Rub Question

Nope, it's your rub.

1. Try a heavier amount of rub. Beef tends to need a little more umph to taste the rub.

2. Why? Good beef just needs simple salt, pepper, maybe Garlic Salt. When you slice it the slices are so thin, you're getting a relativey small amount of rub. Not like a rib or piece of chicken where you get a big chunk of meat with a lot of rub.

It's not easy to use the same rub on everything.

Last brisket cook I had probably 1/4" worth of rub on top of the brisket. Didn't really have this issue with the "old" way. Guess it's part of the learning curve. How much rub do you put on your briskets?

As to the Why? I found that if I could have a bark that had a kick to it, it complimented my sauce well and tasted good without sauce. The rub isn't real fancy just trying to add a little heat.

Thanks
Mark

If it worked for you the old way, but not in the CS, my suspicion would be the humidity of the CS.

As to amount, varies with the rub, but using something like a head country, I just cover it enough to hide the meat, but no more.

I think that you are probably right. The only variables are length of cook and humidity. Did another 3 briskets overnight. Had a cook time of about 10 hours at about 200. The bark definitely had more flavor but not what I am used to. I wonder if the smoke is actually "covering" up the flavor of the spices. The CS easily imparts twice as much smoke flavor into the meat as any of my other methods. I cut the wood back to 3oz. hickory for c. 25lb of brisket and still felt it was a little strong. I need to find some oak or pecan but hickory was all I had on hand. This set of briskets were definitely an improvement on the first so lets see if the third time is the charm.

Two Questions:

You mentioned that all brisket needs is salt and pepper. While I do not disagree with you, are you telling me that the "seasoned" pros use only salt and pepper in their comp cooking?

Does the size of the wood chunks make a difference in the amount of smoke the meat takes on?

As Always Thanks
Mark

I think Smokin' was saying that old time brisket cooks figured you could get by with salt,pepper,and garlic on most packers.

Lots smoked with oak,and had to worry they didn't oversmoke.

Oak usually doesn't.

My personal feeling is that fresh herbs will get killed on a long smoke.

What flavor are you missing in the bark?

Put your rub on, and add whatever amount you think is necessary of other spices.

It is only the surface,so you can't hurt it.

Thanks for the info.

The flavor that I am trying to get is just slightly to the sweet side with the kick of cayenne, paprika, chipoltle and mild cayenne and the usual suspects (salt, pepper, garlic). It seems that I am losing all of the sweet and most of the kick. If I am understanding correctly, I think I just need to tweak the rub and I should be able to get it back to where I want it. I was just surprised at how differently the CS brisket turned out.

Thanks
Mark

Mark, I go a little heavier on the rub with a brisket. For one thing, when you remove the fat cap after cooking that takes a good bit of rub to the trash. Smokin mentioned seasoning the meat when you pull or slice it before serving. that may help.
David

If you want more sweet flavor, try some sugar. After you measure the sugar out you can place it in a flour sifter. This way the sugar is broken up and will get into the pores of the meat. The sugar will not carmelize this way.

I agree about the fat cap of the brisket. When you remove the cap, there goes alot of the spices. Also try some apple wood. Hickory is strong and only requires a small piece. I don't think you can oversmoke with apple. When I used my wood burner smoker, I preheated the unit with charcoal and then switched to apple and a trace of hickory. I never over smoked with apple but I never did a 12 hour brisket, I ususally did about 6 - 9 hours.

Just add more peppers and coat liberally with turbinado sugar.

That's why I don't season the fat cap UNLESS i'm making burnt ends.

I send the meat side of the brisket, trimming it pretty close and leave the fatty side alone.

Beef to me, doesn't need a lot of complex flavors. For competition? Well that's my secret, but it's not just salt/pepper/garlic. For home, it is just SPG. Beef doesn't need a lot to enhance it. If that makes me an old cook, just call me Gramps

As for wood, size doesn't matter, overall smoke produced does, so that's a function of the overall weight of the wood, not the shape/size. For those that like more smoke, just add wood half way through the cook.

Well, I'm with you Grandpa. I dont like the flavor of beef to be overpowered. I like the pure taste too much. Heck, a light marinade is 1 thing, but I'm one of those people who cringe when I grill steaks and I see someone reach for a bottle of A-1 or heinz 57.

That said, if you do want more intense rub flavor in your brisket couldn't you make a liquid form of your favorite rub and inject it the night before? Sort of a marinade?

To be truthful I have yet to do a brisket. I think its about the only one of the popular meats I havent done. My grocer doesnt sell them, and I'll have to get around to special ordering one from him. As a rule I dont do wally world or sams.

I forgot to flip the briskets over on the last cook but will definitely try that to retain more of the bark. I usually trim the fat cap to about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch and then rub and let it smoke. I usually don't trim anymore fat off unless I missed a spot. Traditionally my rub is probably 1/3 to 1/2 Turbinado Sugar. That was why I was so surprised when I lost the sweetness in the brisket. I would think that my rub has more sugar in it than most do.

The neat thing about this is that I have an excuse to do a lot of brisket.

Thanks Mark

Cook a few more,it'll sort out.

I read a post a while back by Smokin' about the primary spices needed for brisket being SPG. So I tried using Montreal Steak Seasoning, which is basically that. It turned out great. Now I enhance it with other spices and the results are great.

Give MSS a try and enhance it with your own spices.