I MADE THE ABOVE
Lately I’ve been on a BBQ brisket tear – can’t get enough of it. I can’t recall the last time I ordered pork shoulder at a BBQ temple. Ribs and brisket – those are the two pillars of my smoked meat dreams. I’ve been reading a lot about brisket, as I leave for Austin tomorrow for a 48 hour BBQ eating trip with my brother and another pal. We have about a dozen places lined up, no, not Franklin’s because I can’t waste our entire Saturday standing in line.
Anyone who is going to judge some brisket should know how damn risky and fickle it can be and should try to make one. A whole one is often called a packer, consisting of two different muscles – the point and the flat. The flat is on the bottom and has way less flat, the point sits on top of part of the flat, and the grain of the muscle goes in opposite directions.
After research, research, and more research, I had my brisket plan, which was just a bit more involved than the birth plan we had for our son. I mean, that was really all in the doctors’ hands. This sixteen pound, $112 baby was my responsibility, and mine alone.
First I trimmed the excess fat on top. Then I made my rub, which was heavy on the salt and pepper, with a medium amount of brown sugar, and a small amount of cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic salt, and onion powder. Tons of coarse, fresh ground pepper.
The brisket was thoroughly covered, then chilled in the fridge for a few hours. I’m told this helps with the bark and the smoke ring. At 11:30PM, I injected it with a fair amount of low sodium beef broth. Purists may scoff, but if you are going to cook for 12+ hours, especially on a BGE which is not true indirect, I think the extra moisture is needed. After shooting up, it went onto the Big Green Egg with lump charcoal and mesquite at 220F, and I stayed up an hour to make sure the temp was locked in there.
I dreamt of failure. Seriously, I woke up in a panic, dreaming of a crisp and dry brisket, looked at my remote temperature gauge, and saw that I was exactly at 180F internal and 223F on the BGE. Exactly where I wanted to be!
At this point the brisket is in the stall, where the evaporation of moisture from the meat causes the temperature to stop increasing for up to a number of hours. So I wrapped it in heavy aluminum foil, the so called “Texas Crutch” to help it power through to the finished temp of 202F, then I pulled it, left it in the foil, wrapped it in towels, and put it in a cooler for five hours.
One to two hours at least is recommended to let the brisket rest and let the collagen subtly and completely turn to gelatin, aka creamy delicious fat. But I left it in there long as I was not having guests over until 5:30PM. In the untouched cooler, it remained over 140F (food safe temp) the entire time.
Here is what it looked like after the cooler. The bark does suffer from the steamy cooler, so I popped it in the broiler for no more than four minutes, which worked like a champ and did not dry out the beef, which I could tell was quite moist and tender from the way it recoiled when touching it. Jiggly beef.
Here I am cutting off the so-called burnt ends on each side, which tend to be the crispy and dry pieces which are perfect for cutting into bite-sized pieces and tossing with BBQ sauce, of which only a small amount was used amongst fourteen people. That’s because the brisket was gooooood. Not best ever or anything, but really damn solid, and I could not have been any more pleased with a first attempt. My one year old son ate three huge slices, screaming for more between bites. Animal!
It wasn’t dry, it was tender but not falling apart to mush, the spice was present and nice but not overpowering, there wasn’t too much smoke, the fat melted…etc. It’s a thing of beauty, and I don’t mind chalking some of it up to beginner’s luck. I can’t wait to do another one. Help chip in and I’m there.
Side view of the point. Not nearly the fat of the point, but still quite tasty.
Separating the point from the flat. You don’t have to do this, but it makes it easier to cut and serve because of the grain of the meat going in opposite directions.
Close up of the point being sliced.
Rancho Gordo pinto beans are FANTASTIC. I can’t go back to eating that canned crap anymore. German potato salad and creamy stove top mac. I was proud of all my sides.
A very fun and casual Sunday evening with friends on a beautiful Atlanta fall night. I need to get a few more of these in before winter hits.
If you have any great brisket tips or angles you like, send them by may. Some of the resources I used are below.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bbq-anatomy-101-know-your-brisket
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html
The meat, cut and ready for service.