The OFFICIAL meat smoking thread

[cardinalkarp]

Also, if you think it's not going to be juicy / tender, you should always wrap in foil with some type of liquid / beer and finish in the oven. Good way to cheat...

Me & the Dog are on the same page

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

AW,
Looks like you trimmed too much off before you smoked it. I never trim a brisket before cooking. You can always remove the fat later.

Also, how long and what temp?

Also, if you think it's not going to be juicy / tender, you should always wrap in foil with some type of liquid / beer and finish in the oven. Good way to cheat...

Thanks for the advice.

I trimmed the fat, no idea if this is true or not, to reduce the cooking time. Plus, the majority of it was dangling and didn’t look like it served much purpose though that could be wrong.

Anyway, I put it on at 3 am and got the smoker (thermometer) up to 240. Then fell asleep and checked it at 5:30. The temp was down to 220. Added some apple wood and went back to bed. Checked it again at 7:30 and it was 175 (no surprise, wet wood chunks don’t add much heat if any). Added some mesquite lump charcoal and got it back to 225 and kept it there until ~2 pm. Wrapped it with butter and garlic and put it back on the smoker, and got the smoker up to 240 and just let it go until the heat was gone and took it off at 5. Let it rest. Then sliced it. All the temps are the thermometer reading, though I’m convinced the temp is about 20 degrees higher on the surface than the thermometer which is taken off to the side and higher up. (I can boil water on the grill at 200 degrees.) Of course, brisket sits up pretty high, so….there’s that as well.

I usually finish anything pork in a roaster, put apple juice on the bottom and steam it on the grill. Great finish. But, I was wary of doing it with beef. For one thing, I hadn’t seasoned it with anything sweet, so the apple juice or sugar water steaming seemed pointless other than to moisten the meat which I wasn’t sure it needed. Plus, I had wrapped it with butter and garlic (and the leftover mop) so that essentially was steaming it. In hindsight, I should have put it in a roaster with some liquid and steamed it. But, no clue how much good it would have done.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Wow, that thing looks fabulous. One question, when you wrapped it did you put any type of liquid agent to keep it from drying out? If anyone has ever watched the show "BBQ Pitmasters" on Destination HD channel? They have them smoking anything but everything on that show & you can get some really good tips. Next time I smoke something....brisket, ribs, pork butt I'm going to add apple juice mixture (which I'll typically spray it w/ before foiling), but these guys add a healthy amount of that squeeze butter before they seal it up to keep things from drying out. And depending on the flavor you're looking for (on ribs for example) they'll add honey to it as well to add a bit of sweetness.

I put in the rest of the mop which was probably two cups of liquid. And, yeah, apple juice is great. Also, after you open up the foil (or roaster), the smell is absolutely delicious. It'll make your house/back yard smell amazing which is just an added bonus.

[IMADreamer]

Brisket can be tricky but it's worth it. It looks like you did a good job.

[doe_boy]

[Jocephus]

legit

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Gonna be an awesome weather weekend. Anyone have any plans? I think we're doing ribs on Saturday. Ribs are probably one of the things with which I am most comfortable. Doing them more than anything else, I've found what I consider to be my favorite way... I've put the process on here before and took some criticism for getting them too done and adjusted what I thought was a really good process.

Rub overnight, Smoke for 2-3 hours until they're almost done, apply honey, put them in a roaster with apple juice to steam them for an hour, apply bbq sauce and singe the sauce on the grill. Back in the roaster to rest until ready to serve.

[Jocephus]

so do you guys get up in the middle of the night to continue the prep and stuff? not sure id have that dedication

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

so do you guys get up in the middle of the night to continue the prep and stuff? not sure id have that dedication

I did with the brisket and it was freaking terrible. Ribs are much, much easier.

It's a relatively thin piece of meat (compared to a brisket or pork shoulder). So, not only does it take much less time to cook, but also the smoke/sauce/rub greatly impacts the flavor as they're in almost every bite of a rib unlike a shoulder or brisket where only the exterior gets the smoke/sauce/rub flavor.

I almost feel like the only way to mess up ribs is to have too much smoke, not cook them long enough, or cook them too fast. If you can avoid those three, even if they're burnt, they're likely going to be tender and bbq sauce will give them plenty of flavor.

Not that you can't spend a lot of time/energy trying to get them perfected

Anyway to answer the question, I'll probably start these at noon or 1 in the afternoon and they'll be ready for dinner.

[cardinalkarp]

so do you guys get up in the middle of the night to continue the prep and stuff? not sure id have that dedication

I love to BBQ, but heeeeelllllllll no. I'll do something the night before and that's about it.