***Official Gatorchatter BBQ Thread***
- Thread starter SaltGator
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- Jul 28, 2014
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Ray Finkle;n246430 said:Smoked up a brisket yesterday. This was my 5th one and my best one yet.
A thing of beauty!
Alex.
- Jun 11, 2014
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Looks really well done...damn now i want some brisketRay Finkle;n246430 said:Smoked up a brisket yesterday. This was my 5th one and my best one yet.
- Jun 11, 2014
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Thanks all. A lot of nice things said about my brisket so I will return the favor and go through my set up and steps for how I smoked that beauty. Brisket is my favorite smoked meat and why I bought my smoker. I am a big advocate of getting good at one thing before moving on to something else, so for the most part I just do beef.
I don't use anything fancy. Just a Brinkmann offset. You can get one for like $120 or something. Spend your money on better meat, keep your rub simple, and practice. I prefer woods that are fairly weak for beef. Every time we have people over I will smoke something up. People seem to get really hung up on maintaining temp. I really don't worry about that being that precise to tell you the truth. I gauge it by the amount of coals/wood in the box. I will wrap it at the stall, usually with butcher paper but will resort to foil in a pinch. At that time I will add a little somethin somethin as a baste to help, but its more for flavor than anything. Every time I am right at an hour per pound of brisket. Here are my "secrets":
Meat:
Brisket (duh). Go to a butcher shop if you can. They will charge you a ton but it makes for a better product. I have bought lesser meats and you can get away with it if you make sure the fat isn't too tough and the meat isn't really discolored or anything. Make sure the brisket you select isn't too fatty. Fat is good and it can and will be trimmed up, but you pay for that fat too. For God's sake, buy a brisket with the point attached. A brisket without a point is just that; pointless. When done right, the point is the best part of the cow IMO.
Prep:
I will buy it about two days before I plan to smoke it. Take it home, open it up, and get to trimming. I usually end up trimming off a good 2-3 lbs of fat. The fatty bottom side should be a pretty consistent 1/4" so that it all renders. Trim out the decal, but not too much to where the point separates from the flat. Trim off any pieces of muscle that feel dry our tough; they do nothing but take away from your brisket. Trim up as much silverskin as you have patience for, but a little here and there is not going to hurt it like it will on ribs. After it's all trimmed up, I apply my rub. It is a very secret combination that my friends here may have. Coarse pepper, kosher salt. That is all. I will wrap it up and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, setting it out about two hours or so before it is scheduled to hit the smoker. Here is what it looked like prepped up...
The Smoke:
I basically said it all earlier. I smoke based on coal/wood size that I have found to be right on. In mine it is about three handfuls of coal and I will throw hickory on as I feel fit. I will usually do a piece or two of apple but after a while you are just burning off wood. When the bark starts to look right and the stall hits, I will wrap it. My one treatment of basting is some soy, some worcestershire sauce, and some water. Not a lot, just enough to moisten the beef a little and it adds a nice flavor to the drippings. I will take mine off when the internal temp hits around 175. Some take it off as early as 165, some let it get up to over 200. That is your call. Make sure you take into account the weight you trim off in your cook time! Made this mistake before. You do not want your brisket resting for 4 hours.
Rest:
When it gets where you want it, put it in a cooler still wrapped. I will usually throw a towel around it too. Let it rest for around an hour and a half or so.
Slicing:
This is actually a more important part than one might think. You can adjust your slices to complement your brisket to make up for any mishaps. Thinner for less done, thicker for over cooked. In my other pic is what they are if you get it right (3/8"ish). Do what you want with the point. I go back and forth between doing burnt ends and just slicing a little thicker slices of the heavenly beef bacon.
Give it a shot if you have time and the right set up. Let me know if you try it, want to try it but have questions, or have any input AFTER you do it like this
Don't wanna hear the noise if you are set on another way. Happy eating, I'd love to hear some other favorites you guys have.
I don't use anything fancy. Just a Brinkmann offset. You can get one for like $120 or something. Spend your money on better meat, keep your rub simple, and practice. I prefer woods that are fairly weak for beef. Every time we have people over I will smoke something up. People seem to get really hung up on maintaining temp. I really don't worry about that being that precise to tell you the truth. I gauge it by the amount of coals/wood in the box. I will wrap it at the stall, usually with butcher paper but will resort to foil in a pinch. At that time I will add a little somethin somethin as a baste to help, but its more for flavor than anything. Every time I am right at an hour per pound of brisket. Here are my "secrets":
Meat:
Brisket (duh). Go to a butcher shop if you can. They will charge you a ton but it makes for a better product. I have bought lesser meats and you can get away with it if you make sure the fat isn't too tough and the meat isn't really discolored or anything. Make sure the brisket you select isn't too fatty. Fat is good and it can and will be trimmed up, but you pay for that fat too. For God's sake, buy a brisket with the point attached. A brisket without a point is just that; pointless. When done right, the point is the best part of the cow IMO.
Prep:
I will buy it about two days before I plan to smoke it. Take it home, open it up, and get to trimming. I usually end up trimming off a good 2-3 lbs of fat. The fatty bottom side should be a pretty consistent 1/4" so that it all renders. Trim out the decal, but not too much to where the point separates from the flat. Trim off any pieces of muscle that feel dry our tough; they do nothing but take away from your brisket. Trim up as much silverskin as you have patience for, but a little here and there is not going to hurt it like it will on ribs. After it's all trimmed up, I apply my rub. It is a very secret combination that my friends here may have. Coarse pepper, kosher salt. That is all. I will wrap it up and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, setting it out about two hours or so before it is scheduled to hit the smoker. Here is what it looked like prepped up...
The Smoke:
I basically said it all earlier. I smoke based on coal/wood size that I have found to be right on. In mine it is about three handfuls of coal and I will throw hickory on as I feel fit. I will usually do a piece or two of apple but after a while you are just burning off wood. When the bark starts to look right and the stall hits, I will wrap it. My one treatment of basting is some soy, some worcestershire sauce, and some water. Not a lot, just enough to moisten the beef a little and it adds a nice flavor to the drippings. I will take mine off when the internal temp hits around 175. Some take it off as early as 165, some let it get up to over 200. That is your call. Make sure you take into account the weight you trim off in your cook time! Made this mistake before. You do not want your brisket resting for 4 hours.
Rest:
When it gets where you want it, put it in a cooler still wrapped. I will usually throw a towel around it too. Let it rest for around an hour and a half or so.
Slicing:
This is actually a more important part than one might think. You can adjust your slices to complement your brisket to make up for any mishaps. Thinner for less done, thicker for over cooked. In my other pic is what they are if you get it right (3/8"ish). Do what you want with the point. I go back and forth between doing burnt ends and just slicing a little thicker slices of the heavenly beef bacon.
Give it a shot if you have time and the right set up. Let me know if you try it, want to try it but have questions, or have any input AFTER you do it like this
Don't wanna hear the noise if you are set on another way. Happy eating, I'd love to hear some other favorites you guys have.
- Jun 12, 2014
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Ray, I'm glad I stumbled upon this. I too feel like I need to get really good at one thing before moving on to the next, so I mostly smoke pork. I've got smoking pork shoulders down. Now I've moved on to dry-rub baby back ribs, which is my favorite. Once I'm completely satisfied with my ribs, and I have very high standards since I grew up in the Memphis area, I will move on to Brisket, which for me will be more difficult to get right than ribs. Whenever I do attempt Brisket for the first time, I'll definitely be referring back to your post.
- Jun 19, 2014
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GatorJB;n247194 said:
It was mentioned earlier in this thread (but that was like a year ago) that there is a fantastic web site called AmazingRibs.com
Not just about ribs. Everything BBQ and smoke related.
Great free information.
Alex.
heavychevy
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- Sep 8, 2014
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I use a Bubba Keg komodo, similar to the Egg in that its a komodo, but its made out of lightweight steel and uses about an inch and a half of oven insulation instead of ceramic to keep the heat. I take it to work to cook all the time. I've gone 18 hours on a pork shoulder cook at 225 and had charcoal left to run another 5 or 6 hours minimum. I use a pitmaster controller to help with that. Heres a small sample of some cooks over the last few months.
apparently I suck at uploading pictures.
apparently I suck at uploading pictures.
- Jun 11, 2014
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Absolutely gorgeous. You are a true caveman. You don't post much Heavy, whats up with that?
heavychevy
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- Sep 8, 2014
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crosscreekcooter;n248825 said:
I was pretty active on the old board and didn't find this dump till quite a while after it was made. I wasn't a big fan of last football season and I couldn't contribute much more than what everyone was saying in EVERY SINGLE THREAD, it got a little redundant and boring for me so I stayed away. Hopefully this year will be different.
Anyway thanks for the compliments, I've really gotten in to BBQ over the last 4 or 5 years. At first it was just a way to play with fire and drink beer, once I got to where I was putting good stuff out it turned in to an addiction and using a komodo its cool because the same grill can do great BBQ, bake, and grill so its easy to mix it up a lot. Hopefully we'll be able to bring it to the tailgates this year and make everyone around us a little jealous. Guys that can work their cookers will tell you, theres no better feeling than having the confidence to get a fire going at 6 one evening and feel completely comfortable going to sleep and waking up with your cooker at the same temp it was the night before.
- Jul 28, 2014
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Good stuff heavy. Ive gotten pretty serious about it as well and love to see other peoples' methods. There are so many ways to do it, although some are wrong and sacrilege in my book. You should get photobucket or something along those lines btw. It helps do your pucs justice
- Jun 11, 2014
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looks great HC, I need to look into getting one of those controllers.
heavychevy
water bottle holder
- Sep 8, 2014
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Yeah I have a photobucket for my BBQ forum, didn't realize it was the same method for posting from that. I've got pretty much everything (ribs, pork, and brisket and chicken) down for the way I like it, some might like it my way, some might not lol - not my problem as long as I like it. Its not like i'm running a restaurant. I will definitely agree that amazing ribs is an AWESOME place to start your own BBQ adventure. I started with his rub recipes and techniques and make all of my own rubs roughly based off what he calls for. The only "rub" I buy is McCormick spicy steak rub and the latin isle fajita rub in publix.
This was a favorite for all 3 days it was cold last winter, pulled pork and pulled smoked chicken Brunswick stew.
This was a favorite for all 3 days it was cold last winter, pulled pork and pulled smoked chicken Brunswick stew.
