You've probably never seen a pork brisket at the market, it's not a typical cut you see in the states. Here in Portland there's a local company called Tails and Trotters that makes great pork products and European cuts like this. I picked up this pork brisket, which as I understand it is where the belly and loin meet. It's not an evenly shaped cut of meat so it required some attention on the temperature.
Here it is in the packaging:
I smoked it on my Horizon 16", using a mix of charcoal with mulberry wood chunks:
Here are a few pictures of the brisket as I was prepping it. Used Jeff's rub.
Side view:
Top view. You can see I scored the fat cap of the loin.
Timing and temperature were a big question. I figured at 7 pounds, this would be about a 9 hour job at 230 degrees. In fact, this is a challenging cut of meat to straight smoke, because the different areas cook differently and have different target temperatures. Here's a look after about 5 hours:
After 9 hours, I started probing and the temperature in the belly part was about 170, and the loin part about 160. I decided it was done. After all, I didn't want the loin to dry out. Here it is after a 20 minute rest:
I first sliced into the belly end, nice smoke ring and seemed to be the right level of doneness.
On the loin end, the shape is a little funny but it came out good too. Sorry it's blurry.
Another shot towards the middle of the brisket. These were absolutely delicious.
For dinner I chopped up some of the brisket and we had tacos. The next night, I made a chili which came out great as well. The remaining parts are now in the freezer, I think I'll save them for the fall and make some more chili or pork stew.
The pork brisket was a fun experiment. At $7/pound its economical and yielded lots of delicious meat. It's an unusual shape, I think rolling it up or trimming it down would make for more consistent doneness, but overall I'm pleased with how it came out. Thanks for taking a look!
Here it is in the packaging:
I smoked it on my Horizon 16", using a mix of charcoal with mulberry wood chunks:
Here are a few pictures of the brisket as I was prepping it. Used Jeff's rub.
Side view:
Top view. You can see I scored the fat cap of the loin.
Timing and temperature were a big question. I figured at 7 pounds, this would be about a 9 hour job at 230 degrees. In fact, this is a challenging cut of meat to straight smoke, because the different areas cook differently and have different target temperatures. Here's a look after about 5 hours:
After 9 hours, I started probing and the temperature in the belly part was about 170, and the loin part about 160. I decided it was done. After all, I didn't want the loin to dry out. Here it is after a 20 minute rest:
I first sliced into the belly end, nice smoke ring and seemed to be the right level of doneness.
On the loin end, the shape is a little funny but it came out good too. Sorry it's blurry.
Another shot towards the middle of the brisket. These were absolutely delicious.
For dinner I chopped up some of the brisket and we had tacos. The next night, I made a chili which came out great as well. The remaining parts are now in the freezer, I think I'll save them for the fall and make some more chili or pork stew.
The pork brisket was a fun experiment. At $7/pound its economical and yielded lots of delicious meat. It's an unusual shape, I think rolling it up or trimming it down would make for more consistent doneness, but overall I'm pleased with how it came out. Thanks for taking a look!
