Christmas Brisket, ABT's and Bears Bacon Lots of Pics!

Alright, well ive got a couple of PICs but it ended up that I was so busy with family and everything that I kept forgetting to snap very many.

So I threw the Brisket in at 11pm (@ 235) Christmas Eve in hopes it would cook till about 1-2PM. It was snowing heavily outside, and the smoker was getting a bit of it in the covered porch, we woke up to almost a foot, so I had to dig around to get at the door! 

Unfortuneatley when I woke up in the morning the internal temp had already made it to 185d, so I was worried that I was WAY ahead of schedule, but it appeared that this may have been the stall temp as it sat there for a couple more hours. I also tested with an instant read, and it appears that my Mav has somehow become about 10d high so ill have to go back to calibrating, and the IT with the 2 high end instant reads I have showed only 175.

The Brisky ended up getting to 195 about noon, and was taking a wood skewer like warm butter so I pulled her off and wrapper it in a couple layers of parchment paper, then in an old towel and sheets and into the cooler. After about 2 hours I pulled it open to check everything, and since the dinner wasn't for 2 more I decided to go ahead and stick it into a crock pot on low still wrapped in the parchment paper. When I checked it out it was beautiful, and I sliced just a bit of a notch out and it was delicious!

Once everyone showed up I sliced it up, and it was not only beautiful, but it was delicious!!! It was a tiny bit dry (but no one else seemed to agree) but ooooh so tender, I ladled over a bit of the drippings and just a TINY bit of a BBQ sauce I made, and  that moistened it up perfectly.



I also threw together some ABTs, cored out some jalapenos, filled with a mixture of cream cheese and sharp white cheddar, then stuffed most with some Lil' smokies, and a few with a clove of garlic (I actually liked those ones better), wrapped them in bacon and then threw them on the smoker for an hour and a half of so. They ended up perhaps a bit too smoky for me, but again no one else complained and everyone else loved them.



Overall it was awesome and a huge success, gave me some good cred with all involved and just a tiny bit of leftovers' which I consumed the following day!

PS: I Used a mix of Peach, Oak, and Pecan wood in my AMNTS which smoked the entire 13 hours, and then continued to smoke for another hour or so set on the porch. (ive mentioned this in other posts, but the 18" AMNTS says it will smoke for 6 hours, but ive never got less than 10!)

Ive also noticed after the few cooks I've used Tatonka dust on, that it really blackens up the crust, and I LOVE IT! Glad I listened to other SMF members on that recommendation

Alright!! Finally got the bacon done. I ended up with the business of the holidays letting it sit in cure bags for a total of 11 days. Rinsed it off and patted the 2 pieces dry, placed on racks in the fridge for 10 hours to develop some pellicle. I realized that I didn't do any additional seasonings prior to letting rest, so I threw on a bit of black pepper and ground garlic but it didn't seem to adhear well even after the cooking process.

One of the 2 took on a bit of an off color I think cause it was a pretty thin piece, and I had used some paprika and brown sugar in the curing process. But after the rest and the cook it looked perfect too. Did a salt test and the flavor was perfect

As mentioned, I followed bears "Extra Smoky" method, and it turned out very well. Smoked for 11 hours at 125, and no fat rendered out. I never probed the meat as I didn't find it necessary, but the IT in the chamber of my MES stayed pretty consistent according to my MAV.

One note I wanted to make is that I had an issue that my MES control panel was not working at all, it was about 15 degrees out when I was starting my smoke, and I think that there is a temp issue with the control panel. I took my wifes blow dryer and heated it up for a few seconds and it worked fine from then out.

it all sliced up with a Warring Pro slicer, and I dint have the need to freeze that Bear and others mentione, I refrigerated it over night and that was plenty firm to slice it up. Perhaps because my bellies were pretty thin.

Sealed it up with my vac sealer, and ended up with a ton of bacon! I gave 4 pacs away to family, and put all but one pac into the freezer.

Of course I cooked up a cap the next morning and it was mighty tasty, also did some BLTs for lunch!