Post by jack hamilton on Feb 28, 2011 7:53:42 GMT -5
Gentlemen,
I cooked a brisket 'flat' last week and it was the best yet.
Now I am defrosting the other end, the 'point' and will 'rub it' and 'smoke it' tomorrow.
Last time I placed the Brisket 'flat' farther away from an even smaller fire than I ever have before, and the meat was more tender than ever. I see the reasoning behind the idea of 'low and slow'. Worried at first about eating raw meat I am getting used to cooking with lower 'temps'. Next Brisket I'll cook at an even lower temp. and farther away from the fire.
The meat is more tender that way.
Every Brisket gets better and better and I bought it at Walmart! The last Brisket and was trimmed in a more professional manner too, the $2. Lb Brisket from Wallyworld was beautiful, and it is defrosting now.
Very exciting smoking meat is, especially with a forum like this one to help one learn. First I'll build a big fire in the fire box and the meat chamber as well. This will clean the grill of all those black drippings all over it. Let the fire burn half an hour and shut the lid for another hour. This really melts the black drippings off the lid where other wise they would drip down all over my Brisket.
When the fire has burned down, I lift the lid and the drippings are burned and dry, easily removed with a wire brush or scraped off with an old knife. The racks go in the fire to achieve the same results, being turned every time I go out to feed the fire. I let the fire burn down and scrape off all the crud and rake the wood out of the meat chamber and down into the fire box. Replace the racks after wire brushing them and put more wood on the fire, sweep the porch and I am ready to do some cooking so I get me another beer.
My next Brisket is as I said, a 'point' and is four times as thick as the last Brisket, the 'flat'. I'll not be in a hurry to defrost it but let it just sit till it is ready for the rub. The smoker cleaned, the Brisket rubbed, a goodly supply of beer and fire wood and I am ready to do some cooking.
I'll build an average size fire and place the Brisket at the opposite end of the meat chamber. Sometimes with the fat on top and other times on bottom. I rotate it but cook Briskets with the fat side on top most of the time. I have read 90 minutes a pound cooking time for Briskets and if the meat is far away from the fire that sounds about right. I cooked one for an hour and fifteen minutes a pound then tin foiled it and let it cook the rest of the time but the fire was too hot and the meat too close to the fire and it was dry.
With the Brisket far away from the fire like that, timing is not so important and the only way to know if the Brisket is done is to slice it and look at it.
When a Brisket is done I am still learning, as I don't know, but each Brisket gets less and less time on the fire as the tenderness seems to improve that way.
When should the Brisket be wrapped in foil, is another question and I have no idea but I imagine after it is done and ready to sit and rest, to keep it from drying out. Each Brisket is better than the last one and as they tend to dry out after a few days when I want a chopped BBQ beef sandwich, I slice off some meat, and add a little apple juice to rehydrate the meat.
Sauce is apple juice, BBQ sauce I learned how to make on another forum with vinegar in it, KC masterpiece, Worchestersire, ketchup, brown sugar and home made hot sauce. I'll make that in the bowl with the meat and let it marinate a few hours, butter bread and brown it in the oven on Broil, nuke the meat for 2 minutes to warm it and make a sandwich.
Nothing better with a Brisket than pork and beans with brown sugar in it right?
Try Macaroni & cheese... my favorite... Jalapeno Mac! #1!!!
southernfood.about.com/od/pastaba....ecipes.htm?nl=1
I found a meat cleaver at Walmart for $11. and will buy it when I get some more money. Then my chopped BBQ beef will be actually chopped rather than sliced.
But the sauce is perfect, the meat is perfect, and I got me a Brisket and some beer!
Thank you...♪
Jack the Knife