cayenne
is one Smokin' Farker
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2004
- Location
- New Orleans
Alright,
Well, I think I reached the image limit on that other thread and at the time I'd not pulled my brisket from the ice chest and cut into it yet.
First thoughts....NOT BAD for my maiden voyage over all.
But one thing, I notice the this has FAR LESS smoke flavor than I was expecting.
I'm chalking this up to maybe the fact I was using Oak (TX Post Oak to be exact)...whereas in the past I'd always smoked with hickory...some times mixed with mesquite.
I think hickory has a more intense flavor than Oak? (Thoughts out there?).
Also, I think next time, I need to try to get maybe more "Dirty Smoke" in the first few hours of cooking...? As you read on other thread, I had my problems learning fire management in this big beast of a heavy offset, but the one problem I did NOT have...was running clean smoke.
I actually need to figure how to impede the flow on my smoker which has an excelling draw. I guess close the stack damper a bit. I ran it last time generally with the door only about 1/2 inch open as it was....
I think I'm going to have to build the fire BIG and HOT to start with and then impede it a bit to smolder a bit more?
Anyway, that was my chief complaint.
This was also my very first time EVER to try to trim a brisket. In the old days....I just open the vac-pak, rubbed it and threw it on.
I watched Chud and other YT videos and tried my best to emulate what I saw. I bought a decent victoriianox (sp?) knife like I see the butchers using...and it was sharp and so easy to handle.
My chief lesson learned on this time...is I need to be MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE in my trimming next time. I had much more fat than I needed.
I did take the fat trimmings and put in a bowl in the smoker and made a bit of beef tallow rendered from it. I poured a bit of that in my butcher paper when I wrapped the brisket.
(I'm saving the oil soaked paper for helping light fire next time).
One thing I noticed on my smoker, first food run...the wireless probes I had in the flat and point ends...initially showed VERY different heats. I had the flat about 4-5 inches from the collector and the point facing the firebox.
The flat was MUCH higher reading on ambient temps than the probe at the point?!?!?!
Anyway, by the end of the cook, they equaled out for the most part and both registers about 203F when I took the meat off the fire.
The flat to me...seemed a bit dry. Not bone dry, but I thought it should be juicier.
The point...well, while quite good and I think close to texture I wanted...had a bit too much fat.
I thought I took off the large pockets of fat, but I missed one badly....but I will say, on the areas where I got the trimming right (1/4")....well, I think some of you might remember me on another thread saying I just did NOT like eating fat....where I got it trimmed right on this, it had been properly rendered and was not like the big "globs" of wiggly sh*t I can't stand...and to me it was all edible, bark and all, and I did not need to peel it off to eat.
(I know..some of you shuddering at the thought of that, I can feel it).
I think I need to wrap with more tallow...the entire meat side of the brisket could have been a bit more moist.....VERY edible and good, but kinda picking nits here.
This was my first time to really learn how to properly slice a brisket...how to take the flat off and then rotate the point 90 degrees and slice it. In the past, I'd just usually pulled excess fat off point and chopped it all in the food processor.
This time, internal fat, rendered properly....and while I did pick off the BIG fat pocket I missed, I did slice it into nicely edible slices.
So anyway, I have some things to work on, but again, for maiden voyage, I'm quite happy.
Also including one picture of my chicken here, as that I ran out of image room on other thread before I could post it.
Chicken came out great....next time, I plan to plan for time to brine it first (always better IMHO)...and I'm going to spatchcock it.
Anyway....any and all comments and suggestions GREATLY appreciated!!!
cayenne
Well, I think I reached the image limit on that other thread and at the time I'd not pulled my brisket from the ice chest and cut into it yet.
First thoughts....NOT BAD for my maiden voyage over all.
But one thing, I notice the this has FAR LESS smoke flavor than I was expecting.
I'm chalking this up to maybe the fact I was using Oak (TX Post Oak to be exact)...whereas in the past I'd always smoked with hickory...some times mixed with mesquite.
I think hickory has a more intense flavor than Oak? (Thoughts out there?).
Also, I think next time, I need to try to get maybe more "Dirty Smoke" in the first few hours of cooking...? As you read on other thread, I had my problems learning fire management in this big beast of a heavy offset, but the one problem I did NOT have...was running clean smoke.
I actually need to figure how to impede the flow on my smoker which has an excelling draw. I guess close the stack damper a bit. I ran it last time generally with the door only about 1/2 inch open as it was....
I think I'm going to have to build the fire BIG and HOT to start with and then impede it a bit to smolder a bit more?
Anyway, that was my chief complaint.
This was also my very first time EVER to try to trim a brisket. In the old days....I just open the vac-pak, rubbed it and threw it on.
I watched Chud and other YT videos and tried my best to emulate what I saw. I bought a decent victoriianox (sp?) knife like I see the butchers using...and it was sharp and so easy to handle.
My chief lesson learned on this time...is I need to be MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE in my trimming next time. I had much more fat than I needed.
I did take the fat trimmings and put in a bowl in the smoker and made a bit of beef tallow rendered from it. I poured a bit of that in my butcher paper when I wrapped the brisket.
(I'm saving the oil soaked paper for helping light fire next time).
One thing I noticed on my smoker, first food run...the wireless probes I had in the flat and point ends...initially showed VERY different heats. I had the flat about 4-5 inches from the collector and the point facing the firebox.
The flat was MUCH higher reading on ambient temps than the probe at the point?!?!?!
Anyway, by the end of the cook, they equaled out for the most part and both registers about 203F when I took the meat off the fire.
The flat to me...seemed a bit dry. Not bone dry, but I thought it should be juicier.
The point...well, while quite good and I think close to texture I wanted...had a bit too much fat.
I thought I took off the large pockets of fat, but I missed one badly....but I will say, on the areas where I got the trimming right (1/4")....well, I think some of you might remember me on another thread saying I just did NOT like eating fat....where I got it trimmed right on this, it had been properly rendered and was not like the big "globs" of wiggly sh*t I can't stand...and to me it was all edible, bark and all, and I did not need to peel it off to eat.
(I know..some of you shuddering at the thought of that, I can feel it).
I think I need to wrap with more tallow...the entire meat side of the brisket could have been a bit more moist.....VERY edible and good, but kinda picking nits here.
This was my first time to really learn how to properly slice a brisket...how to take the flat off and then rotate the point 90 degrees and slice it. In the past, I'd just usually pulled excess fat off point and chopped it all in the food processor.
This time, internal fat, rendered properly....and while I did pick off the BIG fat pocket I missed, I did slice it into nicely edible slices.
So anyway, I have some things to work on, but again, for maiden voyage, I'm quite happy.
Also including one picture of my chicken here, as that I ran out of image room on other thread before I could post it.
Chicken came out great....next time, I plan to plan for time to brine it first (always better IMHO)...and I'm going to spatchcock it.
Anyway....any and all comments and suggestions GREATLY appreciated!!!
cayenne