Franklin BBQ and Butcher Paper Brisket

Franklin actually shared his method with Robb Walsh and it's one of the featured recipes in a book called 'Texas Eats'. Here is a link to a write up around that recipe. I am going to continue working with this method using my FEC-100 and keep plentiful notes and pictures on the results. I am using Meyer all natural briskets just as Franklin does so that we are talking apples to apples. I have used these briskets before and they are a cut above the CABs that I have used in the past.

http://sourcherryfarm.com/2012...tcher-paper-brisket/

James

How about a link to purchase Meyer's brisket, or do they sell online?

After a visit to Franklins a while back I also became a convert of brown paper.

Previous post HERE

Meyer only sells to wholesalers and retailers based no my conversation with them. I am here in the Houston area and have two main options. I can order by the case through Ben E. Keith Distributors which gets me a better price or if I need just a few I will call HEB and they can usually have me however many I need in a few days. They are not cheap, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are superior to anything I've used and it's not close.

One thing that came to mind while going through this process was how much softer the bark comes out using the butcher paper. Even the burnt ends have a softer feel to them. The Franklin brisket I had was among the most perfectly cooked briskets I've ever had right along with the ones I've had from Snows.

One of the things that really sticks out to my friends who have had my FEC-100 brisket masterpieces versus what Franklin puts out was really the difference in softness of the bark and the post oak smoke that flavors the meat. The buthcer paper impacts the softness of the bark, but the smoke just comes with the stick burner territory. I think someone needs to do a study between sticks and pellets of the same wood type to see what our pellets are missing that prevent them from imparting the same level of smoke that gives the meat such an amazing flavor. I guess we need some dirty pellets that include the impurities of the bark and mother nature.

Briskets are on sale this weekend for $1.30 per pound so I'm going to play with Franklin's recipe some more and continue to log my results.

--James--

Have you thought about One of these to add more smoke? The FEC is so clean burning (which I love) that it has a light (well controlled imho) smoke profile. Everything you posted sounds great, keep us updated! Brisket is my nemesis..... I don't get to practice with it enough, too much product for two....

quote:

Originally posted by FalcoX:

I think someone needs to do a study between sticks and pellets of the same wood type to see what our pellets are missing that prevent them from imparting the same level of smoke that gives the meat such an amazing flavor. I guess we need some dirty pellets that include the impurities of the bark and mother nature.


--James--

I once had a conversation with fast Eddy Maurin about what determines a good smoking pellet. Twigs, bark and "impurities" simply reduce the pure wood content, the heating B.T.U's and create more ash.

As the FEC is converting pellets to heat AND smoke, the overall smoke profile is less than a conventional stick burner. A lot of Cookshack customers and BBQ judges prefer the "blue" smoke of a pellet vs the white/blue smoke of a stick burner. That said, it's possible to increase the smoke profile of an FEC, several ways; 2 staging, stouter pellets (Mesquite) or the add-on pellet smoking device Mike4258 refers to. I have one and they do increase smoke profile.

Aaron (as you know) uses a large stick burner and Post Oak, which produces a lighter smoke vs Pecan or Mesquite. His paper wrap at plateau allows just enough Oak to perfume the meat without adding the Creosote factor of bitterness/oversmoke. Add to that his KISS approach to briskets and the quality of brisket he buys and you have a winning combo.

Stay loyal to your quest for the perfect FEC brisket. It's doable. Just ask David Bouska, Cal, Coach, Rib Dog,Smokinokie, Tom and others whose names escape me (so sorry) at the moment

I was joking about the bark and such when thinking about the pellets, but this much cannot be denied. When you burn oak pellets there is something different than what you get when you burn post oak logs at a very basic level and the end result is something you can taste. The smoke that comes out from burning one versus the other is not equilvalent. There is a chemical composition reason for that or else there would be no difference.

Franklin's brisket has a nice smoke to it that is pronounced enough but not overpowering. It's a perfect accent to the salt and pepper, silky smooth bark and consistently soft texture from one end of the brisket to the other.

Meyer briskets are amazing. I understand why Franklin uses them. However, they are not $5 per pound last time I bought a case. They were somewhere in the $3.50 per pound range for packers. When I reorder them I'll see what they are running for the packers and take some pictures. They absoutely kill the CABs I've used in the past.

As for the FEC-100 I use, I love the brisket it allows you to produce. Mine always comes out amazing with a flavor that is all its own. You can do so many creative things with your brisket when you have a unit as consistent as the 100. One of my friends that went to Franklin with me tried one off the FEC-100 the next day and said that Franklin was a 10.0 and mine was a 9.75 mostly based on the additional smoke flavor and the smoothness of the bark all around. That's not a huge gap. I would love to taste a FEC-100 brisket that could get the same love as Franklin's brisket on a day in and day out basis. I think it's possible.

You could always start a petition lobbying Stuart and Fast Eddy to launch a line of Post Oak pellets. Heck, I'll sign on.

One of the forum members who competes with an FEC100 rigged up a wire rack, which allows for stick of wood to be placed a few inches over the firebox. He uses a 2" x 12' piece of mesquite. Perhaps you could experiment with Post Oak is you can locate thick branches.

I'll sign on for Post Oak pellets!

Is the butcher paper being used the kind with a wax coating or is it plain? Also, when you want to foil and hold for a couple hours do you remove the paper before foiling or leave on?

Smoking on SM025

Thanks!

Dan,

You use the paper in place of foil because you want it to breathe. I've head different stories about waxed vs. unwaxed so maybe someone has the latest on that. Of course it's the RED butcher paper, not the white that works best.

I did pick up some waxed paper from my butcher yesterday and will try it on my next brisket. The one I have in now just hit 190 so I'm probably past the butcher paper point. I plan on holding it for about 4 hours so I'll probably need to foil, towel and cooler.

This is kind of a practice run on holding as 3 of us in the local Corvette club are cooking for around 70 people in a few weeks. We all have the SM025 and wanted to serve a little pulled pork, brisket, and ribs. We'll do the pork and brisket first and hold and then and have ribs going when the group arrives.

One of the guys has a 4 day cooler and I think if we load it up we should be ok. He held a pork shoulder for 5 hours with an end temp of 157 last week at the 5 hour mark.

Waxed paper will not allow the proper exchange of heat, fat wicking, etc. It's specifically designed to maintain meat in a frozen environment with a minimal moisture loss.

Chances are, your local hardware store, FedEx Office has 3' rolls of brown craft paper...the kind you'd wrap a box in. That's what you want to use. Short of that, even a supermarket brown paper bag might work if it isn't imprinted with inks of any kind (which could transfer to the meat.)

As for holding, I don't see why you couldn't hold (FTC) with a paper wrapping but it will allow for juices to escape into your Cambro/Igloo. I'd re-wrap with foil. The BBQ joints that hold briskets in paper do so in a warm environment.

Smokin Okie and Max Q,

Thanks so much for your usual great input!

In reading the article referenced by FalcoX above about Franklin's brisket, I see Aaron smokes his briskets in the 275*-300* range. I am wondering if any other folks here smoke their briskets in that temp range?? I remember from past posts that 225* to 250* is the usual noted temp range.
After smoking a 5# choice flat yesterday in my FEC100 at 225* and using the butcher paper wrap at 160*, it took about 12 hours total for the brisket to get to 196* (still short of Aaron Franklin's target of 203*). But I was hungry and it was getting late, so it was time to pull it. The result was good flavor, but still dry which is not unusual for a flat. Wondering if a higher temp would help solve the dryness issue as the brisket would come up to final temperature quicker so as to not be the smoker so long. I don't really want to foil it with liquid.
I know a flat is a flat and I can't change that, but all Costco had were flats, Cash & Carry was out of whole Packer Cuts, and I have no access to Restaurant Depot, so a flat is what I got.

quote:

Originally posted by Nodrog:
In reading the article referenced by FalcoX above about Franklin's brisket, I see Aaron smokes his briskets in the 275*-300* range. I am wondering if any other folks here smoke their briskets in that temp range?? I remember from past posts that 225* to 250* is the usual noted temp range.
After smoking a 5# choice flat yesterday in my FEC100 at 225* and using the butcher paper wrap at 160*, it took about 12 hours total for the brisket to get to 196* (still short of Aaron Franklin's target of 203*). But I was hungry and it was getting late, so it was time to pull it. The result was good flavor, but still dry which is not unusual for a flat. Wondering if a higher temp would help solve the dryness issue as the brisket would come up to final temperature quicker so as to not be the smoker so long. I don't really want to foil it with liquid.
I know a flat is a flat and I can't change that, but all Costco had were flats, Cash & Carry was out of whole Packer Cuts, and I have no access to Restaurant Depot, so a flat is what I got.

Personally, I don't think the temps of a smoker means anything. Tom, the forum brisket expert, has always told us it's the grate temps that mean something and that's what a cook wants to know.

If Aaron was cooking at 275-300*, his finish temps will be different than finish temps cooking in the 225* range, I'm sure this is why Smokin' has always said a pitmaster must learn to tell doneness by feeling the resistance of the meat.

You can always move the next brisket to the top of your FEC after wrapping and learn for yourself if there is any difference in the finished product. I know, I have had briskets placed all around my FEC and it does make them cook differently.

I'm sure an expert will have some thoughts about your question.

Quite a few BBQ joints in TX, especially those using floor cinder block pits cook in the 275-300 range. One pitmaster told me the higher heat simply affords a quicker turn around time.

Flats being flats, tend to cook up dryer vs packers. My best suggestion would be to smoke one at higher temp and judge the result.

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQ:
Flats being flats, tend to cook up dryer vs packers. My best suggestion would be to smoke one at higher temp and judge the result.

MaxQ,
I smoked another one as you suggested using a higher heat and also let it go until 201*. I assume it was also a flat as its weight was 5.6 lbs. I started it off at 180* for 1-1/4 hour (trying to get more FEC100 smoke flavor), then bumped temp up to 276* for another 9 hours - total in smoker time of just over 10 hours. I papered it at 5 hours into the smoke, meat temp was 165*. Similar process as my last one two days ago which took 12 hours total, except for the higher smoker temp and take-out temp. Yes I know that breaks Smokin's rule of only chaging one thing at a time. The results were great! The meat had a lot more moisture in it and was more tender. It was almost as if this piece was a point and not a flat as last one was. Both pieces of meat looked the same to me and weighed about the same, so I assume they were both flats. I will do my next brisket this same way.

Cal, responding to your comment about feeling the doneness by resistance, I used a bamboo skewer to test for resistance a few times when meat was in the 190's range, and again at 201* when I took it out. I must not have the gift of feel for a brisket as there was not much difference to me. I do use the resistance test on ribs & pork butts where I can feel the change when it's done.

Thanks to both of you for your help!

quote:

Originally posted by Nodrog:

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQ:
Flats being flats, tend to cook up dryer vs packers. My best suggestion would be to smoke one at higher temp and judge the result.

MaxQ,
I smoked another one as you suggested using a higher heat and also let it go until 201*. I assume it was also a flat as its weight was 5.6 lbs. I started it off at 180* for 1-1/4 hour (trying to get more FEC100 smoke flavor), then bumped temp up to 276* for another 9 hours - total in smoker time of just over 10 hours. I papered it at 5 hours into the smoke, meat temp was 165*. Similar process as my last one two days ago which took 12 hours total, except for the higher smoker temp and take-out temp. Yes I know that breaks Smokin's rule of only chaging one thing at a time. The results were great! The meat had a lot more moisture in it and was more tender. It was almost as if this piece was a point and not a flat as last one was. Both pieces of meat looked the same to me and weighed about the same, so I assume they were both flats. I will do my next brisket this same way.

Cal, responding to your comment about feeling the doneness by resistance, I used a bamboo skewer to test for resistance a few times when meat was in the 190's range, and again at 201* when I took it out. I must not have the gift of feel for a brisket as there was not much difference to me. I do use the resistance test on ribs & pork butts where I can feel the change when it's done.

Thanks to both of you for your help!

Maybe, at 201 it wasn't done? You should be able to take a pencil width slice and drape it over your finger. The piece then should sag with the top and bottom being about the same distance apart.

Remember higher cooking temps, higher finishing temps.

quote:

Originally posted by Nodrog:
...

Cal, responding to your comment about feeling the doneness by resistance, I used a bamboo skewer to test for resistance a few times when meat was in the 190's range, and again at 201* when I took it out. I must not have the gift of feel for a brisket as there was not much difference to me. I do use the resistance test on ribs & pork butts where I can feel the change when it's done.

Thanks to both of you for your help!

Try something with more width. That skewer would probably go through concrete with no resistence.

I use my thermometer which is probably twice the thickness.

Just keep practicing. Temp is NOT the goal, but tenderness is.

Well,I sure hate wasting all the years of my youth working around all those old pit masters.They always told me it was the cook and not the cooker.A good cook could take my cooker,and I'd take his-and he'd still beat me.

Now as my wallet got a little fatter,seems the packers I could afford turned out better than them old dairy bulls and twenty year old cutter Longhorns I'd been practicing on.

Smokin' must have forgot to tell me that learnin to cook in OK,weren't near as good as gettin' some wrappin paper and TX wood.

One last thing I need to know-does that paper go shiny side in or out to make me an expert?

Dern ya Smokin'.

Nodrog:

Sounds like you were having some success with the method. Have you followed up with any more attempts since? What weight butcher paper were you using? I have been getting closer with my FEC-100, but I still don't have a brisket that can quite compare to Aaron's at this point. I've turned out some really nice ones that will hang with most of the ones out there, but the FEC-100 just does not create that type of stick burner smoke which really has a huge impact on the finished product.

It turns out the paper that I swiped from Franklin's is a match to this paper I just got in from POS Paper. If it's not identical it's close enough for forensics work.

http://www.pospaper.com/241000r.html

It's definitely the unwaxed variety and as some have mentioned it's not unlike paper bags from the grocery store. This is the #40 weight. Definitely looks like the good stuff. I have some white paper that is definitely not as thick as this paper. I can't wait to try it out.

What is everyone else using?

FalcoX,
Have not done anymore briskets lately since the two of us here can only handle so much. The roll of paper I bought was a 50# white color, "plain" (no wax or plastic coating) butcher paper available at our local Cash & Carry food store. I will use this paper again next time I do a brisket as I liked the way the bark turned out - no hard, crunchy stuff on ends. Guess I'm not into the burnt ends stuff, but let's save that for a different thread please!!
I found using an Amazen Tube Smoker together with the two-stage temp smoke has helped boost the smoke flavor in my FEC100.

Nodrog:

Thanks for the feedback. I did some in butcher paper but have not been as disciplined as I should about sticking to the plan. One thing that happened with the last batch I did was that they did seem to turn to mush and were disintegrated even after sitting up for a few hours. With your FEC-100 what have you found are your hot spots? For me it seems anything moved toward the back of the unit cooks faster. Also, common sense tells you the bottom shelf cooks faster. Where did you place your brisket? I'm going to be running some more this weekend and plan to take some pictures. I've come close one time to the Franklin standard, but it was still off.

Other questions, what pellets were you using? Did you mist with the Worcestershire/Water before wrapping? How did you wrap it? There was an amazing thread with some great photos on one of the other BBQ forums on this same topic and the pictures really told the story.

A simple way of determining hot spots on the FEC is by placing 9-12 Pillsbury Grand Biscuits on each shelf. Preheat the smoker to 275-300 and fire away.

I appreciate that folks in TX have seen fit to share part of a technique.I know that all of us that have had the chance to join any of the TX BBQ Crawl have enjoyed the good food,color,and cooks we met.

We all are enjoying the discussion of paper and some of the other areas that it has spread out to.

I'm assuming that past the learning to use paper,our ultimate goal is to improve our own brisket offerings.

Now,Smokin will probably smack my paws for "thread jackin' ",but maybe it could fit in here.
We all espouse the pleasure we take in our Fast Eddy cookers,but seem to regret its' shortcomings as a "really decent brisket machine".

Smokin' and most experienced cooks preach that it is difficult to even use another cook's complete technique,much less try to add a small piece into their own fine sysyem.

Those of us that have had the opportunity to judge a bunch of the finest brisket cooks and also compete against them,where we get to sample their leftovers/practice cooks, know the learning experience that this interaction provides us.
Yes,I have eaten at several real good restaurants that I go back to,but there is no comparison to eating the leftovers from half a dozen top comp cooks.

We may never get the opportunity to not only get together with such a bunch of other FEC cooks,where we can share all our tips from around the country and learn to utilize the exceptional qualities of our cookers, as in a Cookshack interactive weekend.

Yes,we have Fast Eddy himself there to spend days going through all the tips he picks up from working with top cooks around the world.
He had dominated the national brisket comps,while he had full time to focus on cooking.
Now he is working his way back into the top ranks.

I enjoyed the help he had from our own drbbq,top winning FE cook,TV personality,and bbq books author.

drbbq

Of course,Eddy has Paul Schotte,head cook for Head Country BBQ,that has won most every major contest in the country and is a legend in Texas.

Currently he has David,Butcher BBQ,working with him and he may be the current top Brisket cook on the circuit ,as well as the producer of the injectibles and rubs that many of you use.

There are many others that share their own top tips ,but I would certainly be remiss without mentioning another fine FE cook, author, multiple restauranter, consultant ,maybe the foremost authority to other cooks on brining,and I believe has worked every Cookshack workshop.

My own advisor and close friend ,Russ /
Smokin'Okie.

I don't work for ,nor have any connection to the Cookshack company,but I do hold these great cooks in awe.

If you have thoughts of really knowing if your brisket stands out,and want the tips to get it there-this group will certainly help you let those FECs excel.

As always Tom, well said.