Stacking brisket

I'd throw those in the freezer and use them later for corned beef or pastrami. My guess is you got bnls, heavily trimmed flats. They'll be a pain to cook without drying out.

Go to Wal-Mart and get a whole packer brisket. They usuall have them for about $1.85lb. Even a small one will weigh 8-9lbs.

Thanks for the info Todd. I am taking them back. I asked for a whole brisket and that is what they gave me. They are cryovac sealed, so there shouldn't be any problem returning them.

BTW, the label says BNLS and you mentioned blns as well. What does that stand for?

My guess is it stands for Boneless.

I just read Todd's tread on pastrami. O.K., I'm making pastrami!!
Ha!! I'll take some photos and post them up over on that tread.

Thanks!

Many local "workers" in a meat dept,have no concept what you are talking about.

Those cuts are what is ordered in for nice ladies to make a New England boiled dinner/pot roast.

It is perfect for them to feed three,or four, folks Sunday dinner,if they have plenty of root vegetables.

Like Todd says,they can be cooked,and most of us have done them-to prove we can.

Tell him you want a whole packer brisket with the point and the flat, UNTRIMMED (you can trim it)

If he doesn't know what that is, find another butcher.

I've decided to return them after all. These things are too thin to even make good pastrami. I think they can't be more than an inch thick. They remind me of a round steak / tri-tip morphed together! Ha!

I think I'll just check out Costco and get a good brisket for smoking and another for pastrami. I am really interested in making some of that!
Cheers!!

I really like it when folks post where they are from ,in their public profile.

Nothing direct about personal lives,but helpful to the forum.

We can then answer many questions,about cuts/availability/costs of meats.

Woods,seasonings,shipping,type of cooking,pro help,preference of consumers/judges/lenders,etc.

I.e.,chances of getting a 18 lb packer prime brisket from the market in lower Manhatten.

The chance of getting a 10 lb shoulder from a yearling lamb to make west Ky chopped mutten ,in
Muskogee,OK.

The chance of getting a case of 16 lb pork shoulders,on the shelf,in a Jewish deli in the Bronx.

The shot at getting a case of mixed pigs ears and snoots at a bistro in South Beach,Fl.

Chance of getting a 150 hawg,three Sat, a month,and where do I get a Buffalo chopper serviced.

Will SC liver mush go better for dinner,or supper,in my area.

Will Brunswick stew,be better at dinner,or supper,and does it go better on the weekend.

Is brisket hash better for brunch on Sat,or Sun.?

Do citrus woods work better than mesquite?

Which beer is better with all bbq,Sam Adams,Rolling Rock,Abita,Shiner's?

For all the new,and interested folks,yes,I can ask several questions,over several days,and drag out the info,IF I don't give up.

BBQ is extremely regional and an art.

Changing towns ,in the same small county,can drastically change the conversation.

There is a great variety of experience on here,if we get a little help.

Just my %0.02

I don't know why Tom associates liver mush with SC. I'm NC born and bred and I grew up on Neese's Liver Pudding. The real question is whether folks eat it straight from the wrapper, or do they fry it first. Then mayo, mustard, or grape jelly?

Kind of like today, I tried a new BBQ place. They served the pork sandwich on a TOASTED white bun! I knew immediately they weren't from around here. Everybody knows a chopped BBQ sandwich goes on a plain, cold white bun. Everybody! If they had sesame seeds on there I think I would have puked. Seems they came down from NYC to show us yokels how to Q.

Turned out not to be a problem though. Their meat wasn't fresh, their hushpuppies were hours old, and their slaw was pre-packaged. Too bad. If you could separate the walk-in taste from the meat flavor, it was probably good when they took it off the Southern Pride back in the kitchen.

I'll add them to my list of places to contact in 6 months to see if they want to sell cheap.

Well, I just checked my profile and my location is in there. I don't know why it's not at the bottom of the posts like you guys'.

Anyway, I live in Placerville, California.
That's on highway 50 between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe. The latitude and longitude are
38 degrees, 43 minutes, 47 seconds North
120 degrees, 47 minutes, 51 seconds West

The house is at 1824 feet above sea level although the smoker is about 3 feet higher than that. The house faces East and the smoker is on the North facing wall of the house under a covered porch.

I have one dog, a cat and a wife; just for reference and in no particular order so don't read anything into that.

My experience with BBQ is trying to keep my webber at 225 degrees while preparing pork ribs. I'm pretty good at it because it's the only way my grown kids will come visit me. (One son lives in New Zealand and when asked why, he'll tell you that it's the furthest he can get from me and still be on the same planet. He still comes around though, when I'm fixing ribs or it's ski season.)

So, how's that? Enough information yet?

(BTW, I am a sarcastic SOB, married for 34 years and with no end in site.)

Hey skipro.

I'm in Roseville, and we'll be near you in two weeks doing the wine tour thing just east of you and in Fairplay, CA. Got some Chicago folks coming in and want to show them some good hospitality, wine, and scenery. Going to smoke for them also. Welcome.

Hey there Pags! Small world. I'm heading over to Roseville tomorrow to pick up a brisket or two. My smoker is due to be delivered tomorrow and I don't wanna be caught with my fat side down, if you know what I mean... Ha!

We are right in the heart of wine country; Shenandoah Valley on Hwy 49 between the town of El Dorado and Plymouth. Fairplay area is really beautiful this time of year with everything still all green and lush.
My favorite winery is Lava Cap but that's north and east of Fairplay area in the Apple Hill part of the county. After you've toured the wineries, swing by Sutter Creek and Drytown for some old fashioned gold rush atmosphere. A GREAT resturant in Placerville is Sequoia on Bee St. That place blows me away with it's atmosphere. Also Georgetown Hotel on a Friday night; you'd swear you stepped back into the 1800's complete with saloon, banjo pickin' and dancing girls!! HaW!!!
Cheers!

Well now,that is a fine lot of info.

It may seem like a waste,but folks will be amazed how a piece of info will pop out to someone on the forums,that may have solved the exact situation,

Like Todd says,local,regional,personal,and maybe accidental.

Many times we have worked on something for months and learned that it is not possible in someone's specific locale.

Amazingly,someone might go into a fine old butcher shop in the Bronx and ask for some tritips to do bbq.

They would explain to him that smoking this cured/corned 15 lb packer brisket would give him a fine bbq called pastrami.

After telling the patron he was crazy,they would then laugh him out of the shop.

Strangely,the patron might visit his relatives in California,where they actually thought beef Tri Tip,cooked over red oak coals,seasoned only with salt/pepper/garlic salt,with a side of pinquitos,some toasted sweet French bread to soak up pan juices,mac 'n cheese,tossed green salad with a Ca blue cheese dressing,salsa,and a good cup of java.

Amazing,what weirdness the forum might spot.

I am learning much here myself about Q and the people who are like me and really, REALLY enjoy it.

I found my brisket.

Well, I mean I found where to buy my brisket. I'm not telling right now, because it is literally right down the road from Pags and I don't want him in on where my source is. I'm going there this morning to pick up a couple of 12 pounders and they are $1.89 a pound. He got a shipment in last night and set aside 3 for me. I hope they freeze o.k.!!
So don't tell anyone that Super Walmart carries them out in Roseville.
I didn't say that out loud, did I? Ha!

Just be sure you don't have a tiny air leak in the cryovac.

They may freeze well for up to a year,with a perfect seal and an under 10º freezer.

Warmer freezer,and a tiny leak,you may be looking at much shorter.

Think tossing a couple strip steaks,loose,in store wrapper and how they may look taste and smell,after a couple months.

quote:

Originally posted by skipro3:
So don't tell anyone that Super Walmart carries them out in Roseville.
I didn't say that out loud, did I? Ha!

No, but I did about 6 posts up from this one. It's the only reason I go to Wal-Mart. I can't find the big packers anywhere else. You'll be glad you kept looking.

Hey Skipro--

Thanks for the info on the brisket. Both times I checked Walmart was out. You must have beat me there.

My wife and I as well as another couple friends of ours are club members at Lava Cap(forcing us up there quarterly ). We also like Too Good Winery in Fairplay where the owner has augered right into the mountainside. The winery is actually inside the mountain. All wine tasting and barrel tasting is done inside the caves. Fenton Winery has a large veranda and breath taking views where we've brought our own lunches a few times.

We've eaten at a few of Placerville's restaurants. Will definitely look for Sequoia's. Might be neat to show the Chicago contingent.

Any good barbecue around Placerville. We have Back Forty and Lucille's in Roseville. Good Q, but I think I'm competing pretty well with my Cookshack.

A couple things about wally world packers.

They are typically the only meat in the store that is not injected with 12%-18% salt water,which you are paying the MEAT prices for.

They may be ungraded,cutters,noroll,commercial grind,select and sometimes even choice.

They only have one price category.

So look and you may find choice,or better,for bottom price.

They also may get their cases of packers from the same shipment/distribution center as Sam's Club-which is typically choice and may be IBP.

Good brand,comparatively.

They may get cases of 6-8 lb flats,that they have no price codes for.

Thus,you get packer price.

$1.89,instead of $3/lb.

They often put two cases out and maybe sell one packer.[six to the case]

One day before sell date,they mark the loose packers down to about $1/lb.

They may be in the back coolers,below 28º,come right out and go to the markdown.

They are then aged correctly.

The next day they all go to the dumpster.

Buy up all the large ones ,that look decent and freeze.

Split them with a friend and freeze.

You can tell if cryovac has become loose,or wrinkled.

They won't freeze as well.

At $1/lb you can learn to cook well.

You will lose 50% to cooking,etc so you are getting good lean cooked meat for $2/lb.

Grind it for burgers.

Chunk it for chili,anything you might use beef chuck for.

Restaurants will try to beat you to them.

Cook one up,occasionally and take it to the meat manager.

You'll know when the pull dates are close.

Just a few thoughts.

Man. I've got a lot to learn.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Man. I've got a lot to learn.

Pags, we'll NEVER catch up to Tom on Brisket, he's our resident expert, even if he's not from Oklahoma/Texas

You ought to talk to him in person, he can go on for HOURS about Brisket

What an awesome group of degenerates here! Ha! I think I've found a home! I am learning tons and appreciate all the info.

Pags, I left one in the meat case there for you; a 10.5 lb pretty little baby. Also their butts looked pretty good at $1.29 lb so I picked another one of those up too.

I already kinda made friends with the meat associate, he was out there stocking the shelves and saw me rooting though the case to see what I could find. We talked a bit and he was interested in the type of smoker I've got. I even got his phone # from him. He'll get a call when I get something good out of the smoker AND he's got some butt or brisket to sell me.

BTW, you seem to know your wines if you are clubbing it around the hills. I don't know of ANY BBQ places up here. Just a Back 40 at the Ponderosa Exit off 50. There USED to be one out in Drytown. It was hidden behind some storefronts and was down in a basement. Very good stuff, but I haven't been there in years and last I went through there, I didn't see their little sandwich board out by the curb. I work with some guys who are hard core Q'ers so I'll ask them and see.

I wonder, has Tom ever Q'd a gator? Bet it didn't taste like chicken if he did! Ha! Cheers!

I don't know whether Tom has q'ed any gator but we tried some smoked gator ribs at a FBA contest in Grant FL a few years back that were excellent! Before that, I had never even heard of gator ribs.

My apologies, Smokin, I digressed from the thread topic. I slapped my hand for it.

Don't know about that expert stuff,but the team has cooked a few,over the years.

Sometimes,lots of less than stellar results,helps on the next hunt down the road.

At least in Smokin's area,they know about briskets and have them.

Could be why he can cook them so well.

The meat dept guys cook them,like the rest of us grill burgers and dogs.

When the shippers, accidentally,ship Certified Angus Beef packers to a grocery,the meat guys grab them up and take them home like they were the finest loinbacks,or prime strip steaks.

Invite the in laws over for fine dinin'.

Now,that's brisket country!

Well, the smoker has arrived!
Box was in great shape except you could tell the UPS guy thought down was up as the top of the box was skidded around on the bed of the truck by the looks of the dirt on it.
Opened it up and everything seems o.k. One thing though, and I'm not sure if it's a problem or a design feature;
The box isn't square. Measuring diagonally across the front left to right/top to bottom is 25 inches. Measuring right to left/top to bottom is 25 1/2 inches. The sides are parallel to the door but the top of the door barely catches the box on the latch side. It's pretty obvious looking straight on at it that the box is a parallelogram and not square. Is that supposed to be that way? It's such a heavy unit, that there's no way it got "tweaked" in shipment and there's no marks on the box. It's like someone didn't set it in the jig right before welding it up. The tweak is enough that the door just barely covers the opening at the upper right corner, the side with the latch. I closed the door with a piece of paper in it and the paper easily slides in and out along that edge. The bottom is tight and the paper won' slide between the door and the box.
So, is my smoker defective or not? Heck, I'd tweak it back, but it would take a big sledge hammer several whacks to do that!! ha!

****EDIT****
1 1/2 hours into seasoning and there is zero smoke, so, I peeked. One of the two pieces of wood has a dark spot on it but they are no where near ready to start making smoke. I tweaked the heating element so that it touches the box holding the wood. Nothing in the instruction book even mentions the placement or proximity of the element to the wood pan. I do think I read about it somewhere here on the forum though. I wonder what someone who doesn't own a computer would do? Call cookshack I suppose, but cookshack could save themeselves the cost of a toll free phone call by making a note of this in their owner manual.
Also, there's a little light next to the temperature display that clicks on and off with a noise. I am guessing that is a lamp to inform me that the element is on or off. It stayed on when first powered up, then as it got closer to the set temperature, started to cycle. Another thing that should be in the manual.

Checked at 20 minutes after adjusting the heating element and there is smoke! However, it's coming out from the upper edge of the door and very little out the hole in the top. I shoved a damp cloth in the gap between the top of the door and the smoker lid; the space that isn't even across the top. It seems to have slowed the smoke coming out the top of the door.

I initially set the temperature for 205 and it shot up to 215. I have two temperature probes in there to check accuracy. One on the upper shelf and one on the lower shelf. The upper shelf measures 218 and the lower measured 224. Within 10 minutes the smoker temperature indicated 205 and the test probes measure 211 and 214 respectively. 5 minutes after that, the temperature had dropped to 201 and the heat cycle light started to switch on and off again. The probes measured 206 for the top shelf and 209 for the bottom.

****EDIT****
Sat for 3 hours and the wood was barely scorched. Not hardly any smoke. I suspect the duty cycle is too short without a load of meat in there to heat up. Reading around, I see where I am not the only one who's had this happen, i.e. no smoke and wood unscathed during the seasoning. Seems the secret is to fill the supplied drip pan with water to simulate the mass of a piece of meat. Just did that, so now we will see. Also reading, I should have smoke within 10 to 15 minutes, but I can't find how much I should see coming out the top and/or door seal...

****EDIT****
Within 5 to 7 minutes I have SMOKE and I mean a lot of it! That wood must have gotten hot, then by opening the door and adding the pan of cold water, the temperature dropped, kicking on the heater hard. Door leaks like crazy so I am going to leave the damp rag strip tucked in to the top of the door and force the chimney to work as designed. I know, it doesn't matter if some smoke leaks past the door, but I'm not wired that way; a door is SUPPOSED to do something!! Like, close and stay tight so the smoker design can do it's thing. Ha! I will probably design a gasket to SEAL my door.

BTW, I don't know what cookshack will say about the tweaked box, but I'm of two thoughts here;
1. Probably won't matter since I'm going to see that it stays pretty smoke tight anyway.
2. For what this thing cost me, over $500, I am sure they will make this right. Here is a photo. I'll see if I can do better tomorrow with the camera.

Call Cookshack in the morning. If you could notice it's out of alignment enough to measure it, I'd talk to someone.

Thanks for leaving me a brisket. Good to see they can keep them in stock for awhile.

Next time start a new thread, that way we can find the post easier, they tend to get lost when I archive them and we might not find it in a thread labeled "stacking brisket"

I'm sure CS will talk you through it, but the real question to have is does it seal and does it cook after a few times (the doos do NOT seal the first time or two, it takes a couple of smoke then it seals off -- by design). Does the door open and close without any effort.

I've never seen a door like that from CS, so it's likely shipping damage.

As for expectations of quality, you're exactly right. CS does inspect and that's why you need to call them so they 1) get you satisfied as a customer and 2) resolve issues if there were any.

FYI, Customer Service doesn't monitor the forum

Skipro3,

Give us a call, we will want to replace the unit. We haven't had much freight damage since going to the new style smokers, but it sounds like UPS rolled this a bunch...

Talked to CS this morning to a most pleasant fellow named Tony. He's going to take good care of me. He's shipping me a new unit and this time I won't cut up the box to unpack it but will use the box to send the problem child back to him.
I gotta say that I am very impressed with their customer service. My hat is off to these folks! I knew I made the right choice when I selected a CookShack. THANKS!!

Just some more FYI;
I put a flash light in the smoker and shut the door. I can see light, quite a bit of it, coming from that upper right corner where the door meets the box. It is a gap that won't be self healing, that's for sure!

BTW is there a blog page on this site? I was thinking that it would be a great way to log all the process I've done for my own reference and that we can all see the process we've gone through. If not, I'll just start a thread that documents my experiance with my smoker for reference.

Smoke leaked out of the upper left hand corner of my Elite when I first got it. Sealed itself in the first several smokes.

Like I said, if you look at it and it's caddywhompered enough for you to put a tape measure to it, then it probably got damaged in transit. May have been caused by shipping it upside down.

Nice to know Cookshack is so responsive. You'll be a happy camper, er smoker, in short order. In the meantime, if you need someone to take one of those briskets off your hands, let me know.

Nice try there Pags. I was going to keep them in the fridge then smoke them but now it might be better to freeze and thaw. Any thoughts from anyone on that? The brisket I'm not too worried about; beef kinda likes to be aged. But I think pork needs to be fresh, either fresh or fresh frozen.

BTW, what the h. is a Pags anyway?! And while I'm at it, mine is pronounced Ski Pro 3. I'm a ski instructor and have locker #3 at the resort I work at. It's how I'm referred to for work assignments.

Also;
I've started a new thread for my adventure at Tom's suggestion. Here is the link;

http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...91028883/m/148107751

So, from here on out, I will be writing my adventure with smoking on that thread. This one got too far off topic. Cheers!

Short for Pagonis. Jim was taken. It was my nickname on a baseball team awhile ago.

Your butts,in cryovac could hold up to 2 wks in a refrig, a little above 32º,if the door is not opened much.

They will freeze well, that way, for several months.

Most cooks like to get them as fresh as possible to cook.

Briskets in cryovac will keep many weeks,34º-36º

For comps ,some cooks feel that freezing is part of the tenderizing process,and most will wet age them ,chilled,for at least 30 days.

In a dedicated meatkeeper,they may hold for around 2 1/2 months.

Briskets may freeze well for up to a year.

Hope this helps a little.

Thanks Tom. That's exactly the info I am looking for. If Tony gets the new smoker out in today's UPS, I'll be able to hold off freezing my ass, er, butt. Ha!

I take beef, wrap it in cheese cloth and age it in the fridge for 30 days when I have the time, so I've got that going. I have a seperate freezer in the garage for meat. (And beer, but of course I didn't need to even mention that, did I...)