I cooked my first brisket on the Pecos Saturday. It took three trips to different grocery stores to find a decent packer that wasn’t an $86 Prime cut, but I ended up with a Choice-grade brisket just shy of 12 pounds before trimming.
Based on weight, I was anticipating an 11- or 12-hour cook. Except for a brief runaway moment when temps spiked to 350 (a log place in the firebox to warm ignited), the entire nine-hour cook was between 225 and 250. At five hours’ cook time, I wrapped in butcher paper. Given the cook time I was expecting, I overcooked this one just a bit — I kept it rolling about an hour after IT reached 200.
The results were better than expected; this was easily my best brisket to date. (After a few years of trying them in a little water smoker, I know that’s not saying much!) The bark left a bit to be desired, but my wife had insisted that I take things extremely easy with the salt-and-pepper rub. In the end, the meat was tender, juicy and had a great smoky flavor.
Based on weight, I was anticipating an 11- or 12-hour cook. Except for a brief runaway moment when temps spiked to 350 (a log place in the firebox to warm ignited), the entire nine-hour cook was between 225 and 250. At five hours’ cook time, I wrapped in butcher paper. Given the cook time I was expecting, I overcooked this one just a bit — I kept it rolling about an hour after IT reached 200.
The results were better than expected; this was easily my best brisket to date. (After a few years of trying them in a little water smoker, I know that’s not saying much!) The bark left a bit to be desired, but my wife had insisted that I take things extremely easy with the salt-and-pepper rub. In the end, the meat was tender, juicy and had a great smoky flavor.
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