Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion

[MLawrence]

Brisket is officially on the smoker. Fat side up, with the point facing towards the firebox. My goal is to have the smoker at between 275 - 300 Fahrenheit. I’m not overly worried about temperature as long the smoke looks clean. When it’s a brighter outside, I will show what I mean.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Brisket is officially on the smoker. Fat side up, with the point facing towards the firebox. My goal is to have the smoker at between 275 - 300 Fahrenheit. I’m not overly worried about temperature as long the smoke looks clean. When it’s a brighter outside, I will show what I mean.

You using an offset smoker?

 

[cycloner29]

Adding a pan of water to the smoker?

 

[MLawrence]

You using an offset smoker?

Correct.

 

[MLawrence]

Adding a pan of water to the smoker?

No water pan. I will be spritzing some water/apple cider/ Worcestershire mixture in a few hours to give the bark some time to set.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

For tonight's trim, I removed about 7.5 pounds.

The first time you trim a full packer is an eye opener

 

[MLawrence]

3 hour wellness check:


The bark is on its way and the meat is starting develop the smoke ring with the red mahogany coloring. On some of my earlier smoked briskets, at this stage the meat would turn a shade of orange due to what I think was dirty smoke or thick white smoke.

During earlier smoking sessions I was super concerned about the temp my smoker was running, that I would cut off the oxygen to fire if it wasn’t at the temp I wanted. This would essentially choke out the fire and the wood would put off thick white smoke. Cooks would take long and the meat tasted acidic. Currently I try to make a small fire with my intake and exhaust fully open to allow for maximum air flow.

 

[MLawrence]

The first time you trim a full packer is an eye opener

And that was why I got a meat grinder.

 

[dmclone]

3 hour wellness check:


During earlier smoking sessions I was super concerned about the temp my smoker was running, that I would cut off the oxygen to fire if it wasn’t at the temp I wanted. This would essentially choke out the fire and the wood would put off thick white smoke. Cooks would take long and the meat tasted acidic. Currently I try to make a small fire with my intake and exhaust fully open to allow for maximum air flow.

That's good info. Do you use a charcoal bed to start it?

 

[DBQR4CY]

3 hour wellness check:
View attachment 121301

The bark is on its way and the meat is starting develop the smoke ring with the red mahogany coloring. On some of my earlier smoked briskets, at this stage the meat would turn a shade of orange due to what I think was dirty smoke or thick white smoke.

During earlier smoking sessions I was super concerned about the temp my smoker was running, that I would cut off the oxygen to fire if it wasn’t at the temp I wanted. This would essentially choke out the fire and the wood would put off thick white smoke. Cooks would take long and the meat tasted acidic. Currently I try to make a small fire with my intake and exhaust fully open to allow for maximum air flow.

Yup, airflow is huge. You want efficient burning.

Also, what kind of brisket is that? Looks like a cube.

 

[MLawrence]

That's good info. Do you use a charcoal bed to start it?

Yes I do.

 

[MLawrence]

Yup, airflow is huge. You want efficient burning.

Also, what kind of brisket is that? Looks like a cube.

Choice grade from Sam’s Club. To be honest I chose the more block looking one, because think a lot of the briskets the flat tapers off too much. Also I really one had like 8 briskets to chose from with half being prime grade and that were mostly 18 pounds or greater. So I didn’t want to pay an extra $20.

 

[cycloner29]

3 hour wellness check:
View attachment 121301

The bark is on its way and the meat is starting develop the smoke ring with the red mahogany coloring. On some of my earlier smoked briskets, at this stage the meat would turn a shade of orange due to what I think was dirty smoke or thick white smoke.

During earlier smoking sessions I was super concerned about the temp my smoker was running, that I would cut off the oxygen to fire if it wasn’t at the temp I wanted. This would essentially choke out the fire and the wood would put off thick white smoke. Cooks would take long and the meat tasted acidic. Currently I try to make a small fire with my intake and exhaust fully open to allow for maximum air flow.

“If you’re lookin’, you’re not cookin”

 

[dmclone]

I'm going to try out this new smoker tomorrow. I've never had to deal with anything other than just lighting charcoal inside a masterbuilt. My plan is to get some lump charcoal going in my charcoal chimney first before throwing it into my fire management basket.

 

[iahawks]

Christmas Brisket. After trimming it was about 11 pounds. Smoked with post oak on my Weber Summit Kamado for about 10 hours at 250ish and rested in a cooler for about 3 hours and then sliced. In the third photo I have some slices of my homemade Chicken Cordon Blue sausage as well.

 

[GBlade]

To start, the brisket I'm working with this go around is an 18.5 pound choice brisket from Sam's Club:

View attachment 121294

Next for me comes the most stress part of smoking a brisket and that is the trimming. For me, I go pretty aggressive with the trim to accomplish the following goals:

1. Remove unnecessary fat that will not render down in the smoking process.
2. Create the maximum amount of slice-able brisket
3. Shape the brisket so it cooks more evenly
4. Use every part of the brisket.

For tonight's trim, I removed about 7.5 pounds.
View attachment 121297

Don't worry, these trimmings will not go to waste. I already ground or cubed the meaty sections to be used for other dishes later in the week. The fatty pieces are going to be rendered down to make beef tallow.

So this is what the finished trim looks like:
View attachment 121299

The main things I did was to slice down the deckle of fat, remove the Mohawk in the back, leave about 1/4 of inch of fat on the back, round the flat section, trim tiny excess fat pieces off the top to have more meat exposed to the rub, and trim the rough parts on the perimeter of the meat.

Now for the rub. It's brisket and the rub is simple: 1 part coarse kosher salt, 1 part course black pepper, and .25 part Lawry's season salt. Apparently pit-masters using Lawry's is the worse kept secret in Texas. For any BBQ rub the spice has to be coarse or granulated because these BBQ cuts are big piece of meat so the spices have to be able to penetrate the meat. And honestly, I am not worried about over salting the brisket. I think we tend to under salt our meat, and that includes non-BBQ cuts. I dry brine the brisket and put it on a cookie sheet on top of wire rack to let the salt do it's thing. Don't forget to do the sides! If possible, I would leave uncovered but my wife prefers I cover it due to sanitary reasons. View attachment 121298

Now the briskets waits until tomorrow morning. I will start the smoker tomorrow at 4 am, put the briskets on at 5 am, and serve at 5:30 pm.

What is the "Mohawk" of a brisket and at what temp do you smoke at?

I'm also doing a large 17lbs brisket for today, but I put it on at 8pm at 200°. I wrapped it in butcher paper at 9am this morning when the internal temp read between 160° and 170° and plan to put it in the cooler around 2pm and serve around 6:30pm.

 

[JM4CY]

Christmas Brisket. After trimming it was about 11 pounds. Smoked with post oak on my Weber Summit Kamado for about 10 hours at 250ish and rested in a cooler for about 3 hours and then sliced. In the third photo I have some slices of my homemade Chicken Cordon Blue sausage as well.

This looks ******* delicious

 

[MLawrence]

What is the "Mohawk" of a brisket and at what temp do you smoke at?

I'm also doing a large 17lbs brisket for today, but I put it on at 8pm at 200°. I wrapped it in butcher paper at 9am this morning when the internal temp read between 160° and 170° and plan to put it in the cooler around 2pm and serve around 6:30pm.

The “Mohawk” was flap of fat/meat on the fat cap side of the brisket. I have only seen on this current brisket I’m smoking. I don’t know about you guys, but the briskets I select never really look like the ones they are trimming in YouTube videos.

As for the temp, I’m currently smoking at about 305 Fahrenheit. The temperature gauge sits higher on my smoker so it’s smoking around 280.

 

[MLawrence]

6 hour check:

I have been spritzing it every 30-60 minutes to keep the bark from drying out. Chicken wings in the background are for lunch.

 

[JP4CY]

Targeted email for a new Weber product release on Jan 9th.