Please vote on your preferred protein placement...

GoooDawgs · April 2017

The Gold Beast and the pork butt are going on the xl tonight. Obviously I value the brisket more than the kroger butt, but do not know which set-up I should do. I do have the AR and woo, so the grid in these pictures is at the felt line. Note the brisket is too big to go anywhere other than main grid.

Option # 1

Option # 2

Option # 3

I don't think butt dripping on the brisket will change the flavor profile...

Thanks guys!

JohnInCarolina · April 2017

I can't imagine it will make a huge difference to have Butt drippings on your brisket. Come to think of it, a butt-dripped Brisket might be fifteen pounds of awesome!

But if you're not sure, it seems to me your second option would allow for a shallow drip pan to be positioned between the two of them, no?

Sea2Ski · April 2017

Cow over pig if at all possible. Drape it over an inverted v-rack or a foil lined brick if needed to get the cow on top. That is what I did on my large and was pleased with the results.

GoooDawgs · April 2017

Ahhh JIC good call about the 2nd drip pan. That may be the way to go if it doesnt block too much air. Good call man. But perhaps the butt juice would make it better... the fun things we think about, right?

lousubcap · April 2017

I will offer that I doubt it would make any difference, but if you had a choice I would always go with the brisket on top for two reasons, preserve the brisket bark (sacrifice the butt bark) and the brisket may need more care and feeding to nail the finish line. Also depending on start times and size the higher protein will cook faster /lb due to the reflective heating from the dome. Given you don't have the brisket on top option (gotta be a yuge cow) I would insert a drip pan as suggested by @JohnInCarolina if you want to preserve the bark-if that is not important, then skip the pan.
SRF Gold grade will yield a good amount of rendered fat-FYI. Above all, have fun and enjoy the banquet at the finish-line.

Carolina Q · April 2017

Ok, I don't do brisket. From the little I've tried, I don't even LIKE brisket. But... you paid a gazillion $$$ for a gold brisket!! Why would you even consider dripping PORK fat all over it?! Just sayin'.........

fishlessman · April 2017

butt over brisket is fine and the bark will be good. i buy butts boneless with no fat cap, cut off the fat cap on the butt. this was butt over brisket, plenty of bark on the brisket

Image result for butt over brisket fishlessman

Image result for butt over brisket fishlessman

GATraveller · April 2017

Hairless_Hand · April 2017

Option 1. Butt over brisket. Been there, done that, and damn glad that I did it.

Photo Egg · April 2017

I would do your option #2 photo but swap. Brisket on top.
Your Butt cook is just a filler and it's almost impossible to mess up the Butt.
I would cook the high dollar brisket top and center where it could be watched, checked and attended to easily. I would also use a drip pan on top your platesetter with spacers to raise it off the ceramic so the dripping don't burn and smoke as much.
If you do Butt on top, as @fishlessman said, trim the fat cap and toss a rack of BB ribs on each side.

OhioEgger · April 2017

lousubcap said:

I will offer that I doubt it would make any difference, but if you had a choice I would always go with the brisket on top for two reasons, preserve the brisket bark (sacrifice the butt bark) and the brisket may need more care and feeding to nail the finish line.

This is what I would do.
BTW, another suggestion is to take the plastic wrap off before the cook. It's easier to remove then.

Focker · April 2017

This is what multi-cooker cooking is for.
The egg is such a miser, you could split it up into two separate cooks(PP first), reheating the PP with the finished brisket.

Acn · April 2017

GoooDawgs said:

Ahhh JIC good call about the 2nd drip pan. That may be the way to go if it doesnt block too much air. Good call man. But perhaps the butt juice would make it better... the fun things we think about, right?

Just keep those conversations here. Just think of the reaction if you asked somebody "Do you think butt juice will make my brisket better?" without A LOT of context.

Ozzie_Isaac · April 2017

I vote neither. I prefer my protein out of the vac seal and carry bags.

YukonRon · April 2017

JohnInCarolina said:

I can't imagine it will make a huge difference to have Butt drippings on your brisket. Come to think of it, a butt-dripped Brisket might be fifteen pounds of awesome!

But if you're not sure, it seems to me your second option would allow for a shallow drip pan to be positioned between the two of them, no?

GoooDawgs · April 2017

Internal temp is about 190 after 13 hours. It was probably 18-19 pounds post trim, so it is following the 45 minutes a pound rule. Grid temp is 235 but dome is around 275-285.

Still not probing like butter so I'll let it ride.

lousubcap · April 2017

@GoooDawgs - what set-up did you end up with? Only cooked one SRF gold (around 10 days ago) and it didn't finish til around 202-203*F in the thickest part of the flat, FYI. It will get there and the point will be off the chart.

GoooDawgs · April 2017

@lousubcap I did butt over brisket with a small drip pan underneath. It all fit nicely. I couldnt wrap the brisket until 178 due to work, but man is it shooting up after it got through the stall.

So you were probing at 202-203 or was that after you le it rest it went up that high? Someone else was mentioning these were usually done in the high 180s/low 190s. Cow drives the cook right?

lousubcap · April 2017

@GoooDawgs - I cook around 5-6 SRF black grade briskets/year and the above was my first Gold. I had one black finish in the high 180's but all the rest have finished (when coming off the BGE) in the high 190's -low 200's. But as you note, the cow drives the cook and the finish-line.
And go with the great majority of the flat probing like buttah-if some of it fails to get with the program declare victory and pull it. Pay no attention to the point. The high fat content will ensure goodness whenever the flat gets there. You will be justly rewarded for sure.

GoooDawgs · April 2017

Thanks Lou - I have the warming drawer set to 150 so after 20 or 30 minutes rest on the counter it will go nap for 5 hours or so. Smells incredible so far!

Btw, I have the new flameboss 300 and put 2 probes in the flat. The different #s drive you crazy so next time I'm just going with one!

lousubcap · April 2017

As you know, it's all about the feel. I generally check with a thermopen so I see the temperature variations as I poke around the flat. I'm sure the aroma is most eggcellent.

lousubcap · April 2017

@GoooDawgs - still in a meat coma?? How did it all turn out?

YukonRon · April 2017

lousubcap said:

@GoooDawgs - still in a meat coma?? How did it all turn out?

Meat coma says it all.

GoooDawgs · April 2017

lousubcap said:

@GoooDawgs - still in a meat coma?? How did it all turn out?

Hey @lousubcap and @YukonRon. Meat coma for sure... it was a long week indeed. The brisket turned out awesome - it finally began to probe like buttah in the high 190s with a couple places finishing about 201.

I did the John Lewis rub and it was incredible - 8 parts pepper, 3 parts kosher salt, 3 parts Lawry's, 1 part granulated garlic. Bark was perfect, point was nicely rendered, and even the flat was acceptable to me. I still can never get the flat slices to look like @bhedges1987 AKA "Brisket Jedi Master" but they were still good. Most passed the pull test, though a few pieces I still had to pull with a slightly harder tug to break - is that over or under done??

I also did the pork butt with the peach preserves on top - I believe that's your creation @YukonRon ? Incredible as well.

Here are my learnings / questions:

1) I understand the feel of when to pull now, then I let the protein rest on the counter for 30 minutes to stop the carry over. I was about 5 hours from slicing, so I wrapped the BP tightly back over it and place it in the warming drawer that was set at 150 degrees. After a few hours I did wrap the BP in foil just to make sure the heat source wasn't hitting any one part too much.

Question - on a 5 hour hold, would it have been better to just FTC and skip the warming drawer? I wonder if the constant heat, even if just 150 degrees, may have made the flat not quite as juicy...

2) It's still not quite clear to me when to turn the brisket when slicing to separate point from flat. I can easily tell when it's not a "meatorite" and when the fat cap is up as I'm trimming but since I cook fat side down I always end up slicing that was and it's a little of a guess for me.

Question - do you flip it over and slice with the fat cap up so you can see where the point fat hits the flat easier? All the slicing videos show fat cap up when slicing..

Overall I was very happy with it, but when spending my own money I don't know if I could justify $250 over $50/$60 prime from costco. It was better no doubt, but those prime are pretty good especially after only doing choice for so long.

This was my work party so I was running around prepping all the other food and drinks so unfortunately no pics! This thing got rave reviews, and with 10 people there was maybe 2 pounds left of the 23 pound beast. 23 pounds - 4 pounds trimming and this team crushed it.

I'm just coming out of the meat coma when my bride invites the cul-de-sac over to hang out tomorrow. Needless to say, the 10 pound butt is smoking away...

Thanks again for everyone's help with this. Brisket is no doubt the most fun cook.

YukonRon · April 2017

GoooDawgs said:

lousubcap said:

@GoooDawgs - still in a meat coma?? How did it all turn out?

Hey @lousubcap and @YukonRon. Meat coma for sure... it was a long week indeed. The brisket turned out awesome - it finally began to probe like buttah in the high 190s with a couple places finishing about 201.

I did the John Lewis rub and it was incredible - 8 parts pepper, 3 parts kosher salt, 3 parts Lawry's, 1 part granulated garlic. Bark was perfect, point was nicely rendered, and even the flat was acceptable to me. I still can never get the flat slices to look like @bhedges1987 AKA "Brisket Jedi Master" but they were still good. Most passed the pull test, though a few pieces I still had to pull with a slightly harder tug to break - is that over or under done??

I also did the pork butt with the peach preserves on top - I believe that's your creation @YukonRon ? Incredible as well.

Here are my learnings / questions:

1) I understand the feel of when to pull now, then I let the protein rest on the counter for 30 minutes to stop the carry over. I was about 5 hours from slicing, so I wrapped the BP tightly back over it and place it in the warming drawer that was set at 150 degrees. After a few hours I did wrap the BP in foil just to make sure the heat source wasn't hitting any one part too much.

Question - on a 5 hour hold, would it have been better to just FTC and skip the warming drawer? I wonder if the constant heat, even if just 150 degrees, may have made the flat not quite as juicy...

2) It's still not quite clear to me when to turn the brisket when slicing to separate point from flat. I can easily tell when it's not a "meatorite" and when the fat cap is up as I'm trimming but since I cook fat side down I always end up slicing that was and it's a little of a guess for me.

Question - do you flip it over and slice with the fat cap up so you can see where the point fat hits the flat easier? All the slicing videos show fat cap up when slicing..

Overall I was very happy with it, but when spending my own money I don't know if I could justify $250 over $50/$60 prime from costco. It was better no doubt, but those prime are pretty good especially after only doing choice for so long.

This was my work party so I was running around prepping all the other food and drinks so unfortunately no pics! This thing got rave reviews, and with 10 people there was maybe 2 pounds left of the 23 pound beast. 23 pounds - 4 pounds trimming and this team crushed it.

I'm just coming out of the meat coma when my bride invites the cul-de-sac over to hang out tomorrow. Needless to say, the 10 pound butt is smoking away...

Thanks again for everyone's help with this. Brisket is no doubt the most fun cook.

I have not used a warming drawer, I have only used BP T C, in a warmed up cooler. I have let set for 5 hours, sliced and served, with no issues.

Prior to cooking, I cheat a bit on the slicing. I will slice off a small section on the flat to indicate the slicing pattern to follow, against the grain. I pay close attention as I cut to adjust and stay against the grain throughout.

lousubcap · April 2017

As above, I have gone 5+ hours FTC w/o any issues. Don't have a warming drawer-my clock box will only go down to 170*F.
Regarding slicing-as with @Yukonron, I cut a notch perpendicular to the flat grain run before seasoning. Then I follow it for the flat. I do slice fat side up if I remember and make a good guess at to when to rotate and take on the point. Franklin has a great video on the slicing; linked here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMIlyzRFUjU Takes all the mystery out of it.
Regarding the flat and the pull test, if you have to really tug it is undercooked, but if the great majority of the flat is there-don't sweat it. Overcooked will crumble (ask me how I know...).
As long as everyone enjoyed, you nailed it. Congrats.

Please vote on your preferred protein placement...

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