Is it Sunday yet? In Preparation of Aaron's Brisket & Smoked Mac-n-Cheese!

[charray]

Is that my confusion - 2 different points of View? I'll take both and then live with my choice. I have 3 questions of clarification please. (1) yes or no on the granulated garlic and are you letting it sweat or fridge overnight before cooking? (2) Is the Worcestershire sauce/water mixture 50/50 and is it spraying approx 1/4 cup to both sides at wrap? (3) Pan or no pan?

 

[charray]

I apologize for being new to the forum but my search did not reveal the answer. My question how is parchment for butt?

 

[CarolinaQue]

No need to apologize, I just thought you may be asking me because this thread http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143631 is the one I started that seemed to spur the idea to cook a brisket this way.

I used 1/2 cup of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (this is different than Morton and it matters), 1/4 cup of white pepper, 1/4 cup of black pepper (both a course grind, and 1/4 cup of granulated garlic. However, Aaron Franklin only uses salt and pepper. I'm not rubbing the meat to let it "sweat". I get the cooker up to temp, and while it's coming up to temp, I trim the hard fat from the brisket, season the meat and put it right on the smoker once the temp stabilizes where I want it (275* or so).

Worcestershire mix was 1/4 cup worcestershire to 1 cup of water. But, 1/2 cup worcestershire to 1/2 cup water would work fine. I only sprayed it 3 times. At the 4 hour mark, when I wrapped it (I only sprayed the meat side), and one last time before I slice it. I think that I used maybe a 1/3 cup total for all 3 spritz's combines. I just squeezed the twigger 3 or 4 times to add just a little moisture.

I placed the brisket on a sheet pan to catch any juices that might have leaked out of the paper, but there wasn't any really. It all stayed in the meat. This also made it easy to go right from the smoker to the oven for the hold. I recommend using a 200* oven for the hold.

As far as parchment for a butt, I don't know. But I'll be able to tell ya Sunday!

.

 

[charray]

Thanks, I'll look forward to hearing Sunday

 

[This is not your pork!]

Those salt crystals look huge in that bag, are they coarse sea salt? If so, you want to grind them down a bit.

They are supposed to be medium-coarse as seen in the closeup attachment below. There was a larger bag as well with even larger grains supposed to be coarse, so my guess was such medium-coarse is the right size. I only have a small battery powered grinder for table salt & pepper, which can only do fine-grained, so either I leave it as is or go fine-grained, which may be better because the black & white pepper is also fine-grained.

If your oak isnt seasoned yet, you can probably dry it out by throwing your chunks on you top rack with a low heat.

I only have few oak and it is still uncut, so I do not consider it an option for tomorrow. I already settled on the idea of using just apple.

Any chance of Mac n Chesse play by play

-----

Sal Marina Natural Medium-Grained Closeup

 

[lemur]

....recipie

 

[CarolinaQue]

I would grind it. Those look pretty big. I would also cut the measurement to 1/3 cup to compensate for the concentration of the salt. Also, remember that you don't use the entire rub mixture. There will be some to save for another brisket later.

 

[twinsfan]

Good luck Mike! Remember to mince that onion finely! Cant wait to hear about the mac n cheese. Anyone who wants the recipe, PM me.

And yes apple may be a good choice with the mac n cheese going also, but I think all the hate on mesquite is really unfounded. It's fantastic used in small quantities, and I think people have had bad experiences with it because they use too much. Hope you get a chance to use it on some chunk o' beef in the future because it is really, really good.


All the best man,

-TF

 

[Just BS]

I'm a big fan of mesquite and use it alot, since it is abundant in my part of the world, but mostly just for grilling, since it burns really hot. Its great for burgers and steaks but the most "smoking" I do with it is to sear my Tri-Tips and then finish them with indirect heat/smoke for another 30 minutes or so.

Heres a thought to create even more confusion on the matter.... you could use the mesquite for the first hour of the cook and then finish with the apple.

Good luck with whatever you do and enjoy, as I have no doubt that it will come out great!

 

[Hook'n Bull]

I smoke my briskets with mesquite only. I believe those who dislike it have used too much when they tried it. It is like hickory---a little goes a looooong way.

 

[palmtreefrb]

Mac & Cheese

Seems everyone wants your recipe. Tried to PM you to get the recipe and it failed because your mailbox has reached it's quota. Can you send to my PM

Thanks,
Rick

Good luck Mike! Remember to mince that onion finely! Cant wait to hear about the mac n cheese. Anyone who wants the recipe, PM me.

And yes apple may be a good choice with the mac n cheese going also, but I think all the hate on mesquite is really unfounded. It's fantastic used in small quantities, and I think people have had bad experiences with it because they use too much. Hope you get a chance to use it on some chunk o' beef in the future because it is really, really good.


All the best man,

-TF

 

[This is not your pork!]

I would grind it. Those look pretty big. I would also cut the measurement to 1/3 cup to compensate for the concentration of the salt. Also, remember that you don't use the entire rub mixture. There will be some to save for another brisket later.

I decided not to grind, the crystals really look larger than they really are. I just rely on your measurement of 1/2 cup of your salt = 85 grams, and I am good to go.

Good luck Mike! Remember to mince that onion finely! Cant wait to hear about the mac n cheese.

Will do. :smile:

Heres a thought to create even more confusion on the matter.... you could use the mesquite for the first hour of the cook and then finish with the apple.

My apple wood goes really mild, I always use 5 to 6 fist-sized pieces for one cook, and I never had the feeling of too much smoke, so the idea would be to bury 5 pieces of apple in a circle throughout the charcoal ring and place 1 piece of mesquite in the middle. This should give it a real good smoke with a touch of mesquite first. Any objections?

The final preparations begin in 10 hours, when I get out of bed at 6 a.m.

 

[Just BS]

I decided not to grind, the crystals really look larger than they really are. I just rely on your measurement of 1/2 cup of your salt = 85 grams, and I am good to go.


Will do. :smile:


My apple wood goes really mild, I always use 5 to 6 fist-sized pieces for one cook, and I never had the feeling of too much smoke, so the idea would be to bury 5 pieces of apple in a circle throughout the charcoal ring and place 1 piece of mesquite in the middle. This should give it a real good smoke with a touch of mesquite first. Any objections?

The final preparations begin in 10 hours, when I get out of bed at 6 a.m.

No objections, except I wish I wasn't so far away.

 

[This is not your pork!]

Seems everyone wants your recipe. Tried to PM you to get the recipe and it failed because your mailbox has reached it's quota. Can you send to my PM

Of course everybody wants the recipe if labeled "super secret" :biggrin1:

I looked through quite some Mac-n-Cheese recipes, but twinsfan's was by far the most appealing one. It's kept simple, cheesy instead of milky, and looking at the ingredients I'd say it just has the right touch! I am so looking forward to have the first bite (in about 2 hours). :grin:

Luckily it's a sunny Sunday. The cook is already in progress, we are about an hour in, and the brisket looks really beautiful. :smile:

Tim, I had to use way more salt than expected. 85 grams of my Sal Marina Natural were less than 1/4 cup, so I first mixed it up with 1/4 black and 1/4 white pepper, then added a little more than another 1/4 cup of the salt. I gave it a good rub and used nearly all of the mix.

I am now starting the preparation of the Mac-n-Cheese, which will go on in about an hour for an hour.

Oh boy, am I excited! Let the feast begin! :hungry:

 

[Jethro1]

Looking forward to seeing it and hearing how it comes out!!!

 

[This is not your pork!]

The Smoked Mac-n-Cheese were nothing short of amazing, the Peach Cobbler with self-made Vanilla Ice Cream had to be delayed and will be served as dessert after dinner, Aaron's Brisket is still on at an actual IT of 190°F after a little less than 8 hours, so dinner is scheduled at 7 p.m.

A full report with lots of pr0n will follow, as usual. :smile:

 

[jgbmgb]

Looking forward to the Pron!!!!

 

[This is not your pork!]

Looking forward to the Pron!!!!

Me too :biggrin1:

Aaron's Brisket is actually sticking around at IT 194°F, the grate temp is slowly decreasing and at 264°F right now (low fuel after ~ 9 hours). The finale is getting nerve-wracking, because on schedule the brisket should already go into the oven for resting right now.

 

[AZScott]

And?

 

[El Ropo]

And?

He lapsed into a food coma....