Primo Oval kamado brisket

[sudsandswine]

About a month ago I bought a 19 pound prime brisket from Costco and decided to cook it this weekend. This one was clearly going to be too long to hang in the drum so I decided to cook it in the Primo XL kamado. It's been quite a while since I cooked a brisket on it, probably a period of time measured in years.

I also thought it'd be a good test for Jealous Devil charcoal in it, as I've been pretty happy with the quality of it, and any sort of off flavors are going to be more noticeable in a low airflow environment like you'd find in a ceramic grill running 275*. I'm sensitive to it, and I've had bad experiences with other charcoal in the past.

This is the brisket after trimming...weighed in at ~12.5lbs. I had about 5.5lbs of fat/trash trimmings and 1.3lbs of trimmings that'll I'll grind for burgers or something.



Nice big point on it, relatively uniform thickness though.



After trying to rinse that big brisket off in the divided sink in our kitchen, I decided I'd had enough and wanted a single bay sink again. A trip to the hardware store (and then a couple more) later, some brews, and a few hours of time and I have a much nicer place to rinse meat and large cooking items.



One of the things I found early on with kamado smoking is that it seemed like wood chunks burned differently and more slowly, so in the low airflow environment of a ceramic grill running "barbecue temps", they'd smolder and sometimes I'd get some off flavor.

I switched to chips when using the kamado as a smoker and I think it allows for a better burn. Also, I can more evenly distribute them in the charcoal basin. Because the fire burns fairly slowly, I imagine that a decent amount of time can pass after one chunk has fully burned and the fire has found its way to another.

So this is how I do it:





I used the Flameboss to run the cook overnight, after the sink install, I needed some rest :icon_blush: 275* cook temp starting @ 12 AM





I woke up around 7 AM to see the Flameboss reporting an internal temp of ~185* - I was surprised it was that high after only 7 hours. I wrapped it in butcher paper and put it back on for 2 more hours until it probed tender. When I wrapped it I turned it over to "fat cap up", and it'd been fat cap down overnight and the ceramic diffuser plates do have some radiant heat to them. I held it for 6 hours before slicing to serve.



9 hours start to finish @ 275* - I left the grill running at that temp, I wanted to see how long I could get it to run for. Around 1 PM I bumped it up to 325* and decided to try out a grilled "blooming onion" I saw someone post up on Instagram. Drizzled some olive oil over it and dusted it with BPS Little Louie's Seasoned Garlic Salt. About 15 minutes before pulling them off the grilled I drizzled some melted Kerrygold butter on them. They turned out pretty good!





We had guests so I didn't spend the time to take many other pics, but I did snap a couple of the sliced point. I used SPOG to season it and it had a nice bark. The flat turned out really well too...I had flat on a bun with a side of burnt ends. :thumb:





I was pleased with the results cooking a brisket on the Primo XL, I'll definitely be putting it back in the rotation for brisket duty.

Thanks for reading :clap2:

 

[Stingerhook]

One fine day Suds!

 

[ronbrad62]

Awesome cook! I don't blame you for wanting to keep it in the rotation, especially since it is a reliable method and you can count on great results.

 

[16Adams]

Primo OXL are solid cookers

Nice

 

[tom b]

good looking meat, thanks for the reportage and onion idea!

 

[Shiz-Nit]

Killer good grub as always and nice sink.

 

[El Ropo]

Hold on a minute... you cooked at 275 in a Primo XL, and the brisket doesn't look burnt at all. What type of magic is this? lol. That brisket looks amazing, Mr. Yoder should take note.

 

[sudsandswine]

LOL...am I missing some back story here?

 

[ForingersQ482]

That brisket looks absolutely amazing :blabla: The marbelling is gorgeous and the bark is lovely as hell. Might need to invest in a Kamado eventually here. Next stop for me is a UDS though

 

[kevinstaggs]

Now that looks nice. Real nice.

 

[chingador]

good looking brisket and I totally agree with you on size of wood chunks. I have been buying the smallest possible chunks (2" x 2") from fruita woods for my Primo. But chips are a great way to go. Large chunks just don't work well for kamado pits unless you like bad tasting smoke.

 

[rovster]

I’ve never had bad tasting smoke on my primo using chunks. I do wait for the fire to burn clean before putting the meat on and I try to light only in one area and let it spread naturally. I use 3-4 chunks per cook. Chunks are your typical ones found at the big box stores usually 2-4” x 2-4”.

Good looking grub there. How did It compare in flavor to the drum cook?

 

[sudsandswine]

Both were well executed, I can’t say I preferred one over the other. Hanging the brisket did result in some good smells coming out of the drum but I was sleeping for most of the Primo cook. I was happy serving both to guests :thumb:

 

[El Ropo]

LOL...am I missing some back story here?

There is a current thread pointing to a youtube video by Mad Scientist (Jeremy Yoder) where he claims you absolutely cannot cook a brisket in a kamado type cooker at any temp higher than 225F due to the extreme low air flow in the cooker. It is complete hogwash. I was just poking a little fun at the so called expert lol.