Of packers, Weber kettles and charcoal snakes

Botch

Watched Cook's Country this afternoon and they presented their method of cooking a full packer brisket on a Weber kettle.  Supposedly they've been working on this recipe for two years, and 500 lbs of packers (no wonder they've gotten expensive).  Not directly Egg-related but quite interesting.
Basically they built a "snake" of charcoal bricquets around the perimeter of a 22" kettle, two brickets high by two brikkuets wide, with an 8" gap between the "head" and the "tail"; exactly 116 bricuets.  Then put a drip pan filled with water in the center, then five chunks of smoking wood evenly spaced along the snake.  Light one end with 8 briquets lit in a chimney, add the brisket (fat-side down), and let her burn.  I didn't get exact times, and they poured some more briquets in the gap once the meat reached 170, and they wrapped in foil, put her back in.    
Once the meat hit 210 (they insisted on that temp, not "probes like buttah") they removed the packer and coolered it, making sure to flip it over so the fat side is then facing up.  They nailed it, great ring, tender, and juicy as heck.  I was impressed.
They slice their packer differently than I do.  I usually pull the point off, slice the flat against the grain all the way across, then slice the point either in slices, or chunks if I'm doing burnt ends.  They left theirs together, sliced all the exposed flat, then turned the point and the portion of flat directly below it 90 degrees, and sliced them together.  Interesting.
 
Found a bunch of similar pics on teh googlez, from a bunch of different sources, so I don't know who was copying who, doesn't matter I guess.  Neat that it can be done, but sure am glad I have an Egg to do this, quite a bit simpler (I still have never wrapped mid-cook).  
 

 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Once the meat hit 210 (they insisted on that temp, not "probes like buttah") 

Well...at 210 you don’t have to say “probes like buttah because that’s a given- ha! 

caliking

Wow. It took them that long, and that many briskets to figure that out??

I know for sure that I learned of that technique from the BBQ Brethren site. Some years ago. And it was known there for a good many years before that. 

HeavyG

The snake has definitely been around for a loooong time. That and the Minion method(s) are things that have been familiar to Kettle/WSM users for at least a decade.

A Slow 'n Sear is useful for folks like me who want to do 10 hour kettle cooks but whose ADD makes building a neat, well formed snake seem like torture.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I watched @sgh roll the snake method in his Vault for like 8 hours @350 at brisket camp 1. He cranked out a ton of good food for a ton of people that night! 

SGH

caliking said:

I know for sure that I learned of that technique from the BBQ Brethren site. Some years ago. And it was known there for a good many years before that. 

It was also always on the WVB site. It was a sticky on one of the sub forums. I know for sure that was on there at least 15 years ago. I haven’t been on the WVB site in a couple of years, but I bet it is still there. 

Photo Egg

SGH said:

caliking said:

I know for sure that I learned of that technique from the BBQ Brethren site. Some years ago. And it was known there for a good many years before that. 

It was also always on the WVB site. It was a sticky on one of the sub forums. I know for sure that was on there at least 15 years ago. I haven’t been on the WVB site in a couple of years, but I bet it is still there. 

Agree. Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire.

pescadorzih

If you had a budget and 2 yrs to perfect a brisket technique,  would you "perfect it" after  couple of cooks? Or, would you make it last 2 yrs and enjoy some tasty brisket?
😛😛😛😛😛

FanOfFanboys

that is a lot of work

just buy a kamado

JethroBodeen

I know Dave Klose came out with his charcoal basket for his offsets more than 15 years ago. It is based on the MM and Snake mentioned above. I was on his forum way back when.