Brisket Experiment for Bark

[fliphyzer]

Hey,

Couple of briskets ago i started thinking about paying more attention to my bark. 

Usual process for me is rubbed, sauced and some 15 hours in the smoker on 225 with a lil mesquite.  Then double foiled with apple juice and in a large foil roasting pan in the oven ( DO NOT FORGET THE ROASTING PAN OR THE WIFE WILL BE PISSED!) at 225 for another 6 or so. 

If you get the brisket in at 9 am this works out well as you are loading to the oven at midnite, then can sleep, and it's done at 6 am. 

Anyways, the bark doesnt come out crunchy and whatnot, of course.  So I thought maybe this time after I pulled it out of the oven I would slap it on the grill at 600 or so for 3 minutes a side, that ought to dry off the bark and crunch it up a bit.

Then i thought I would start messing with stuff even more, cant leave well enough alone, you know.

Here's playing with bread crumbs.

 

[fliphyzer]

I did the other side already so just have the pics of the one side.

Sauced

Crumbed

 

[fliphyzer]

The thinking is that the sauce and crumb will form a heavier bark, so when I come back to the grill at 6 am to put the finishing burn on it we will see. I am also interested to try mixing the sauce and the crumbs together to form a thicker paste instead of layers.  i did not season the crumbs, although that also intrigues me. 

Too many ideas, not enough time, I need a smoker that can do 10 briskets at once, and more people to eat all of that experimenting!

Happy 4th of July all, whatever my political view might be, I am glad to be free!

 

[rp ribking]

What's an oven have to do with?

 

[SmokinAl]

If you want the bark you are looking for just don't foil the brisket.

 

[flash]

And your wasting time if you think you will get bark on the fat cap. You should have trimmed some of that off, then applied your rub.

 

[raptor700]

I'm interested in the outcome,

I love a good experiment 

 

[fliphyzer]

lets see what happens-

i didnt think about trimming off the fat as it will turn out to be a 21 hour cook and havent been trimming so far.

Although yes, i have noticed some extra fat layer still left after its all done.  i dont think i got good results from the sticky, thats why i left the reservation.

 

[flash]

lets see what happens-

i didnt think about trimming off the fat as it will turn out to be a 21 hour cook and havent been trimming so far.

Although yes, i have noticed some extra fat layer still left after its all done.  i dont think i got good results from the sticky, thats why i left the reservation.

Since I have to separate mine, so they fit on my smoker, I have become more accustom to trimming them some. This way you have more meat area exposed to the rub and therefore, more bark. Atleast that is the idea anyway.

 

[fliphyzer]

ended up leaving it on the smoker all night, temps were good and the wind was down.

for some reason i thought you wanted a good fat cap on there to melt away and baste the brisket throughout the cook.  learn something new every day.

how do you know how much fat cap to trim and how much to leave?

 

[fliphyzer]

heres a pic 

 

[SmokinAl]

ended up leaving it on the smoker all night, temps were good and the wind was down.

for some reason i thought you wanted a good fat cap on there to melt away and baste the brisket throughout the cook.  learn something new every day.

how do you know how much fat cap to trim and how much to leave?

I trim most of the fat off then put it on a rack above the brisket so it drips on the meat all through the smoke. Here's a pic. You can just see the brisket underneath on the bottom rack.

Here's how the fat looked after about 16 hours.

Here's a shot of the brisket. Didn't foil it, just let it go to 205, then sliced it. You can see how moist it is with great bark.

 

[fliphyzer]

so at this point i should just scrape the fat off and call it?

Thems some nice pics!

 

[flash]

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/brisket-separation-technique

This one below is really good. One above is more for separating into Point and Flat

http://www.howtobbqright.com/trimabrisket.html

Al, that is one of the juiciest Brickets I've ever seen a shot of.

 

[fliphyzer]

I seperated the brisket, then sliced it a bit, the surrounding "coating" is delicious, although I think this might best be portrayed as what not to do. I had to work a bit to get the coating off the fat that didnt render. 

 

[jirodriguez]

I trim all my fat cap off and do what Al does - put it above the brisket. With bark you don't want to much paste/rub on the brisket, because it takes a long time to dry out enough to form a nice bark. I have found that a light solid layer of rub is about perfect for making a nice bark, when I try to pile the rub on the bark looks nice on the outside, but tends to be mushy below the top layer.

 

[africanmeat]

Thanks. you tried it did not work but still put the post and saved time for other members with the same idea. well done and thanks again.

 

[fliphyzer]

well, theres always next weekend!

and if i seperate the point and flat it will prolly drop my cooking time a bit, like 6 hours or so.

 

[sunman76]

thanks for the post, will be waiting for mext weekend

 

[alelover]

If no one ever experimented we would never learn anything. Great post.