Packer Brisket, et al, with q-view

[pacman]

This will be my first brisket since I joined the SMF. Putting everything I've learned from everyone here with what knowledge I had before, this was certainly the tastiest brisket I've smoked.

I started out with a packer brisket (Albertson's vacuum pack). Rinsed, patted dry, and smeared with yellow mustard. I opted to be adventurous and use a new rub recipe (the brisket recipe from Deejay's website). Never woulda pegged corriander as an important ingredient.... glad I tried it.

I started the fire and threw on another fatty experiment, ABT experiment, and my first smoked buffalo wings. While the wings were so good I forgot to take a picture, the ABT's were not all that great so I won't bore you with the details. The fatty was not too bad, though I wish I had used a different cheese. I used red bell pepper, ancho chilis, and shallots in long strips interlaced with string cheese (my previous experiments produced runny cheese so I opted for something more sturdy).

On to the brisket:
I threw on the brisket at about 2330 at between 215-245 using a mix of pecan and hickory wood. Though I dozed off a couple times, I during the smoke, the temp didn't get too low. After about 14 hours, I pulled the brisket off (stayed at 180 for about 2 hours and wouldn't go higher). As you can see, it was very tender and juicy. I cut the fat cap off and, as I type, I am simmering the fatty meat in the left-over mop sauce to leach out the fat so that I'm only left with relatively lean shredded BBQ beef (I'll post the pics later). Don't drool too much!!

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[meowey]

Great looking Q! Thanks for sharing!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

 

[smokin for life]

That's one good looking Fatty. After looking at your brisket, makes me mad I didn't get one for tommorow. Nice looking "Q"

 

[smokebuzz]

WOW that looks good

 

[deejaydebi]

Man that's a beautiful brisket!

I WANT A BRISKET!

I went all the way to Warwic RI today to Sams Club with my sister - joined up cuz she said they had briskets and still no brisket!

 

[pacman]

Uh!!! Sam's Club and no brisket??? That's just communist!

Well, here's the result of my fat cap simmer.

I had to have some before I posted. I must say it's like smoky candy. Keep in mind that I used NO barbecue sauce. That's the mop sauce reduction and it is A W E S O M E !!! Best meat for a BBQ beef sandwich!!! I think this one was better than my last simmer. Perhaps it was the rub, perhaps it was the wood, perhaps it's because I kept the smoke thin. Any way you slice it (or shred it), this forum at SMF has helped me to become a better meat smoker. Thanks, all, for your comments, suggestions and helpful posts!

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[deejaydebi]

Matthew that looks great! All you did was simmer the meat?

 

[chadpole]

That is one of the best briskets I've seen lately.....keep up the good smoke!

 

[chris_harper]

tell us more about simmering the meat to get rid of that nasty fat. for my shredded beef, i spend a considerable time pulling the point to get rid of all the fat. i pull out each little piece of meat i can. i cannot eat fat. i know debi doesn't eat fat either. so hook us up.

 

[pacman]

Ok.... glad you were so interested!!!

I sliced off the fat cap of the finished packer brisket and sliced WITH THE GRAIN (need to get long strips for proper shredded beef). Slice them in half length wise or pull the meat apart with forks (or both). Place in a medium sauce pan, pour over your leftover mop sauce (mine was a Sam Adams Light, cider vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and red pepper flakes), and cover. I allowed it to come to a boil for a few minutes and reduced to a low boil for about three-five hours. The amazing aroma will fill the house when its done. Strain out the meat (colander or deep-fryer strainer would suffice). Set aside the hot mop sauce to cool and after about an hour, put the pot into the fridge. You will find that the fat has separated after some time in the fridge and it has cooled to the point you can carefully lift the congealed fat from the top of the mop sauce reduction. The resulting mop sauce reduction (certainly not fat free but lower fat) can be heated and poured over your sliced brisket and/or your shredded bbq beef for a samich. I prefer whole wheat kaiser rolls but any soft absorbent bread will suffice. Very tasty. If any of you try it on your next packer brisket smoke, let me know how you liked the results. I'd be thrilled that you liked my idea. Thanks.

 

[chris_harper]

i will most definitely try it.

 

[deejaydebi]

So you simmer the fat into the meat?

 

[pacman]

What I'm trying to do is to simmer the fat out of the meat... there's lotsa good meat inside the fat cap that I don't want to let to go to waste or waist...

So by simmering me meat, it melts the fat into the mop sauce. Once the meat is separated, I let the sauce stand to let the grease separate. You then have a biphasic liquid, fat separated from mop sauce. Most of the fat can be ladled off but there will still be some fat left that you can scrape off the top of the refrigerated sauce.

 

[cascadedad]

I'm like Chris, on the two I have done, I spent a lot of time pulling fat out of the point. I'll definitely give this a try.

Thanks!

 

[smokyokie]

Man that looks like good eats.

What you're calling the "fat cap" appears to be the point cut of the brisket. It can be extemely over marbled.

What a lot of folks do is to cut it into chunks, toss it with a little sauce and put it back on the smoke for on a rack and smoke it for another hour or so to render the excess fat. We generally chop it up, freeze it, and save it for seasoning for beans. We do the same with any of the edge that gets a little dried out.

A good way to find briskets with a less marbled poin is to wiggle them in the middle. Muscle wiggles, cold fat doesn't. the easier they wiggle, the leaner the point will be, but there will always be some parts that re just too fatty for the normal person to eat.

 

[pigcicles]

Okie... who you callin normal... I got a smokin problem and I don't want it fixed.

Actually the fat makes excellent seasoning for lots of stuff. Save it and throw some in with your stews this winter or chili.. mmmmm good stuff Manard.

 

[fatback joe]

I must really have some issues...........I just cook and eat the damn thing.

 

[hillbillysmoker]

Georgeous brisket. Thanks so much for sharing your info.

 

[pacman]

I've heard of the "burnt ends" use of the point cut/fat cap (I'll call it point from now on - thanks Okie!)... never tried it. What I'm thinkin of doing next is to cut the point off the flat and smoke em separately... that way I have a nice smoke ring on both the flat and the point. Shred the point, slice the flat, and have the best of both worlds. Of course, the shredded I'll do the way I did this one.

As much as I L U V barbecue, I am overweight and have high cholesterol... so I try to find ways of getting rid of the excess beef fat (since I love beef so much). I'm really glad so many have taken an interest in this post. I kinda liked my idea and wanted input from the forum as to what everyone thought. Wish you coulda tasted it... I served some to my colleagues today and they were impressed!

 

[smokyokie]

Yeah, the fat cap is generally what they call the sheet of fat that coversthe most of the flat.

I would encourage you to leave the two cuts intact. The fat and connective tissue that joins the two is very important in flavoring the front half of the flat. Also, by having the thicker piece of meat, you can cook it as long as necessary to break down the meat w/o the risk of drying out. That's the basis for doing whole packer trims in the first place. The fat between the two is very easily removed after cooking, and can actually serve as a guideline for the cut that separates the two.