Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Alright folks, here's how my first ever brisket cook went down. I tried to make it a point to get pics but there were a couple of moments that I missed due to me trying to not screw something up!
The cook began the night before when I trimmed the brisket. I left a good amount of fat on the flat since that would be the end closest to the fire. I then woke up Saturday morning, pulled the trimmed brisket out of the fridge and applied the mustard slather and salt and pepper rub. It was at this point that I really started to get excited. After applying the rub, I let it sit for an hour to come up to room temp (and grab a pic).
After letting it sit for a half hour, I went and got the coals going in the PBC. I filled the coal basket up to the tip top, grabbed 40 briquettes out of the center of the basket for the chimney starter and got those going. After about 20 minutes, the coals in the chimney starter were ready to rock. I poured the lit coals into the hole I created in the center of the coal basket, added 4 chunks of oak, and let the PBC sit uncovered for about 5 minutes as I ran inside to grab the brisket. When I came back, the surrounding coals were beginning to light so I went ahead and hung the brisket. The brisket was pretty long and was damn near touching the coals, but since I used two hooks as instructed by Noah, I ended up starting the brisket out hanging on the second hook. After the brisket shrunk a bit, I then hung it on the first hook.
The PBC sat at about 300 degrees for the first couple of hours but settled in between 270 and 280 for the remainder of the cook. When I hit the stall, I really started to settle in and decided I might as well enjoy a beer or three since I was gonna be relaxing for a while.
I learned reading Aaron Franklin's book that he wraps AFTER the stall so I wrapped with butcher paper (which I didn't get any pics of......my bad) at about 173 and let that go for the last 2-3 hours of the cook. The coals started to die out right at the end but the brisket made it to 203 with no problem. I then pulled it and let it rest wrapped for an hour and change. I unwrapped it for a sec to grab a couple of pics.
The plan was to make sammiches so while the brisket was resting, I hooked up some homemade beer-battered onion rings which were amazing!!
I then sliced the big guy up and for my first time, I was not disappointed. The end cut of the flat was a but overdone but the rest was really damn good. I think with a little tweaking of times/temps, I can get a perfect brisket outta the PBC.
I put together the sammiches which consisted of brisket, homemade sauce, bread and butter pickles, and the onion rings on a hoagie roll.
After the GF and I demolished our sammiches, I found myself going back for a slice over and over again.......probably too many times. That lead to me taking an unplanned nap. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. The GF thoroughly enjoyed it so it must've been good cause she's the pickiest person I know. For the next brisket, I'll use a different rub and make some small adjustments and see how close to perfect I can get. I'll also treat that cook the same way I treat wedding shoots and get pictures of EVERYTHING!! :thumb:
The cook began the night before when I trimmed the brisket. I left a good amount of fat on the flat since that would be the end closest to the fire. I then woke up Saturday morning, pulled the trimmed brisket out of the fridge and applied the mustard slather and salt and pepper rub. It was at this point that I really started to get excited. After applying the rub, I let it sit for an hour to come up to room temp (and grab a pic).
After letting it sit for a half hour, I went and got the coals going in the PBC. I filled the coal basket up to the tip top, grabbed 40 briquettes out of the center of the basket for the chimney starter and got those going. After about 20 minutes, the coals in the chimney starter were ready to rock. I poured the lit coals into the hole I created in the center of the coal basket, added 4 chunks of oak, and let the PBC sit uncovered for about 5 minutes as I ran inside to grab the brisket. When I came back, the surrounding coals were beginning to light so I went ahead and hung the brisket. The brisket was pretty long and was damn near touching the coals, but since I used two hooks as instructed by Noah, I ended up starting the brisket out hanging on the second hook. After the brisket shrunk a bit, I then hung it on the first hook.
The PBC sat at about 300 degrees for the first couple of hours but settled in between 270 and 280 for the remainder of the cook. When I hit the stall, I really started to settle in and decided I might as well enjoy a beer or three since I was gonna be relaxing for a while.
I learned reading Aaron Franklin's book that he wraps AFTER the stall so I wrapped with butcher paper (which I didn't get any pics of......my bad) at about 173 and let that go for the last 2-3 hours of the cook. The coals started to die out right at the end but the brisket made it to 203 with no problem. I then pulled it and let it rest wrapped for an hour and change. I unwrapped it for a sec to grab a couple of pics.
The plan was to make sammiches so while the brisket was resting, I hooked up some homemade beer-battered onion rings which were amazing!!
I then sliced the big guy up and for my first time, I was not disappointed. The end cut of the flat was a but overdone but the rest was really damn good. I think with a little tweaking of times/temps, I can get a perfect brisket outta the PBC.
I put together the sammiches which consisted of brisket, homemade sauce, bread and butter pickles, and the onion rings on a hoagie roll.
After the GF and I demolished our sammiches, I found myself going back for a slice over and over again.......probably too many times. That lead to me taking an unplanned nap. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. The GF thoroughly enjoyed it so it must've been good cause she's the pickiest person I know. For the next brisket, I'll use a different rub and make some small adjustments and see how close to perfect I can get. I'll also treat that cook the same way I treat wedding shoots and get pictures of EVERYTHING!! :thumb:
