Elrik
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2011
- Location
- Toronto...
Started a packer in 2019, finished it in 2020. Is that low n slow or what?
Every year my wife and I put out a spread for a New Years brunch for 20-30 friends. This year I decided I wanted to make a brisket as the main meat component of the meal. Unfortunately brisket is not a very commonly carried cut at grocery stores here in Toronto and where/when you can find it it can be pretty pricey. Because of this (and the fact that briskets are pretty huge), I've only ever smoked brisket twice before, and the last one was seven years ago. To say I was looking forward to it was an understatement.
None of my local groceries carry briskets, but I knew that on Christmas Eve I would be in a part of town where there is a Korean grocery that sells them. Swung by their meat department and asked butcher for one. They normally just sell the flats and grind the point and don't even have the packer in their computer system, so the guy just put it in at the flat price and gave me a discount to reflect the fact that there wasn't any processing work on their ends. He brought me out a 17lber and 13lber to choose from and I chose the 13 and brought it home and tossed in the fridge to wet age an additional week.
Woke up yesterday morning and took the brisket out of cryovac and dried it with paper towel and started to trim.
Straight out of the pack:
Couple of pounds later she was trimmed!
Gave it a good shake of coarse pepper and salt and then went over it again with a mix of cumin and garlic powder and wrapped up in Saran and tossed back in the fridge to wait.
Weather forecast called for some snow. I had some eggplants I needed to smoke for another dish on the menu so figured I would get them out of the way yesterday afternoon. We were going to a friends for New Years dinner and I wanted to get the brisket on shortly after we got home so to save time I figured I would just keep the keg rolling while we were gone so I dialed it in around 250 and left for dinner.
When you don't have a covered porch, you improvise.
Annual lobster massacre in full effect
Got home and took the brisket out to come to room temp while I added some more charcoal and wood chunks to the Keg. Getting a fire ready is thirsty work so I cracked open a tasty local craft beer.
I figured I would let the keg settle in wherever she wanted to in the 250-275 range and was giving myself about 12 hours for it to get done, and I planned to wrap it in parchment paper after the first 4-5 hours and ended up doing so around the 5 hour mark. Well after wrapping the cook flew by and at the 7.5 hour mark she was already over 200 and probe tender. I wrapped over the parchment with some foil and then swaddled in some blankets before tossing in the cooler to hold till lunch time.
Moment of truth came and pulled the brisket from the cooler. The long wait had no untoward impact. Brisket was still nice and jiggly, moist and hot to the touch. Sliced well and had a nice smoke ring. Went through the flat up to where the point started at the party. Rest is packed up for leftovers tomorrow. All in all an enjoyable and tasty cook. Good smoke flavour, tender and moist. Thanks for looking!
Every year my wife and I put out a spread for a New Years brunch for 20-30 friends. This year I decided I wanted to make a brisket as the main meat component of the meal. Unfortunately brisket is not a very commonly carried cut at grocery stores here in Toronto and where/when you can find it it can be pretty pricey. Because of this (and the fact that briskets are pretty huge), I've only ever smoked brisket twice before, and the last one was seven years ago. To say I was looking forward to it was an understatement.
None of my local groceries carry briskets, but I knew that on Christmas Eve I would be in a part of town where there is a Korean grocery that sells them. Swung by their meat department and asked butcher for one. They normally just sell the flats and grind the point and don't even have the packer in their computer system, so the guy just put it in at the flat price and gave me a discount to reflect the fact that there wasn't any processing work on their ends. He brought me out a 17lber and 13lber to choose from and I chose the 13 and brought it home and tossed in the fridge to wet age an additional week.
Woke up yesterday morning and took the brisket out of cryovac and dried it with paper towel and started to trim.
Straight out of the pack:
Couple of pounds later she was trimmed!
Gave it a good shake of coarse pepper and salt and then went over it again with a mix of cumin and garlic powder and wrapped up in Saran and tossed back in the fridge to wait.
Weather forecast called for some snow. I had some eggplants I needed to smoke for another dish on the menu so figured I would get them out of the way yesterday afternoon. We were going to a friends for New Years dinner and I wanted to get the brisket on shortly after we got home so to save time I figured I would just keep the keg rolling while we were gone so I dialed it in around 250 and left for dinner.
When you don't have a covered porch, you improvise.
Annual lobster massacre in full effect
Got home and took the brisket out to come to room temp while I added some more charcoal and wood chunks to the Keg. Getting a fire ready is thirsty work so I cracked open a tasty local craft beer.
I figured I would let the keg settle in wherever she wanted to in the 250-275 range and was giving myself about 12 hours for it to get done, and I planned to wrap it in parchment paper after the first 4-5 hours and ended up doing so around the 5 hour mark. Well after wrapping the cook flew by and at the 7.5 hour mark she was already over 200 and probe tender. I wrapped over the parchment with some foil and then swaddled in some blankets before tossing in the cooler to hold till lunch time.
Moment of truth came and pulled the brisket from the cooler. The long wait had no untoward impact. Brisket was still nice and jiggly, moist and hot to the touch. Sliced well and had a nice smoke ring. Went through the flat up to where the point started at the party. Rest is packed up for leftovers tomorrow. All in all an enjoyable and tasty cook. Good smoke flavour, tender and moist. Thanks for looking!
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