Hello. New Smoker here***1st smoked meat attempt++

Caneyscud · June 15, 2009, 07:58:24 AM

kat..

Awesome looking first smoke. Bet it went over well with the family, if not, you can adopt me! That looks great. Congrats. Here's to many more times like this!

OU812 · June 15, 2009, 08:04:56 AM

That looks great.

What did you do to keep the middle so pink? Cure? Or was it a prime cooked to 140 F or so.

More details please.

NePaSmoKer · June 15, 2009, 08:07:18 AM

Is that a cryovac corned beef briskit. Looks great ;D

nepas

kataquaz · June 16, 2009, 12:55:52 AM

Good morning !!!!

OU812 honestly I don't know how I got it pink like that. I literally took others guidelines and did mine.

So this is what I did for my 1st attempt at smoking brisket

*around 10lbs of brisket (my dad bought at the meat market in downtown Athens,I doubt it was even cut the same way they cut briskets in Canada :P )
*soaked it in brine in the fridge for 4-5days. I guess you could say I cured it
*applied rub
*lower level rack
*smoked it for 4 hours
*cooked it for about 15 hours at a temp of 200F and pulled it out at IT 185-187F
*opened the door when only to replace water bowl every 4-5 hours
*top vent open 1/4
*took it out and sealed it in a plastic bag and left it in the oven for a few hours

HOPEFULLY I didn't leave anything out.. if I did you guys could just ask me and I'll let you know

Note: We also cooked another 10lbs brisket in the oven. All our guests but one preferred the smoked brisket to the oven one. They found the flavor better. Even though the oven one was juicier the smoked one had a better smokey flavor and the meat seemed healthier (the fat wasn't so obvious Wink but it was there )

Tips for next time:
*Even though it was cooked real nice at 15hours and tasted nice and smokey I think it might have been ready at around 10hours. I'll try that next time
*It was a little dry so next time I'll try soaking it in a bit of apple juice and wrapping it in aluminum foil after its cooked

ALSO I HAVE THIS TO ADD
Yesterday I put 2 briskets in my Bradley digital 6rack. Both around 8-10lbs. One of them was uncooked and the other was cooking in the oven for about 2.5hours. I smoked them both for 2 hours and cooked them for 2hours. I haven't tasted them yet but my dad said that the uncooked brisket was ready at only 2 hours of cooking time. ( I left him in charge of yanking them out of the BS) I found that a little odd since over the weekend my first brisket attempt took 10hours to cook.

Hopefully the combination method of oven and smoker cooking will be a success. It's much faster. I'll have to taste it and get back to you guys on that!

OU812 · June 16, 2009, 06:38:04 AM

Kat

Thanks for the details.

In brine for 4-5 days makes it cured to me.

You got that right about the way everyone cuts the brisket. I'm in the states and don't see them cut like that here.

A couple more step's and you would have Pastrami.

I almost picked up a Brisket this weekend but they had Chuck roast on sale. So I did the Chuck just like I would do a Brisket, turned out moist and tasty.

Be carefull this smoking thing is addictave.

Caneyscud · June 16, 2009, 06:58:48 AM

kata,

That is what I call cheater brisket - it tastes reasonably like the "real thing", but is a whole lot faster and easier. The most important thing about barbecue other than the smoke is how long you keep the meat above 145 (rendering fat, and liquifying collagen). It is sometimes said by those who are supposed to know that collagen doesn't liquify until 180 and only takes an hour at that temp. Using the oven (meat wrapped to keep from evaporating moisture) to bring the meat IT quickly to 175 to 180 then unwrapping and put in a smoker to finish has worked for me. I will season and or rub the meat going into the oven, but will sprinkle on more rub and/or salt and pepper when putting in the smoker to help form a bark and for something for the smoke flavor to settle on. The meat itself will not absorb much smoke as the outside meat fibers are now cooked, and cooked meat fibers do not absorb much smoke. More experiments on this are scheduled for this summer!

kataquaz · June 16, 2009, 09:19:37 AM

interesting tip caney ill keep that in mind for the next time !!
im going to taste the cheat method brisket tonight

kataquaz · June 17, 2009, 02:41:31 PM

here is what the cheat brisket (cooked in oven and smoked in bradley for 2 hours afterwards) looks likes

I think i like this one better. its not dry or very juicy. it has a nice color and smokey flavor to it. i think its a pretty good combo of oven and smoker

NePaSmoKer · June 17, 2009, 02:47:09 PM

I think it looks pretty darn good. Nice job kat.

nepas

deb415611 · June 17, 2009, 02:50:10 PM

Quote from: NePaSmoKer on June 17, 2009, 02:47:09 PM
I think it looks pretty darn good. Nice job kat.

nepas

I second that!

kataquaz · June 17, 2009, 02:52:51 PM

thanks guys. its pretty tasty as well :)

OU812 · June 17, 2009, 03:06:49 PM

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Brisket

I can almost taste it waaaaaaaaaaaay over here.

westexasmoker · June 17, 2009, 03:41:48 PM

Looks good there Kat! I've never seen a brisket that thick before, almost looks like a roast, like to get my hands on one like that!! Nevertheless...Beef Brisket always gets my attention! ;D Way to go!

C

KyNola · June 17, 2009, 05:33:53 PM

Nice going Kat!!

KyNola