami rub along with a layer of my garlic pepper seasoning, then rested in the beer fridge (uncovered) for 15 hours. I use a V-notch to indicate grain direction.
Smoking time was just over 4 hours, to an internal of 155° using pellets mixed within the charcoal and an 8" long mini log of hickory.... and they were hung in my BDS with a 250° pit temp.
I use a 40 minute pressure finish at 13psi with natural release, and added 1 quart of beefy broth from Minor's concentrate.
After 30 minutes on the counter, I sliced a tester... then did a quick chill, and wrapped until the following day. You can see some of the point muscle in this slice.
I sliced them cold, placed into long vacuum bags, added 2 or 3 ounces of the finishing juices and sealed with only a slight vacuum. I left the bags long so I could let them hang over the counter edge and avoid any juice being sucked into the sealer. Reheating was done in a Nesco roaster with 2" of water depth, set at 200°, for 35 minutes.
For transport and serving I put the slices into butcher paper lined clamshells and spooned some of the juice over the top. I took along some Jewish rye, and coarse brown mustard.
Overall impression: The quality of the meat and the brining was equal to Grobbel's brand.
The tenderness was equal to the Grobbel's, but a pressure finish is always consistent. The flavor of the broth was excellent, but all Minor's concentrates are pretty good (I save the leftover to use for soups or dipping sandwiches). And the overall flavor was actually better than the Grobble's, although I like the drum flavor on pastrami, and the mini log was a good piece of hickory. Bottom line is, I hate to see a favorite product I've used for so many years go away, but I'm happy with the replacement. Six people asked me to make one for them next time I make pastrami, and hanging in the BDS makes that a breeze. I stagger the smoker start times by 1 hour for each pair of briskets to compensate for the pressure finish time.
