Solarian
Got Wood.
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2014
- Location
- Saint Simons Island, GA
I finally decided to try my hand at cooking brisket. Unfortunately, in my area finding a whole packer is next to impossible. Plenty of flats, but no whole ones.
So while I am perusing the beef section what do I see? A beautiful 7# choice angus flat calling my name! But wait.....am I ready for this? Do I have what it takes to to do such a marvelous piece of meat justice? Aww what the heck les do dis.
On the way home all I can think about is how do I want to prepare this? How do I want to season it? Inject or Not inject? Foil or no foil? Seasonings? The list goes on. I finally settled on this:
Injection
1 bottle Guinness
1 cup unsalted beef broth
2tbs worcestershire sauce
2tbs soy sauce
2tbs teriyaki sauce
Rub
Salt
Pepper
Onion
Garlic
I proceeded to unpackage, rinse, and trim the flat then season all sides. Wrapped in plastic wrap 3 times, then injected. Let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Got a late start this morning and didn't get the kettle set up till 10:45am. Decided to try something different today. Normally I use the charcoal baskets when I am smoking but today I just banked a chimney of lump, threw in a couple chunks of pecan and cherry each, lit about a 1/3 chimney and once that got ashed over poured it on one end. Set my bottom vents open to about an 1/8th left the top open fully. Shooting for around 250. After 30 minutes I check and I am running at 260. Cool no problem. Take the flat out of the fridge, unwrap, and set it on the kettle. Temp still running about 260 so I let her cruise.
About 45 minutes later I come back to check my temps and what do I see......290! What the heck? Hmm.......bah I'll just run with it. Off I go to finish some projects around the house. I'll just keep a close eye on things.
Check back an hour later......still 290. Well I guess she just wants to run there so I shrug it off. Give the flat a few spritzes of the liquid I injected with to keep up moisture and close her up.
Another couple hours and still running 290. Start checking IT. Plan is to wrap at 160 and then start probing after an hour. IT of 140 so check back in an hour and should be close.
Hour goes by. Temp at grate 290 rock solid. Check IT. Yep still 140. Hmm
Hour later check things. Temp at grate still 290. IT still 140.
Hour later TAG still 290. IT is 150. Woot! progress. Coals looking low so I throw a big handful of lump on.
Hour later TAG same. IT is 160. Wrap time! Double foil and back on.
Hour later everything looking good and IT is 180
Hour later IT is around 190-195. Some parts are probing like buttah and some still kinda tight. In all of my reading one thing kept jumping out at me: The window between done and overdone is narrow. I decided I would probe every 20 minutes till it was right.
Almost there!
Done!
Pull it off the kettle. Take it inside and set it on the counter to rest for 30 minutes. Now the praying begins......
All I can say is Thank you. It turned out better than I had hoped for. Nice smoke ring. Flavor was unimaginably good. Literally melted in my mouth. I would have never been able to do this without all the advice and tutorials from the brethren.
I will post pics in a moment!
So while I am perusing the beef section what do I see? A beautiful 7# choice angus flat calling my name! But wait.....am I ready for this? Do I have what it takes to to do such a marvelous piece of meat justice? Aww what the heck les do dis.
On the way home all I can think about is how do I want to prepare this? How do I want to season it? Inject or Not inject? Foil or no foil? Seasonings? The list goes on. I finally settled on this:
Injection
1 bottle Guinness
1 cup unsalted beef broth
2tbs worcestershire sauce
2tbs soy sauce
2tbs teriyaki sauce
Rub
Salt
Pepper
Onion
Garlic
I proceeded to unpackage, rinse, and trim the flat then season all sides. Wrapped in plastic wrap 3 times, then injected. Let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Got a late start this morning and didn't get the kettle set up till 10:45am. Decided to try something different today. Normally I use the charcoal baskets when I am smoking but today I just banked a chimney of lump, threw in a couple chunks of pecan and cherry each, lit about a 1/3 chimney and once that got ashed over poured it on one end. Set my bottom vents open to about an 1/8th left the top open fully. Shooting for around 250. After 30 minutes I check and I am running at 260. Cool no problem. Take the flat out of the fridge, unwrap, and set it on the kettle. Temp still running about 260 so I let her cruise.
About 45 minutes later I come back to check my temps and what do I see......290! What the heck? Hmm.......bah I'll just run with it. Off I go to finish some projects around the house. I'll just keep a close eye on things.
Check back an hour later......still 290. Well I guess she just wants to run there so I shrug it off. Give the flat a few spritzes of the liquid I injected with to keep up moisture and close her up.
Another couple hours and still running 290. Start checking IT. Plan is to wrap at 160 and then start probing after an hour. IT of 140 so check back in an hour and should be close.
Hour goes by. Temp at grate 290 rock solid. Check IT. Yep still 140. Hmm
Hour later check things. Temp at grate still 290. IT still 140.
Hour later TAG still 290. IT is 150. Woot! progress. Coals looking low so I throw a big handful of lump on.
Hour later TAG same. IT is 160. Wrap time! Double foil and back on.
Hour later everything looking good and IT is 180
Hour later IT is around 190-195. Some parts are probing like buttah and some still kinda tight. In all of my reading one thing kept jumping out at me: The window between done and overdone is narrow. I decided I would probe every 20 minutes till it was right.
Almost there!
Done!
Pull it off the kettle. Take it inside and set it on the counter to rest for 30 minutes. Now the praying begins......
All I can say is Thank you. It turned out better than I had hoped for. Nice smoke ring. Flavor was unimaginably good. Literally melted in my mouth. I would have never been able to do this without all the advice and tutorials from the brethren.
I will post pics in a moment!
