First things first, I would like to thank all of you that have posted how you smoke the different cuts of meat and how you make your rubâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s and sauces. Without the information I found on this site my cookout this weekend would not have been as successful as it was.
The firs problem I had was finding a brisket, (Wall-World…No, Winn-Dixie…No Albertsonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s…No). I finally found a butcher at Publix that would actually talk to me. He had flats but no packers so I took the only one he had a 6 #. Almost the entire fat cap was trimmed off. In the future, I will start looking for my meat way ahead of time. Probably should have checked Samâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s or Costco but I was running out of time. And half of the so-called butcherâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s had no Idea what a packer was.
Friday nigh I put the meat in Italian dressing to marinade overnight. I bought a beef rub but I only wanted it for a taste comparison of the rub I was going to make from scratch. Hereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s where I admit to not taking notes. I have no earthly idea what I put in my rub but it was tasty.
Up at 4:00 am, loaded the smoker and started the charcoal in the chimney… I had soaked my hickory chunks the night before. Got the ECB up to temp around 5:30am and loaded up the meat. About ever hour or so I sprayed it with apple juice with a little cinnamon mixed in.
I found that the hickory chunks would flame up every now and then and cause the temp in the ECB to go up 10 to 20 degrees. I used a pair of tongs to remove the chunks until they turned into charcoal and returned them to the ECB. After that I pre burned the chunks and that seem to help a lot. I also found that I could regulate the temp down by opening the door just a little when it would spike.
About noon the meat hit about 154 degrees and stayed there for almost an hour and a half. I was beginning to wonder if my ET-73 was working properly…it was. About 2:30 pm meat temp reached 175, pulled meat off, wrapped in foil and put in the oven to rest and then put two whole chickenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s on that I had brined for about 4 hours to smoke.
At 4:30 to 5:00 pm my hungry friend started to show up. I let em sit around and drink my beer and smell the smoker working until the chicken was done. My ET-73 was referred to as redneck high tech.
When I went to slice the brisket I could not believe how tender it came out…it was fall off the bone tender. The chickens were very moist and tender. Several of my friends thought I should open a BBQ joint. By the way my girlfriend is a master chef but she is not allowed to be involved in the smoking process, she dose everything else.
Again, thanks to everyone here because this is where I gained the knowledge to even think of smoking my first brisket.
The firs problem I had was finding a brisket, (Wall-World…No, Winn-Dixie…No Albertsonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s…No). I finally found a butcher at Publix that would actually talk to me. He had flats but no packers so I took the only one he had a 6 #. Almost the entire fat cap was trimmed off. In the future, I will start looking for my meat way ahead of time. Probably should have checked Samâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s or Costco but I was running out of time. And half of the so-called butcherâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s had no Idea what a packer was.
Friday nigh I put the meat in Italian dressing to marinade overnight. I bought a beef rub but I only wanted it for a taste comparison of the rub I was going to make from scratch. Hereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s where I admit to not taking notes. I have no earthly idea what I put in my rub but it was tasty.
Up at 4:00 am, loaded the smoker and started the charcoal in the chimney… I had soaked my hickory chunks the night before. Got the ECB up to temp around 5:30am and loaded up the meat. About ever hour or so I sprayed it with apple juice with a little cinnamon mixed in.
I found that the hickory chunks would flame up every now and then and cause the temp in the ECB to go up 10 to 20 degrees. I used a pair of tongs to remove the chunks until they turned into charcoal and returned them to the ECB. After that I pre burned the chunks and that seem to help a lot. I also found that I could regulate the temp down by opening the door just a little when it would spike.
About noon the meat hit about 154 degrees and stayed there for almost an hour and a half. I was beginning to wonder if my ET-73 was working properly…it was. About 2:30 pm meat temp reached 175, pulled meat off, wrapped in foil and put in the oven to rest and then put two whole chickenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s on that I had brined for about 4 hours to smoke.
At 4:30 to 5:00 pm my hungry friend started to show up. I let em sit around and drink my beer and smell the smoker working until the chicken was done. My ET-73 was referred to as redneck high tech.
When I went to slice the brisket I could not believe how tender it came out…it was fall off the bone tender. The chickens were very moist and tender. Several of my friends thought I should open a BBQ joint. By the way my girlfriend is a master chef but she is not allowed to be involved in the smoking process, she dose everything else.
Again, thanks to everyone here because this is where I gained the knowledge to even think of smoking my first brisket.