First Meteorite - & lessons learned (long & Pic Heavy)

A big thank you to @YukonRon (who answered email questions throughout the cook while also helping his sick daughter) and @lousubcap.  All of the successful aspects of the cook belong to them, I own pulling off the egg at the wrong point.  Flavor profile was great but the flat was drier than I like - not at all like the briskets on Franklin's videos.  Point is amazing though.  I think my modification to @YukonRon's injection worked well there.  Sorry for so many details, but I learned a lot from my first effort, those learnings listed below.  Happy Monday!





Sides my wonderful (and patient) wife made were outstanding - simple vinegar based blue cheese slaw and cheddar jalapeno corn bread from scratch:




Lessons Learned:
1. The people on this forum are amazing, and just want to help you have a great cook.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I read many posts, including a memorial day Brisket thread that was great background,  Appreciation to all that post their process, results, and mistakes!
2. Next time I'll make the drive to find a Costco Prime - I cooked a local butcher's choice and from all I see on the forum Prime makes a big difference in cooking time and outcome
3. Make sides you know are great, just in case the cow isn't, same with wine and drinks!
4. My type A style, while very helpful to my career, continues to get in the way of great L&S cooks as I can't seem to hit the finish spot on.  Corollary to this:  the cow drives the cook, not me!  The packer was 11.5lb trimmed and ran 19 hours before I felt it "hopefully" probed like butter...after boosting temp to push to finish and having the temp run away for 15 - 30 min.  Three errors - loss of patience on cook, loss of patience on BPTC (about 45 min after 20 min of resting) and over pushing temp = quickly drying brisket.
5. I think I need to visit a local egger with brisket experience - not to invite myself to dinner, but to feel the final probe tests when an experienced egger is ready to pull off the heat.  Please keep me in mind those of you in SE PA, So Jersey, No DE, etc!
6. Despite the slightly disappointing finish, I had an absolute blast doing this cook!
7. Next time I will fully prepare before embarking on the brisket journey and make sure I have all needed things on hand.  I made several improvisations off of @YukonRon's last post, some worked, some not so much.  Improvised injection worked well, mix of apple chunks (only chunk I had left) and hickory chips layered in with the lump placement only gave a soft, understated smoke profile
8. Looking forward to brisket chili, tacos, and maybe burnt ends (depends on when the blizzard of 2018 starts, nothing but weather on the news already...).  Those should easily cover the dryness and maximize the great flavor
9. Like getting to Carnegie Hall, I need to practice, practice, practice - next time with an earlier start to build in a large window for the cow to drive the cook.
10. More brown liquor for me - to tame my type A tendencies 

My improvisation to @YukonRon's injection as I couldn't find garlic juice or onion juice the day I was cooking:
1. "Sweat" finely chopped inions in butter over low heat until totally transparent and then begin to carmelize
2. Add garlic paste at the end of the onions to bring in that flavor
3. Add garlic/onion mix to the fresh beef broth slowly, stopping to test, in search of @YukonRon's 50%/25%/25% flavor profile
4. Let sit for several hours to fully incorporate
5. Strain so the onion bits won't clog the injection needle




Some of the remaining injection, post straining


My improvised smoking wood approach - it was OK but next time I'll plan further ahead and have other options on hand..  I liked the consistent smoke this fire build created, just would replace the apple.