My first packer brisket

njl

For the "pics or it didn't happen crowd": I was a little worried I'd gone too light with the dalmation rub...but I don't think so. Here it is after about 6 hours on the BGE...and the first time I'd cracked the lid since putting the probe in minutes after it went on: Didn't think to take a pic of my plate til half way through helping #1...there were 3

lousubcap

Way to bring it home.  Now that you've got this one in the books the next one will present just as many challenges but likely at different times in the cook process

That's the fun of brisket cooks- no two are ever the same.

Congrats and that is a great looking plate right there. 

njl

One thing I definitely screwed up is separating the flat/point.  I used my boning knife, and I'm pretty sure I left a good bit of point on the flat.  The kids wouldn't even try it, and ate leftover pizza instead.  Heathens!  Now (real soon anyway), I need to decide how to dispose of / store what the two of us won't eat over the next couple of days.  I'm thinking about either freezing a few portions (slices or unsliced?) or taking whats left to work Wednesday and telling a few coworkers "free brisket in the break room".

Starting this first thing in the morning worked out perfect (at least this time)...and I already want to do it again.  I hope Costco keeps stocking these mini packers.  

Foghorn

Looks and sounds awesome.  And that's the appropriate use of the brisket juice.

njl

More brisket pics
That's from last night.  I sliced the rest of it tonight...and need to decide real soon now between taking the leftovers to work or foodsaver&freeze.

I smoked this Sunday.  It was dinner Sunday, dinner Monday, lunch for me Tuesday, dinner Tuesday, and will be lunch again for me and dinner again tomorrow.  How long can this be kept refrigerated?  A quick google says 3-4 days.

Even the flat slices aren't bad as far as dryness...they could be moister, but my wife still hasn't complained that it was smoked and not braised.  We both only ate slices from the flat tonight.  I put just a bit of Rufus Teague BBQ sauce on mine.

I still can't get over how much better this came out than any flat I've tried smoking...and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

lousubcap

Way to enjoy.  I've easily gone a week with left-over brisket so continue to have at it. 

MaskedMarvel

Yeah baby!!!

MaskedMarvel

lousubcap said:

Go with the BGE and she will become a convert.  Just wait for the "feels like buttah" in the thickest part of the flat to declare victory.   Make sure to give it a good 15-20 minute cooling rack rest (stop the carry-over cooking) before any FTC.

Hey brother - I’ve never let them rest before FTC. 

Wondering what the difference is?

njl

I didn't do any rest before coolering it...but I did use a fresh wrapping of foil (didn't want to get the towels all messy and didn't think to just add an outer layer of foil over what had been in the egg).  So it had maybe a couple of minutes at most to lose some heat as I transferred it from old foil to new foil.  When I did that, I saved (refrigerated) the 6oz or so of juices that were in the foil it'd been wrapped in in the egg.  I wonder now if I should have just poured that into the foil that went into the cooler. 

Based on the flat temp (147F) when it came out of the cooler after 2.5 hours, I'm curious how much longer it could have safely stayed there.  I'm guessing not a whole lot longer.   Unfortunately, I'd removed the Carbon Lite probe when it came off the egg, so I have no idea what the rate of heat loss looked like.

When it came out of the cooler, there was about twice as much liquid in that foil.  All of that got dumped into the glass baking dish I've been storing it in, and much of it seems to have been reabsorbed (I assume), because most of it seems to have disappeared.  Some is congealed and sticks to the bottom of the meat...but much of it just seems gone.

njl

Just had some more of it for lunch (3 slices of flat, 1 point).  I smeared a tiny bit of the jelly left in the glass dish over each flat piece before microwaving.  This just keeps getting better each time I eat more of it.  I'd taken out the RT sauce, but it all looked so moist coming out of the microwave, I didn't bother with BBQ sauce.  Even the flat slices were fork cuttable. 

njl

I'm already having trouble remembering what I did for the rub...so I'm archiving this here before it's gone.  I did a bunch of googling the night I prepped the meat...and what I ended up with was:

1/4 cup fresh coarse ground black pepper (not fun from a manual Costco pepper mill)
3 or 4 TBSP kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder (it's all I had...would have used a bit more)

I mixed this up in a small bowl, then shook it in a quart ziplock, then poured it into two empty ~3oz spice shaker bottles.  The mix was a little coarse for the shaker tops, so I had to remove the tops and just pour/shake onto the meat.

njl

I made one last dinner out of this (the remainder will be my lunch tomorrow).  All that was left was some pretty fatty looking slices of point, and some chunks of point that I cut off the flat after having already removed most of the point.  Those chunks came from a thin slice of point that was too thin to cut into slices against the grain.
I made hamburgers for everyone else tonight (cast iron on the stove top) and it occurred to me to toss the chunks into the hot pan before cooking the burgers...they made a nice snack while the burgers cooked.

SSQUAL612

Nice to see you stayed the course and had success...briskets are one of my favorite thing to cook on the BGE.  So what did the wife think?  

Foghorn

Dude, you definitely got the full enjoyment out of the brisket.  Kudos.  A great brisket in a small household can provide longlasting joy.

njl

I don't think she'll admit to "liking" it, but she did eat it all week.  I'll admit, it does get kind of old eating the same meat 6 days in a row, but it was so good, and it was kind of nice not having to do any real cooking or wonder "what are we making for dinner tonight?" for most of a week.  

Part of me wants to do it again and see if this was a fluke.  Part of me is like "I need a break from brisket."  I bet my coworkers would get a kick out of it though...so maybe I'll make one and after the first day or two, take it to work and start a feeding frenzy in the break room

njl

Well...I've done it again.  Was in Costco today, and they had 2 Prime packers that were just over 9lb.  I got the one that was totally floppy and didn't have a weird looking bald spot on the point
9.3lb for $30. 

Work is having a potluck coming up soon...and I'm contemplating doing this brisket for that.  Trouble is, to serve it warm right out of the cooler (for a lunch), I'd have to literally stay up all night cooking it to have it finish mid morning, and have a couple hours cooler time before noon.  I think if I do this, I'm going to have to cook it in advance, refrigerate it, and microwave either servings or "batches" of it at work.

GoooDawgs

Good excuse to buy a Flameboss.  Maybe you could expense it if it's for work  

njl

It just occurred to me, instead of bringing it in cold and having to microwave it, would warming it back up in the oven at home work...and could I then keep it warm up to a couple of hours wrapped up in a cooler?  Does it change things if (for the sake of not having to bring a board and knife) I slice it up at home before rewarming it?

njl

After some more research, I think sous vide may be the ultimate answer for reheating.  A water bath at say 155F can't overcook it.  I think the only danger might be making it too tender...and has anyone ever complained "this brisket is too tender!"? 

So, I may cook it a day or two in advance, slice it at home, maybe eat a few slices, then transfer the slices and saved liquids to one or more suitably large bags (question is ziplock (doubled?) or foodsaver) and then take it to work the day of the event, and put it in a water bath for the several hours between my arrival and lunch.

Foghorn

That would probably work well.