Practice Brisket

minniemoh

Well, since the cryovac got a hole in it in the freezer AND I thawed it out too soon, I am nervous to try to keep this brisket until the weekend. I intended to smoke this Saturday and have it done for Sunday lunch for the baptism of my baby boy. I wasn't sure how long it would take to thaw since it started as a 15#er. When it thawed, there was air in the packaging and its been thawed for several days. Don't want to make anyone sick so....

I'll just have to smoke it! It's too long to fit without a rib rack under it and I'm not sure who's going to help eat it when it gets done tomorrow, but I hope it will be as good as the last one I made. 

DMW

Gotta love brisket practice! Have some in my freezer now.

pretzelb

Since my second was so bad it was thrown out I'd say I need tons of practice.

smokesniffer

Good Luck with it, vacuum seal any left overs, I was told that by others here. It works great.

cazzy

smokesniffer said:

Good Luck with it, vacuum seal any left overs, I was told that by others here. It works great.

Yep! I'm a big proponent in that...I vacuum seal all my leftovers. Very easy to reheat on the stove top for quick dinners.

loveTheEgg

what kind of gasket do you have on that Egg sir?

minniemoh

loveTheEgg said:

what kind of gasket do you have on that Egg sir?

Rutland. I have it on both of my eggs and I put it on the medium that I sold to buy my second large. Once you get the hinge set correctly, it works fantastic.

It's not "food approved" but I try not to drag my food over the gasket. Something else will kill me long before anything from the Rutland becomes a factor. Many on here swear by it and I must agree that it's worth it. 

minniemoh

pretzelb said:

Since my second was so bad it was thrown out I'd say I need tons of practice.

I've had my share of failures too. The ones that turned out poorly for me had a lot to do with being too lean. They came from a steer that we had butchered.  I think I took 4 cracks at it before I had one that I thought was worth eating. This one's USDA Prime. That's what I made last time and it turned out better than any brisket I've had - from a restaurant or smoked on the egg. Keep trying and buy a choice or prime in my opinion. You'll get there!

nolaegghead

You're not going to make anyone sick, big primals age well.  Any "off-flavor" from the frostbite will be hidden in the bark, rub and smoke. 

I don't buy select briskets anymore, just too lean.  Choice or prime.  The fat content is important for smoked brisket.

minniemoh

Thanks. I needed your advice earlier today @nolaegghead. I was on the fence as to whether I should try to save this for the weekend. My Mom just finished chemo so I couldn't take the risk if things didn't turn out right. On the bright side, I get to eat brisket twice this week! I plan to get another one for this weekend. 

I just got a food saver from my father-in-law so I might have to break that out and give it a try. 

nolaegghead

Sweet!  Smoking brisket will make you lots of friends.  The more the merrier.

I cooked up a 15 pound choice in my sous vide bath on Sat.  In about an hour I'm going to smoke it very low overnight and bring it in to the office tomorrow.  The lab just got a new data system on Monday so everyone's depressed.  Hope to cheer them up.

minniemoh

Nothin will put a smile on the face of a bunch of IT people like some great smoked brisket! Should do the job. Rock on!

Have you done the sous vide brisket before? What do you use for a sous vide - a cattle tank!?!?! The one I have started as a 15lber. It was huge! It was the only prime packer they had and it was $2.99 per lb so I HAD to buy it.

nolaegghead

That's a great price.  I use a 40 quart Igloo cooler.  Yes, I've done a few briskets that way and they're foolproof.  Almost (nothing is).  I've had my share of regular bisket cook failures, but none yet with the sous vide method.  This one is a 15+ pounder, select.  $2.69/lb.  After 24 hours at 147F I pulled the bag out to inspect it and the damn bag sprunk a leak and made an unholy mess on the back deck.  Needless to say I wasn't going to put it back in the bath, so I considered the sous vide step complete and threw it in the fridge.  Phase II is tonight.

MaskedMarvel

nolaegghead said:

Sweet!  Smoking brisket will make you lots of friends.  The more the merrier.

I cooked up a 15 pound choice in my sous vide bath on Sat.  In about an hour I'm going to smoke it very low overnight and bring it in to the office tomorrow.  The lab just got a new data system on Monday so everyone's depressed.  Hope to cheer them up.

Please start a new thread on how this goes - my friend and I were debating this process just this week.  Thanks!

BckPorchGriln

+1 on wanting to see this method in action.

pantsypants

nolaegghead said:

You're not going to make anyone sick, big primals age well.  Any "off-flavor" from the frostbite will be hidden in the bark, rub and smoke. 

I don't buy select briskets anymore, just too lean.  Choice or prime.  The fat content is important for smoked brisket.

I have always thought that a Prime Brisket would be way to fatty to cook low and slow .
I always get choice brikset and they are great .  what has been you experience with the Prime ?

nolaegghead

pantsypants said:

nolaegghead said:

You're not going to make anyone sick, big primals age well.  Any "off-flavor" from the frostbite will be hidden in the bark, rub and smoke. 

I don't buy select briskets anymore, just too lean.  Choice or prime.  The fat content is important for smoked brisket.

I have always thought that a Prime Brisket would be way to fatty to cook low and slow .
I always get choice brikset and they are great .  what has been you experience with the Prime ?

I think you're right.  I've never cooked a prime brisket, much less sous vide.  Prime brisket is hard to find around New Orleans, this ain't exactly BBQ country, at least not with brisket like Texas is.

pantsypants

thats what I thought but I keep seeing people doing Wagyu Brisket and they look great ,. So I was wondering about Prime .

minniemoh

When I bought this packer at Costco, the only other briskets they had were choice flats at $4.69/lb. The prime packer was $2.99/lb. The first prime that I made took 20 hrs to get to 195 and came out incredibly tender and juicy. This one started two pounds heavier and is just about done at 15 hrs (192 degrees). It still has a few firm spots in the flat. I set the CyberQ at 250 degrees this time. Last time I did 225 degrees for the first 8 hrs and then bumped it to 260. 

lousubcap

Recently the local Costco has had prime packers for $2.99/#-best I have seen in this area for quite some time.  They hardly ever have packers and usually if they do it's CAB.  But back to the results with prime.  I have low&slow smoked three prime packers in the past five weeks (SWMBO says "enough") and I think they turn out better than the CAB choice grade.  

Of course, I could be influenced by the hype but I have concluded that the quality of meat in the brisket cook does have a major impact on the outcome.  Just an opinion and we all know what those are worth...