My 2nd smoke results.

[Guitar-B-Que]

First time I did beer can chicken, fatties and abts.
This go round was brisket fatties and abts.

I really wish I could have taken pictures of the ABT's but I threw them on after the brisket as a sort of late night munchies......we go till 3-5 am on the 4th. Which really sucked, cause I woke up at 6:30 the morning of the 4th to start the smoke and only got an hour nap on 4 hours of sleep. But, what can I say....I'm a trooper(payed like hell for it today at work though).

Anyway...about the ABT's I took some thin chicken breast strips and chopped them as small as I could get them, cream cheese, white onion and some garlic salt. 1/2 with bacon and 1/2 without. Wow. They we're amazing. I pulled them out and with in maybe 5 minutes they were gone. I made about 30 of them. I didn't even have time to take a picture and only got 2 of them.

I did 2 briskets....probably shouldn't have done two, but they were small and they fit ok. Plus I had a lot of faces to feed.
I need to try some rubs out. I didn't have much time to get things for a couple recipes I've been given, so I just winged what I had in the house. It was a bit to salty. Everyone devoured it though and I got no complaints about the salt. I know it was salty though. Even though it was far from inedible...it was really good.

I did a great job at keeping the temp low. I think I have it down for sure now. I want to learn to use all wood though. I just throw chunks in periodically so far. My neighbor has told me that I can have all the apple wood I want from him. He has about 2 1/2 truckloads of it. So I am definitely gonna take him up on that offer.

I couldn't really find anywhere saying what a good internal temp is on a brisket though? Turned out great though for my second smoke.

I pretty much owe all I know about this stuff to you guys thanks for all the great help so far!! I will definitely be around this place for a while.

Here's my pron.

 

[Guitar-B-Que]

Oh yea....and my fatties.

 

[keale]

I'm no expert, but it looks good! I'll eat that!
Did you cut the brisket with the grain? It kind of looks like that in the pics...if so you might want to go against it, the meat would be a lot more tender...

 

[Norcoredneck]

Looks good. I pull my Briskets usually between 190-200 depending on feel. I cooler for as log as possible. I had a brisket I pulled too soon and it was tough, edible but tough. I got discouraged, but was told by many briskets are a learning curve and when you get it right there is nothing else like it. They were right. How was the tenderness of yours?

 

[Azinine]

Food looks great man! Not bad at all for your 2nd smoke. Oh yeah, definately take your neighbor up on that offer. Apple is my favorite wood by far (I haven't used cherry).

 

[icemn62]

That is some good looking food, and you located a free source of apple wood! This is a good time for you.

 

[DaChief]

Well done still for only your 2nd smoke. Briskets can be tricky. Take notes and learn from each cook.

 

[Porky]

That food looks great. For the briskets you may want to try a basic injection of worchester/au jus(beef broth). Youn can get fancy later and alter it. I cooked 2 flats on the 4th till 170 pulled and double wrapped in foil back in cooker to 190 and then coolered for about 3 hours and the were real juicy moist and we were able to cut them with a fork-no knife necessary. Good Job.

 

[Harbormaster]

Nice looking brisket GBQ!
From the pics it looks like it's still pretty juicy, and you got a fine smoke ring too.
But you're a damn bastidge for posting the pics, now I'm hungry and it's only 0900.

 

[gunrunner2491]

I like the pron, the brisket looks good. I love them fatties too. Heck it all looks good. congrats on the 2nd smoke. Also congrats on the applewood, I bet that made the rest of your day.

 

[tommykendall]

Nice looking grub. For your next trick you can separate the point from the flat.

 

[Guitar-B-Que]

Looks good. I pull my Briskets usually between 190-200 depending on feel. I cooler for as log as possible. I had a brisket I pulled too soon and it was tough, edible but tough. I got discouraged, but was told by many briskets are a learning curve and when you get it right there is nothing else like it. They were right. How was the tenderness of yours?

Was pretty tender. I've had better as far as tenderness goes, but I was satisfied with this one. I've learned what I will and won't do next time. I didn't cooler it though. I read a little about this but didn't really do it, I let it rest for about 30 minutes though. It was already about 7 o'clock and I had lots of people pretending they were starving.

 

[Guitar-B-Que]

Nice looking grub. For your next trick you can separate the point from the flat.

Que?

 

[Papa Hogg]

I'm no expert, but it looks good! I'll eat that!
Did you cut the brisket with the grain? It kind of looks like that in the pics...if so you might want to go against it, the meat would be a lot more tender...

Was pretty tender. I've had better as far as tenderness goes, but I was satisfied with this one. I've learned what I will and won't do next time. I didn't cooler it though. I read a little about this but didn't really do it, I let it rest for about 30 minutes though. It was already about 7 o'clock and I had lots of people pretending they were starving.

I agree with Keale it looks like you sliced with the grain of meat instead of acroos the grain, which would explain why you've had better as far as tenderness is concerned. Looks good & juicy & the fatties look real good. Did you spray the briskets? Congrats on the second smoke...

 

[we'll smoke u]

Everything looks good keep up the good work.

 

[N8man]

Hunger Pangs

Good looking eats!!!! Now, I'm very hungry for a brisket sandwich!!!

 

[Bentley]

Oh yea....and my fatties.

One in the middle looks like a bison with wings!

 

[Guitar-B-Que]

One in the middle looks like a bison with wings!

Thats hilarious....I totally see it.

 

[Guitar-B-Que]

I agree with Keale it looks like you sliced with the grain of meat instead of acroos the grain, which would explain why you've had better as far as tenderness is concerned. Looks good & juicy & the fatties look real good. Did you spray the briskets? Congrats on the second smoke...

No didn't spray. I really put all this together at the last minute.

Maybe I'm not sure about cutting against the grain. I thought that I did.

Like in this picture the rest of the brisket (uncut) is that not cutting against the grain?

This picture is what looks like I cut with the grain(to me anyway). The fat end of the brisket seemed to change direction, so then I started cutting it a different way. Am I doing it wrong? Any help would be cool.

 

[Harbormaster]

The fat end of the brisket seemed to change direction.

DING!
When you get to the "fat end" you have the point on top of the flat, and the grain of the point is different than the flat.
I seperate the point from the flat and slice it seperate, so you can cut across the grain on both pieces.