All,
I can't seem to get good results with my flat. It'll be either too dry and/or too tough. I did two for a work party today. The flat was reasonably tender, but on the dry side. I couldn't do the bend test because it would fall apart instead of just bending. The bark was really hard, which only made slicing more difficult. Flavor was great, and the point was really good, although probably over-cooked (I couldn't slice it very well because the meat fell apart, and even when I could slice it the slices fell apart when I tried to serve them. It looked more like chopped brisket than sliced).
Pre-cooking I trimmed the fat cap down, probably a little too far. Lots of exposed meat on the top side. And I trimmed out most of the fat between the flat and the point, but did not completely separate them. I removed the deckle and most of the silver skin on the underside.
I'm smoking on a 18" WSM with the water pan full. Kingsford blue with a small scrub oak (a/k/a gambel oak) log. Started at 7:30 PM last night, smoked through to 11:30 AM today. Temps held consistent between 220 and 255 throughout the smoke. Choice grade 14 lb packers. I had the point probed, and was about to take them off when they hit 204, but tested the flat and it wasn't butter consistency. There was still some resistance, and my probe showed IT of 186 in the flat, which I don't understand. So I left it on to try to get the flat higher so it wouldn't be as tough. Flat IT reached 192 before I foiled and toweled them in a cooler, where they rested for 2 hours before slicing. I didn't check the point IT, but based on its texture it probably reached 210. They were both unwrapped the entire time.
Dry rub is straight forward equal portions of salt, black pepper, and granulated garlic.
The finished product looked great when it came off the smoker. And It was still better than I've had in many supposedly good Q restaurants, so I'm not complaining. But I'm a perfectionist about these things. So anything anyone can share to improve my flat is greatly appreciated.
I can't seem to get good results with my flat. It'll be either too dry and/or too tough. I did two for a work party today. The flat was reasonably tender, but on the dry side. I couldn't do the bend test because it would fall apart instead of just bending. The bark was really hard, which only made slicing more difficult. Flavor was great, and the point was really good, although probably over-cooked (I couldn't slice it very well because the meat fell apart, and even when I could slice it the slices fell apart when I tried to serve them. It looked more like chopped brisket than sliced).
Pre-cooking I trimmed the fat cap down, probably a little too far. Lots of exposed meat on the top side. And I trimmed out most of the fat between the flat and the point, but did not completely separate them. I removed the deckle and most of the silver skin on the underside.
I'm smoking on a 18" WSM with the water pan full. Kingsford blue with a small scrub oak (a/k/a gambel oak) log. Started at 7:30 PM last night, smoked through to 11:30 AM today. Temps held consistent between 220 and 255 throughout the smoke. Choice grade 14 lb packers. I had the point probed, and was about to take them off when they hit 204, but tested the flat and it wasn't butter consistency. There was still some resistance, and my probe showed IT of 186 in the flat, which I don't understand. So I left it on to try to get the flat higher so it wouldn't be as tough. Flat IT reached 192 before I foiled and toweled them in a cooler, where they rested for 2 hours before slicing. I didn't check the point IT, but based on its texture it probably reached 210. They were both unwrapped the entire time.
Dry rub is straight forward equal portions of salt, black pepper, and granulated garlic.
The finished product looked great when it came off the smoker. And It was still better than I've had in many supposedly good Q restaurants, so I'm not complaining. But I'm a perfectionist about these things. So anything anyone can share to improve my flat is greatly appreciated.
