1st Brisket Qview

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Smoke Blower
Original poster
Dec 30, 2014
85
17
Southern California
So I'm smoking my first ever brisket tomorrow. I picked up a 3.75 lb piece from Costco today. Right now it's marinating in  Worcestershire and 3 layers of rub. First layer is salt & pepper, granulated garlic, and onion power. Second layer is Killer Hogs BBQ rub (papricka, ancho pepper, chili powder & cumin). Finally, the last layer is Montreal Steak Seasoning.


Going to smoke it the fat side up the entire time using pecan and cherry wood. I will start tomorrow morning around 4:30am. I will post more pics. Going to set MES to 230 for the smoke.

To be continued....
 
Sounds like a lot of spice competing for space hope it turns out well for you!
 
So everything went well for my first brisket. I pulled it out of the smoker at 160 and foiled it with some liquids as seen below:


I pulled it out at 200 letting it sit wrapped in a cooler for a couple hours. The final product:




All in all I was pleased with my first brisket. I believe it came out a little on the dry side but I think that was my doing by using Chivas. The upside is the flavor itself on the beef and au jus was wonderful. It really complimented the pecan and cherry flavor of the smoke. Next time I will foil the brisket but without the alcohol; although I do enjoy experimenting. Next time I'm going for a hickory and cherry smoke too.
 
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I always foil my briskets at 165 and seldom add any liquid.  I take my briskets to 195-197 pull and into an empty ice chest wrapped in a towel for at least an hour 2 or 3 is better. 

Richard
 
That's a lot of different flavors going on there.  Try just a simple salt and pepper brisket, pretty good stuff, let's the beef shine.  I've tried many different liquids in the foil when I wrap my briskets, but for the past year or so, I've settled in using one of the following: 1 cup of beef broth, or 1 cup of reserve au jus from a previous brisket cook, or 1 cup of beef broth made from a paste called Better than Bouillion.  The best of the 3 is the reserve au jus.  I do this for my comp cooks as well as just cooking for friends and family.  

As far as the meat being dry, that really could come from not cooking the meat long enough.  I use the IT just a guide for checking tenderness.  I'll start checking the tenderness with a toothpick at 200 IT, then again at 205, and again at 210 until the toothpick slides in the meat (in the flat section) easily, like into butter.  Once this is reached, I'll pull the brisket, and rest in cooler with towels wrapped around it for at least 2 hours, but usually at least 3 1/2 to 4 hours for comp cooking.  The slower the IT can drop on the meat, the better the fibers will relax and redistribute the juices from the meats surface towards the center.  Ideally you don't want to slice into the meat until the IT falls back below 170.
 
That's some expensive stuff to use for foiling liquid

Gary
 
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