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Brisket flavor - School me

I've had my LBGE over a year and done 3 or 4 briskets. I've got the cook pretty much figured out and am getting good results in that department. Now I'd like to start improving the flavor profile. They've all tasted good but I'm shooting for great. One thing I need to do is get more salt on the exterior of the meat. The other thing is getting some more smoke flavor without making it taste like an ashtray. The first one is easy. No so sure about the second. How about some feedback from you more experience eggers on jacking up the smoke flavor without making it taste like creosote?
Michiana, South of the border.

Comments

  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Scatter white or post oak throughout your lump. 4-5 fist sized chunks works for me. Use a prime if you can. Salt and pepper liberally. We have a BBQ place locally that has a brisket rub I love as does @DoubleEgger who turned me onto it  Its what I use. Have fun. 
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • Teefus
    Teefus Posts: 1,204
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    Michiana, South of the border.
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    White oak is my preference but pecan is great too. 
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 22,951
    edited September 2017
    Salt it 24-48 hours in advance. That will carry some of the salt flavor in to the meat as well. Pretty hard to oversalt a brisket but I've done it. Just have to experiment to see what you can get away with. 

    For the smoke, start with a very cold brisket with some moisture on it (maybe mustard or just water) and spritz it for the first few hours. Smoke sticks to moisture and a cold brisket will be able to spend more time in a hotter fire (see below for that). To keep the smoke clean in an egg, I like to use very small chunks or chips mixed in to the lump like brent said but I run the fire a little hotter. Fully combusted wood is much cleaner than smoldering wood so smaller chunks/chips scattered in that are fully ignited in a hotter fire will burn cleaner than big chunks smoldering for hours in a choked down fire. If you really want to get tweaky, you can build a smaller fire (like half fire box sized) so it has to run even hotter and cleaner to keep the egg at temp. I've done it. It works but it's a pita. You have to add more lump mid cook or move to another egg that is set up for thre low and slow part.  I've done it 50/50 where I ran all the smoke hot the first 4-6 hours, then wrapped and Moved to a 260 degree egg to finish. That's when I realized that I may want another smoker dedicated to low and slow. It can be done but you have to trick it up a little if you want lots of clean smoke doing L&S in a BGE
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX

  • Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • This brisket lesson is some good learnin'!  People are paying $400-$700 to learn this craft. Thank you!
    Lovin' my Large Egg since May 2012 (Richmond, VA) ... and makin' cookbooks at https://FamilyCookbookProject.com
    Stoker II wifi, Thermapen, and a Fork for plating photo purposes
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727

    Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    listen to this guy. My wife and I agreed that I should stop chasing brisket since we were hard pressed to find any better than CT's. @20stone has a damn good beef rub that has never disappointed either. 

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • caliking said:

    Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    listen to this guy. My wife and I agreed that I should stop chasing brisket since we were hard pressed to find any better than CT's. @20stone has a damn good beef rub that has never disappointed either. 
    My wife and I agree that I should stop doing lots of things. But i rarely do. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    caliking said:

    Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    listen to this guy. My wife and I agreed that I should stop chasing brisket since we were hard pressed to find any better than CT's. @20stone has a damn good beef rub that has never disappointed either. 
    I agree 
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • 20stone
    20stone Posts: 1,961
    caliking said:

    Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    listen to this guy. My wife and I agreed that I should stop chasing brisket since we were hard pressed to find any better than CT's. @20stone has a damn good beef rub that has never disappointed either. 
    I think he's referring to a rib (not a rub). Seasoned like a brisket, cooked like a brisket, a little better than a brisket. 
    (now only 16 stone)

    Joule SV
    GE induction stove
    Gasser by the community pool (currently unavailable)
    Scale (which one of my friends refuses to use)
    Friends with BGEs and myriad other fired devices (currently unavail IRL)
    Occasional access to a KBQ and Webber Kettle
    Charcuterie and sourdough enthusiast
    Prosciuttos in an undisclosed location

    Austin, TX
  • 20stone said:
    caliking said:

    Teefus said:
    We don't have post Oak up here but we do have red oak and white oak. I'm guessing white oak will work well. I have pecan too. 
    All those would be fine. Hickory or any other good bbq wood would be fine. I would start with the white oak if it were me
    listen to this guy. My wife and I agreed that I should stop chasing brisket since we were hard pressed to find any better than CT's. @20stone has a damn good beef rub that has never disappointed either. 
    I think he's referring to a rib (not a rub). Seasoned like a brisket, cooked like a brisket, a little better than a brisket. 
    This rib? They were as good as any I have ever had. 


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • John has cooked a few.... Best I've had. 
  • I am some one who prefers more smoke, and I found that I can dial up the quantity of smoke by going to a wood with a softer smoke like profile. So instead of oak for all of it, try apple or cherry for some of the smoke. 


  • As far as salt and pepper are concerned, Franklin's proportions are 1/4cup salt and 1/4cup pepper for every 12lbs. This seems perfect to my tastes.  

    For smoke, make sure you hit the meat with the wood early in the cook. Meat takes on smoke best when it's cold. In my experience, it's hard to oversmoke if doing it early in the cook. To my palate, late smoke is often acrid and harsh. 
  • ....And if you want to step up your brisket game a notch, wet age your cryovac'd brisket. 8 weeks will do wonders. 
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    No new lessons here.  But given the fire properties of the BGE you want to make sure you have smoke wood (closest thing to oak I use here are Jack Daniel's chips and chunks) where the fire travels.  For me the predominant path (lit forward of center-line) is back and generally slightly to the right of center.  Then more to the left (around 10-11 o'clock if looking down) than continuing right.  It eventually gets to more fuel in the back than the front.  FWIW-
     
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.