Good Friday Q: Brisky, snausages, chuck, and sides (final name change, I promise)

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What should I cook up?

  • Do a big ol' chuck

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Whole packer

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
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i is a moose

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Feb 14, 2011
357
14
The West Coast, USA
Getting some family and friends up to the property for this coming Friday (Good Friday dinner), and I originally wanted to do a turkey, but the more I linger on it, the more I'm sold by the notion of doing beef, but here's the catch:

I really wanna do a brisket.

I really wanna do a chuck.

I can't decide. I need help!

On one hand, shredded chuck is awesome, I think I'd probably do a simple marinade, and rub on some SPOG and cayenne. Pick out a nice, big one, too, so I could sacrifice 1/3 or so for the greater good (I mean, burnt ends).

On the other hand, a whole packer is always awesome, I've been talking to a friend in Texas, who's been sharing his secrets with me on the subject, and I'm eager to try his methods out. I think I'd end up burying it in my Southwestern-style rub, and following the master's advice on this one...

What's SMF's opinion?
 
I think either one would be an excellent choice. The chuck would be a little more predictable as far as finish time, but it sounds like you really want to try your new method with the brisket. I say go for the brisket. Use your new method & then let us know what it is & how it came out, and of course don't forget the Q-view.
 
I think either one would be an excellent choice. The chuck would be a little more predictable as far as finish time, but it sounds like you really want to try your new method with the brisket. I say go for the brisket. Use your new method & then let us know what it is & how it came out, and of course don't forget the Q-view.
Thanks Al, I'm leaning toward this, too.

My final decision will be price though-

I buy my big cuts from restaurant supply shops here in town, and if the prices are fair, I may do both, and horde the leftovers in the freezer.

We'll see.
 
 
alrighty then, today we're going to see phase 1 of my adaptation of Texican's brisket method.

His system is:
- Leave it whole
- Season it simply (if at all, he doesn't)
- smoke it slow, target temp being 215
- Leave it alone for a long time.
- no foil.

My adaptations:
- use of a probe thermometer
- a simple spice rub
Mostly black pepper and onion powder, some garlic, cayenne mustard, and 2 T or brown sugar:

that's it.


so, I picked through the pile of cow at the local Cash-n-Carry, and found one that folded back onto itself easily, as the pic demonstrates:


It was a whole 15 lbs!


I turned it loose on the cutting board


and scored it crosswise with my boning knife


Salt, pepper, olive oil, and rub



And off into the dungeon until tomorrow:




Now, with the low temperture, I'm willing to tack on an extra 15 minutes a pound for the difference. Add that to the 90 minutes per pound benchmark, and 15 pounds of animal means I'm looking at about 26.25 hours. So, if I want it absolutely ready by Friday's dinner, I want to start it no later than 1000 Thursday, ideally finishing it at 1200 Friday. If it takes longer, I got room, and if it takes less, I can stuff it into a cooler with a brick from the smoker. If it finishes right on time, then I can just stuff it in the cooler.
 
[quote name="Fife" url="/forum/thread/105501/good-friday-q-1-vote-says-it-s-brisket#post_621300"]
O just do both.


[/quote]

I plan on snagging a small cut of chuck for making burned ends.
 
LOL, I f it was me I'd do both, but you mentioned Good Friday and that's typically a day of abstaining from meat......Maybe smoke some salmon?
 
LOL, I f it was me I'd do both, but you mentioned Good Friday and that's typically a day of abstaining from meat......Maybe smoke some salmon?
Isn't that just a catholic thing? I guess I don't  know for sure.  I was never big  into the whole not eating meat on Friday thing. I'm Lutheran so we  didn't have to deal with that. My vote was for doing both the chuckie and the brisket. Hey smoked salmon sounds  awesome to for any of your guests that cant eat meat that day. Dan brings up a good point.
 
Brisket is hard to beat but if you do both you have the best of both worlds...
 
[quote name="DanMcG" url="/forum/thread/105501/good-friday-q-1-vote-says-it-s-brisket#post_621362"]
LOL, I f it was me I'd do both, but you mentioned Good Friday and that's typically a day of abstaining from meat......Maybe smoke some salmon?
[/quote]

Salmon would be good too. Next time!

[quote name="rbranstner" url="/forum/thread/105501/good-friday-q-1-vote-says-it-s-brisket#post_621368"]


Isn't that just a catholic thing? I guess I don't  know for sure.  I was never big  into the whole not eating meat on Friday thing. I'm Lutheran so we  didn't have to deal with that. My vote was for doing both the chuckie and the brisket. Hey smoked salmon sounds  awesome to for any of your guests that cant eat meat that day. Dan brings up a good point.

[/quote]

Yeah, I'm Evangelical, so we're okay eating meat all the time, I'd go nuts if i couldn't. :grilling_smilie:
So far our only conformed guests are my uncle, who's of the same mindset, and my girl, everybody's bailing on us. More briskey for me!

[quote name="Beer-B-Q" url="/forum/thread/105501/good-friday-q-1-vote-says-it-s-brisket#post_621379"]
Brisket is hard to beat but if you do both you have the best of both worlds...
[/quote]

I'm getting this overwhelming sense of the importance of both.
 
Got the meat on the heat today.

I figured that while I was experimenting with the brisket, I may as well experiment in other fields as well, I do admire Dr. Clayton Forrester afterall.


Experiment #1:
I like the insulative properties of the WSMC water pan, but it flashes off in steam, and as time passes, it's insulation fades, so I switched to filling it with sand. The sand pan kept steady like a rock, the most constant put-it-where-you-like-and-forget-about-it heat I've ever seen in my smoker, but it was an arid environment, none of the additional humidity that water would provide, and with long-term smokes, the heat would build up, and gradually creep up. Neither yielded "perfect" results.

My solution: the "Mud Pan" I saturated the sand with water, a which would steam off, and cool the sand, helping even out the temperature fluctuations by managing heat with capillary action, and adding moisture to the air.



Experiment #2
A poor man's AMNS. I have an old stainless colander that I used to store body bolts from my 40. I decided instead that it would make an excellent chip and chunk pan for my smoker. I doubt it will work as well as mixing the chunks in, and no way will it work as well as Todd's awesome product, but it seemed worthwhile, and it cost me nothing to do. We'll see the results.



Meanwhile, I let the brisket warm up for an hour on the counter, while I readied my machine.


Seasoned a small 1.5 LB chuck:


In a large zip-top bag, I made a slurry of southwestern rub, worchestershire sauce, red wine, and DR. Pepper into a slurry:


Added the chuck, burped the air out, and bundled it together:


And into the dungeon until tomorrow morning. The Plan? Three hours whole, then cubed, tossed into a reduction of the marinade, and back on the heat until crispy.

Following this, I seasoned 2 lbs of Hot Italian Snausage, my second favorite (my actual favorite is already smoked, so no need to break out the department of redundancy department there)

Salt and Pepper, and into a Zip-top with Worchestershire. (no pics of that, sorry!)


By this time, the coals were ready:


Mudpan in:


and now the waiting game...
 
Last edited:
Everything looks great so far moose. We will be waiting.

popcorn.gif
 
Thanks!

You know the problem with a big ol' pan full of mud? It's heavy. Yet the hooks for the water pan are so soft...

I had to drastically bend them, but now I've stopped dropping the pan on the coals.
 
I went to bed at 1600 with the meat stalled out at at 156, in a 215 smoker; and slept poorly worrying about the meat, and the foxes, finally I got up at 2100, and the meat was at 177, and the smoker was running warm at about 250.
I've adjusted the smoker a bit, but know that from now on, it'll just get cooler outside. Fuel is fine, and I hope to rest better until about midnight, when I'll take a more active role in monitoring the smoker to make sure it doesn't get too cool in the morning.
 
The meat was done, surprisingly enough, at 2200 temped out, passed the pocket-knife test and everything. I wrapped it in foil and plastic, tripple-wrapped it in towels, and let it rest until midnight, then parked it in the coldest part of the fridge.

I plan to add some liquid to it, and reheat it in the oven. I'm not happy it finished up so soon, but I'm happy I have more control of when it will be ready.
 
Very interesting story...so, 12 hours for a 15 pound brisket to be done? Not actually having done a whole brisket yet but constantly reading up on them on here to be prepared for the timeframe I'm wondering if that was very fast? Also, how did the mud bath thing work out? I've switched to sand in the waterpan and never thought of that, but it makes some sense for a long smoke....
 
[quote name="Chef Willie" url="/forum/thread/105501/good-friday-q-brisky-snausages-chuck-and-sides-final-name-change-i-promise#post_622049"]
Very interesting story...so, 12 hours for a 15 pound brisket to be done? Not actually having done a whole brisket yet but constantly reading up on them on here to be prepared for the timeframe I'm wondering if that was very fast? Also, how did the mud bath thing work out? I've switched to sand in the waterpan and never thought of that, but it makes some sense for a long smoke....
[/quote]

yeah, I have no idea about the time, it weirded me out. Temp was 215 between the start at 0930 and when I went to sleep at 1630. when I woke at 2100, it was up to 250, which isn't drastic enough a change to really race the cooking time, and then when I pulled it at 2200, it was back to 215.
 
I think the fast finish time was due to the brisket being as flexible as you showed in the initial photo's. I bet it's real tender too. When I buy brisket or corned beef for that matter I always look for the ones that bend the most, but I've never seen one that would bend back that far. Let us know how it tastes & how tender it is.
 
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