2nd brisket attempt - rubless

sumosmoke · Jul 4, 2008

With the long holiday weekend I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try smoking my 2nd brisket. After smoking my first brisket in a friendly Throwdown vs. Desertlites

I realized many improvements that I would want to make with my 2nd smoke so I'm ready to give it another shot!

Got a 9.6 lb packer from the meat man @ $2.29/lb and asked him not to trim it this time. Instead of using a rub Im trying a red wine based marinade that the brisket will bath in overnight. I intend to start the smoke off with a good sear that will get it black on the outside, before setting it in a pan in the smoker. The wood used for the smoke will be a mixture of apple, cherry, and a little bit of hickory.

My question is this: if I'm going to sear it first, do I need to put something (i.e. coarsely ground black pepper, or something similar) on the outside of the brisket after pulling it out of the meat marinade? Want to form a nice crust before it sits in the smoke bath.

Thanks for checking out my smokes!

Ingredients for brisket marinade

9.6 lb packer in cryovac, fat cap down

Brisket swimming in marinade

I'll start the smoke early tomorrow around 7am and will keep the thread updated with the progress. Hope everyone is having, or had, a Happy 4th of July!

desertlites · Jul 4, 2008

hehe u go girl-sear with nothing-than add your seasoning before the smoke-grin

pineywoods · Jul 4, 2008

Looks like a good start will be looking for the updates. Happy smoking

sumosmoke · Jul 5, 2008

Not a cloud in the sky and the day was meant for me to get the brisket going. Got started at 8:30am and pulled the brisket out of the marinade to let the meat rest at room temp while I got the grill fired up and the smoker up to temp.

One of the improvements from the last brisket smoke I did was to really sear it. Having not trimmed the brisket and placing it fat cap down on the grill gave me that charred-black look. The meat was seared on both sides before being put in a foil pan to continue the cooking process with lovely smoke. The marinade was boiled for 5 minutes, in a small pot, and used as the mop.

The wine and the horseradish really give the mop/marinade a wonderful smell. Always loved to have wine-infused ingredients with my food so I'm hoping this is a hit!

Without further delay here are some pics:

Searing brisket -fat cap down

Seared brisket - charred and black

2 hours into smoke - flipped brisket to fat-cap down in the pan

marinade/mop

The brisket will sit in the smoker until an internal temp of 200 is hit, then it will be pulled from the pan and foiled for an hour, minimum. The drippings will be split for two purposes: an au jus and a pan gravy.

More pics will be posted once the meat is ready to be eaten!

northwet smoker · Jul 5, 2008

That looks realy good Sumo. Great pics!

erain · Jul 5, 2008

dang laurel, when u say sear u mean sear!!!!! i following this with great intrest fo when i do my first... (actually have one in my posession!!!) so kepp filled in with your great pix!!!

smokin for life · Jul 5, 2008

DAMN that looks good, I've never had the chance to sear one, liveing dead center of Philly if I try to have a fire like that to sear, I'll have The fire dept. down on me so fast. So for now all I can do is drool!!!

abelman · Jul 5, 2008

Laurel,

so far. Can't wait to see out it all turns out but you're certainly on the right track.

desertlites · Jul 5, 2008

YUM that looks good sister-I have such a big grin-u gonna love it-Great job.

davenh · Jul 5, 2008

Great so far..nice job on the searing

. Going to be a tasty one.

pacnwsteve · Jul 5, 2008

sumo, nice looking brisket, and great job on the sear. Looking forward to seeing some q-view of the brisket when you're done. Enjoy!

travcoman45 · Jul 5, 2008

Lookin mighty fine laurel.

sumosmoke · Jul 5, 2008

Just pulled the brisket off the smoker as it hit the magic internal temp of 200 deg. Pulled the meat from the pan and double wrapped in aluminum foil where it will rest for about an hour or so. The drippings were poured into a measuring cup and placed in the freezer to separate the fat from the true juice.

Desertlites - now I know what you meant by searing the heck outta the thing. I also grinned as I thought you'd be proud

erain - the mistake I made on the first brisket smoke was not searing it enough. It may look like it's ruined however, rest assured, it's not.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words, thus far. Upcoming .... pics of the sliced, or pulled, product.

desertlites · Jul 5, 2008

hehe yes I'am. u my lady have come along way-not only am I proud but u should be also-I SO glad to have met u and smoked with u-thank you laurel for being here.

sumosmoke · Jul 6, 2008

Thank you Bob, for the kind words.

Here are the pictures and my verbal results of the brisket smoke. HOLY FRIGGEN AWESOME!!!

I am usually pretty humble about the results that come off the smoker but this thing turned out to be the best darn piece of meat that's come off the ecb, IMO, and I'm definitely going to be doing many of these in the future.

After the nap in the foil blanket the brisket was transferred to a new foil pan for pulling. I did slice a piece of the flat for sampling (thanks to Desertlites recommendation) and it was the most tasty and juicy piece of meat to hit my lips. I proceeded to separate the point from the flat which was much easier than I thought it was due to the tenderness of the meat. Wore some gloves and manually threw the fat out on the side and kept the pieces of precious meat in a new pan.

Took the brisket drippings and set them in the freezer to separate the fat from the good stuff. Separated the fat from the juice and re-poured it over the pulled beef as my finishing sauce.

Here are the final set of pics, will be broken into two posts. As always, couldn't have had these results without the help from my friends at SMF!

Rested brisket in pan

Sliced piece of flat

Point and flat together

Point separated from flat

sumosmoke · Jul 6, 2008

Brisket drippings with fat

Brisket drippings without fat

Pulled brisket pre-finishing sauce

Brisket drippings over pulled beef

Pulled brisket with scraps on side

sumosmoke · Jul 6, 2008

Here is the recipe I used for my brisket marinade / mop. It was delicious and a change from the normal spices used with traditional q. The smoke added its own flavor to the meat and didn't need the extra smokiness of spices such as chili powder or paprika.

Red Wine Marinade

1 & 1/2 cups red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon)
1/2 cup olive oil (I didn't use extra virgin, just regular "dirty" olive oil)
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons mustard (used regular yellow mustard, may try to use dry mustard next time for solubility)
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
1 Tablespoon horseradish
1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt for solubility)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Use a whisk, or fork, to blend stir all ingredients together and pour over meat as a marinade prior to smoking (the longer the better). Once the meat is pulled from the marinade pour the remaining marinade into a pan and boil for a minimum of 5 minutes. Don't boil too long or it will reduce down to nothing and be extra potent (unless you want that sorta kick). Use the newly sterilized marinade as a mop for the brisket.

safety1 · Jul 6, 2008

OH MY, that is one awesome looking brisket. I haven't gotten up the courage to attempt one yet, but pics like these make me a little more brave all the time. Cudos for the great Q-view. I am jealous.

bb53chevpro · Jul 6, 2008

Oh my. Awesome Sumo.

pineywoods · Jul 6, 2008

Looks awesome Laurel congrats on a great job!!!!

2nd brisket attempt - rubless

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