First Brisket This Past Weekend.

[thehead]

Have some photos, but they're not really that good (cellphone quality).

Anyways - read over most of the posts here on brisket over the past couple weeks and decided to see if I could track one down to do up.

Brisket is damn hard to find up here in Manitoba (at least for me), but I was able to track one down on Saturday during the day.  Just over 9 lbs.  At $2.99/pound, not bad.  The butcher asked if I wanted her to trim it - I said no - leave as is.  When she brought it out - her way of showing it to me was to touch the ends together.  Having read a lot here - I figured that was a sign of a nice and tender brisket.

Anyways - brought the brisket home - here's a shot of it - prior to rub:



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Put some rub on it (homemade - threw whatever spices I could find together and rubbed it up) and into the fridge for only 5 hours as I wanted to get it on the smoker before 6pm if at all possible.

Went on the hunt for a remote meat thermometer (also tough to find locally).  Picked up a brand called Fireworx - available locally at Home Depot and did the boiling water test.  At first it was showing 184F for boiling water.  I got a bit worried - then took a closer look and the thermometer was locked in on a meat program - the meat program was max 184.  Hit the temp button for instant read and it was 212F as expected.

Took the brisket out and let it rest to room temp or so for an hour.  Here's a shot of it almost ready to go into the Bradley.  At this point - I had the Bradley preheated and ready to go.


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Unfortunately - only had 2 kinds of bisquettes available, Crown Royal and Applewood.  Wasn't till yesterday that I found a local supplier of all kinds of bisquettes.  Decided on Applewood and set my smoker up as follows:

Top shelf of the 4 rack smoker - brisket.
2nd shelf - foil pan full of water. (Thanks Pachanga).

Set it for 4 hours of smoke and walked away.

Initial temp reading was 53F.

After smoke was done, I closed the garage for the night (I'd found out the remote worked fine through the garage door) and went to bed.

Got up around 7AM and checked and the brisket was at 153F (wow - my 16 hours estimate is going to be off, I think).  Checked and refilled the water pan (still had some).  Did some research beforehand and decided to move the brisket down one level and the water pan as well in the process.

Anyways - it took till 5:30 PM to get to 190F - my target - this was ONE stubborn brisket (23 hrs total).

Foiled it and brought it in.  Here's the results:



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Unbelievably tender and delicious.  Only thing I'd change would likely be to cook it on 2nd from the top from beginning next and mesquite or other wood as the flavour from the applewood was very mellow.

Well - we now have a ton of brisket for leftovers this week :)

Here's a shot of it somewhat cut.



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Next brisket - I'll use the better camera.  ;D

Thanks for all the help from all the brisket posts!

TheHead

[FLBentRider]

That looks good.

[classicrockgriller]

Welcome to the Forum.

Congrats on a Great Brisket smoke!

Thanks for sharing the pics and the method.

[OU812]

Glad to here your first brisket turned out unbelievably tender and delicious.

The water pan under the brisket also makes for some killer juices if you want to make some gravy or the likes.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Sure looks good. Nice job !

[Caneyscud]

Thehead - congrats on the smoke.  As you found out, I'm not a fan of the top shelf either.  That big hole in the top of the unit (vent) sure sucks the heat from that top space.  Briskets in particular seem to take longer on the top shelf. 

[Pachanga]

Thehead,

Looks like a fine smoking job.  Congratulations on a smoke done well.

Nice bark, juicy, tender; what more could one want?  Evidently more smoke flavor.

I understand from your post that you were dissatisfied with the apple wood and will go with mesquite or some other wood next time.  I have a few comments from my own experience.

I use mostly apple, some oak and hickory and just a few pucks of mesquite.  I get a very nice smoke flavor but I am pouring the smoke to the brisket for 12 to 16 hours or more.  I could get by with a heavier flavored wood and less smoke time but that thin cloud wafting in the air is part of the smoking experience with which I grew up.  This is my personal preference and is not followed by most on the board. 

I was born and raised in West Texas where mesquite was the wood of choice because it was readily available (all over the ground or still standing dead, aged and ready to go) and burned hot for long periods.  A little mesquite  can go a long way but a pickup load can be gathered in just a few minutes.  An all day smoke was punctuated by shooting the occasional stray dove and adding it to the pit after stuffing it with a jalapeno.  Shotguns, coon dogs and bird dogs were discussed.  The best brand of pickup was argued and mesquite vs oak or hickory was the subject of much debate.  As the smoke rose and beer flowed the arguments got louder; friends became not so friendly and the wives would come out of the kitchen to settle the argument by threatening to remove all alcohol from the premises (that quickly lowered voices).  The debate continues to rage but mesquite is still the top wood in West and South Texas as is oak in the Hill Country and East Texas.  ( I am sure it would have been reversed if oak and mesquite native growing regions had been different) 

I preface my following statements with this story to assure you that I bear no malice to mesquite and when I first got the Bradley, mesquite was the only wood I bought.  I wanted to use mesquite because it was the top of woods as far as I was concerned.  Mesquite was spiritual and using anything else would be sacrilege.

Stipulating to the above thoughts, I would still caution you on the use of all mesquite in the Bradley.  I tried the Bradley mesquite and found it to be very strong, somewhat bitter and not at all what I was used to.  Others on the board have made similar comments.  You must remember that in stick burners, open pits and all manner of smoking methods using raw wood, the wood is normally burned to coals before smoking the meat and very little smoke is emitted compared to the actual burning of the wood.  The chemical properties of the two types of smoke differ greatly.  This lighter smoke is on the brisket for 12 hours or so because the coals are also the cooking heat.

I would suggest that for shorter smoke generating times to use oak and hickory and over time build up to more mesquite pucks until you achieve the desired flavor.  I do believe that some mesquite adds to a more complex flavor and I always throw in a few pucks here and there to add flavor and pay homage to fond memories.

Others may disagree but this is my experience and opinion.  That's why they make chocolate and vanilla.

Here is a link to some information posted by Raye Minor on the recipe site which may be helpful.  His experience and advice replicates my own.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?26-Bisquettes

See you around the pit,

Pachanga

[thehead]

Wow!  Thanks for the advice, Pachanga - being fairly new to the smoker - I will follow that advice for my next brisket in terms of smoke/flavour.

Really appreciate all the advice, etc, that I've been getting myself and all of the hints, tips, and recipes I've been finding here.

This is truly a great forum with a great group of people!

;D

TheHead