Pretty happy with how my small 8 lb brisket turned out today on my little Traeger.
Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion
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Pretty happy with how my small 8 lb brisket turned out today on my little Traeger.
Don't trim too much fat off it, and make sure you orient the fat cap between the meat and the heat. You can do the whole wrap it halfway through thing too, but I have found that seems to not be necessary if you do the other two things I mentioned.
Also I like spraying with apple cider vinegar while cooking.
If your brisket is "dried out" it has probably not been cooked long enough. It may seem contradictory, but you are probably not getting to a high enough temperature to completely break down the connective tissues, making it seem tough and dry. I always determine doneness by temperature, usually about 200F-205F for brisket. By this temp, the connective tissues have rendered down and the brisket should be tender and moist. If you take the temp much higher, the meat will actually fall apart and you will need to do shredded brisket with it.
Also, I do the same as Snowcraig and wrap with foil at about 160F. I also put a little apple juice/apple cider mix in the foil wrap.
Dry brine for 24 hours: salt will penetrate the meat and hold onto moisture
Don't trim too much fat
Take it to 205, but also base it on feel: thermometer should feel sticking a dart into a chunk of butter
Throw it in a cooler when done and let it rest before cutting
That is another good point, brisket should rest at least 30 minutes before you cut it, if not more.
I always add a pan of water with my briskets. Since I don't wrap with butcher paper, I don't know if that would help. I am going to try using it on two I have to smoke next week.
thinking of making carnitas with a pork shoulder roast tomorrow. How should I cook it if using my pellet grill?
I know guys that stick them in a cooler for over two hours post cook. Is that anything that would make the texture less desirable?
I've rested them for up to 5 hours....might soften the bark just a little bit, but other than that no.
I spray on a mix of cola, apple cider vinegar, and a dash of Worcestershire occasionally during the first half of the cook as well....not sure it helps with moisture, more for flavor and to get a good bark.
Highly recommend this method, if you have time before serving the brisket. I have even just left it on my smoking pan and put it on the top of my range, covered in a couple towels (wrapped in paper) to let the temp down slowly.
You want to do this for at least 30mins before you serve brisket, pork butt, any big hunk of meat. But going for ~2 hours plus is frankly not going to hurt and may even help.
Also to the original suggestion, if you are slicing your brisket I'd caution against cooking all the way to 205F IT. That's into the range of pulling/shredding temp. I try to remove a brisket at 195-200F to make sure it's tender, but also a good slicing firmness.
People don't realize that the temp will increase after you put it in a cooler. I take mine to around 190 and it does stay hot for a good 3-4 hours.
It's important to let the brisket rest at room temp for a short while to plateau the temperature to prevent more temperature rise in the cooler. A good cooler and brisket wrapped in a double layer of heavy duty foil then towels around that will hold safe temp for around 8 hours.
I've done both. Purists will probably lean towards butcher paper but I actually think I preferred foil. If you use paper it'll probably be pretty soggy on the bottom when you pull it off, fyi.
I like to use foil to keep the juices. That stuff is liquid gold, I always pour it back over the sliced brisket.
I've smoked two corned beef briskets. I cooked one yesterday to 203° and it turned out perfect from a texture standpoint. It ends up tasting like a smoked pastrami
I will start fat side down until the "stall" then flip. I did paper on a rump roast and the paper was soggy but did not fall apart. Foil tends to cook a little faster and sort of steams it. Aaron Franklin is my sensei and he doesn't use foil or papper during his cooks. Having a water bath in your smoker will hopefully prevent it from drying out if you aren't foiling or using paper.
My biggest issue is the bottom always tends to be overcooked and then it is tough to slice. It slices great until you get to the bottom half inch or so and then it rips apart.
When I do it, I get a boneless but and give it 8-10 minutes over direct heat (or use the griddle side of my GrillGrates on a pellet grill) to get a sear. Then I cut it up into chunks (maybe 2-in or so) and put it in a dutch oven with my braising liquid (my recipe uses the juice and rinds of a couple oranges, onions, Chile peppers in adobo, brown sugar, garlic, oregano and bay leaves) and cook it at about 300 degrees for 2-3 hours (until fork tender).
If you don't have GrillGrates or some other griddle for your grill, you might want to use another grill or even your stove for the first step.
Some pulled porked I did on 2/10 this year. I put in a skillet and added some Jimmie’s BBQ Pit sweet sauce to it. Awesomeness!! The sweet and saltiness (comes from the kosher salt dry brine for 48 hours) flavor was incredible!
