Earlier this week I picked up a nice 9.9# Prime brisket from HEB at $2.99/pound. With some time off, it was just a matter of when. Today was the day.
Since I had no other pressing matters and no specific time the brisket needed to be ready, I didn't set the alarm at all last night. This morning at 7:40 I got up and started getting things ready at the crack of 8:08 AM. Get some Weber briquettes going in a chimney, prep the WSM for use. Once I got that all assembled (foil wrapped saucer in pan, 3 good chunks of oak), I made up a batch of rub (SPOG+) then trimmed that brisket. Took off about 2.3 pounds of hard fat. Here it is all rubbed down:
I put it in the smoke at 9:25, the dome thermo reading 280 (I also had a digital running, and it ran pretty parallel).
At 1:55 I took my first look. Nice medium brown color, internal temp was 166. Lots of resistance to probe, of course.
At 2:50 I checked and felt it was not ready for wrapping. Stirred the charcoal a bit.
At 3:35 there was less resistance when probing, internal temp was 186, and the color was nice and dark. Wrapped it in butcher paper and put it back in.
A 4:50 check indicated it wasn't yet ready. But at 5:50 most probe tests were very tender, while a couple of tries had mild resistance. The internal temp was 208. I pulled it.
I set it out on the kitchen counter and loosely draped some foil on top. Here's that meteorite right here:
At 6:45 the internal temp was under 175, so I wrapped it in foil and set it in the oven (which was off) to rest for a bit.
About 8:00 I started slicing it up. Here are the first slices of the flat:
A few sample bites and I was real pleased with it. Very happy with the rub I have arrived at, nice level of smokiness, moist and tender. Yums. Here is a bend-test photo:
Maybe not a full bend, but I was happy. Here are a couple showing the point and the whole mix.
That point was just an explosion of wonderfulness!
So I am very happy with my brisket game at this point. Want to keep improving but at the same time I seem to be consistently turning out a nice result. Man it has taken a long time, and this forum has helped tremendously.
Since I had no other pressing matters and no specific time the brisket needed to be ready, I didn't set the alarm at all last night. This morning at 7:40 I got up and started getting things ready at the crack of 8:08 AM. Get some Weber briquettes going in a chimney, prep the WSM for use. Once I got that all assembled (foil wrapped saucer in pan, 3 good chunks of oak), I made up a batch of rub (SPOG+) then trimmed that brisket. Took off about 2.3 pounds of hard fat. Here it is all rubbed down:
I put it in the smoke at 9:25, the dome thermo reading 280 (I also had a digital running, and it ran pretty parallel).
At 1:55 I took my first look. Nice medium brown color, internal temp was 166. Lots of resistance to probe, of course.
At 2:50 I checked and felt it was not ready for wrapping. Stirred the charcoal a bit.
At 3:35 there was less resistance when probing, internal temp was 186, and the color was nice and dark. Wrapped it in butcher paper and put it back in.
A 4:50 check indicated it wasn't yet ready. But at 5:50 most probe tests were very tender, while a couple of tries had mild resistance. The internal temp was 208. I pulled it.
I set it out on the kitchen counter and loosely draped some foil on top. Here's that meteorite right here:
At 6:45 the internal temp was under 175, so I wrapped it in foil and set it in the oven (which was off) to rest for a bit.
About 8:00 I started slicing it up. Here are the first slices of the flat:
A few sample bites and I was real pleased with it. Very happy with the rub I have arrived at, nice level of smokiness, moist and tender. Yums. Here is a bend-test photo:
Maybe not a full bend, but I was happy. Here are a couple showing the point and the whole mix.
That point was just an explosion of wonderfulness!
So I am very happy with my brisket game at this point. Want to keep improving but at the same time I seem to be consistently turning out a nice result. Man it has taken a long time, and this forum has helped tremendously.
