Marinading Brisket in Coke-Cola?

Daddyo · January 2004

I have a friend that tells me he marinades his brisket in Coke. Ever heard of such a thing?

BeerMike · January 2004

Daddyo, Never heard of that but I have soaked my car battery terminals with Coke. IMO it does not sound all that great. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.[p]How about a beer marinade? BeerMike

The Other Dave · January 2004

Daddyo,[p]I have heard about that. It will "pre-digest" the cut and make it more tender. I believe if properly cooked in the egg, this is not at all needed. A cola based sauce during the cook may be pretty good, but personally, I would choose a Dr. Pepper based sauce for that.

a stick · January 2004

Daddyo,[p]My first smoker, an electric Brinkman, had a cookbook with a rib marinade that called for Coke. Funny, the cooking times it suggested for the Brinkman were accurate, unlike the Egg's instruction/cookbook. But I'm getting off the subject ...
Anyway, from my notes (June 2001) it turned out pretty good. Here was my interpretation of it:[p]3 cups ketchup
1 cup Coke
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbls. soy sauce
2 Tbls. garlic salt
2 Tbls. Tabasco[p]Marinated 5.5lbs of spareribs, chine bone removed, from 5pm until 2:30 the next day.

Daddyo · January 2004

astick,
Strangely, this sounds good. The idea sounded nuts at first, but the ketchup and brown sugar seem to go with cola. I may give it a try.

Unknown · January 2004

Daddyo,
I had read about using Cherry Coke for a marinade on brisket on the BBQ forum. It sounded interesting to me so I tried it. Only I couldn't find cherry Coke but I did find some Cherry Pepsi, so I used that. [p]I followed the advice given, and simply cut a small hole at one end of the cryovac package of a packer cut brisket. I drained it then filled it up with the soda and set it in my fridge with the hole at the top so that it wouldn't leak. It stayed this way in the fridge overnight.[p]The next morning I opened the package, and prepped the brisket like normal (shed some of the fat and hit it with a rub). It smoked all day and was one of the best briskets that I have ever done. Even my wife (real picky eater) commented on how good it was.[p]I was so happy with the results that I decided to try another one the following weekend. I did the exact same thing and it came out so bad that the dog wouldn't eat it. Go figger.[p]In fact, that last was so bad that I have not tried it since. That was about 18 months ago.[p]Matt.

Borders · January 2004

Matt,
A brisket is one of the things that I have not tried with my new egg. You describe a great result and a sad one. I'm assuming you cooked the second one the same way, since the first one was so good. Is it fair to assume your second brisket was not as good a piece of meat as the 1st? What do you think?

Unknown · January 2004

Borders,
Well, I don’t know if it were a bad piece of meat or if I screwed something up. It would be easy to say that it was the meat but since I always get my briskets from the same source I doubt it. Odds are that it was just something that I did.[p]I didn’t bother to write anything down about the two cooks but from what I can remember, I think that I did everything the same. Kind of hard to tell though, given that I have the memory of a cocker spaniel on crack.[p]If you haven’t tried a brisket yet, then I encourage you to do so. Here’s how I do mine:[p]I have tried a lot of different approaches to brisket and have found that the simple ways often produce the best results. I trim the fat cap down until it feels soft. Kind of hard to describe other than it is a Zen type of approach. I press down on it and if it feel firm, then there is too much fat for my likings. Some folks say to trim the fat down to 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch but I can’t tell how thick it is unless I have cut down to the meat to compare... I also trim down a lot of the fat in the pocket betwixt the flat and point.[p]Next I throw a rub on it. Lately I have been using that Cow Lick stiff from the Dizzy Pig crew. Seems to have a nice flavor to it that goes well with beef. Anyways, once it is rubbed down, I let it sit on the counter while I get my fire going. I clear out the ashes and dump in a bunch of new lump and setup for an indirect cook. I used to strive for an exact 225° dome temp but have since realized that temps ranging from 225° - 275° works just as well. The fat and collagen still breaks down at the slightly higher temps but speeds up the cooking time considerably. Brisket can take a looooong time to finish and it is done when it is done. I find that when a probe inserted into the flat meets little resistance that it be done. This is usually in the 190° - 195° range. Sometimes a little higher sometimes a little lower. [p]Wrap it in foil once it is done and let it sit for a spell. Slice it across the grain and you are good to go. Note that the grain of the flat is perpendicular to that of the point. You might want to throw the point back on the cooker for a couple of hours after separating it from the flat so that it can render out more fat. Good stuff.[p]There are lots of ways to cook a brisket (not all of them good, ask my family) so try out different approaches and see what you like.[p]Brews
Matt.

Unknown · January 2004

Yo Daddyo, Years ago I used to be the king of marinades. I used to marinate whole hams and shoulders as well as briskets. These large pieces of meats would sometimes soak for up to 48 hours. Usually my marinade contained cherry cola as well as several different fruit juices that were also highly acidic. [p]While these marinades did provide a lot of flavor, they did not tenderize the inside of the ham or shoulder. To a certain extent, it did tenderize the interior of the brisket, but this was only true on briskets that weren't very thick. What these highly acidic marinades did do to meat that soaked for over twelve hours was turn the exterior meat to mush.[p]My experiences with marinades have told me that the tenderizing aspect is highly overrated. Most marinades I have used won't totally penetrate the meat more than one-half inch. So a one inch pork chop will totally be penetrated by a marinade, but once again, by the time an acidic marinade penetrates that far, some of the exterior meat is going to going to turn mushy.[p]Now it is possible to inject marinades into large cuts of meat, but once again, you need to consider the time and acidity level of the marinade.[p]Lager,[p]Juggy D Beerman

RRP · January 2004

Daddyo,
A different twist to it but thanks to Dr Chicken I learned there is only one way to reheat cooked beef without it getting that gawd awful warmed over beef taste that I detest - just use Coke instead of water and the beef surprisingly comes out like fresh cooked & sliced. He told me that is a reataurant secret and it works evey time for me. No sweet taste or any cover up! Try it sometime.

The Other Dave · January 2004

RRP, Do you use the cola initialy, or just for the re-heat? Sorry, I'm a little slow today.

RRP · January 2004

The Other Dave, just in the reheat. It will amaze you that there is no noticeable taste - don't know what the Coke does but until learning that trick I never ate warmed over beef as I hate that taste. Try it with sliced roast beef as a for instance in a test of a pan with water and another with Coke. BTW Pepsi will not work it has to be regular original Coke, not that diet crap or any flavored ones either.

Borders · January 2004

Matt,
Thanks for taking the time to spell out your process. The more info the better. It wont be long before I put this to the test. Have a good one, [p]Scott

Marinading Brisket in Coke-Cola?

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