| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
Hey all- before I go dredging the interwebz on the subject, I'll throw it out there for all youn's input: Who has done a smoked beef brisket? I've been commissioned to run the smoker a week from today, been looking forward to it for some time... I know many here will have some good advice- I'm also planning to do some smoked chicken wings on the lower rack for an appetizer, with the brisket up top, maybe a loaf of bologna also for fun... one thing I want to shoot for is getting a fair amount of the "burnt ends"!   Thanks in advance! Here's to a joyful Christmas, and a happy and prosperous 2013 for us all! | ||
| 01x1buell |
well i am smoking a brisket at this very moment, myself all i use is salt and pepper dry rub, after brine water soak for 24 hours. I like to keep it simple but it tastes great, i know there will be many more advice from other people on here goodluck, and have fun | ||
| Sleez |
pork loin is awesome too, only takes a couple hours, and makes a great appetizer as well. i make my own rubs, rarely share my recipes!! finding a nice balance of sweet and savory is the key to a perfect rub, and is different for beef and pork. start with a sugar/salt base, and add garlic and other powders to taste. here is a decent start; http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jim-goodes-bbq-beef-r ub/ i tend to use more salt than that one, but you'll get an idea of the profile. fruit woods are best for pork. hickory (don't over use hickory) and pecan are best for beef. IMO monitor temp inside the vessel, and try to maintain a nice consistent temp. i only use charcoal, and add more frequently to maintain the temp. a good computer controlled fan is my next addition. | ||
| Murderface |
Sleez, Sounds like you have some serious parameters for your pork. I haven't been back to your area for a long time but hopefully we can meet up and you can show me what charcoal bbq'ing is about. | ||
| Stalker |
Butchers brand injection mixed with guiness or salt free beef broth Plowboys bovine bold rub smoke over apple wood at 250 till you get it to 170 internal temp put it in aluminum pan cover, put half cup beef broth cook to 195 remove and put in a cooler or oven or cover with towels for 45 minutes slice and serve in juices works every time  | ||
| Sleez |
Murderface; i take my pork cooking very seriously, would love to open a restaurant, but the economy really sucks right now!! Stalker; guiness is wonderful for almost any cooking, i use it in my crockpot ribs, awesome! | ||
| 86129squids |
Talked to my butcher today- prolly gonna pick up the brisket Friday, set up the brine and whip up some kind of moppin' sauce... then get up early Sunday and start the fire... Depending on cook time, might start things in the oven, then transfer to a charcoal/wood fire... One problem (a GOOD one) is that my restaurant's Christmas party will be Saturday night, after dinner service... hopefully I'll be able to come home and get things started before I get to bed. I now have to contend with the fact that whatever I cook, it'll likely not be nearly as good as what my guys at work can produce... Can't let that slow me down though. May look at a collaboration, but I'm on the job no matter what. | ||
| Cowboy |
What ever you cook I recomend The MasterBuilt eletric smoke house. It is computer and does great job amd it is a little under $300.00 | ||
| Pwnzor |
Vinegar, water, salt brine overnight. You can use wine instead of vinegar. Dry rub with salt, pepper, cayenne, brown sugar. Lay it on THICK. Put it in the smoker for about 12 hours, adding your favorite wood chips every hour the whole time. | ||
| Stalker |
Brine a brisket? sounds good, making corned beef or pastrami? | ||
| 86129squids |
OK folks, got an idea: I'll be coming home pretty late Saturday nite, after my company's Christmas party... what if I get the brisket started before bedtime, low and slow on my gas grill- then once I get coffee started in the morning, get it transferred to the charcoal smoker to finish? Beef brisket seems to benefit from a LONG time over the heat and smoke, so wouldn't this approach help with the time element? Looking forward to the experiment! | ||
| Chauly |
My take would be that the time in the gas grill would seal off the surface of the brisket, keeping the smoke from adsorbing into the meat. Why not go ahead and load it into the charcoal smoker when you get home, go to bed, then add more charcoal in the morning? You get a few more hours, and you get the smoking from the get go. | ||
| 86129squids |
Good point, Chauly- I'm just a noob at keeping the coals at a consistent temp, and my coal tray doesn't seem that big... I'll look into different types of charcoal, see which ones have the most longevity. Gonna be studying up in earnest starting tomorrow- picking up the meat probably Friday. For up to 6 people, about how many #'s should I get? Looking for a good amount of leftovers, plus some "burnt ends"... Thanks again folks! | ||
| Chauly |
! figure at least a 1.5 lb./person, but maybe 'cause I like leftovers as well. Pork would give you a smaller yield (more like 2 lb./person) because of the fat, membrane, bone, etc.. Most charcoal burners are not very airtight, and if you close the dampers all the way the fire won't go out due to leakage. Try an experiment with a pound of briquets and see if it stays lit over a n hour or so. (Sometimes it whistles softly due to the leaks.) I'm still seeking the elusive "brown ends" that I've had in many places in TX. I think it's because of a lack of temperature control that causes it to shoot up from time to time. | ||
| Cowboy |
I prefer using the eletric smoker there is no chance of a flair up ,a tray of fuel last for 3 to 31/2 hr there is a probe to check insite temp of meat it has remote control. You can check your cooking from any place in your home. | ||
| 86129squids |
OK, I think I've got a game plan: I've looked at Steven Raichlen's and America's Test Kitchen's recipe, plus one more from the Epicurious site- they're all pretty much the same, none call for any exotic spices except cumin, and the third works up a mop sauce with beer that's pretty simple. Gonna go with a 6-7# flat cut with 1/2" fat cap... I've got a cupboard jam-packed with spices, so I might doctor up with a little "fanciness"- gonna smoke for about 8 hours. Any ideas for the mop sauce? This is gonna be FUN!!! | ||
| Chauly |
Geez, with all of the buildup and anticipation, I hope it turns out GREAT! Merry Christmas | ||
| 86129squids |
"Sometimes it whistles softly due to the leaks." That's how I get brown ends... Airflow.  No worries- I'm pretty sure I've got it down, like Junior Brown. | ||
| Cowboy |
I dont mean to hijack your thread I just want some of youooks to eat your heart out I just put on a big Iron pot of ELK chile. good luck and carry on | ||
| 86129squids |
Dammit Cowboy- not worth the hijack unless you post up PICTURES!!! Elk- before AND after it becomes chili!!!  | ||
| Cowboy |
I am to old and stupid to post photos------I have enough hell just typing comments. he he | ||
| Sifo |
I've had my first brisket on the smoker now for about 5 hours. Starting the year right! | ||
| 86129squids |
Awesome, buddy! I went a little over for cook time, still was mighty tasty for dinner #1- most of what I read said 1 hour for 1# of meat... good news is that we made probably the BEST pot of Christmas chili EVAAAR. Even found some Ghost chili pulp frozen in the fridge, along with some frozen prime rib... Enough heat to appreciate, but not kill the flavor experience... Details, and pics, phleeze! | ||
| Sifo |
Details? It's a 10.4 pounder! Just used a Famous Dave's pork rub. Been spraying it down every hour and a half or so with an apple cider, apple juice, brown sugar mix and adding a bit more charcoal and a couple pieces of wood chunks. Smoker has been nice and stable between 215 and 225. It's still got a long ways to go. We had a smoked pizza party for new years last night. Everyone loved the crust it makes. I'm not sure how I got by for so long without a smoker! | ||
| Sifo |
12 hours into the cook and it's been sitting right around 162 degrees for a couple a three hours. I've heard they tend to do this when you get it cooking nice and slow. I'm just glad that I wasn't expecting this to be tonight's dinner! Looks like it's going to be a long night tending the smoker! | ||
| Sifo |
Damn thing took a full 18 hours to cook! Combine that with my wife surprising me with it kind of late yesterday morning, so a late start, I was up past 4:00 AM! I usually get up about 5:00! I was already tired from the New Years party too. So I just wrapped it up in tin foil, then a couple of towels, and left it sitting on the counter and crashed for the night. I'm not sure if letting it rest for almost 4 hours is good for it, bad for it, or doesn't matter. Anyways, I got up later this morning, not sure if I had created a 10 pound piece of black rubber or something really good. I stuck in a fork and it pulled up wonderful steaming shreds of pork almost effortlessly! I tossed a piece in for the taste test, and OMG! By far the best BBQ pork I've ever had north of Tennessee! Sorry, I was way to bleary eyed to think about pics. The whole thing shredded with almost no effort at all and I had pulled pork for breakfast! This is something that I WILL be doing again. It's a long cook time, but makes a huge pile of meat that is amazing. Now I need to come up with a sauce that does it justice. Anything from the store just takes away from this sort of masterpiece. At least anything I know of in the "Union" states. | ||
| 86129squids |
Sounds great- all this time, though, until the last post, thought you were doing BEEF brisket... No matter, what does matter is that you made some killer BBQ! My next project is to try fabricating one of those charcoal chimneys from a big coffee can... | ||
| S21125r |
Bit of a thread jack but in the same vain. Add a wall wort and a computer fan to this and you can have a temp controller for about $50. Takes a little fab work to graft the fan into your fire box though. I can hold fairly tight temps with charcoal - approx +/- 5 degrees. My electric kitchen range is much looser... +10/-20 if I remember correctly from my test. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dual-Digital-F-C-PID-T emperature-Controller-SSR-Thermocouple-K-J-E-S-T-B -R-/310373329956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48 43b12c24 | ||
| Chauly |
Damn, that's practically free... one on the way. (MC-content) Note to others: it runs on 12VDC as well, so on-board heat control should be possible for electric vest, gloves, etc. | ||
| Sifo |
Sorry about the confusion Squids. I forgot this thread was beef, I did pork. I guess I was just excited about having some great pulled pork! I've got a chimney, and it works great, but I don't use it with my smoker. I just don't load enough charcoal in the smoker to make the chimney really work. I just pile 10-12 pieces on top of one of those paraffin starter cubes. Loading any more fuel and my smoker get way to sensitive with the airflow adjustments. I am thinking a smaller chimney might be great though for adding more fuel during a long smoke, sized for 5-6 briquettes (3 inch exhaust pipe?). I'm thinking part of why it took so long to cook was that when I opened it up to add fuel, I have to take the meat off, the grill, the water pan, the diffuser tray, and the lower grill grate, then I was adding new briquettes. During all of this the meat is sitting in what was below 10 degree ambient air temps last night. Then it would take 15-20 minutes to get the smoker back to full temp again. Still lots to learn about this smokin' stuff! | ||
| 86129squids |
No worries, buddy- whether it's pork, beef, chicken, or whatever dead, tasty animal, let's discuss! BTW, I did some chicken thighs at the same time as the brisket- made some of the BEST chicken salad EVAAAR! I'd say you were setting yourself back a bit each time you had to add fuel fo sho- I've got a little trapdoor on the side of my smoker to add briquets, and the coal pan is round, so I just turn it with my tongs about 1/4 turn each time. Gonna have the whole week off next week- I may have to play with some Boston butt... S- very neat idea about that fan! | ||
| Sifo |
Chicken thighs, for some reason, are great out of the smoker. Best part of the chicken done that way, and I like breasts! Adding fuel is a really weak part of the design of my egg type smoker. The good news is that I can smoke a turkey with a single load of fuel, so it never has to be opened up. It's really efficient in that way, but it's not going to go for 12 hours or so. | ||
| S21125r |
Chauly - I never even thought about using one for heated gear before - but yea it should work. Might want to add an SSR so you can cycle the heated gear on and off faster/more frequently than the onboard relay can handle. I intentionally bought one rated for 12 volts in case I wanted to do a cook remotely without power. I also configured the built in relays for below temp alarm (blue LED) or over temp alarm (red LED) so that I can visually monitor the pit temp from inside the house. Yes I'm a lazy BBQer :-) |
