Tales from the Smoker- A Trio of Briskets

So I’ve discussed in a previous post that I now have a smoker, and I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it. I’ve done a couple of great salmon recipes, pulled pork, whole chicken, ribs, and pork belly burnt ends. I love learning new techniques along the way, and no meat has taught me more than the mighty brisket. The first thing I have learned is the importance of the wood type. I use cherry wood for pork belly burnt ends and salmon, since the smoke is sweeter and creates a gorgeous color. Mesquite should be avoided for longer smokes of thinner meats like ribs in order to avoid the slightly bitter taste. But you can rarely go wrong with hickory or post oak for thick cuts smoked for 8 plus hours. I have used post oak for all three briskets I have made, and the smoke flavor was pleasant and never overwhelming.

The first brisket I made took 16 hours, and I finished the cook at 2 AM. I learned to start the cook earlier and to pay more attention to the fire. The temperature dipped in and out of the preferred cooking temp, and thus the cook took a bit longer. I also learned that wrapping a brisket too early and taking too long to wrap it can extend the cook way too long. In the end, I opted to finish the brisket outside of the butcher paper. The final product was nearly perfect. I waited for the internal temperature to reach 195 and removed the brisket, placing it in a cooler. The result was a gorgeous bark, terrific smoke flavor, and a decadent bite. For the record each brisket simply uses salt and pepper rub.

In order to ensure that I did not waste any meat, I used the brisket to make ramen and even Loco Moco, a Hawaiian breakfast dish with beef, gravy, rice, and eggs. I used a very basic Texas BBQ sauce, but for my next brisket, I wanted to make something special. So I found a recipe for an Espresso BBQ sauce that turned out velvety and delicious. Plus it was needed, since my second brisket turned out much drier than the first. My mistake was to let the fire get too hot and place the brisket too close to the heat source. This dried out much of the flat and even parts of the point, although the middle was still plenty juicy. The sauce really made a difference, and we ended up chopping the flat and covering it in sauce to make chopped beef for sandwiches and mac and cheese. I won’t lie, I was disappointed with the brisket, and I sought to redeem myself.

Since the biggest lesson I learned was fire control, I decided to use charcoal briquettes rather than lump charcoal. This turned out to be one of the most important choices, and the fire remained consistent through all 18 hours. The other lesson I learned was the importance of the grade of beef. It sounds elitist but prime brisket just has more marbling and cooks a bit better as a result. Finally, I had to learn that sometimes the brisket is done before the 195 degree temp. The jiggle test for example is a great way to determine whether or not the fat has rendered and the brisket is done. The only mistake I made with this one is a bit of over seasoning, particularly in the flat. These pieces were a bit too salty. Outside of that, my third brisket was truly a redemption, and I look forward to learning more in my adventures in BBQ.