Another Brisket..... forluvofsmoke "Eric's" method.....

[daveomak]

Eric's brisket looked so good, and since I have had little luck making a brisket Bride really likes, here is my attempt at making an "Eric Brisket".....

Brisket trimmed per Eric's thread....    Flats and points..... 

1 flat.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

2 points.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

These briskets had a big section of neck meat on them.....  

Bride has them marinating for some bourbon marinated something

or another....  not sure....   I'll know more later....

3 neck meat.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

I was surprised at the amount of fat on these things.... 40+ % Fat..

Good thing they were on sale for  $1.81/#.... meat ended up

a little over $3/# subtracting the fat content....  Someday, I will

try a brisket that is other than "SELECT GRADE" from w-mart... 

That would be a treat ......

4 fat trim.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

I have never been an advocate of using water in the smoker.....

Since Eric recommended some moisture during the first few hours

of the smoke, who am I to argue....  Used the electric kettle

to heat the water to boiling and added it to the pan with the gravel

in it.... 

5 water and gravel pan.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

6 in the smoker.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

9 hours in the smoker....

At 190 deg. the toothpick slid in easily.....  Wrapped to cool down

for a few hours and into the fridge to firm up.....   

7 out of the smoker.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

Brisket is delish.... tender.... moist.....  Sandwich material

for the next month or two.... 

8 sliced Brisket.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

1# packs fort the freezer....   

9 1# packages.jpg

• daveomak
• May 1, 2013

Thank you Eric for leading me down the road to a better brisket...

This was my best brisket to date....  I think your method of trimming

the fat and water in the smoker, worked very well.....  I will be using

it again..... 

 ....

Dave

 

[seenred]

That looks like a mighty tasty brisket there, Dave.  Well done sir! 

Red
 

 

[dewetha]

looks good enough to eat! nice going.

 

[kathrynn]

Looks Delish DaveO!  Yall are making my tummy growl today!

Kat

 

[Bearcarver]

Nice looking Brisket, Dave!!!

Can't go wrong following Eric!!!

Bear

 

[woodcutter]

Nice brisket!

 

[smokinhusker]

Looks great! The first time I did one I followed Eric's method as well, substituting Chef Jimmy's Au Jus for the water... When I slice it for vac sealing and slicing I put some of the au jus in with the meat. 

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Ah, you did it, Dave!!! Looks and sounds like you pulled it off beautifully! Your welcome for the help...glad you got the chance to try it and turn things around for the better.

I was just catching up a bit here today and was about to send you a PM and see if there was anything else you needed to know to knock one out of the park, then saw this pop up. Now I don't have to wonder anymore...Ha-ha!

Hmm, bride got involved with this one, too...bourbon marinade...that's awesome! You must have talked to her about this ahead of time and got her interested in it...maybe just the prospect of a new method to change things got her attention, but I hope she was pleased with the outcome, as that was your main goal with this smoke.

Hey, if the Bride and yourself are happy with it, then it worked out for you, and that's what counts the most. You can take this smoke and do some tweeking in the future for a bit more or less smoke flavor by adjusting the amount of liquid used, evaporation rate, as well as smoke output and time. And, as Alesia mentioned with Bear's Au Jus, you could even swap out the pan of Au Jus for a dry pan to transition to the dry smoke chamber, then do your final prep of the Au Jus while the brisket is getting up to temp.

I like your use of water right in with the gravel, too...saves a bit of vertical space and allows for higher humidity due to more rapid evaporation by bringing the water closer to the heat source...nice touch with that, and you just gave me another way to tweek my set-up in the smoker. If you measure how much water you add, and pay attention to smoke chamber and ambient temps, you can get a good feel for what amount will give you the best balance of smoke flavor and moisture retention in the finished meat, and that is where you can keep moving forward with each consecutive smoke. You may feel right now that this was your best brisket, but believe me, they can get even better than this one. Now that you have more trust and understanding in the method by seeing the outcome first-hand, you will be more willing to explore a few more steps in the future to achieve even better results than you got today.

Oh, and the trimmed fat amount, yes, it's a lot...and it's just that much more you have to heat through if you don't trim...if leaner meats are your thing, it's worth the effort, and you can achieve so much more smoke flavor with lean trimmed, as well (and, dare I say, better moisture retention in the meat from the dry smoke chamber to finish it up).

Nicely done, Dave!!! Glad to see you pulled it off, and again, happy to help you out with your brisket! Seeing this just made my day so much better!

Eric