Tom vs. The Brisket - Round 2

[fishrman]

From in the oven to on the table - 22 hours.  Had to have a little drama in the middle to make it interesting.

I decided at noon I was done opening the cabinet for anything short of a fire, and let the brisket slowly come up to temp.  Meant to check it for doneness starting at 180F, but neglected to do so until 185F at 4:30pm.  Turned out to be a non-issue as it was ready to come out of the dark at that point - but only temporarily.  Into the foil, comforted by a nest and covering of blankets and into the cooler for two hours. I must admit to sneaking a taste of the burnt end at the transfer and that is why FTC only lasted 2 hours.  Mmmmmm, good.  It is a good thing I was out of the house for those two hours, or I don't think I could have waited.

6:30 rolled around and it was time for the unveiling.  Pulled it out of the chest and onto the carving board and here's what I saw:



Oh, this looked promising.  I'd left the temp probes (yes, plural) in during the FTC as I didn't want to create a leak point for the juices, and when I pulled them out, the juice did begin to flow.  Got out the carving knife, put a nice clean edge on it with the sharpening steel, and cut into it:



I'm used to seeing more pink in my meats when I cut them open, so was a bit concerned it would be dry.  Gathered the wife and a friend who was conveniently visiting around and we tucked into it.  Juicy, flavorful, smokey, and the rub character made it through and gave it a great tangy hot sweetness.  I didn't bother taking off any of the fat, and there was none left on anyone's plate at the end.  I may have eaten a pound of it.  A total win.

Lessons learned:

- Installing the second element was definitely a good idea.  Recovery times were negligible with it.  If I didn't have the second element, I'd seriously consider putting a second rack of bricks in to help in this regard.

- You can never have too many thermometers.  Non-smokers just won't understand though.

- Using the second rack on top of the Brisket makes it easy to flip and rotate.  No mess, no fuss

- A 13 lb. brisket is BIG.  Invite more friends over next time now that I've got more confidence in how it will come out.  Meanwhile, I think my kids will appreciate the care packages they'll be getting in the next day or so ;)

[hal4uk]

Looks delicious!  Glad it worked out!

[hybridcx]

lookin good

[muebe]

Nice job! Looks great :)

[Sam3]

Great job! Thanks for sharing that info as well, I definitely learned a few things.

[fishrman]

OK, day 2.  Friends over for dinner.  Plan was to chop up remaining brisket, add bbq sauce and serve up sandwiches.  On the side, or on top, depending on preference, was coleslaw and potato salad.  So I chopped up the brisket and put it in a pan and heated it up.  Damn, it was good all by itself!!!!  Took all my willpower to add the bbq sauece to that great tasting beef, but knew the friends expected the bbq sauce flavor.  Now, I know it it probably sacrelige, but poured in a copius quantity of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce as this groups likes a sweeet BBQ.  Heated, mixed, heated, mixed, watched the chopped bits turn into strands and tasted.  Oh.  My. Goodness.  This was really good.  Let it sit for an hour to meld before serving on Kaiser rolls.  Wow.  I will be doing briskets in the future.  Multiple briskets at once.  They will freeze well and the flavor - to die for.

And Sam, like your avatar with the trailing hook.  Your fishing preference is . . . ?

[OldHickory]

Tom, you did a beautiful job, and a great write up.

[ghost9mm]

Well it sure sounds like you came out a big winner this time and good for you, and it was you that made it happen...

[fishrman]

Thanks everyone, for the kind words. Did I mention I'm loving every minute of this?