first brisket - step-by-step with q-view

guys - thanks much for the advice so far. i'd better tell him that we're going to need to start this EARLY!

i might also see if we can confrim using his cousin's offset - if not, i will definitely offer my ECB.

we're going to give his weber kettle a try since we decided to go with a brisket that is about 8lbs and will be starting around 8am. i have to play guitar at church, so will be friving up 20 miles to the smoke, helping to get started, then leaving and driving back 20 miles to church and then coming back up after church. my wife might veto this idea though, reminding me that gas doesn't grow on trees! if that happens, i will miss out on the beginning and will simply show up after church.

we'll take it a step at a time!

yep, just your basic three-sometimes-four-chord old country and gospel stuff. one guy in our group has a telecaster and is good with it, almost as good as ol' luther perkins!

erain - i hear ya buddy and i offered my ecb but he wants to give the kettle a try and said he's gotten pretty good at temp control with it, so we'll see how it goes. he knows his stuff pretty good and i am pretty sure that if anyone can pull it off, he can!

dave - i hear ya and agree - i'm hoping we can get it right on the first try but i expect a pitfall or two to get in the way. one obstacle we faced was the fact that we live 20 miles apart and i've got a lot on my plate this weekend, including church service tomorrow in which i'll need to be playing guitar (also communion and this year's confirmation, so it's going to be a long one).

since my buddy's buying the brisket, i figure we'll do it his way - i know the weber can be a challenge but if we can pull it off, then we wil have conquered the world! big risk, big reward ~ i will see about getting one here in a couple of weeks and trying it on the SnP, or perhaps teh ECB.

alright, i am off to get ready for church - immediately after, i will fix a potato salad and run on up to my buddy's place with ABT fixin's to see how this brisket is going. wish us luck, especially sincew e're doing it on a weber kettle!

alright, guys - here's the report and the q-view - fasten your seatbelts and get yourselves a napkin:

this last weekend i was in on my first brisket barbecue. a friend who lives in havre and i were talking and we realized neither of us had done a brisket, so we figured we'd do a brisket project. he provided the brisket, i brought potato salad, some french bread and the fixin's for some ABTs. we also had corn on the cob and a pasta salad.

but getting back to the brisket....

i had to play guitar at church sunday morning, and it was an extra-long service due to the confirmation of two young people - so i got out a little later than usual and made the potato sald. it was about time for my wife to get off work, so i waited for her and then we went up with the kids.

but getting back to the brisket....

we smoked this on a weber kettle - i know it isn't the most popular choice with such a long smoke requiring temperature control, but my buddy said he'd gotten pretty good with it and had a plan...i figured i'd trust his judgement and am sure glad that i did!

when i got there, the brisket had already been on a while. my friend put it on at 0800 and it was probably about 1500 when i finally made it up there. he had it over low, indirect direct heat from charcoal with a couple of cans directly below the brisket to provide humidity and a little temperature control. a couple of hours of some sweet hickory smoke and that thng was smelling like a little piece of heaven.

this was about 8 lbs and the portion of the brisket called the flat. whoever sold it to him had trimmed off most of the fat cap, but there was about 1/4 inch to work with.

as you guys know, briskets get really dark due to the rub etc (this one was a nice home-made rub). that is on them - plus the long cooking process, but that darkness is only skin deep and is, in truth, a very big chunk of the flavor! about an hour and a half or so before it was done:



you can also get an idea of the charcoal set up, off to one side of the kettle. the leathery-looking things are a sliced gala apple that was sitting on top of it for a while. when these pix were taken, the brisket was getting flipped over and the apple slices went to the bottom. the better to spread the flavor around!



the little light-colored bits are minced garlic, which my buddy added to a nice sauce to use to paste it with. i don't know what exactly weber does with their kettles, but their design creates a very, very efficient cooking chamber for great bbq:



the internal temperatrue was 180 degrees and the temp on the grate was, near as we could tell, somewhere around 225. we pulled the brisket off at 1730 (exactly 9-1/2 hours for the total smoke) and it looked wonderful on the plate - here's a shot of the internals:



the smoke ring is not terribly deep, but keep in mind it was only over smoke for around an hour and a half, maybe two hours - be that as it may, it had a great smoky smell and taste. it was quite tender and juicy as well and required no effort at all to carve or to cut with a fork as we were eating:



at times when we were carving you could actually see the juices running down. all-in-all a great smoke and i must say a very convincing vindication for the weber kettle!

after trying this juicy, tender, smoky treat, i know i'll be doing one soon and experimenting with rubs, mops etc. this is a new favorite and i was glad to help out with it.