Every Memorial I have to stay around the house so I can raise the flag at noon. It is an exercise I am proud to perform.
For this Memorial Day, as we will be sticking around, for a meal I have decided on a beef brisket instead of a traditional dog and burger grill.
Picked up a 13 pound brisket flat back in February at Costco.
Now I have done I believe 3 briskets on the new smoker in the past. Most liked the end result except me. For me there is either not enough smoke flavor, the meat isn't as tender as I wanted, the beef flavor just wasn't there or dang it it just didn't taste good to me like some briskets I have had.
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I have done a lot of reading about smoking good brisket so the plane of attack is a follows:
1. Trim all the thick pieces of fat so that the thickest fat is 1/4" thick. Done.....I have the skewers so I can tell which way to cut when the meat is done. After the cook with the bark and all it can be difficult to tell which way to cut the meat. You always want to cut across the grain.
2. Inject the brisket with beef broth to enhance the beef flavor.
Done...my "Beast" injector courtesy of my adopted son Benny. There is a full can of beef broth injected and I would say over half did not leak out. This will, I hope, help keep the meat from drying out.
3. Use a mustard base to cover the meat and then put on a rub. My rub is a brown sugar, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic, onion and chili pepper rum. See last picture all rubbed down. I put skewers in the meat across the grain so when I am ready to cut the finished product I know which way the grain is running....the direction of the grain can be hard to see after the smoke and the bark from the rub settles in.
Here is is all rubbed up. Going back into the fridge till 8 tonight.
4. I am going to cook this one "low and slow" the same way I like my sex.
I will be putting in on the preheated smoker around 8:00 PM tonight with the smoker set to 200 and the extreme smoke setting. I will also supplement the smoke with a smoke tube filled with straight hickory pellets. This smoke tube puts out smoke faster than twenty dollar crack whore.
It will only smoke for about four hours but it should definitely enhance the smoke flavor.
5. I am anticipating a slow smoke time of 1.5 hours per pound. 1.5 X 14 = 21 hours. I may or may not wrap it in foil when it hits 160 internal. I am still thinking about that. It is called the "Texas Crutch" and is supposed to help the meat retain moisture. Does it?
Who knows? The proof will be in the pudding...I mean meat.
6. Anyway the meat won't leave the smoke until the internal temp hits 200 degrees. At that point I will remove the brisket, wrap in foil, if not already wrapped, and then wrap in towels to deposit it in a cooler for a 2 hour cool down. This help the meat soak some juices that have been lost back in.
I will be posting a few pictures of the progress. I will take some pictures when I put it on the smoker.
IT CAME OUT EXCELLENT!
Well the brisket went into the smoker at 200 degrees at 8:00 PM last night. First time I have smoked anything overnight without tending to it. It was no problem. I opened the garage door in the morning and low and behold the temp was constant at 200 degrees. I am really loving the REC TEC smoker.
Smoking at 5:00 this morning!
IN THE SMOKER AROUND 10 AM BUT STILL KINDA COOL. NEEDED ANOTHER 40 DEGREES TO HIT 160 TO GET PULLED. HERE IT IS LOOKING FINE.
ANYWAY AT 12:00 THE INTERNAL TEMP HIT 160 DEGREES. AT THAT POINT I WRAPPED TIGHTLY IN FOIL AND BROUGHT IT IN TO FINISH IT OFF IN THE HOUSE OVEN. WRAPPING IT IN FOIL NEGATES THE MEAT GETTING ANYMORE SMOKE. IT IS ALSO CHEAPER AND EASIER TO FINISH IN THE HOUSE. IT WENT INTO THE HOUSE OVEN TIGHTLY WRAPPED UNTIL 1:45 WHEN THE INTERNAL TEMP HIT 205 DEGREES. AT THAT POINT IT I REMOVED IT FROM THE OVEN, LEFT IT WRAPPED IN FOIL AND PLACED IT IN A COOLER WRAPPED IN TOWELS TO LET THE JUICES GET SUCKED BACK IN. AT 3:45 I REMOVED THE BRISKET FROM THE COOLER AND THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE.
WELL ANYWAY I CUT IT UP INTO 1/4-3/8 INCH SLICES. GREAT SMOKE RING AND REALLY TASTY BARK. THE SLICED MEAT JUST DRAPED OVER MY FINGERS. WHEN CUTTING IT UP SOME OF THE ENDS JUST FELL OFF IT WAS SO TENDER.
TOPPED THEM OFF WITH A BOURBON, BROWN SUGAR SAUCE TO DRIZZLE ON, CORNBREAD, MACARONI SALAD, 2 SLAWS AND SOME PESTO ON GRILL BAKED BREAD WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR. IT WAS FIT FOR A KING...OR MAYBE A PRICE...OR MAYBE A PRIVATE 1ST CLASS.
I HAD DETERMINED THAT IF THIS, MY 4TH BRISKET, WAS NOT TO MY LIKING I WOULD NOT COOK ANYMORE. JUST TOO EXPENSIVE TO KILL 50-60 DOLLARS AT A SHOT. HOWEVER THIS ONE I ENJOYED AND SO DID THE OTHERS SITTING AT MY TABLE. I WILL DO ANOTHER.
MY SON BEN WAS ONE TO THE DINNER TABLE TODAY. I HAVE NEVER HAD A TREE HOUSE BREW AND WE HAVE BEEN BUSTING EACH OTHERS BALLS ABOUT HIM GOING THERE, BUYING, AND ME NOT GETTING ANY. WELL THAT ENDED TODAY AS HE BROUGHT ME A PRESENT. THANKS BUSTER... SOME GOOD SHIT CALLED "BRIGHT". YOU DA MAN.
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