I smoked my first brisket this afternoon and I am slightly disappointed with how it came out. Some pointers would certainly be appreciated. I'll tell you the obvious problems I made and you can smack my hand with a ruler and correct me!
First off the cut. I have had a hard time finding packer brisket lately. Don't know why. When I finally did find them, they were $35 or more. Too pricey for me to practice on. So I stumbled across a pack of "Trimmed Brisket". It was only 2.5 pounds and appeared at first to be 2 different pieces of meat. So I grabbed it. It had good marbling and had a decent fat cap.
Thursday night I took the brisket out and discovered that it was in fact, one piece of meat. It had a funny "fold" in the middle that was substantially thicker than the rest of the meat. This seemed like a good place to cut the meat into 2 pieces. My ECB wouldn't hold the 1 piece anyway.
So, I cut it up and put Jeff's famous rub on it. Wrapped in Saran Wrap and back to the fridge.
I plugged in the ECB at 1 and threw a stainless steel pan on the stove top and cranked the stove to High. After the pan was rocket hot I threw one of the brisket cuts in and tried to sear it. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. The rub began to burn and stink so badly that I almost set the smoke alarms off! I couldn't even stand in the kitchen it was so bad. But I flipped it over to sear the other side. I did this with both cuts of meat. Then straight on to the smoker.
Now, the meat wasn't blackened, but it had some spots where it had a good sear, while some other spots were just browned. The smoker was running at 260 degrees. I put the cuts into their own little pans and put the cover on and then had to throw a blanket over the smoker to maintain temp.
After 2 hours I quickly flipped the brisket over with my tongs.
After another hour, I foiled the brisket. And by foiled the brisket, I mean I put foil over the pans they were in. Perhaps that is why they didn't come out very juicy. Is the idea to wrap the meat in foil, like a pork butt?
By 6, I had hit 200 degrees. So I brought them in and let them sit for 45 minutes before I cut into them.
I won't say it was the best thing I have ever had. I also won't say it is the worst. It is the first time that I found myself not caring for Jeff's rub. I just don't think it goes really well with a beefy cut like this.
It would cut with a fork, which I figured was good. But the spice of the rub didn't compliment it at all. I had to smother in BBQ sauce to enjoy it.
So, where did I go wrong? Obviously the cut of meat played a part. Is the idea of foiling, to take the meat out of the pan and wrap it up like a pork butt?
I'm not giving up on brisket, but I can tell that this cut of meat is a much less forgiving beast than pork! Any help you can offer would be appreciated! Attached are some pics to go along with my post.
First off the cut. I have had a hard time finding packer brisket lately. Don't know why. When I finally did find them, they were $35 or more. Too pricey for me to practice on. So I stumbled across a pack of "Trimmed Brisket". It was only 2.5 pounds and appeared at first to be 2 different pieces of meat. So I grabbed it. It had good marbling and had a decent fat cap.
Thursday night I took the brisket out and discovered that it was in fact, one piece of meat. It had a funny "fold" in the middle that was substantially thicker than the rest of the meat. This seemed like a good place to cut the meat into 2 pieces. My ECB wouldn't hold the 1 piece anyway.
So, I cut it up and put Jeff's famous rub on it. Wrapped in Saran Wrap and back to the fridge.
I plugged in the ECB at 1 and threw a stainless steel pan on the stove top and cranked the stove to High. After the pan was rocket hot I threw one of the brisket cuts in and tried to sear it. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. The rub began to burn and stink so badly that I almost set the smoke alarms off! I couldn't even stand in the kitchen it was so bad. But I flipped it over to sear the other side. I did this with both cuts of meat. Then straight on to the smoker.
Now, the meat wasn't blackened, but it had some spots where it had a good sear, while some other spots were just browned. The smoker was running at 260 degrees. I put the cuts into their own little pans and put the cover on and then had to throw a blanket over the smoker to maintain temp.
After 2 hours I quickly flipped the brisket over with my tongs.
After another hour, I foiled the brisket. And by foiled the brisket, I mean I put foil over the pans they were in. Perhaps that is why they didn't come out very juicy. Is the idea to wrap the meat in foil, like a pork butt?
By 6, I had hit 200 degrees. So I brought them in and let them sit for 45 minutes before I cut into them.
I won't say it was the best thing I have ever had. I also won't say it is the worst. It is the first time that I found myself not caring for Jeff's rub. I just don't think it goes really well with a beefy cut like this.
It would cut with a fork, which I figured was good. But the spice of the rub didn't compliment it at all. I had to smother in BBQ sauce to enjoy it.
So, where did I go wrong? Obviously the cut of meat played a part. Is the idea of foiling, to take the meat out of the pan and wrap it up like a pork butt?
I'm not giving up on brisket, but I can tell that this cut of meat is a much less forgiving beast than pork! Any help you can offer would be appreciated! Attached are some pics to go along with my post.