- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 409
Hi again everyone! This is part two of my brisket brine/curing project which I started yesterday (Cherry Spiced Cured Brisket) which left me with some goodies to smoke today. I like doing these types of projects, as a whole brisket is more than we can eat in a meal, and it gives me a chance to do some curing for a later smoke and have a nice dinner smoke as well, without freezing the leftovers.
I had about 1.5lbs of flat and a point left from a 12-3/4lb brisket curing project I started yesterday afternoon, so today I get to smoke up some nicely trimmed point and the remains of the flat for dinner tonight.
The point with the edges and fat trimmed away:
The point and flat remnants rubbed with my red bell pepper rub (by request), wrapped and ready for the fridge...this was @ 2:00 pm yesterday, so these got a 16-hr rest to soak up some rub flavors while they waited:
Loading the grates in the Smoke Vault 24...I'll center these pieces on the grates so I have plenty of side/front/rear wall clearance. Also, I'll load the small flat cut remnants over the point cut so it gets some heat baffling from the point. This will help it cook slower or else it would be finished in about 1/3-1/2 the time the point will take:
The little piece towards the rear was a flap about 1" thick and 3" long which was loose from a rough meat cutter at the processing plant. I cut it off so I wouldn't have it hanging and getting over-cooked. It should make a nice snack for the chef in about 4 hours or so...hmm, brisket jerky? Naw, that would be some serious chewing!!! I'll probably toss it into some foil after it firms up in several hours...it's way too small to probe for temps, so I'll use the touchy-feely method:
Got SNOW??? Starting-up with a cold smoke, in the literal sense of the term. Tossed the pan full of snow before I fired the burner to get the smoke wood tray hot. This will keep the humidity low in the chamber until it heats up, yet not leave pan completely dry while I'm heating things up. I don't like to pour liquids of any kind into a hot pan, as in this case, pan warp-age could easily result, and excessive steaming into the smoke chamber will result:
Smoke is on @ 7:50 am MST with hickory chips for smoke, building up from cold to 200* chamber temps in 5-6 minutes , and holding it @ 200* for the first 45 minutes. I bumped it up to 220* and will let it ride there for the next 4 hours until I probe the point for internals and decide about when it's time to foil and rest the point before cubing it up and re-seasoning for a hot smoke (300* or so) to finish up the burnt ends.
It's warm this morning...well, for here in January...33* @ 9:30 am...watch out for that global warming! Ha-ha-ha!!! Got a warm weather break in between storm fronts...been almost -20* nights for the past several days and barely above 0* for daytime highs with fresh snow on a regular basis.
Anyway, just wanted to get this started while I had the chance. Pic uploads are sheer torture lately for some reason...about 90 minutes for 10-12 pics. So, I'll bring you the rest of the story as it unfolds.
Thanks all!
Eric
I had about 1.5lbs of flat and a point left from a 12-3/4lb brisket curing project I started yesterday afternoon, so today I get to smoke up some nicely trimmed point and the remains of the flat for dinner tonight.
The point with the edges and fat trimmed away:
The point and flat remnants rubbed with my red bell pepper rub (by request), wrapped and ready for the fridge...this was @ 2:00 pm yesterday, so these got a 16-hr rest to soak up some rub flavors while they waited:
Loading the grates in the Smoke Vault 24...I'll center these pieces on the grates so I have plenty of side/front/rear wall clearance. Also, I'll load the small flat cut remnants over the point cut so it gets some heat baffling from the point. This will help it cook slower or else it would be finished in about 1/3-1/2 the time the point will take:
The little piece towards the rear was a flap about 1" thick and 3" long which was loose from a rough meat cutter at the processing plant. I cut it off so I wouldn't have it hanging and getting over-cooked. It should make a nice snack for the chef in about 4 hours or so...hmm, brisket jerky? Naw, that would be some serious chewing!!! I'll probably toss it into some foil after it firms up in several hours...it's way too small to probe for temps, so I'll use the touchy-feely method:
Got SNOW??? Starting-up with a cold smoke, in the literal sense of the term. Tossed the pan full of snow before I fired the burner to get the smoke wood tray hot. This will keep the humidity low in the chamber until it heats up, yet not leave pan completely dry while I'm heating things up. I don't like to pour liquids of any kind into a hot pan, as in this case, pan warp-age could easily result, and excessive steaming into the smoke chamber will result:
Smoke is on @ 7:50 am MST with hickory chips for smoke, building up from cold to 200* chamber temps in 5-6 minutes , and holding it @ 200* for the first 45 minutes. I bumped it up to 220* and will let it ride there for the next 4 hours until I probe the point for internals and decide about when it's time to foil and rest the point before cubing it up and re-seasoning for a hot smoke (300* or so) to finish up the burnt ends.
It's warm this morning...well, for here in January...33* @ 9:30 am...watch out for that global warming! Ha-ha-ha!!! Got a warm weather break in between storm fronts...been almost -20* nights for the past several days and barely above 0* for daytime highs with fresh snow on a regular basis.
Anyway, just wanted to get this started while I had the chance. Pic uploads are sheer torture lately for some reason...about 90 minutes for 10-12 pics. So, I'll bring you the rest of the story as it unfolds.
Thanks all!
Eric
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