Let's talk Brisket

[Fillmore Farmer]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I posted. We own a 10-acre avocado orchard and we started selling our pollinator avocados and some of the Hass avocados (knocked-off by the wind) to people on NextDoor and another online community. My wife added her jams, jellies and my kids chimed-in with some chocolate strawberries and tangerine sherbert.....in short time we've created our own drive-thru farmer's market with over 500 people on our mailing list. People love it, it's Covid safe and it's fun.

This week I added brisket. I picked-up 5 briskets (about 68 pounds) and ended-up with just 34 pounds of finished product. We offered it up and I was sold-out in less than 4 hours! Reviews are in, people love it....and the all-coveted "Best brisket I've ever had" which I hate because it sets the bar so high. An observation and then some questions:

Observation. I think Franklin uses salt & pepper mostly to keep the seasoning expense down! Unless I start making my own or buying in bulk, it's going to get costly to keep buying from Big Poppa's. Also, I think he uses more wood then charcoal again for cost savings. Even on sale my charcoal expense is a bag per smoke. Next, I think Franklin doesn't sauce because it saves on buying the sauce and the labor in saucing everything! I love sauce so I slice & stack in trays, each slice getting a quick pass. When it comes to production, it's about keeping labor & materials down! I'm in good shape but this took a lot out of me. Fastest way to lose any ambitions of opening your own BBQ shack! I'm just mentioning Franklin, I don't want this to become a major discussion on him.....I'm just coming into this realization as I go from cooking for my family to cooking for a community.

Questions. I generally put my brisket's in around 11pm or late, set the temp at 235F and let the Digi-Q keep things going through the night. I then wake-up around 7:30am and wrap. Too often I'll find the brisket's are dark and have a bit too much bark or seem a tad dry. I should mention, I'm cooking in a Pitmaker Vault and I have a large tray of water in the bottom. I think I addressed this by lowering the temp to 190F and then, after wrapping, bumping up to 250F to finish. You think I should try the 190F over night and wrap in the morning OR should I just start the cook early in the morning and wrap when I see the right color? It could mean not getting done until very late at night but I could start at 235F and then bump to 285F after wrapping....once it's wrapped I figure further drying & bark development is arrested and I can push harder with a higher temp to get 'er done. Do note, after wrapping in foil I add about 1.5-cups mix of apple juice, beer and BBQ sauce to keep it all bathed and in a moist environment.

Also, the brisket's on the top rack tend to cook faster then the lower rack, for this reason I put the larger briskets up top but also will rotate positions by moving around racks. Is there any high-temp electric fan I can put in the smoker to balance-out the heat and maybe make it a bit like a convection over with gentle air circulation?

Instead of making 1-2 awesome handcrafted briskets, I need to up my game to make more like 12-20 briskets that are really darn good: I need to find a way to less labor, lower expenses and better productivity.....all without sacrificing too much quality. All suggestions and thoughts appreciated!

 

[Nuco59]

I just cook for family and friends- for fun. And I like it like that.

If I had to do it for money, I'd have that tough choice to pick 2 from "good, fast and cheap"- and the fun aspect would be gone. Since cooking is about the only fun I have, I'm reluctant to give it up.

There are some great minds on this site, someone should be along to help you figure it out.

Good luck on it.

 

[Robert]

I'm going to address the 12-20 brisket portion of your post. There is an old adage that you can create demand through scarcity. Take Franklin as an example. Why do people stand in line for 4 hours or more to get in to his restaurant? If your brisket is good, they will keep coming. However, if you have the coin, then I would invest in an Ole Hickory EL-ED or EL-EDX. The most I have cooked is 22 briskets on my EL-ED. The EDX configuration(18 inch deep racks versus 12 inch deep racks on the ED) might allow you a few more at one time. The Ole Hickory's are very well built units and have great customer service. You are going to pay up front, but you will have a unit that will last for years and years of daily operation. Plus, if things do not work out, they hold their value very well and there is high demand for used units.



If you wish to cook pork butts, 72 is the max I have cooked in one load. St. Louis spares,108 racks. If you can consistently fill the smoker and sell the product, you will quickly recoup you initial investment. I have ran Ole Hickory pits since 2001. Some folks will suggest Southern Pride. Both pits cook the same and produce nearly identical food. I had a Southern Pride on order and cooked on their demo unit for three weeks. I canceled my order after that time. I will tell you based on the build quality and customer service that Ole Hickory far exceeds Southern Pride. I haven't check in 15 years, but Southern Pride used to be more expensive for same size units.



I wish you continued success with your new venture.


Thanks,


Robert

 

[Lahawk1]

How are you determining when your briskets are done? I think Franklins decision not to use sauce has nothing to do with cost, a brisket done right does not need sauce.

 

[Callahan-que]

I think you've got it all wrong about Franklin. Good bbq brisket doesn't need anything more for seasoning than salt and pepper. Cooking over wood produces a much better product than cooking over charcoal. Sauce can be put on by the customer. Alot of people don't want sauce on their brisket, give the customer a choice of different sauces or the option to not sauce.

 

[pjtexas1]

I've done the 12+ brisket cooks. I sold my big cooker so now I can say I can't cook that many. It's hours of trimming fat. It'll kick your @$$. If you love it then it's not work. It was fun for a while but it turned my hobby into work. It definitely is cool to get all the praise and compliments though.

No real advice here. Only you can decide if it's a labor of love or just labor. Good luck with your new endeavors! And don't let me discourage you. Just playing a little devil's advocate.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Fillmore Farmer]

How are you determining when your briskets are done? I think Franklins decision not to use sauce has nothing to do with cost, a brisket done right does not need sauce.

Gotta be honest, I just LOVE the taste of tangy/sweet BBQ sauce....I've never cooked a brisket with just salt & pepper, I've always used a barrage of various seasoning and still sauce the slices.

Some people go to a Mexican restaurant and order a burrito and eat it plain.....but like others, I prefer my burrito smothered in red sauce with some salsa, guacamole and some hot sauce. I simply prefer my brisket with sauce, same way I prefer the V8 in my '46 Chevy supercharged, it just makes it better, to me.

The discussion to sauce or not is endless. I was just pointing out that not saucing saves on both time and materials, making it more efficient. As for Franklin, he's a diehard non-saucer because that's his take on brisket. But yeah, sauce can be applied after so maybe I'll give it a shot, thanks!

 

[Cook]

The S&P, no sauce options aren't about costs...at least not to Franklin & others in his region of TX. It's simply the style of Central Texas barbecue. A person has a choice to cook as they please, but thanks be to those who choose to uphold their regional (traditional) barbecue.

S&P on brisket simply works...and yes, it happens to be somewhat economical.

As for your cooking...a less expensive option for you (as has been discussed at length on other threads in the forum lately) is to buy a holding cabinet. You can get a new one in the $1,300-$1,500 range. At that point, I would cook those briskets the day before...when you're there to manage the cook from beginning to end. If they look dry, you can spritz. If the color is getting dark, you can wrap. Get them done sometime in the evening...you say you're there putting them on at 11pm anyway. My plan would be to have them off the pit in the 8-9pm range, let them cool to 150-160 on the countertop, wrap the entire thing in an additional layer of foil, and put them in the warmer set to 145. They will be fine until you're ready to serve the next day.

This not only solves your cooking issues, but it shouldn't break the bank...AND it will likely produce an even better product than you already are.

You also need to be buying your seasonings AND charcoal in bulk...if you want to further reduce your costs. Source the largest containers of pre-made rubs as you can find (if you stick with those). If you go with S&P, you need to be buying those in at least 25# bags. You can also have charcoal delivered on pallets.

Good luck to you! It sounds like you have a great thing going.

 

[Fillmore Farmer]

Very solid advice, thanks!

I'm going to need to raise the pricing per pound, I intro'd at $16 but I think I need to bump up to $18/lb

It's been a while since I've done brisket. As I recall, I would determine when it was time to pull when the temp probe went in fairly easy OR when the brisket hit 200 OR when it had that nice jiggle. Kinda funny but each brisket cooks a bit different and each one tells you when it's done in it's own way.

Question, if the seasoning has sugar (which some do), will it darken and get black even at temps as low as 235F? And as I recall it's pretty much a waste of time seasoning the fat of the fat-cap...it just melts off and won't penetrate into the meat. I also don't inject, while it puts flavor into the meat, it also then creates ports for fluid to leak out.

Lastly, once I wrap, could I go as high as 285F to push towards finish? Any compromise in quality?

 

[frognot]

I'd definitely go up on the price. $16/lb is low in Texas. $20 and up is quite common so you see a lotta menus list by half or quarter lb.

At risk of losing my Texas card I'd also do pork because it's less work than brisket. I'd do a few briskets and several pork butts and price the brisket more. You've got something for folks that are more price conscious and also something to sell when you ran out of brisket. I'd offer a few different sauces on the side.

Since Aaron Franklin was mentioned he does serve sauce. It's an espresso one and very unique.