Brisket seems to be one of those mystery meats. I'm am by no means an expert with brisket, all of my neighbors claim they are! But I've found with the BS I can turn out a very consistent product!
First we need a brisket...Off to the store or butcher shop whichever you prefer for a 9-12 pound packer brisket, if you go much larger you'll have a hard time making it fit on your rack. If a packer is not available not to worry go with a market trimmed. Now I've seen in the stores here what they call 'Best of the brisket' which is just a piece of the flat less than 2 lbs and completely trimmed of fat and @ 4.29 a lb, just say no! Okay you've found some packers, now which one is gonna be the good one, they all look the same pretty much. You want a nice fat cap on the one side and some nice marbling on the other. Now one trick I was told years ago is to grab your packer on both ends and bend it in half as best as you can, this will give you an idea of how thick the fat ribbon, that seperates the flat from the point is. The easier the bend, the smaller the ribbon, and this is what we're looking for. While I don't know if this is true, as I said I was told this years ago by an older gentleman, and it has worked for me through the years. Plus you get the joy of standing in front of the meat counter flexing briskets as all of the other customers looking and wondering what the heck is he doing! ;D
Allright, we've flexed and found our perfect brisket and rush home ready to get this bad boy into the BS....Not so fast, brisket is not a meat to be rushed during the cook and before the cook.
First we need to age it in the fridge for a bit, if you bought a market trimmed pull it out of its package and vac-seal it, you packer is cry-o-vac'd and ready in the fridge for at least 2 weeks (3 is better) turning over every day, and what the heck give it another flex or two!
Two weeks have past, and you've turned and flexed daily, but you just can't take it anymore its time for brisket...Okay I understand, the day before your smoke pull the brisket out of its package for some fat trimming. If you bought a market trimmed your already good to go. On your packer trim off the heavy chunks of fat, but don't get to carried away on your cap as it serves as a self baster while we're cooking it. Once you've got the heavy parts of fat removed, you'll see the fat ribbon that seperates the flat from the point, run your knife along this ribbon as if you were going to seperate the two. If your flexing at the store was correct you should'nt have to thick of a ribbon and will not have to remove very much.
Okay time to cook right, Not quite yet you've just flex your brisket for two weeks and now taken a knife to it I think it deserves a rub down and a days rest! Pick your favorite rub and don't be shy with it, cover the entire brisket and don't forget to coat where the fat ribbon was. I like to use from the SS book the Wild willys number one-derful, great on everything!
3/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup coarse black pepper
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbls chilli powder
2 tbls garlic powder
2 tbls onion powder
2 tsp cayenne
Allright all rubbed up and into a 2 gallon zip lock, if you can't find a zip lock that big just vac seal it up, get as much air out as possible. Time for a cold beverage, the big day is tommorrow!
Tommorrow has arrived and its time to smoke, well not quite, brisket is not to be rushed! Pull your brisket out of its bag and place on your rack on the counter (keep an eye on your dogs, I speak from experince) and go crank your BS up to a temp of 220. I like to leave the brisket on the counter for about an hour, once it starts to get a sweat your good to go. And the cool thing is, its not even cooked and it smells good already.
Into the smoker, middle rack with 4 hours of smoke....now I use mesquite, I know thats shocking! But use whatever flavor suits you. The cabinet will take quite awhile to recover, especially if you have a full load. Once the smoker has come back up to 220, the ones I did here took 6 hours, pull from the smoker, you'll notice they have shrunk quite a bit this is a good thing, and into a foil pan with a splash of apple juice cover the foil pan tightly with heavy duty foil and into the house oven @ 220. Which is where I'm at right now, popped into oven at 10:00 pm last night!
On the bottom 10.58 lb packer on top 7.27 lb market trimmed vac sealed and on the left 10.02 lb packer for some pastrami (thats a whole different story!)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001752.jpg)
Out of the packages, packer on the left market on the right
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001753.jpg)
And the other side
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001754.jpg)
Trimming the packer
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001755.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001756.jpg)
Fat ribbon removed, packer on the left market on the right
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001758.jpg)
All rubbed up
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001759.jpg)
And into our zip locks for a nights rest
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001760.jpg)
On the counter resting while the BS comes up to temp
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001767.jpg)
Out of the smoker after 6 hours
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001768.jpg)
And into the foil pans with a splash of apple juice, cover tightly with foil and into the oven @ 220
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001769.jpg)
More to come!!
C
WTS,
Thank you for the tutorial. That is a wealth of information for a brisket newbie like me. Habs, I think this should go on the recipe site.
KyNola
WTS;
You say there is more to come. When it is finished let me know.
Lookin Good, what internal temp are you shooting for?
Absolutely beautiful :P
Very informative WTS. Looks great well done.
nepas
Way to go WTS now I gotta go and pick me up a brisket and start the aging process ;D ;D
LTS
WOW
Thank you for the info. Is there a date on the packer brisket it could already have sat and aged for a while right?
Okie Dokie, out of the oven and time for FTC, just a few more hours.....time your FTC for dinner time about 4-5 hours, if you need a bit more or less you'll be OK! l
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001771.jpg)
Out of the pan and wrapped tight in FTC, this is a big key, thanks to the folks on here...Pulls all of the juice back into the meat!...Speaking of juice when you pull your pans full of brisket out of the oven, pour the juice into a stockpot, makes for one heck of a base for sauce!
And here we go, done deal!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm56/cjgbrad/IM001772.jpg)
C
Excellent post WTS,
PullinPork was asking about the IT you go to.
Doing brisket I don't shoot for any IT more so just low and slow, but if I we're to guess probably 190-205.
C
Did you see (taste, texture, tenderness) any difference between the whole packer and the market? The market looked to be a lot leaner and therefore I would think it would be quite different.
Your right Giz, the market trimmed was much leaner and came out a little bit drier than the packer, not horrible dry but just not quite as moist! Other than that they were pretty much the same!
C
Outstanding job WesTex! 8)
I'm droolin' all over my keyboard again! ::)
Mike
I forgot to mention total smoke/cook time was 22 hours and then FTC for another 5.
The packers I buy here don't have a date stamped on the package, the store puts a sell by date on the price tag. The 10.02 lb in the first pics sell by date is 9/4 and will rest in the fridge for another 3 weeks so it'll be the weekend of 9/13 before its ready, well past the sell by date but by no means getting close to spoiling.
C
Quote from: westexasmoker on August 25, 2008, 08:03:51 AM
I forgot to mention total smoke/cook time was 22 hours and then FTC for another 5.
The packers I buy here don't have a date stamped on the package, the store puts a sell by date on the price tag. The 10.02 lb in the first pics sell by date is 9/4 and will rest in the fridge for another 3 weeks so it'll be the weekend of 9/13 before its ready, well past the sell by date but by no means getting close to spoiling.
C
Just curious here - If you prepare for smoking on the sell by date, then is it not already aged?
Fresh beef is as tough as a boot, but if you let it sit around for a few days, it self-tenderizes. The meats own enzymes do it by breaking down the fibrous connective tissue in the muscles. 90 percent of beef sold in this country is wet aged. A beef carcass is cut into large pieces or individual steaks and vac sealed in heavy plastic (cry-o-vac). The meat sits in its own juices (thus "wet") under refridgeration for at least a week, and then its ready to sell. It can safely be kept for four weeks or even more! So to answer your question, Yes it has already aged, so you would be good to go at the sell by date. Its just something I've always done with large cuts of beef, and it may just be my imagination but it seems tenderize the cuts a bit more! Hope this helps!
C
I just remembered Olds has a great take on aging beef on the receipe site!
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118
C
Thanks - I already understood aging, just figured that it would already be aged if one waited until the sell by date.
This is a great post. thanks WTS. I'm really looking forward to trying it.
Carter
Thanks for all the information on aging WTS. I was not questioning your expertise by any means, just curious and trying to learn. Thanks again
No problem bflo, thats why we're all here to learn and share! Thanks for the kind words, I'm gonna have to go grab the wife....See I'm good at something (expertise)! ;D
C
The time has come, I have been flexing my 9lb packer for 2 weeks. She is going on the rack at 1:00 Saturday for a 6:00 dinner on Sunday. This was a very informative post. Thanks for the info, I will let you all know how it turned out :P
I have only done my briskets with Hickory or Oak or a mix of the two. I REALLY want to try one with Mesquite. I did burgers and fajitas in the OBS with mesquite and loved the flavor. What is the recommendation for the number of pucks of mesquite for a brisket cook? I just don't want it to be overkill and ruin the brisket with too much smoke. How many hours of Mesquite do you use???
SmokeDogg
Quote from: westexasmoker on August 25, 2008, 09:31:05 AM
Fresh beef is as tough as a boot, but if you let it sit around for a few days, it self-tenderizes. The meats own enzymes do it by breaking down the fibrous connective tissue in the muscles. 90 percent of beef sold in this country is wet aged.
C
I am an Over the Road Trucker. I am an Independent Contractor with Americas Service Line. They are the in house carrier for American Foods Group. Meat packers. I have delivered plenty of meat loads to the warehouses where the cattle was slaughtered that morning or the evening before. Most grocery warehouses if not all run a 3 day supply of goods. I would imagine that is due to freshness issues and inventory tax regulations as well.
My question is this. Do the grocers(sp) and butchers consider the transit time and turnaround time in the warehouse to be the wet aging process or do they further age it once they get it in thier markets or stores?
I know on my end of things from the slughterhouse to transit to warehouse it is not aged any more than neccessary to meet FDA standards, so I really am interested in knowing what if anything do they do with the meat to further age it?
Quote from: Ukumfe on August 29, 2008, 08:16:22 AM
My question is this. Do the grocers(sp) and butchers consider the transit time and turnaround time in the warehouse to be the wet aging process or do they further age it once they get it in thier markets or stores?
Thats a good question Uk, I don't have the definitive answer for that, but I would think as long as its already in its cry-o-vac it has begun the aging process! I've got to go to market today so I'll throw that question at them!
C
Quote from: SmokeDogg on August 29, 2008, 04:48:49 AM
. How many hours of Mesquite do you use???
SmokeDogg
I go with 4 hours of smoke and either pull the brisket for the oven, or leave it in the BS for a couple more hours with no smoke and then pull for the oven.
C
Hey WTS, you commented on using the juices in the foil pan as a base for sauce. What do you add to your sauce to finish it up?
I've got a piece of brisket that I bought this weekend and I'm going to try it your way. It's not a full packer. I think it's a flat (without knowing what I'm talking about). It's 3.5 pounds and has quite a bit of fat on top of it, and a nice ribbon running through the meat. If I can find the time, I'll take a couple of snaps of it, and get public opinion on what it is exactly that I've bought.
Carter
Carter,
I just add bbq sauce to juices and bring it to a simmer! Here is the bbq sauce.
2 cups vinegar
1 tbls worchestshire
1 tbls hot pepper sauce
1 tbls chili powder
2 tbls paprika
3 tbls black pepper
3 tbls salt
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 bottle ketchup
1/2 cup water (optional)
Or mix in whatever sauce you prefer! Most excellent slathered on a toasted bun and then some shredded brisket!
C
How can I not do this next weekend?
Now I live in the land of the Maple, but I think I may just have Texas this one up.
Thanks WTS
Really...really great post WTS...geezzz...I may have to try this with mesquite!! :) Well done!!! ;D
So I went ahead and did a brisket this weekend basically by following this post. I'll start my own thread. But first, thanks for all the info WTS.
Carter
Quote from: westexasmoker on September 08, 2008, 09:58:50 AM
Carter,
I just add bbq sauce to juices and bring it to a simmer! Here is the bbq sauce.
2 cups vinegar
1 tbls worchestshire
1 tbls hot pepper sauce
1 tbls chili powder
2 tbls paprika
3 tbls black pepper
3 tbls salt
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 bottle ketchup
1/2 cup water (optional)
Or mix in whatever sauce you prefer! Most excellent slathered on a toasted bun and then some shredded brisket!
C
West,
How much of the "juice" do you add to the recipe above? Do you use all of it or do you just add a cup or two?
Thanks,
rcger
I just use all of it, hate to waste it!
C