Flaming Smoky Okie Brisket & Fatty.

[navionjim]

I did get to smoke over the weekend and planned to Q-view everything but my camera broke before I could get the finish shot! Actually just the LED screen broke and I could have taken the shot but I didn't realize it then!

I got the before shots though and the flaming brisket you see is folded in half and searing madly over a bed of lump in the fire pan I'm using in the Texas Pig Iron Smoker I recently picked up for free. I'm still having problems getting the temperature up where I want it but it's working pretty well at least for brisket. I'm gong to try a butt this weekend and see how that goes.

Once the brisket was throughly burned up I moved the fire pan to the firebox end of the pig and stoked it up with more lump and sticks. So far I've given up trying to get a read on the internal meat temp. I just keep feeding the fire for the next 20 hours or so and trust to luck. That has worked pretty well for the last three briskets now, but I'd like to get a better handle on that.

The Fatty was made from home made 1.5 lbs of my Italian sausage, filled with homemade pesto and roasted vegetable marinara sauces, handmade granoke potato pasta, fresh raw garlic cloves, kalmata olives, pepperoni slices, and a whole butt load of Regieano Parmesano cheese. All of it drizzled with EVVO and balsamic vinegar. The outside was rolled in Jeff's Rub and the whole thing was smoked for four hours. I wish I had a shot of it sliced, it was pretty, and it Tasted terrifically Italian.

There was also a version of Dutchâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s WBB with a bunch of Jeff's BBQ Sauce added to it, that adds a nice twist I think. I wish I could have taken a picture of it all laid out, but sXXt happened.

My camera is in the shop now I hope to be getting it back soon. At least dinner worked out well!
Jimbo

 

[cowgirl]

Well the pictures you have and your description sure sound good.

Beats my Easter dinner all to heck.

 

[navionjim]

Somehow I doubt that Cowgirl, from what I can tell you do everything well!

 

[peculiarmike]

Once the brisket was throughly burned up I moved the fire pan to the firebox end of the pig and stoked it up with more lump and sticks. So far I've given up trying to get a read on the internal meat temp. I just keep feeding the fire for the next 20 hours or so and trust to luck. That has worked pretty well for the last three briskets now, but I'd like to get a better handle on that.

QUOTE]

Couple thoughts -
The object of the game is a nice blackened sear, not "thoroughly burned up".
The sear just adds excellent flavor.
Do you have a remote digital thermometer? You can pick one up at Lowe's for under $20, simple to use. Then you can cook to temperature and know what you have.
Trusting to luck requires no skill. Developing your smoking skills will give you the "better handle" you desire, and better results.
$.02

 

[richtee]

Any cherry going into the firebox? :{)

 

[ba_loko]

I'll say first that I've yet to try this method. However, it is my understanding that the searing commences at the beginning of the process and once that is complete, it moves to the smoker. There should not be any feeding the fire for the next 20 hours or so" if your intention is to maintain the high searing heat. Once the searing is complete, your normal brisket technique should be applied. Am I understanding the process wrong?

 

[mossymo]

BA_LoKo
I agree with your comment. I bookmarked this thread a few hours ago hoping more may ask... I am hoping that the brisket smoke from start to finish was a mistype.....

Navionjim
I am not being cynical at all. But would like to know after the searing what the temperature was in the smoker for the brisket.

I am learning so much from this site that my curiousity is peaked !!!

 

[navionjim]

In response to all the above, please forgive my poor attempt at humor. I didn't really "throughly burn it up" P-Mike. The searing step only requires a few minutes over intense heat. After that the brisket goes into the smoke chamber and is smoked cooked just as it would be without the searing step.

I have three remote thermometers in my possession but unfortunately I had very few batteries on hand. The smoker itself is a oil field welded 3/8 thick piece of pipeline steel and was given to me if in exchange for hauling it from where it had been sitting for some years, this was only the third time I'd used it. The door is so heavy it would easily crush any probe lead I tried to run from the inside to an external transmitter, so down the stack is the only way to run a probe, and that has proved to be problematic as well.

I normally use my NNB vertical smoker and I'm just sort of feeling this smoker out right now. It is very heavy (500+ Lbs) and the firebox is fairly small, its actually the last foot of the same pipe as the smoke chamber with some vertical baffling separating the fire from the smoke chamber. My Locally born Texan wife tells me it was pretty much a tradition in the oil field to have the pipe-fitters build these for an all day brisket smoke to be served to the workers, she has seen many smokers that were built much like this one in her lifetime.

When I had a working thermometer in the smoke chamber I had to fight to get it to 210ºF due to the small firebox and the mass of the steel. But once everything is eventually heated up it holds it's temperature forever (unless the door is opened that is). In this case I know I had it up to 210ºF for the first few hours, but then my batteries died. I didn't want to keep opening the door to check the temp so I just kept the fire about the same as it had been for the rest of the time, The last eight hours I covered the pan with foil (Smoky Okie method remember) and the last five hours I allowed the fire to burn itself out, the smoker held at least as much heat as the brisket would have if it were wrapped in towels and stuck in a cooler. And besides I was asleep by that time.

I'm normally pretty anal about checking the time and the temperature both of the meat and the smoke chamber. Thats why I have three remote thermometers. I use them all when smoking in my NBB Vertical. But this smoker Is like nothing I've seen before. It's totally a Texan innovation.

Whoever put this "Iron Pig" together built it for one sole purpose and that was to slow smoke a large brisket. And I doubt they ever considered a thermometer back then either. The size of the firebox seams to be proportioned to the smoke chamber which is just about the length of a large packer brisket. I'm betting the roughnecks just loaded it up and left it alone for the rest of the day, except for stoking the fire every few hours. It seems to have been specifically designed to be used that way and it seems to work pretty well. I'll be using all my tools next time, but I think them ol boys knew what they were doing when they built this thing.

 

[smokin for life]

I've always wanted to do the smoky okie method but never had any way to get the high heat to sear it. But at last some one just gave me a little charcoal smoker. It's really small and short but I bet I could fill it with lump charcoal and sear my brisket. As soon as I do it I'll post some Q-View. Will it still work if I just use the flat? I can't get a packer here.

 

[ba_loko]

You do realize that the Okie method only takes 6-8 hours, per his instructions, right?

 

[richtee]

Assuming no plateau... Searing has no effect on that.

 

[navionjim]

Yep I know thats supposed to be the case but other than the first time I did it it has worked out to be more like 12 hours for me. I've certainly gone longer than necessary the last couple of time using this new smoker. The prime reason being that I like to sleep in after those late night smokes and the declining temp is about what the brisket would experience wrapped up and placed in a cooler.
Jimbo