I've never smoked a brisket. The woods I have currently on hand are Oak, Pecan, Hickory, Apple, Maple and Alder. Whick would you suggest?
On the 15th this Brisket will have been aged just about 1 month. I changed my mind about what I was going to do to it. 6 pounds will be brisket. 6 pounds is going be that pepper style beef I came up with.
Now my plan is simple. Given my Mother and Wife don't care for spices. Just going to salt and black pepper it. I'm going to score the fat just to the level of the meat. I figure the box temp at 200 F degrees. (I be testing out "our" new toy also.) Start smoking it at 5am on Saturday. It will be close to room temp. when it goes in. I figure taking the meat to 180 F then FTC for a couple of hours in a pre-heated box. That should take it to 190 F or abouts.
Anyone see anything wrong with this plan? Please advise.
Thanks!
Olds
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Oldman,
I'd give you the green flag....
Arcs_n_Sparks
Make sure you get some good sauce ready. Also I always like Bacon, it keeps it moist. Don't forget to FTC with a little juice. But just plain smoked brisket is great also. Sometimes the simpler the better.
I like hickory on my brisket, and most beef cuts. I usually blend in mesquite (1 mesquite for every 3 hickory). Pecan would also be a good choice. I have never tried oak - I have to put that on my list of woods to try.
Your plan looks good to me. I have tried several rub mixes on brisket, and can't find anything that tastes better then just plan kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, applied about 30 minutes before placing in the smoker.
Let me know how scoring the fat works. I usually trim the fat to 1/4" to 1/8" thick. Just my personal preference. I don't like to much fat on my meat after it has been cooked.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I have never tried oak - I have to put that on my list of woods to try.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Oak has always been my main stay with grapfruit/ orange woods next. Of course it is what my grandfather taught me on. <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Let me know how scoring the fat works. I usually trim the fat to 1/4" to 1/8" thick.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">This one is already trimmed pretty good.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
Olds, I usually use Oak or Hickory, or a combo of those two on my briskets. I've also used Alder and even mixed in some Mesquite because the beef can take it.
After 4 hours of smoke or so, I prefer to put a spritz of apple cider/cider vinegar on and wrap in saran, then double foil for the rest of the cook. Take to an I.T. in the 187-190 range.
Never done an aged brisket, let us know how it turns out!
I know your brisket will already have a unique flavor from your cure, but I would not forget the benefit of bacon raining from above. I would be more prone to getting into some of the mesquite on this, maybe Pecan or Oak. The Brisket can tolerate a little harsher flavored smoke, as you will see.
I love this sliced up paper thin on soft rolls...Damn..can't do that anymore, but I can reminisce!
The brisket really benefits from the FTC and the sitting overnight in refrigerator to meld in that flavor! OUCH.
Will look forward to your report!
Bill
<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>
Not enough people use Oak wood. I like it with beef really well. Don't see anything wrong with your plan at all. You did say it's pretty well trimmed. Might want to add the baconon the top shelf to be safe. I bet that boy will be good.
Jeff
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/Jeff100/shopping.gif)
(//www.bbqshopping.com)
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.
I agree, Oak is perfect for beef, and it's not used near as much as hickory and others.
Jeff btw, check this thread when you get a chance:
http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2044
Oh without a doubt over the years Oak has always been my choice for beef. Then grapefruit or orange for milder items like fish and pork.
Olds
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Not enough people use Oak wood.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Virtually all commercially smoked food available in the UK, whether it's cheese, salmon or red meat, is oak smoked so to me using hickory, apple, alder etc. has been a nice change.[:D]
Still tend to use oak more than anything else though, followed by apple.
I still have a couple of wood's to try although mesquite and special blend have never appealed, suppose I should give them a try one day!!
Manxman.
Olds,
For shame no brisket as of yet.....however I will forgive for this reason alone, that is that Bean Recipe.. Did it 2 weekends ago AGAIN, and again nothing was left and I still got those raves.
You are correct on the the spices, I use a simple Italtian Seasoning---all it is some salt pepper garlic and the like. I've tried rubs on brisket, don't like them. When it comes to beef I'm not for a lot of funky spices.
Pecan is my favorite but no Oak as of yet....
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SmokeOn,
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mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie
If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Pecan is my favorite but no Oak as of yet....<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> Pecan is good...I used it on my pepper beef. Oak IMO is the center of balance. It has the best of everything... but it is not for everything.
For duck (I hate duck, but my wife loves it) it is sweet orange wood. I got some apple for this as Bradley does not have sweet orange wood. Going to try it with oak.
For butts it is grapfruit wood. (In the Bradley it is a mix of Oak and Hickory.)
For mullet (a fish) it is Oak.
For mackerel (a fish) it is Hickory.
For most beef cuts it is Oak.
For double smoked hams it is Oak and Maple.
Buckboard style bacon it is Oak.
For grilled pork steaks it is 40 minutes Oak and then on a gas grill.
For onions it is Oak.
For chickens it is Oak.
Now I don't alway hold fast to these above rules of mine. However, when I stray from them I always seem to go back to them... [:0]
Olds
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I'm not sure you'll get another 10 degrees out of it after FTC. I've been getting 3-5 on average with my briskets. Not saying it can't happen, but just know there is a chance you'll come up short. I think the bacon is a must. I didn't buy into that until recently and will not go back. I can also tell you that foiling for the last couple hours really, really makes a tender brisket. But, you won't have the hard crusty outside so go with your favorite outcome. I like Hickory but Oak is good stuff as well.
You'll have to let us know how many degrees you get out of it.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I'm not sure you'll get another 10 degrees out of it after FTC. I've been getting 3-5 on average with my briskets
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Are you pre-heating the cooler with much boiling water? I use an immersible water heater that I had from years back when I use to re-dye carpets on location. It will boil the water. Plus I wrap my cooler in heavy towels and not the meat. Sometimes I use a "lift" under the meat so I can leave 5 inches of boiling water in the cooler.
This is why in my mind FTC is not a true passive oven. Don't get me wrong; FTC does great things. However, IMO if you pre-heat your cooler and then set it on top of heavy towels and wrap it in much-0 heavy towels then you have a true passive oven.
Olds
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No, but I will try that. I live in Oklahoma and generally just place the cooler on the hot cement (when it's 95-100 degrees outside) by the pool with the lid off for a few hours and let it get all toasty before using it. I have tried putting hot water in it, but not boiling. If by doing this I can get another 10 degrees more often than not, I will give it a try and see how it goes.
I tend to see the results that mamba sees - about 3-5 degrees of temp rise during the resting phase in FTC.
Oldman, if you feel you need to get another 10 degrees of temperature rise after removing it from the BS, and you are going through all the gymnastics of turning your cooler into a low-grade heating appliance, then why not just leave it in the BS a little longer, and then drop it into a standard cooler? [:0] In terms of applying heat to a cut of meat, the BS has this fancy-dancy high-technology device called a "heater" which seems to do a pretty good job [:D][:D][:D] Plus, I suspect there would be a lot less danger than trying to handle all of that boiling water...
All tongue-in-cheek of course. On the serious side, why do you feel you achieve superior results with the passive oven approach rather than the standard FTC? Does the presence of the boiling water/steam result in a jucier final product? I would think that once you wrap the product in foil, you would fail to get any additional benefits regardless of how the heat is applied from outside.
If you go get an immersible water heater becareful. There is a large recall on a couple of models that are not wired correctly.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">On the serious side, why do you feel you achieve superior results with the passive oven approach rather than the standard FTC? Does the presence of the boiling water/steam result in a jucier final product? I would think that once you wrap the product in foil, you would fail to get any additional benefits regardless of how the heat is applied from outside.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
First, unless I'm adding a juice to the meat I never use foil. [:I] Next, it was not until I joined this site had I ever heard of FTC. Yet for years I've used a passive oven to finish off many items. Is is superior? I will not say it is superior. It allows me to do things that just cannot be done FTC.
For example: If it is prime rib and Au jus the passive oven allows me to bring them together. You cannot foil-towel Au jus. Then there is what we call Beef Steak Chili that is semi cooked one item at a time in a wok. When each item added it must be mixed. There are dozens of recipes I do where the passive oven is used and the foil-towel just would not work.
Why not turn down the bradley and leave it in there? That is a fair question. A passive oven is a item of diminishing returns in available calories of energy. Where as the bradley (heat reduced) is a substained item of calories of energy. A good example of this is leaving a piece of meat just to long in a food warmer. Long enough and it is ruined.
Now grant you, we as food smokers are not going to allow an over cooking by holding an item to long in a smoker. On the other hand a passive oven is a more gentle means to finish off an item. Plus it would be hard to over cook with it.
Every year we have many folks over for Christmas dinner. My kitchen is the kitchen from hell. It is so small that if you get 3 people in it there is no room to turn around. On that day I use several passive ovens in order to time the items of my meal to come out at the same time.
All of this came about by the Mother of necessity. Until a few years back we did not even have an oven here. Just a small counter top item. (Don't ask why--you really don't want to know.)
Try this the next time you are going to do some green peppers, onions mushrooms and garlic for a side dish to your steak. Flash fry them in a wok, using peanut oil. Cook each item seperately till it just starts to color. The exception is you will want to cook your mushrooms 50% of done. I do each item seperately because all of them cook at different speed to get to the coloring stage. As each one is done it goes into the passive oven. Add your salt and pepper. Mix all items in a hot passive oven. In an hour they should be ready. Serve on the side of a steak; mix the jucies from the box with a little clarified butter and pour a little over your steak.
I can say this with hat in hand, you can travel the world over and never find a better tasting Au jus then what comes out of my passive oven.
Like I said FTC does some great things, but until I joined this site I had never heard of it.
BTW I have several sizes of that oven. The smallest will hold about a 6 pack of can sodas
Olds
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Hi Olds,
I like either Oak or Hickory for brisket, and I've had great luck with Italian dressing for the brisket, especially if you give it 20 minutes in that Reveo you now have [;)] -- no need for an overnight soak if you do the Reveo
John
Newton MA
I like using Italian dressing with other Italian spices on chicken. Then on to the grill... [:D] I just don't see Italian dressing working on a brisket..[;)]
As far as the brisket goes I'm ageing it longer than normal. The meat looked good and dark, but the fat was still to white looking for me. So I going to do it this up coming weekend.
Oh I picked up a strip steak (loin) about 14 inches that the butcher had wet aged. It was a Choice #1 grade. Man you should see the marbling in it! I cut the puppy up into steaks and all I can say is you should taste it~~ WoW!!!! Next one I do I will take a picture of it... you just will not believe your eyes.
Olds
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