olive oil & smoke?

Not sure what you would want to oil a brisket for,unless it is a very lean,trimmed flat.

Add more/stronger wood.

If it is a large packer,it will be difficult to get much smoke through it.

Is the charcoal an attempt to gain smokering?

Let us know more about the piece of meat and how you cooked it,and maybe we can help.

Tom, Are you advising NOT to oil a brisket to hold the rub?

I'm not advising against it,if someone likes to do it.

My personal experience is that if you let a packer set a few mins,with rub on it,it will form its own paste.

On a large packer,you could be trimming several lbs of fat and the point is heavily interspersed with fat.

I just personally don't find the need to add fat.

If it sets in the cold ,bagged,for a couple hrs it will create lots of liquid and I will coat it again on the way to the pit.

This is not to say that there aren't fine cooks that build a paste to rub on and lots of other methods.

Just one approach.

I guess I have never gave this enough thought. I automatically douse everything in oil first. Always figured it best to hold the powder.

As to the smoke issue, I read a lot of posts here saying to only add a few ounces of wood. I like my smoked meat to taste, well, smoked! So I add a lot. I'm still tinkering with adding new wood during the smoke process vs adding it all at the beginning--trying to figure out which is best. My initial thoughts are to blast it with heavy smoke up front when the meat is the right temp to maximize smoke absorption. After a point it only adheres to the bark and too much will make it bitter (which I still haven't experienced in the CS).

If you want to make a paste, I use apple juice with a rub to form a paste to put on a brisket. While Tom is the brisket cook on our team and has a first place with it, you might want to listen to him more.

John

Dennis, I'm with you, I like smoke too! There are a few of us out here hidden in the woodpile. My general purpose wood choice and all around favorite is to walk over to the nearest red oak tree armed with my trusty 18 volt sawzall and lop off a branch. My target size is 1.5 inches in diameter or so and long enough to fit in the wood box. I have to cut the limb at the trunk in order to not leave nubs all over the street. Bark, bugs everything. I get a nice smoke ring, great flavor, terrific aroma and the neighborhood gets trimmed trees. I've never had a complaint on too much smoke, quite the opposite in fact.
I don't have a creosote, or storage problems.
That said, I know there is probaley no way I could ever compete using this system/style but I likes what I likes.
When I lived in upstate NY we/I used maple, hickoy and fruit woods the same way. It's the way I learned.

Ribdog neglected to mention he also had a PERFECT
180 KCBS score at Tryon on a brisket.

We all help on all categories on our team.

Bill, are you saying you use green wood?

Hippie,

We use green red bay here in Cedar Key when smoking mullet or any other kind of fish or meat. The only time I use dry red bay is when I'm out of the green stuff. I have never had a drip problem either.

smokemullet

Sorry, I should have given more info. I use olive oil b/c is makes a great paste, I think. the oil in italy is different then at home. much better, more flavor! Now that the brisket is done I will tell the rest of the story. I was given the brisket by a lady in the church to fix for a function. I have not idea what it was. it weighed about 9#. I marinated in Dr. Pepper and patted dry then used McCormics SW seasoning. Rubbed,let sit a few hours, no time for overnite. in the CS and 12 hrs later the perfect 190*. I used 1/2 hickory, 1/2 misquite. and one lump of charcol. YES, for the smokering and just because. the reviews were rave!! one person told me I must be from Tx. I said no. he said Ok, I said no, Kansas City, but my smoker was from OK. "I knew it". he said. the things I learned, I can use a good bit of wood on beef and pork. AND, I learned about shrink! Mama Mia, who stole 1/2 my brisket while it was cooking! Is that normal!!!! I have a pork butt waiting on deack. any suggestions. I dont see many rubs,just mops. Is that right?
thank you ALL!!!!!
David A

Hippe,
Yep that's my story and I'm sticking too it!
Steve from Taiwan has had my "greenwood" Q and he's still alive.
I guess everyone has their individual tastes Mines for good green smoke!

David A, if you can't find a regular rub look for emerils all purpose original seasoning, use that or anything similar. Add some brown sugar. or theres probaley hundreds on this forum you can make simple!