Brisket Virgins Seeking Wisdom

Remove any really huge hunks of fat (usually found in valleys between
sections of meat) but leave at least 1/2" intact. Season liberally with
dry seasoning of your choice; I've not used Raichlen's stuff, but I
hear it's good. I use a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic and onion
powders, dry mustard, cayenne, white pepper, celery salt, and sugar. I
usually then marinate with wet stuff - either a oil/vinegar/garlic mix
of my own, or even a bottled marinade or Italian salad dressing. If the
brisket is cryovac'd, here's a tip: cut off one corner and drain the
liquid. Mix the seasoning and liquid marinade and pour into the bag.
Close up the corner with twist-ties, rubber bands, etc. If you've
removed the bag already, use lots of saran wrap to keep the liquid
close to the meat. After 24 hours in the fridge, drain the brisket, and
season again with your dry seasoning. Smoke to your heart's content.
Low and slow is my rule. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

On Tue 05 Jul 2005 07:17:42p, Damsel and Crash wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

We're sitting here with an 8 pound beef brisket, and neither of us has
ever prepared one before. Crash is going to smoke it, but I'm in charge
of prep and seasoning.

There's a thick layer of fat on one side, thinner on the other. How
close should the fat be trimmed? I'm assuming that it shouldn't be
removed entirely, but have no problem doing that if it's what should be
done.

Seasoning advice would be very welcome, too. We have Smoke and Spice,
and Steven Raichlen's Marinades, Rubs, Sauce, you-name it book. We
don't like heat, so we're having a rough time finding something just
right. The Asian recipes look very good, as do the ones with cinnamon,
allspice, etc.

Much of the problem is that we're not sure which treatment(s) is/are
appropriate for a brisket. Do we want to soak it in something? Use a
dry rub? The mind boggles.

I know I could go to the barbecue group for help, but there are a lot of
BBQ folks right here in RFC, and I'd just as soon ask friends, if that's
all right.

Fire away!
Carol and Crash

Lots of ways to do it, Carol, and everyone seems to have a favorite.
Sheldon posted a wonderful recipe some time ago. I'm sure you could find
it in Google Groups for rfc.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974

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"Damsel and Crash" <

Quoted message said:

There's a thick layer of fat on one side, thinner on the other. How close
should the fat be trimmed? I'm assuming that it shouldn't be removed
entirely, but have no problem doing that if it's what should be done.

Leave it about 1/4" to 1/2".

Quoted message said:

Seasoning advice would be very welcome, too.

I use mostly black pepper, garlic and brown sugar. This is the only time I
use sugar on meat. Elaborate blends seem to get lost anyway, but feel free
to try what sounds good to you.

Quoted message said:

Much of the problem is that we're not sure which treatment(s) is/are
appropriate for a brisket. Do we want to soak it in something? Use a dry
rub? The mind boggles.

I never marinate or soak, but others do. Never saw enough diffeence to
bother.

Quoted message said:

I know I could go to the barbecue group for help, but there are a lot of
BBQ folks right here in RFC, and I'd just as soon ask friends, if that's
all right.

As for the smoking, I do mine at 250 to 275 degrees. I start it very late
at night and it is done the next afternoon. It needs lots of time to
tenderize. Again, there are many variations that will work. I like to take
it to an internal temperature of 192 to 195.

There have been a couple of brisket threads on alt.barbecue in the past week
if you just want to peek in and read.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Damsel and Crash said:

We're sitting here with an 8 pound beef brisket, and neither of us has ever
prepared one before. Crash is going to smoke it, but I'm in charge of prep
and seasoning.

There's a thick layer of fat on one side, thinner on the other. How close
should the fat be trimmed? I'm assuming that it shouldn't be removed
entirely, but have no problem doing that if it's what should be done.

Seasoning advice would be very welcome, too. We have Smoke and Spice, and
Steven Raichlen's Marinades, Rubs, Sauce, you-name it book. We don't like
heat, so we're having a rough time finding something just right. The Asian
recipes look very good, as do the ones with cinnamon, allspice, etc.

Much of the problem is that we're not sure which treatment(s) is/are
appropriate for a brisket. Do we want to soak it in something? Use a dry
rub? The mind boggles.

I know I could go to the barbecue group for help, but there are a lot of
BBQ folks right here in RFC, and I'd just as soon ask friends, if that's
all right.

Fire away!
Carol and Crash

Trim away a some of the huge hunks of fat, but leave a lot of fat on it.
No other prep is really necessary, but you might want rub it down with
a little salt and pepper.

I don't know what kind of smoker you have, but if the brisket comes out
tasty-but-tough-as-a-boot (and that's easy to do with a brisket) it
needs to cook another few hours, either in the smoker or in your Nesco
roaster at about 275°.

Best regards,
Bob

gjgee spaketh thusly:

Quoted message said:

... If the brisket is
cryovac'd, here's a tip: cut off one corner and drain the
liquid. Mix the seasoning and liquid marinade and pour into the
bag. Close up the corner with twist-ties, rubber bands, etc. If
you've removed the bag already, use lots of saran wrap to keep
the liquid close to the meat.

I've found that Zip-loc bags are *made* for this! Get the meat
and the marinade down in the bottom (gravity is youyr friend <g>😉
and force most of the air out before you almost seal the zipper.
If you spend about a minute working it, you can get 99.9% of the
air out of the bag before completely zipping. You're left with
your own 'up-close-and-personal' full contact marinade container.

Quoted message said:

After 24 hours in the fridge,
drain the brisket, and season again with your dry seasoning.
Smoke to your heart's content. Low and slow is my rule. Good
luck! Let us know how it turns out.

Everybody get ready to scoff and laugh, but I've done a few of
them for about 12 hours in the crock pot, and it works. Well.
No extra liquid, just the meat and minimal liquid from the
marinade bag, some is unavoidable when getting the spices out
for use in the pot.

--
_________________________________________
If u are gonna say that I said something,
please say what I REALLY said. ($1 Earl)

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Damsel and Crash" <

Quoted message said:

There's a thick layer of fat on one side, thinner on the other. How

close

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

should the fat be trimmed? I'm assuming that it shouldn't be removed
entirely, but have no problem doing that if it's what should be done.

Leave it about 1/4" to 1/2".

Quoted message said:

Seasoning advice would be very welcome, too.

I use mostly black pepper, garlic and brown sugar. This is the only time

I

Quoted message said:

use sugar on meat. Elaborate blends seem to get lost anyway, but feel

free

Quoted message said:

to try what sounds good to you.

Quoted message said:

Much of the problem is that we're not sure which treatment(s) is/are
appropriate for a brisket. Do we want to soak it in something? Use a

dry

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rub? The mind boggles.

I never marinate or soak, but others do. Never saw enough diffeence to
bother.

Quoted message said:

I know I could go to the barbecue group for help, but there are a lot of
BBQ folks right here in RFC, and I'd just as soon ask friends, if that's
all right.

As for the smoking, I do mine at 250 to 275 degrees. I start it very late
at night and it is done the next afternoon. It needs lots of time to
tenderize. Again, there are many variations that will work. I like to

take

Quoted message said:

it to an internal temperature of 192 to 195.

There have been a couple of brisket threads on alt.barbecue in the past

week

Quoted message said:

if you just want to peek in and read.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Thanks, it seems really hard to get an answer about temp. I guess its like
a pork butt where you have to get it hot enough to break down the fat? How
come it always looks nice and red and juicy on the inside on TV? I'm just
thinking that at 190 its gonna be 110% cooked and not red in the middle like
on tv? Thanks
Harry
--
www.harryphotos.com

Dirty Harry said:

Thanks, it seems really hard to get an answer about temp. I guess its like
a pork butt where you have to get it hot enough to break down the fat? How
come it always looks nice and red and juicy on the inside on TV? I'm just
thinking that at 190 its gonna be 110% cooked and not red in the middle like
on tv?

You're looking at meat that's been grilled to medium-rare.

This is for a smoked brisket. Hours and hours at a low temperature. The
inside will be brown, and there'll be a red "smoke ring" on the outside.
Just the opposite of what you'll see on a medium rare cook-job.

We've smoked some pork and salmon, just never a brisket.

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

I'll also add a few cents about temp. I found a wise old sage who asked
me this question: What does water do at 212 degrees? Boils away! From
then on, I've cooked all my briskets and large roasts at 200 degrees.
Moist and tender is the result.

M'drurz wrote <Everybody get ready to scoff and laugh, but I've done a
few of
them for about 12 hours in the crock pot, and it works>

I've also been very successful with a brisket in a large roaster. With
the temp control, I was able to stabilize at 200 degrees all night (for
larger roasts).

There IS a critical time period for cooking briskets. You cannot just
leave them in forever and expect perfect results. After a certain
point, the moisture WILL cook out of the meat and you will end up with
a dry product. I've only cooked briskets in the 12-15 lb range; you
might consult some recipes or the alt.barbeque threads for suggestions
on smaller ones like yours.

Damsel and Crash said:

We're sitting here with an 8 pound beef brisket, and neither of us has ever
prepared one before. Crash is going to smoke it, but I'm in charge of prep
and seasoning.

There's a thick layer of fat on one side, thinner on the other. How close
should the fat be trimmed? I'm assuming that it shouldn't be removed
entirely, but have no problem doing that if it's what should be done.

Seasoning advice would be very welcome, too. We have Smoke and Spice, and
Steven Raichlen's Marinades, Rubs, Sauce, you-name it book. We don't like
heat, so we're having a rough time finding something just right. The Asian
recipes look very good, as do the ones with cinnamon, allspice, etc.

Much of the problem is that we're not sure which treatment(s) is/are
appropriate for a brisket. Do we want to soak it in something? Use a dry
rub? The mind boggles.

I know I could go to the barbecue group for help, but there are a lot of
BBQ folks right here in RFC, and I'd just as soon ask friends, if that's
all right.

Fire away!
Carol and Crash

Whoa! Barbecued brisket is pretty hard to do. It takes a long while
in the smoker -- 12 hours or more at 250F. Some folks do it 18 hours
or more. An alternative is to smoke it for a shorter period and
finish it in the oven. Say 8 hours in the smoker and a couple more in
a very low oven on a rack.

The reason for the rack is the fat. I'd not trim it before cooking.
Smoke the brisket with the fat side up, so the melting grease bastes
it. Trim the fat cap before slicing (across the grain) after cooking
it. Anyhow, you don't want it roasting in a pool of grease, so any
time in the oven should be on a rack over a drip pan.

As to a rub, well, pick a good one and reduce the chile heat as you
see fit. Also, remember that chiles have a wide variety of heat
quotients. If it calls for cayenne, remember that's a fiery beast and
cut back on it. If it calls for anchos, don't sweat it so much.
Anchos are pretty mild, considering.

Me, I'd make a paste of pasillas negras, cinnamon, ginger, brown
sugar, lemon, basil, salt and pepper. Or something like that.
Remembering that a long cooking time will diminish chile heat
appreciably, and remembering that pasillas aren't realy hot to begin
with.

Regardless of all that stuff above, remmber that ooking is (or can be)
fun.

Have fun

modom

Only superficial people don't judge by appearances.
-- Oscar Wilde

modom said:

Whoa! Barbecued brisket is pretty hard to do. It takes a long while
in the smoker -- 12 hours or more at 250F. Some folks do it 18 hours
or more.

Why is that hard?

Quoted message said:

An alternative is to smoke it for a shorter period and
finish it in the oven. Say 8 hours in the smoker and a couple more in
a very low oven on a rack.

But part of the beauty of smoking meat is that it doesn't heat up the
kitchen. 🙂

Quoted message said:

The reason for the rack is the fat. I'd not trim it before cooking.
Smoke the brisket with the fat side up, so the melting grease bastes
it. Trim the fat cap before slicing (across the grain) after cooking
it. Anyhow, you don't want it roasting in a pool of grease, so any
time in the oven should be on a rack over a drip pan.

As to a rub, well, pick a good one and reduce the chile heat as you
see fit. Also, remember that chiles have a wide variety of heat
quotients. If it calls for cayenne, remember that's a fiery beast and
cut back on it. If it calls for anchos, don't sweat it so much.
Anchos are pretty mild, considering.

I have Penzey's powdered Ancho. I hadn't thought to sub that for cayenne.
Thanks for pointing it out.

Quoted message said:

Me, I'd make a paste of pasillas negras, cinnamon, ginger, brown
sugar, lemon, basil, salt and pepper. Or something like that.
Remembering that a long cooking time will diminish chile heat
appreciably, and remembering that pasillas aren't realy hot to begin
with.

Dayam, that sounds good!

Quoted message said:

Regardless of all that stuff above, remmber that ooking is (or can be)
fun.

Have fun

We will! 🙂

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

gjgee said:

There IS a critical time period for cooking briskets. You cannot just
leave them in forever and expect perfect results. After a certain
point, the moisture WILL cook out of the meat and you will end up with
a dry product. I've only cooked briskets in the 12-15 lb range; you
might consult some recipes or the alt.barbeque threads for suggestions
on smaller ones like yours.

Thanks ... we'll do that.

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

Dirty Harry said:

Thanks, it seems really hard to get an answer about temp. I guess its
like a pork butt where you have to get it hot enough to break down the
fat? How come it always looks nice and red and juicy on the inside on
TV? I'm just thinking that at 190 its gonna be 110% cooked and not
red in the middle like on tv? Thanks
Harry
--

You're breaking down tough connective tissue into gelatin during the 160F
stall.

You don't want it red in the middle. That's for prime rib. You do want a
nice pink smoke ring at least 1/4" thick around the outside. Meat in TV
commercials is soaked in food coloring. I used to shoot them.

Don't let the smoker go over 275F and don't take the meat out until it
hits between 190F and 195F internal.

I use a dry rub mixed into cheap yellow mustard and applied as a slather
the day before cooking. There will be no mustard taste when it's done but
it holds the rub in place and does some other sort of magic that no one
quite understands.

gjgee said:

If the
brisket is cryovac'd, here's a tip: cut off one corner and drain the
liquid. Mix the seasoning and liquid marinade and pour into the bag.
Close up the corner with twist-ties, rubber bands, etc. If you've
removed the bag already, use lots of saran wrap to keep the liquid
close to the meat. After 24 hours in the fridge, drain the brisket, and
season again with your dry seasoning. Smoke to your heart's content.

I never would have thought to use the cryo-packaging as a marinade bag.
We're still trying to decide how to season this thing. I'll definitely
keep you posted!

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

Edwin Pawlowski said:

As for the smoking, I do mine at 250 to 275 degrees. I start it very late
at night and it is done the next afternoon. It needs lots of time to
tenderize. Again, there are many variations that will work. I like to take
it to an internal temperature of 192 to 195.

Good information to have. Thanks!

Quoted message said:

There have been a couple of brisket threads on alt.barbecue in the past week
if you just want to peek in and read.

I think I'll pop into Google and see what's been said. People here keep
wanting us to stick it in the crockpot, a roaster, or the oven. We don't
want to cut corners on procedure on our very first one.

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

zxcvbob said:

Trim away a some of the huge hunks of fat, but leave a lot of fat on it.
No other prep is really necessary, but you might want rub it down with
a little salt and pepper.

I don't know what kind of smoker you have, but if the brisket comes out
tasty-but-tough-as-a-boot (and that's easy to do with a brisket) it
needs to cook another few hours, either in the smoker or in your Nesco
roaster at about 275°.

He's got a big barrel-type smoker. We could probably put a half dozen
briskets in that puppy. It doesn't have an offset fire box. But Crash
limits his fire building to the left quarter of the smoker and places the
food on the other 3/4s of it.

We'll finish it in the oven if we absolutely, positively can't complete it
in the smoker.

Thanks!
Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

Bubbabob rnorton@_remove_this_thuntek.net said:

Don't let the smoker go over 275F and don't take the meat out until it
hits between 190F and 195F internal.

It's so good to have these guidelines!

Quoted message said:

I use a dry rub mixed into cheap yellow mustard and applied as a slather
the day before cooking. There will be no mustard taste when it's done but
it holds the rub in place and does some other sort of magic that no one
quite understands.

I do like magic! Mustard sounds yucky on brisket, but if it's magic
converted to yumminess, I'm in!

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

"Damsel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bubbabob rnorton@_remove_this_thuntek.net said:

Don't let the smoker go over 275F and don't take the meat out until it
hits between 190F and 195F internal.

It's so good to have these guidelines!

Quoted message said:

I use a dry rub mixed into cheap yellow mustard and applied as a slather
the day before cooking. There will be no mustard taste when it's done

but

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

it holds the rub in place and does some other sort of magic that no one
quite understands.

I do like magic! Mustard sounds yucky on brisket, but if it's magic
converted to yumminess, I'm in!

Carol

We always rub our brisket with cheap yellow mustard (which I don't like
normally), but it does hold the rub mixture on the meat. You don't notice
any residual flavor on it when the meat is finished. What kind of wood are
you going to use?

kili

kilikini said:

We always rub our brisket with cheap yellow mustard (which I don't like
normally), but it does hold the rub mixture on the meat. You don't notice
any residual flavor on it when the meat is finished. What kind of wood are
you going to use?

Hickory.

Carol

--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

"Damsel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Edwin Pawlowski said:

As for the smoking, I do mine at 250 to 275 degrees. I start it very
late
at night and it is done the next afternoon. It needs lots of time to
tenderize. Again, there are many variations that will work. I like
to take
it to an internal temperature of 192 to 195.

Good information to have. Thanks!

Quoted message said:

There have been a couple of brisket threads on alt.barbecue in the
past week
if you just want to peek in and read.

I think I'll pop into Google and see what's been said. People here
keep
wanting us to stick it in the crockpot, a roaster, or the oven. We
don't
want to cut corners on procedure on our very first one.

I know you want to smoke it but I just wanted you to know that brisket
in the slow cooker is heavenly🙂)

O