I will preface this by saying I probably have 15-20 briskets under my belt. Some with very good results, some with less than desired results. I usually find an 11-15lb prime packer from Costco. I usually smoke at 275 and foil at 160-165. I only use SPOG.
This past weekend I thought I was going to be cooking for a crowd of 14-16. I figured I would need a little bigger cut and found a 20lb packer at Costco. I was a bit reluctant as part of the flat was about 1 1/2" thick on the edge while the end with the point was about 5".
Originally I was going to try the hot and fast method so I decided to injected it with 3 cups of beef broth with phosphate in it and then rubbed with with SPOG. It was about 10:30 pm Friday night. My plan was to start the smoke at 4:00 am at 325 and lower the temp throughout the day if it looked like it was going to be finished too early.
At 11:00 pm my buddy who's cabin we were staying at convinced me to throw the brisket on then. We set the rec tec for 235 and put the packer on. At 4:00 am I checked the internal temp and the flat end was 148 while point end was 141. I started to worry that it might finish too early and, not wanting to have to get up every hour to check the temp, I dropped rec tec to 215. at 8:00 the flat was at 155 and the point end was 153. I upped the temp to 240. 10:00 both end were at roughly 158.
To make a long story shorter, When it hit 164 around noon, I wrapped it in butchers paper instead of foiling. I wanted to try and get a great bark. It took the meat about three hours to get from 194 to 205 with the temp bumped up to 265. When I unwrapped from the butcher paper, the bottom of the brisket (fat cap down) stuck to the paper and peeled of the fat cap layer. I separated the point from the flat. put the flat in a cooler to rest and cut the point up for burnt ends.
Has anyone else had issues with meat sticking to butcher paper?
My lesson learned is that I don't think I will ever use a packer this big again. Too much mass and variations in thickness to get even cooking. And the more I thought about it, to get a cut that big, the animal was probably an older animal to get to that size.
The burnt ends turned out great and about half of the flat (the thicker part) turned out well also. The thinner part will be used for cowboy beans and chili.
This past weekend I thought I was going to be cooking for a crowd of 14-16. I figured I would need a little bigger cut and found a 20lb packer at Costco. I was a bit reluctant as part of the flat was about 1 1/2" thick on the edge while the end with the point was about 5".
Originally I was going to try the hot and fast method so I decided to injected it with 3 cups of beef broth with phosphate in it and then rubbed with with SPOG. It was about 10:30 pm Friday night. My plan was to start the smoke at 4:00 am at 325 and lower the temp throughout the day if it looked like it was going to be finished too early.
At 11:00 pm my buddy who's cabin we were staying at convinced me to throw the brisket on then. We set the rec tec for 235 and put the packer on. At 4:00 am I checked the internal temp and the flat end was 148 while point end was 141. I started to worry that it might finish too early and, not wanting to have to get up every hour to check the temp, I dropped rec tec to 215. at 8:00 the flat was at 155 and the point end was 153. I upped the temp to 240. 10:00 both end were at roughly 158.
To make a long story shorter, When it hit 164 around noon, I wrapped it in butchers paper instead of foiling. I wanted to try and get a great bark. It took the meat about three hours to get from 194 to 205 with the temp bumped up to 265. When I unwrapped from the butcher paper, the bottom of the brisket (fat cap down) stuck to the paper and peeled of the fat cap layer. I separated the point from the flat. put the flat in a cooler to rest and cut the point up for burnt ends.
Has anyone else had issues with meat sticking to butcher paper?
My lesson learned is that I don't think I will ever use a packer this big again. Too much mass and variations in thickness to get even cooking. And the more I thought about it, to get a cut that big, the animal was probably an older animal to get to that size.
The burnt ends turned out great and about half of the flat (the thicker part) turned out well also. The thinner part will be used for cowboy beans and chili.
