SmokinAl
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I was in the grocery store the other day with Judy & she was looking for something & I said I'm going to check out the meat dept.
It so happens the meat mgr. was standing by the beef & I asked him if he had any brisket flats around 8 lbs.
He came back with this guy, a real nice Angus choice flat. And the party begins.
I trimmed most of the fat off. It was only 12 oz.
I mixed up a cure. I used the bacon cure calculator to calculate the salt, sugar, & cure #1.
Then I added 1/4 cup each of granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, & pickling spices.
I mixed it up together with a whisk.
Put the brisket in a vacuum bag.
Poured the cure mix in the bag, half on one side first.
Massaged it in real well.
Then the other half on the other side.
And massaged that in too.
Then vacuum sealed the bag. And into the fridge for 11 days. Flipping & massaging it daily.
After 11 days I removed it from the bag & rinsed it off & patted it dry.
I sliced the end off cutting against the grain, so I would know which way to slice it when it was smoked.
Sometimes with the crust & pepper coating it's hard to see the grain when it's cooked.
I did a fry test with the corner. It was fine, not too salty so no soaking needed.
I just coated it with black pepper on both sides.
And vacuumed it up again. This time for 2 days in the fridge.
Got up early this morning & fired up the Lang.
Got the brisket ready & thawed the trimmed fat that I saved in the freezer.
Into the Lang on the bottom rack with the fat above it dripping on it to keep it nice & moist.
I kept it on the grate for a couple of hours to put a crust on the bottom, then I put it
in a pan with a can of French onion soup.
Back on the bottom rack.
At about 4 hours the IT was around 180.
At 5 1/2 hours it was done. I got up early thinking this would take 8-10 hours to smoke,
but I guess since the Lang has heat both on top & underneath they cook stuff a lot faster.
So it was all good, we had pastrami sammies for lunch & I think were having Reuben's for dinner.
Of course Judy made some rye bread.
Here's the star ready to be sliced.
It was very moist & tender. I cut some off each end to see if they were the same.
The slices were supple enough to bend double over your finger & pulled apart with just a little stretch.
And here's lunch. I added a couple of slices of Swiss and of course some dill pickles.
And here's dinner!
Thanks for looking Guys!!
Al
It so happens the meat mgr. was standing by the beef & I asked him if he had any brisket flats around 8 lbs.
He came back with this guy, a real nice Angus choice flat. And the party begins.
I trimmed most of the fat off. It was only 12 oz.
I mixed up a cure. I used the bacon cure calculator to calculate the salt, sugar, & cure #1.
Then I added 1/4 cup each of granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, & pickling spices.
I mixed it up together with a whisk.
Put the brisket in a vacuum bag.
Poured the cure mix in the bag, half on one side first.
Massaged it in real well.
Then the other half on the other side.
And massaged that in too.
Then vacuum sealed the bag. And into the fridge for 11 days. Flipping & massaging it daily.
After 11 days I removed it from the bag & rinsed it off & patted it dry.
I sliced the end off cutting against the grain, so I would know which way to slice it when it was smoked.
Sometimes with the crust & pepper coating it's hard to see the grain when it's cooked.
I did a fry test with the corner. It was fine, not too salty so no soaking needed.
I just coated it with black pepper on both sides.
And vacuumed it up again. This time for 2 days in the fridge.
Got up early this morning & fired up the Lang.
Got the brisket ready & thawed the trimmed fat that I saved in the freezer.
Into the Lang on the bottom rack with the fat above it dripping on it to keep it nice & moist.
I kept it on the grate for a couple of hours to put a crust on the bottom, then I put it
in a pan with a can of French onion soup.
Back on the bottom rack.
At about 4 hours the IT was around 180.
At 5 1/2 hours it was done. I got up early thinking this would take 8-10 hours to smoke,
but I guess since the Lang has heat both on top & underneath they cook stuff a lot faster.
So it was all good, we had pastrami sammies for lunch & I think were having Reuben's for dinner.
Of course Judy made some rye bread.
Here's the star ready to be sliced.
It was very moist & tender. I cut some off each end to see if they were the same.
The slices were supple enough to bend double over your finger & pulled apart with just a little stretch.
And here's lunch. I added a couple of slices of Swiss and of course some dill pickles.
And here's dinner!
Thanks for looking Guys!!
Al
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