Egg Trifecta - roasting, searing, and smoking

Foghorn

As usual my son and I decided to “go big”.  We went to Costco to get a brisket for an overnight cook.  We didn’t even have a meal in mind, we just wanted to cook a brisket and my wife decided she would like some of it to make chili at some undisclosed time in the future.  So while we were at Costco getting the brisket we decided to pick up “a” pork tenderloin for dinner.  Of course, at Costco that means two 2-packs of tenderloins.   We decided to prepare them two different ways.  First, we rubbed two of them with Dizzy Pig’s Jamaican Firewalk and cooked them indirect at about 300 until they reached 145 internal.   We wrapped them in foil to keep them warm until we served them.  Then we took the platesetter out and opened up the vents.  We put a cast iron pan on the direct grid and let the egg get up to 500+ degrees.  We sliced the other two tenderloins to about 5/8” slices, coated them with melted butter, added blackening seasoning and seared them on the cast iron.  Then for dinner we sampled both tenderloin preparations – specifically eating the blackened tenderloin as sliders on half croissants.  In the meantime we left the egg with minimal airflow so it could cool down to a low/slow smoking temperature.   We subsequently added some mesquite, oak and more lump and put the brisket (rubbed with a mixture of Salt Lick rub and Montreal Steak seasoning – with olive oil used to make it into a paste consistency) on for the night. at 10:45 PM while the thermometer was reading less than 200 degrees but I didn't worry about it too much as the fire was going and the vents were minimally open about 1/4" on the bottom and 1/8"on the top.  At 5:00 AM the grid was at 188 and the meat at 153 adn the fire was still burning.  I opened the vents a little more.  By 7:00 AM the grid was at 250 and the meat at 171.

The pictures taken with my phone are not very good, especially the one taken after the fire really got going while we were blackening as the flash did not go off – but it gives one the idea of how hot it was at that point.  The pic of the tenderloins roasting shows how not to insert a meat thermometer for this type of cook.  When the thermometer is not far enough into the meat it gives a falsely high reading.  The thermometer should be inserted from the end of the tenderloin so the more of the thermometer traverses the meat.  Once we did that we got accurate readings.  I'll try to remember to post the money pic of the brisket and apologize for not remembering to do so on the tenderloins.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Thanks for looking.

travisstrick

You can adopt me if you want. Is make a great little brother.

Btw, how did the academy grill turn out?

Village Idiot

travisstrick said:

You can adopt me if you want. Is make a great little brother. Btw, how did the academy grill turn out?

Travis.  You just broke Pam's heart.

travisstrick

But they have brisket!!!!!!

Foghorn

The Academy grill worked out well, thanks.  At this point, I don't remember if I thanked you in the other thread or not - but I intended to.

It got hot enough to put a small cast iron pan on it and get a sear which is what I was looking for - and it was easily portable.

At this point the brisket is 205 in the point and the Thermopen slides in like butter, but 181 in the flat and still getting some resistance.  Since I'm planning on just using the point at chili meat after I pull it I'm just going to let the whole thing ride until the flat is done.

How do others deal with this temperature difference when it arises?  This is the first time I've seen a difference this large.

Foghorn

Yeah, we just decided it will be brisket sandwiches on croissants since we have some left from last night.

travisstrick

I get the part I'm going to eat (the point) just right and make chopped beef with whatever isn't tender enough.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

The Academy grill worked out well, thanks.  At this point, I don't remember if I thanked you in the other thread or not - but I intended to.

It got hot enough to put a small cast iron pan on it and get a sear which is what I was looking for - and it was easily portable.

At this point the brisket is 205 in the point and the Thermopen slides in like butter, but 181 in the flat and still getting some resistance.  Since I'm planning on just using the point at chili meat after I pull it I'm just going to let the whole thing ride until the flat is done.

How do others deal with this temperature difference when it arises?  This is the first time I've seen a difference this large.

It's normal. the point will be fine at that temp and the flat will follow soon. You are coming out of the stall and the flat will rise quickly. 

Foghorn

Thanks.  I'm used to seeing a 10-15 degree difference and ignoring it, but the 25 degree difference had me a little concerned.

This is the first one we have ever done with the flat on top and I wonder if that is why it is behaving differently?  It seems counterintuitive because in indirect cooking the temperature is usually higher up top.

The edges of the flat are like buttah and a small sample of it suggests it is the best brisket my son or I have ever tasted.  The center of the flat is still not there yet.

Village Idiot

Foghorn, you are assuming that the members of this forum have the attention span to read that book you just wrote.

Next time, try something like this.

Me cook meat.

Meat taste good.

Me like.

Foghorn

Good point VI. Maybe it should have been a haiku:

 

I cook meat three times

Tenderloin times two and beef

All very tasty

lousubcap

@Foghorn-great "Semper Gumby" (always flexible) use of the BGE for your cooks.  I was able to read your initial post as I am not in the "low&slow" mode so the adult beverages just got cranked up.  And major points for using your son as a shield in case the plan went south >-

caliking

Sounds like some great weekend cooking. Love that your son is involved too.

Foghorn

My son is my hall pass.

Here are the finished brisket pics. It was not perfect, but was more moist than the picture suggests.

@lousubcap, thank you for trudging through my drivel.  As VI correctly pointed out (how often do you get to write that?) it was way too wordy.

Mickey

How many people did you cook for? Wow

Eggcelsior

Is that the La Plancha that I've seen at Williams Sonoma?

Foghorn

"How many people did you cook for?"

3.  We like to go a cook on the weekend and eat leftovers all week.  Between my work schedule and my son's guitar (3 nights a week) and tennis (the other two weeknights) schedules we don't have a lot of time during the week for cooking.

 

"Is that the La Plancha that I've seen at Williams Sonoma?"

Yes.  It is very large and heavy - which is really only a problem when it is time to clean it, but overall I like it very much. 

henapple

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