A chopped brisket baked potato makes an outstanding lunch.
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Get the meat temp up to 150-160 (the stall) in the grill with whatever smoke apparatus you make (there’s a pellet holder thingy for gas grills I’ve seen somewhere) then finish it in the oven (wrap or not).
The smoke effect is front loaded in the process.
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…and it didnt cost me a dime
An acquaintance directs Foodways Texas brisket camp at A&M and he talked us into going a few years ago. This is what I walked away with.
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the single most important factor in good brisket is the grade of meat. Prime wins every time, and Costco used to carry good prime briskets. From our sample, Wagyu didn’t seem to hold up under the long cook. Weirdly, a lot of places, including HEB, now sell only the flat of the brisket because the point can be used for other more expensive stuff. That’s wrong.
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Hickory was the favorite wood, with pecan a close second, and then oak. Surprisingly, despite its bad rep, mesquite was pretty good too.
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We were there the first year that Aaron Franklin had convinced the Aggies to trim the fat cap down to about a quarter- to a half-inch. Apparently it doesn’t add anything to leave it on, and it retards absorption of the seasoning.
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From Aaron Franklin and Louie Mueller, the seasoning of choice is half and half salt and pepper. I think it takes about a cup, so half a cup salt, half a cup pepper. When I’ve actually cooked brisket, I trimmed the fat cap, put on the seasoning, then let it sit for at least 12 hours.
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Temperature should be low. 200, 225, 250. It will take about 12 hours to get the meat to 210.
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The meat stops taking smoke flavor around 145. You could take it in and finish it in the oven after that, but that would be wrong.
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The smoke ring has nothing to do with smoke.
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The brisket will stall around 160, and that’s why you wrap the meat. Wrapping in foil makes the brisket mushy.
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The brisket needs to rest for an hour or so after you take it off.
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There is an optimal way to slice the brisket, involving slicing the flat and then turning it to slice the point. At the camp we went to, Aaron Franklin demonstrated the slicing, and from the attendees’ reaction you would have thought it was 1960 and Bridget Bardot was walking down the beach at Saint-Tropez. For a long time there was a video on the internet from the class, but I can’t find it anymore.
HH’s brisket looks great.
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That was a fun time.
Aaron Franklin has a YouTube channel, and years ago he had some brisket how-to videos. Here’s an example:
FIFY
I had to look that up. For me, Salt-N-Pepa are a mighty obscure reference.
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I still don’t get it.
I can hear the bass line now
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That’s how I rate my preference for wood choice, but I would throw cherrywood and applewood in there before mesquite. Because of the abundance of free pecan wood around here and the odd enjoyment I get from splitting logs, pecan is what I smoke with most often. It was my understanding that Aaron Franklin uses post oak.
Mesquite isn’t as frightening as some people make it out to be. It burns hot and even (though fast), and can add a touch of sweetness. The real bitterness is in the bark, so make sure you remove that before smoking. But it’s also pretty strong, so a little goes a long way in terms of flavor. Mesquite is also very high in nitrogen, which is what creates the smoke ring, so it will be more pronounced with mesquite. I quite like it, but it may not be for everyone.
When I bought Alkie’s “River Haus”, he had left a pile of mesquite – over a year’s worth and I used it 'til it ran out. I like Mesquite wood just fine. In Hawai’i, for their BBQ they most often use the wood from the Kiawe tree (a type of Mesquite). It is similar to our Mesquite trees in look, and the wood is similar in performance and taste.
BTW, I woke up this morning wanting to eat an order of Loco Moco.
I never knew Alkie was a smoker. He was always talking about how much he liked to rub his meat.
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I am horrified and intrigued in equal measure…
Trying the Kenji Lopez-Aly sous vide carnitas technique this weekend. Just put the pork in the water at 165, should be ready tomorrow late afternoon. Then we’ll crisp up the shredded meat and have at it. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
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Using a pork butt I assume? Mine turned out well in the past…basically the only thing I’ve managed to f’up sous vide is bone-in chicken breasts, I obviously screwed up the time because the texture was terrible.
Yes, pork butt. HEB only had bone-in, so I played butcher and removed largish pieces. Onion, orange, bay leaves, jalapeño, and a cinnamon stick (!). I now realize I forgot the garlic; oh well.
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I know you’re trying a recipe (and for once I’m not trying to be a dick, just wondering) but it seems to me that you could boil the fuck out of the pork for X amount of time, use the broth with some chiles for an adobo making it as spicy or non as you want, I guess you could even substitute achiote for chiles if you’re like my aunt and think catchup is spicy, and it seems to me that such a process would take two to three hours maximum. Again, I get that you’re trying a recipe.
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