First snow of the season forced me to come home early from a work trip. Figured id take the unexpected free time and smoke some brisket.
Just got a Costco membership and yes prime packers being available is a major selling point for me.
Heres a glorious 16 lbs prime packer, my first ever.
$2.89/ lbs. That prime sticker just gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling
We got a fair amount of snow for our first fall of the season.
Trimming
When i make bbq brisket i trim alot. Like a sculptor i remove anything that would make for great bbq. I dont want anything thats gonna burn up and be no good. Nothing gets wasted, i save the scraps for other things. Id rather use those pieces elsewhere than cook sub par eats.
First i lop off a fair portion of the toe end of the flat.
Some of its thin. I cook leave it and make chopped brisket but id rather use it for chili or burgers or whatever.
I like to round off any edges that will get too crusty and trim as much fat between the flat and point as i can get. I like to get the fat cap thinned as much as i an too, leaving not much more than 1/8th inch or so. No pics of the cap...could have taken a little more off but lost patience.
Overall id say i trim pretty aggressive. Im looking for a streamlined piece of meat.
This one shows the marbling in the flat.
I seasoned with Dizzy Pig red eye express coffee infused bbq rub (good stuff), and of coarse butcher grind pepper and salt
Those those not familiar i smoke my brisket for 4-6 hours on the offset, until its time to wrap, then pop it in a low oven overnight until tender.
I like to flip the brisket after a few hours to keep things even. Heres a mid cook pic
Now being cold outside i was running with a bit of charcoal in the firebox. i did so to give me a some more time between splits, which on the ok joe is about a half hour usually. Never done it before but it worked well enough. I was getting almost an hour between splits.
This turned out to be a problem. I was tired to begin with. The extra time between splits gave me just long enough to get comfortable. Just before midnight with maybe an hour before the wrap i drifted off.
I woke up 4 hrs later!
(Oh no the brisket.)
I went outside... the pit was cold to the touch.
(How could i do this) i normally set an alarm as a backup.
I brought the brisket inside. The thermapen read 70. It also cooked past the wrap point before the fire died. It didn't look good. I figured it ruined, at best i could reheat as leftovers..........
.........i suddenly remember hearing about Salt Lick bbq in Texas. He said their Q is like chili, its better the next day. The smoke the meat, blast chill then finish on the old school pit up front..............
.........well lets wrap this thing and see how it turns out. Maybe i stumbled upon a secret technique by accident. I considered foil or a pan thinking it would be dry due to cooking twice. I went with my gut and paper wrapped at 275 than dropped the temp as i normally would when it got close.
Lunch time time for the moment of truth. The first good sign was when i pulled it she felt right. (Did this actually work)
Looks good but its whats on the inside that counts.
Well i was surprised. This was the best cut of brisket ive worked with by far.
Heres some flat slices, they had enough fat they could have been point. By far the best flat ive ever had.
The point was delicious and rich
Every brisket cook thread has to have a limp brisket pic
All i can say is wow. Ive always heard how important quality is with brisket. I may be a believer in that. Just one time so ill need more evidence but man o man was this a nice cut. Ive never had issues with getting lower cuts tender but flats of lesser cuts are dry. This flat was just as good as the rest. For now im sold on prime when it comes to brisket.
As for my unintentionally split cook i was pleasantly surprised in the results. I would have no issue smoking a cut leaving whole than reheating to finish. Of coarse if i did it on purpose i would properly crash cool it first.
Just got a Costco membership and yes prime packers being available is a major selling point for me.
Heres a glorious 16 lbs prime packer, my first ever.
$2.89/ lbs. That prime sticker just gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling
We got a fair amount of snow for our first fall of the season.
Trimming
When i make bbq brisket i trim alot. Like a sculptor i remove anything that would make for great bbq. I dont want anything thats gonna burn up and be no good. Nothing gets wasted, i save the scraps for other things. Id rather use those pieces elsewhere than cook sub par eats.
First i lop off a fair portion of the toe end of the flat.
Some of its thin. I cook leave it and make chopped brisket but id rather use it for chili or burgers or whatever.
I like to round off any edges that will get too crusty and trim as much fat between the flat and point as i can get. I like to get the fat cap thinned as much as i an too, leaving not much more than 1/8th inch or so. No pics of the cap...could have taken a little more off but lost patience.
Overall id say i trim pretty aggressive. Im looking for a streamlined piece of meat.
This one shows the marbling in the flat.
I seasoned with Dizzy Pig red eye express coffee infused bbq rub (good stuff), and of coarse butcher grind pepper and salt
Those those not familiar i smoke my brisket for 4-6 hours on the offset, until its time to wrap, then pop it in a low oven overnight until tender.
I like to flip the brisket after a few hours to keep things even. Heres a mid cook pic
Now being cold outside i was running with a bit of charcoal in the firebox. i did so to give me a some more time between splits, which on the ok joe is about a half hour usually. Never done it before but it worked well enough. I was getting almost an hour between splits.
This turned out to be a problem. I was tired to begin with. The extra time between splits gave me just long enough to get comfortable. Just before midnight with maybe an hour before the wrap i drifted off.
I woke up 4 hrs later!
(Oh no the brisket.)
I went outside... the pit was cold to the touch.
(How could i do this) i normally set an alarm as a backup.
I brought the brisket inside. The thermapen read 70. It also cooked past the wrap point before the fire died. It didn't look good. I figured it ruined, at best i could reheat as leftovers..........
.........i suddenly remember hearing about Salt Lick bbq in Texas. He said their Q is like chili, its better the next day. The smoke the meat, blast chill then finish on the old school pit up front..............
.........well lets wrap this thing and see how it turns out. Maybe i stumbled upon a secret technique by accident. I considered foil or a pan thinking it would be dry due to cooking twice. I went with my gut and paper wrapped at 275 than dropped the temp as i normally would when it got close.
Lunch time time for the moment of truth. The first good sign was when i pulled it she felt right. (Did this actually work)
Looks good but its whats on the inside that counts.
Well i was surprised. This was the best cut of brisket ive worked with by far.
Heres some flat slices, they had enough fat they could have been point. By far the best flat ive ever had.
The point was delicious and rich
Every brisket cook thread has to have a limp brisket pic
All i can say is wow. Ive always heard how important quality is with brisket. I may be a believer in that. Just one time so ill need more evidence but man o man was this a nice cut. Ive never had issues with getting lower cuts tender but flats of lesser cuts are dry. This flat was just as good as the rest. For now im sold on prime when it comes to brisket.
As for my unintentionally split cook i was pleasantly surprised in the results. I would have no issue smoking a cut leaving whole than reheating to finish. Of coarse if i did it on purpose i would properly crash cool it first.
