First Smoke since joining SMF

s24smoove · Jun 29, 2014

Two 15# briskets, my mantra is now, salt & smoke on the brisket, cold beer for me.

first i prepared my fire, outside the firebox i built a fire using charcoal as my base, whenthe coals were correct, i began to build a thicket of cherry, grapevine wood, pearwood...i let that burn down, while that was burning down i prepared the briskets, just salt on the outside of all surfaces, probably used about 3 ounces of salt for each brisket, the briskets ended up sitting about 1.5 hrs, until the wood became coals, i then shoveled the coals into my firebox, let it settle down a bit, placed the briskets in the smoker, let it settle down or equilibrate for 30 minutes, put a couple handfulls of hickory chips on, let it reach somewhat of an equilibrium, watched it till about midnight, went to bed.

had to relight the fire when i awoke, approx. 5 AM, these pics were taken about 9am, mountain time, i'm in albuquerque, i'll pull them off at noon, keeping a constant temp of 225.

DSC00058.JPG

s24smoove
Jun 29, 2014

DSC00060.JPG

s24smoove
Jun 29, 2014

Bearcarver · Jun 29, 2014

Those look Great !! Beautiful color!

I wouldn't let it go out over night though.

Once it gets above 140* IT, I wouldn't want it to drop below that temp for any amount of time.

Bear

s24smoove · Jun 29, 2014

Exactly, and i thought it might happen, so i placed a nice sized, long, rectangular shaped rock just at the smoker inlet from the firebox, beneath my heat diffusion pan, also, i wheeled the smoker inside my smokehouse for added thermo buffer action, the external thermometer reading @~6AM was 175, the nightime temps have been in the low to mid 60's here in the north valley of abq.so the heat sink action may have saved me, thx for the asssitance, good bit of info that i did not know, about the 140 degrees, thx again.

i only started smoking 2 years ago, started w. chicken wings, sausages and meatballs and w/ the help of people that i meet and in forums i have learned a lot, and of course trial and error, patience and the scientific method.

Bearcarver · Jun 29, 2014

S24smoove said:
Exactly, and i thought it might happen, so i placed a nice sized, long, rectangular shaped rock just at the smoker inlet from the firebox, beneath my heat diffusion pan, also, i wheeled the smoker inside my smokehouse for added thermo buffer action, the external thermometer reading @~6AM was 175, the nightime temps have been in the low to mid 60's here in the north valley of abq.so the heat sink action may have saved me, thx for the asssitance, good bit of info that i did not know, about the 140 degrees, thx again.

i only started smoking 2 years ago, started w. chicken wings, sausages and meatballs and w/ the help of people that i meet and in forums i have learned a lot, and of course trial and error, patience and the scientific method.

Sounds like your protection took care of you.

Don't quote me on that "once it gets above 140*, you don't want it to go below for any amount of time", because I don't know the actual rule. I just kinda treat it like leftovers at that point. I don't do night smokes, so that never happened to me.

The big thing is if you puncture it in any way before you smoke it (inject, temp probe, etc) then you should get it from 40* to 140* in no longer than 4 hours, but I didn't mention that because I didn't notice any probe in your meat, and you didn't say you injected it.

Keep up the good work!!

Bear

s24smoove · Jun 29, 2014

thx, bear. yeah, i, as well don't like night smokes, had to, time constraints and other factors. also, i did not, nor do i inject, no temp probe, i just look at it or poke it w/ my finger, i set up my smoker and have done enough briskets, ribs, sausages, that i have a good read on it and can adapt to prevent ruining a smoke.

For instance, my last brisket smoke i tried getting fancy by soaking the cracked black pepper in whiskey, well turns out, i used some bushmills and it seems, my theory could be wrong, that the peatyness of bushmills, like i discovered w/ coriander, appears to me, to inhibit the uptake of smoke, so i went back to salt, time, smoke, 225....it's all good, it's fun, and like most things cooking seems to be an application of biology, chemistry, physics, and it's kind of kool hangin out by the smoker at 5 in the mornin, listening to the birds and all the critters.

Bearcarver · Jun 29, 2014

S24smoove said:
thx, bear. yeah, i, as well don't like night smokes, had to, time constraints and other factors. also, i did not, nor do i inject, no temp probe, i just look at it or poke it w/ my finger, i set up my smoker and have done enough briskets, ribs, sausages, that i have a good read on it and can adapt to prevent ruining a smoke.

For instance, my last brisket smoke i tried getting fancy by soaking the cracked black pepper in whiskey, well turns out, i used some bushmills and it seems, my theory could be wrong, that the peatyness of bushmills, like i discovered w/ coriander, appears to me, to inhibit the uptake of smoke, so i went back to salt, time, smoke, 225....it's all good, it's fun, and like most things cooking seems to be an application of biology, chemistry, physics, and it's kind of kool hangin out by the smoker at 5 in the mornin, listening to the birds and all the critters.

If yours tasted as good as it looked, you had a real treat !!!

If I'm making something that takes long, I prep it the day before so I can start early & finish as late as I have to.

I smoke ribs pretty much to time, but most things I smoke to Internal Temp.

For safety reasons I wait until large meats are smoking for 3 hours before I sterilize & insert my meat probe.

With Beef, I like to limit my seasonings too, so the Beef flavor doesn't get covered up. All I usually use for any Beef is Worcestershire, CBP, Garlic Powder & Onion Powder, and sometimes a little salt.

If you're interested, there's a lot of tips in my Step by Steps below.

I got most kinds of meats in there----Just click on any that interest you:

Just click on "Bear's Step by Steps".

Bear

disco · Jun 29, 2014

That is a fine looking brisket, sir. I am impressed!

Please post some qview of the finished project to make an old fat guy happy.

Disco

s24smoove · Jun 30, 2014

thank you sir, much appreciated, the flavor is outstanding. i'll post pics of what i'm going to create w/ this.

bobank03 · Jun 30, 2014

Great looking smoke! Keep the qview coming!

s24smoove · Jul 2, 2014

hey Disco, here is what I did w/ the briskets.

DSC00062.JPG

s24smoove
Jul 2, 2014

The sausages from the far left to right are Bratw/ green chile, brat, and the somewhat palesausages in the foreview are the SmokedBrisket Sausages, excellent flavor, as the sausages were cooking it smelled like someone was smokeing meat, enjoy.

Bearcarver · Jul 3, 2014

S24smoove said:
hey Disco, here is what I did w/ the briskets.

The sausages from the far left to right are Bratw/ green chile, brat, and the somewhat palesausages in the foreview are the SmokedBrisket Sausages, excellent flavor, as the sausages were cooking it smelled like someone was smokeing meat, enjoy.

Looks Great !!!

Can you tell more about your "Smoked Brisket Sausages"?? Like cool and chop or grind Smoked Brisket, and mix it with what ingredients, etc??

Bear

sqwib · Jul 3, 2014

S24smoove said:
Exactly, and i thought it might happen, so i placed a nice sized, long, rectangular shaped rock just at the smoker inlet from the firebox, beneath my heat diffusion pan, also, i wheeled the smoker inside my smokehouse for added thermo buffer action, the external thermometer reading @~6AM was 175, the nightime temps have been in the low to mid 60's here in the north valley of abq.so the heat sink action may have saved me, thx for the asssitance, good bit of info that i did not know, about the 140 degrees, thx again.

i only started smoking 2 years ago, started w. chicken wings, sausages and meatballs and w/ the help of people that i meet and in forums i have learned a lot, and of course trial and error, patience and the scientific method.

Ha Ha!, Thats awesome, someone else cooks with a rock...

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sqwib
Jul 3, 2014

Kudos on the brisket, they look fantastic.

s24smoove · Jul 3, 2014

yes, cooled, cut and ground smoked brisket, however, do not grind the hell out of it, use a 1/2 or 9/16 plate, also, save the drippings from the resting or cooling stage, they go in the mixture, also don't over cook the brisket, but do smoke the hell out of it, if you have a stuffer i think you can do a 1:1 ratio, smoked brisket to raw pork shoulder, don't forget to salt the pork, let it rest, then stuff. if you have a grinder stuffer, you need more shoulder. like any recipe workup, start w/ a scaleable amount, maybe,~6# at first, 6.25-->12.5--->25--->50, etc., keep in mind the scale recipe is not additive, that is why i don't use percentage recipes.

when my texas style hot link is done, i'll post pics, still working up the recipe.

And i'm tryin to get some feedback here, i;m a wisconsin boy living in albuquerque, so i don;t know what a real texas hot link is supposed to be, i've heard that, it's more what's not in it than what's in it, heard it's supposed to b 90% beef, some type of milk protein and, some type of binder, don't know what the last 2 ingredients are.

my proposed recipe:

~1:1 ratio of raw brisket:pork shoulder, fresh garlic, black pep, crushed red pep, ppaprika, cayenne, crushed chipotle, salt.

just tryin to make a tasty sausage that tastes great grilled and better smoked.

s24smoove · Jul 3, 2014

squib, what up dude, hellyeah, i love that rock. and speaking of bird, i'm doin a bird this weekend, keep rockin' it!!

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