Brisket size this time of year.

bembring,
I have been getting briskets that weigh 12 lbs. or a little over. I buy them by the case.It must be a few younger steers they are running through right now. Sooner or later they will have to butcher the older ones too.
I usually use hickory to smoke brisket. The cherry is a mild flavored wood. I like it on chicken and on sausage.

At the "end" of the season, because of the hot weather in summer, pork prices go up, weight goes down. Same with beef.

Seems they sweat too much in the summer to keep any weight on.

Here is my report.

This brisket was very tender.
From now on I will not turn down a small brisket it was realy good.
Checked it at 180 for ease of probe took it to 185 was like butter.
Took it out of my Amerique, then wrapped it in foil with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup apple juice put into ice chest for an hour and half hour before serving.

The taste from cherry mixed with mesquite was not strong, but didnt taste as good as hickory.
Next time I will try all mesquite using 4 oz.

Thank you,
Brian

Them poor babies are still sweating here.

I'm calling PETA!

Bembring,

I was hoping you would provide us with your details on how you cooked the brisket(temp, time, trimmed etc.) and seasonings you used. The briskets I have cooked on my Amerique have turned out drier than what I like, it sounds like yours turned out about perfect, so I would really appreciate the details. Thanks.

Hi B.Tatton,

Packer Brisket untrimed
Set Amerique at 225 temp
Cookshack Brisket rub
Put it on the second rack.
Wood I experimented with this cook, usally use 6 oz of hickory.
Checked it at 180 for ease of probe took it to 185 was like butter.
Took it out of my Amerique, then wrapped it in foil with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup apple juice put into ice chest wrapped in a towel for an hour and half hour before serving.

I hope this helps.

What temp did you cook at and what was the temp of your brisket when you took it out of the smoker.
Did you let it rest before serving.

Thank you,
Brian E.

Hi Bembring,

Thanks for your response. I have started my briskets at 200* for about the first 7 hours and then I bump it to 225* until it reaches 190*. The briskets I have cooked have been around 14 lbs and have taken almost 20 hours to get to 190*. Once they hit 190* I foil them and put them in a cooler wrapped in towels for a couple hours. They taste good, but they are dry and the bottom of the brisket has been cooked to the point that it is difficult to cut through.

I wonder if starting them at the lower temperature slows down the cooking process to the point that I am drying them out by the time it gets to 190*? I have also wondered about my thermometers not being accurate because when I test ice water it shows a temp of around 37-39* and boiling water around 200*. I have tested 3 different thermometers and they are all pretty close, so I wonder if the elevation of 4500 feet above sea level factors into that.

How long did it take to get your brisket to 185*

Thanks.

Brett

Hi Brett,

This cook started about 9:00 pm and finished around 4:00 pm
Only had one brisket in it, which takes longer then a fully loaded one.
Also mine is one of the first ones with a 750 watt heating element, the new ones are 1,000 watt.
Here are a couple of links on high altitude cooking
http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/081893.html
http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/pub__5790807.pdf

Thank you,
Brian

Well,I'm no expert,but I have cooked a few in assorted Cookshacks.

I haven't had the chance yet on an AQ,nor at high altitude.

Most folks would consider themselves fortunate to get a packer in Ca.

Stores can usually order by large ,or small case,as well as the seasonal issues.

Sometimes smaller "could" come from younger animals,which sometimes can be more tender beef.

Moistness may well come from the quality/grade of the packer and defy cooking technique.

We find internal temp to be an indicator of when to start poke testing a packer.

My extremes have gone from 186º to over 212º.

Rarely,do I get one to come tender at 190º,but other cooks do.

Brisket is usually considered the most difficult product to cook well consistently.

Practice and some percent of dissatisfaction are the typical keys.


Did you try adding a cup of beef broth/black coffee,etc to the foil you let it rest in?

Just a couple of thoughts.

Tom:

quote:

My extremes have gone from 186º to over 212º.

Rarely,do I get one to come tender at 190º,but other cooks do.

What do you find to be a "ballpark ideal" temp to take your briskets to?

Thanks!

We cook a lot of IBP choice packers, around 15 lbs.

We do some trimming of excess fat.

We start low for a few hours,and increase to 225º-240º.

It takes around 70 mins/lb,to get above 195º.

It will usually poke tender, before 200º.

Ours typically set in a warm cooler,with about a cup of broth,etc,for at least two hours.

The temp can rise a few degrees.

I made a longer reply,because I feel that the conditions may control the timing.


Hope this helps a little.

Hey thanks for these posts Tom!

Some of us need all the help we can get with our briskets, which is why I don't offer advice on them, not enough experience. I need to practice my briskets. I haven't finished one yet that my BH loved, and she loves beef. I have enjoyed them, however, on sammiches.

Peace.

Yessir.

Let us know what you aren't liking and maybe some of us can give a little help.

Tom --- Do you usually (turn your head Smokin) "foil" at 160º or do you feel that foiling with broth when pulled from the Smokette at 195º - 205º is sufficient?

Thanks!

Tom,

I rest my brisket in a cooler wrapped in foil with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 apple juice.
When you rest yours with beef broth and black coffee, is it instant or drip coffee?
Is it better then water and apple juice?
Also how does the beef taste using that mixture of broth and coffee to rest in?
Do you taste coffee?

Thank you,
Brian.

I find my standard Cookshacks to be very moist cookers and don't like to foil.

They are efficient so they don't oversmoke-one reason pure stickburners may foil on long cooks.


They don't flow large volumes of air,like some offset style stickburners,which is a cause of drying out.

If I'm cooking several packers, in my larger Cookshack,I'm too lazy to foil them all.

Smokin' taught me to learn to cook on my cooker,and then worry about tricks.

Every brisket is different.

If I am cooking an Excel select, or ungraded cutter,etc. I may adjust.

This could be from an 18 yr old dairy bull,or a wild longhorn.

These should have been ground for burger,or maybe a pot roast.

If so ,I'm looking for color and bark,but by 170ºI'd probably add some liquid.

In my regular Cookshacks,I tend to cook fat up and not on the top,or bottom racks.

As to liquid,some don't believe in any.

"Crutch" users,or vendor/caterers like black coffee,because it was usually around and cheap.

There are recipes for sauces and rubs,where coffee adds a flavor variance,that doesn't really taste like coffee.

If you use liquid,there are no rules.

Broth,coffee,vinegar,olive oil,wooster,bbq sauce,salad dressing,soup,hot sauce,water &rub,seasonall,msg,celery seed,beef base,wine vinegar,balsamic vinegar,liquid margarine,butter,liquid bouquet,soy sauce,teriyaki sauce,multiple blends of fruit juices,etc.

Thanks Tom:
Your help and all the facts you provide us with are fantastic. It has rally been a valuable help to me since I bought my AmeriQue 6 months ago.

Thanks for the kind words.

Smokin' Okie usually caries the load,but he's has been buried in projects,lately.

Tom,

Thank you for this info

Thanks all for all the information it is very helpful.

Tom,
You say you start out low and then after a few hours you will raise the temp to 225-240*. What temp do you start with, how long do you keep it at the lower temp and what determines if you increase the temp to 225, 235 or 240*?

I am also wondering if BBQ restaurants that make a good sliced brisket foil and add liquid or are they able to produce brisket that good right from the smoker? Also, how do BBQ restaurants warm up their brisket that they serve? I would think that they have previously cooked the brisket and are warming it up as it is ordered. I have read the posts about boiling the vacuumed sealed bags, reheating in the oven and the microwave, but I am curious as to what restaurants do.

Thanks.

Well now,I use temp as a timing mechanism on big hunks of meat.

180º-200º won't overcook much a nothin',so it can hang there as long as you want.

If we were going out for the evening,and I didn't want to mess with a bunch of meat at midnight,I might load at 7 PM at 180º.

If I am wanting to smoke more,I may also cook there for several hours.

Depending on my schedule the next day,I might kick it up at midnight,or I might wait until when I awaken in the morning.

Folks that have tried to make me a cook,like to let briskets/butts stay in the plateau as long as possible.[160º-170º typically]

This is where we are really rendering the fat and breaking down collagen,without drying out the meat.

225º is generally felt to be a good temp for this.

Now, cooks I respect have taught me that cookers have a temp they like to run and do well at,and not to fight it-because I read something in a magazine.

I like to know the actual ave temp at the meat level,but the setting doesn't really concern me.

I like to cook many things at 220º-240º.

If I'm behind in the cook,250º will help push through the plateau.

If I'm through the plateau and need to finish for dinner ,275º can work.

If I'm really behind,that is where foil and temp can speed up the cook-Not improve it.

At home,weekend type cooks,I like to get briskets/butts out and into the cooler about noon.

They'll hold fine until dinner time.

Then I cook my ribs.

Should leave me time to finish them,and still do some chicken-if that's on the schedule.

I usually toss in some assorted sausages,near the end of the ribs,for snacks-if I run behind.

Well now,my teammates are more into catering and would have better answers about holding and reheating.

Yes, precooked from a commissary,vacpac,and boil in the bag are used well by some restaurants.

Yes,there are some restaurants,with good cooks,cookers,experience,and attention to detail that can pull good meat straight from the pits to serve without foil.

Yes, a lot is cooked,chilled,and reheated as needed to serve.

Reheating can be done with commercial microwaves.

Half foil pans,usually hunks of meat,a little broth/coffee,covered with plastic and then foil.

Heated at less than 250º,to over 140º,pull and serve as needed.

Once you move away from the brisket belt,and even there,chuck rolls,or clods may be used for sliced-or especially chopped/pulled beef.

They cook easier and hold much better.

This brisket stuff is all just one man's opinion,and one brisket at a time.

Your notes and practice will be better guides.

Now,I'll get outa here before someone accuses me of makin' a Smokin'Okie post.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
Thanks for the kind words.

Smokin' Okie usually caries the load,but he's has been buried in projects,lately.

No, you're brisket boy!

I let you take all the brisket threads

Tom covered everything in his posts, but I wanted to offer some encouragement. I bought two large(17.55 & 16.85) briskets at Wal-Mart Thursday night. Brisket is the only thing I'll buy there because it seems to be the only thing they sell that dosen't have water added and they've been real consistant in price at $1.69/lb for the past year or so, while Costco and BJ's are usually closer to $3.69/lb. I've never been able to cook the "solution added" stuff to my satisfaction. It always seems to come out dry and stringy, and shrunken. Just give me a good fat cap and I'm happy.

I don't trim any fat off until after cooking. I want to give the fat every opportunity to melt and flavor the meat. I season with nothing other than garlic salt and coarse black pepper. I'm using a Smokette so I actually have to fold these over on themselves, and can cook only one at a time because I don't want to use the bottom rack. I start at 200* for the night, then bump it up to 225* the next morning, looking for 195* internal. The 16.85# brisket went in Thursday night at 9:00pm, was bumped up to 225* at about 10am Friday, and hit 195* internal at about 3:00pm. I didn't open the smoker EVER during the cook, and rather than pulling the brisket out to put in a cooler, I just turned the smoker temp down to 160* and let it rest until about 7:30 when it was time to eat. I used about 8oz of hickory, but sometimes I mix hickory and oak. I don't really care for mesquite having been raised on hickory, but to each his own.

I've done maybe 100 briskets in the smokette this way and have never had a bad experience yet. The only change I ever make is starting out at 225* when I need to finish faster. With these large briskets I don't have to worry about them getting done before I want to get up in the morning. Usually 2 10# pork butts started at 9:00pm at 225* will wake me up between 6-7:00am at 190*, and I like my Saturdays to start a little later so I started using a lower initial temp for everything with a long cook time.

I just try to keep everything really simple and don't open the door unless I get a crazy temp reading from a bad probe placement. So far this method has worked out well. Hope this helps some.

Yep,pretty much sounds like my old smokette.

My boys are still hauling it back and forth between their cattle operations and cooking the same way.

It was invented to cook briskets and does a great job.

When cooking briskets, don't cook higher than 225 degrees.I've read the opinions of several professionals that above 225 degrees, you will boil the fat out of the brisket leaving it dry. So plan ahead with plenty of time so you don't need to play catch up.Above all, don't expect every brisket to be perfect because no two are the same!!