I picked up a 12 pound choice brisket packer from Wallyworld yesterday morning. I followed the recipe for brisket from Big Bob Gibson's cookbook. It was a very simple wet rub then dry rub. No overnight marinade, just right onto the smoker at 225F. I didn't trim any of the fat off either. I was considering separating it into flat and point or possibly even cutting it in the middle to make it fit into the MES. After reading another post on here of someone jamming the packer into their MES whole, I decided to take that approach.
Here it is out of the packaging: Look at all of that fat! OMG, is this really going to be a good idea?
Rubbed:
After a brief struggle, I was able to cram that sucker in there fat side up:
After 3 hours at 225F, I pulled the veggies for au jus.
I forgot to pick up the fixings for au jus when I was at the store! Oops! Instead, I used a can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom, a can of Campbell's French Onion, and a can of water.
After 8 hours at 225F, I checked IT. The flat was 170F and the point was 180F. I decided to pull the meat from the smoker to separate the point from the flat.
Man, look at that bark!
So, I tried to separate the point, but there was just so much juice coming out and it was really hot.
So, I decided to let it rest wrapped in foil in a cooler for 2 hours. At that point, I cubed up the point. I probably should have put the flat back into the smoker to bring it up to 190F. Flat IT was now at 140-145F area. However, I was really tired and the beer was taking it's toll. So, I wrapped in foil and put it into baking dish and into the oven at the lowest setting(205F.) I set a timer for 3 hours and hit the sack. I also had put the cubed point into the fridge to smoke the next day.
Here's that au jus:
I strained out the veggies and skimmed as much of the fat off as I could. Then I put it in the fridge to make it easy to skim the fat off the top the next day. Sorry, no more pics of the au jus. It didn't look very appetizing, but tasted and smelled great!
When I awoke 3 hours later, I turned off the oven and left the flat in to rest as the oven slowly cooled down and I got some more sleep. When I woke up again, I tried a slice of that. It was still warm and soo good! Sorry, I didn't take a picture of it. I think I did really well! There was still a lot of fat on there, but I just ate around it. It was very moist and very tender. The basic rub just enhanced the natural beef flavor. That's it. I think next time I might add some heat to the rub, but this is some serious brisket for the masses. It was the best I've ever had.
Here's a couple pictures of it cold sliced(it was still awesome cold!):
Now on to the burnt ends! Here they are tossed in a light coating of au jus and bbq sauce(I used Open Pit.):
Dusted in some spicy beef rub:
After 2.5 hours at 225F:
Close up:
Man, they were really good! I think I'll go a little heavier on the sauce next time. The only thing I found was some of the pieces were still a bit on the fatty side. I felt like I was chewing the cud.
All in all, I am very pleased. I was a bit skeptical at Wallyworld. I was pretty close to buying a trimmed flat that weighed 5 pounds and cost $5 less than the whole packer. Now I'm glad I didn't. I think I'll only do whole ones from now on.
Thanks for looking!
Here it is out of the packaging: Look at all of that fat! OMG, is this really going to be a good idea?
Rubbed:
After a brief struggle, I was able to cram that sucker in there fat side up:
After 3 hours at 225F, I pulled the veggies for au jus.
I forgot to pick up the fixings for au jus when I was at the store! Oops! Instead, I used a can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom, a can of Campbell's French Onion, and a can of water.
After 8 hours at 225F, I checked IT. The flat was 170F and the point was 180F. I decided to pull the meat from the smoker to separate the point from the flat.
Man, look at that bark!
So, I tried to separate the point, but there was just so much juice coming out and it was really hot.
So, I decided to let it rest wrapped in foil in a cooler for 2 hours. At that point, I cubed up the point. I probably should have put the flat back into the smoker to bring it up to 190F. Flat IT was now at 140-145F area. However, I was really tired and the beer was taking it's toll. So, I wrapped in foil and put it into baking dish and into the oven at the lowest setting(205F.) I set a timer for 3 hours and hit the sack. I also had put the cubed point into the fridge to smoke the next day.
Here's that au jus:
I strained out the veggies and skimmed as much of the fat off as I could. Then I put it in the fridge to make it easy to skim the fat off the top the next day. Sorry, no more pics of the au jus. It didn't look very appetizing, but tasted and smelled great!
When I awoke 3 hours later, I turned off the oven and left the flat in to rest as the oven slowly cooled down and I got some more sleep. When I woke up again, I tried a slice of that. It was still warm and soo good! Sorry, I didn't take a picture of it. I think I did really well! There was still a lot of fat on there, but I just ate around it. It was very moist and very tender. The basic rub just enhanced the natural beef flavor. That's it. I think next time I might add some heat to the rub, but this is some serious brisket for the masses. It was the best I've ever had.
Here's a couple pictures of it cold sliced(it was still awesome cold!):
Now on to the burnt ends! Here they are tossed in a light coating of au jus and bbq sauce(I used Open Pit.):
Dusted in some spicy beef rub:
After 2.5 hours at 225F:
Close up:
Man, they were really good! I think I'll go a little heavier on the sauce next time. The only thing I found was some of the pieces were still a bit on the fatty side. I felt like I was chewing the cud.
All in all, I am very pleased. I was a bit skeptical at Wallyworld. I was pretty close to buying a trimmed flat that weighed 5 pounds and cost $5 less than the whole packer. Now I'm glad I didn't. I think I'll only do whole ones from now on.
Thanks for looking!
