Ross Hanig
New member
Hi All,
I just joined the site and did my first ever cook on a smoker yesterday. I started with brisket (hard) and whole chicken (easy).
Despite making a lot of mistakes with the brisket, it still turned out pretty good. I marinated it with an altered recipe from Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces book (left out the Worcestershire and liquid smoke since a friend coming to dinner is on a sugar free diet)) and used a sugar free rub from the same book. I used home made beef stock in the marinade (used the same recipe for the marinade as the rub) and injected the brisket with the stock as well. Also, I used home made ketchup (without the sugar) in the marinade and mop. I started out trying the hot and fast method even though I had a pastured grass-fed brisket that was only about 6 pounds. Here's where the rookie mistakes started to come in. Since I've never smoked a brisket before, I forgot about the plateau in temperature around 150-165. Since the brisket's internal temperature started going up fast at the beginning I thought I needed to turn the temperature down or I'd cook it too quickly and would struggle to get it tender--and keep it warm long enough for dinner. So I turned the pit temp down to around 275. Then the plateau started to kick in and I slowly started bringing the temperature back up. Next thing I know, the brisket is taking forever, and after foiling and mopping at 170, it still took over 2 hours more to get the internal temp up to 195. When I poked it with a thermometer the meat still felt tough. It was still a little tough to poke through at 200 but by then I needed to take it out to give it at least an hour to rest before our friends came over. Then here comes another rookie mistake, I put the brisket directly in a cooler to stay warm even though Harry Soo recommends letting the internal temp get down to 170 before putting it in a cooler.
The thing is, even with all these mistakes the brisket still tasted pretty good. It had a little smoke ring and a smoke flavor that was definitely present but not overpowering. Since I trimmed the hard fat and membrane off one side and got the fat on the other side down to about 1/8 - 1/4 inch, it wasn't nearly as fatty as at the best BBQ place where I live. It wasn't what I'd call fork tender, but after slicing it thin and brushing each slice with its juices, it was tasty enough that the full serving platter was picked clean around mid-dinner. And as a side note, my wife just reheated a little of last night's brisket in the microwave and now it's awesomely tender--much better than last night.
The chicken, turned out awesome though (http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail/?p=detail&rid=15943&sorig=qs (didn't cook it with a beer cran, trussed it instead). It wasn't the prettiest bird since a new silicone mop was a little hard on the skin so the skin broke around the breasts. But after brining (http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail/?p=detail&rid=15942&sorig=qs) and cooking it to an internal temperature of 167 at a cooker temp of about 325, it was easily the best BBQ chicken I've ever had (Concession: I've never had competition BBQ). It was incredibly juicy with a nice but not overpowering smoky flavor and the butter and rub combined to make a nice thin layer of semi-saucy tastiness on the skin. Only downside is that with brushing butter on the chicken, the skin wasn't crispy. Next time I'll remove the wish bone before cooking to make the breast easier to remove and might either try spraying the chicken with the bourbon butter while it cooks or brushing it very lightly. Also, might try brushing the sliced white meat with a thin layer of the butter. It's really hard to go wrong with lemony bourbon butter on chicken. Oh, it's so good!
Hope this post might help some other first-timers avoid some of the rookie mistakes I made but also know that even if you screw up here and there, your brisket and chicken might still turn out really tasty.
--Ross
Pictures of the first smoking experience
https://picasaweb.google.com/107025848318380780817/FirstTimeWithTheSmoker
I just joined the site and did my first ever cook on a smoker yesterday. I started with brisket (hard) and whole chicken (easy).
Despite making a lot of mistakes with the brisket, it still turned out pretty good. I marinated it with an altered recipe from Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces book (left out the Worcestershire and liquid smoke since a friend coming to dinner is on a sugar free diet)) and used a sugar free rub from the same book. I used home made beef stock in the marinade (used the same recipe for the marinade as the rub) and injected the brisket with the stock as well. Also, I used home made ketchup (without the sugar) in the marinade and mop. I started out trying the hot and fast method even though I had a pastured grass-fed brisket that was only about 6 pounds. Here's where the rookie mistakes started to come in. Since I've never smoked a brisket before, I forgot about the plateau in temperature around 150-165. Since the brisket's internal temperature started going up fast at the beginning I thought I needed to turn the temperature down or I'd cook it too quickly and would struggle to get it tender--and keep it warm long enough for dinner. So I turned the pit temp down to around 275. Then the plateau started to kick in and I slowly started bringing the temperature back up. Next thing I know, the brisket is taking forever, and after foiling and mopping at 170, it still took over 2 hours more to get the internal temp up to 195. When I poked it with a thermometer the meat still felt tough. It was still a little tough to poke through at 200 but by then I needed to take it out to give it at least an hour to rest before our friends came over. Then here comes another rookie mistake, I put the brisket directly in a cooler to stay warm even though Harry Soo recommends letting the internal temp get down to 170 before putting it in a cooler.
The thing is, even with all these mistakes the brisket still tasted pretty good. It had a little smoke ring and a smoke flavor that was definitely present but not overpowering. Since I trimmed the hard fat and membrane off one side and got the fat on the other side down to about 1/8 - 1/4 inch, it wasn't nearly as fatty as at the best BBQ place where I live. It wasn't what I'd call fork tender, but after slicing it thin and brushing each slice with its juices, it was tasty enough that the full serving platter was picked clean around mid-dinner. And as a side note, my wife just reheated a little of last night's brisket in the microwave and now it's awesomely tender--much better than last night.
The chicken, turned out awesome though (http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail/?p=detail&rid=15943&sorig=qs (didn't cook it with a beer cran, trussed it instead). It wasn't the prettiest bird since a new silicone mop was a little hard on the skin so the skin broke around the breasts. But after brining (http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail/?p=detail&rid=15942&sorig=qs) and cooking it to an internal temperature of 167 at a cooker temp of about 325, it was easily the best BBQ chicken I've ever had (Concession: I've never had competition BBQ). It was incredibly juicy with a nice but not overpowering smoky flavor and the butter and rub combined to make a nice thin layer of semi-saucy tastiness on the skin. Only downside is that with brushing butter on the chicken, the skin wasn't crispy. Next time I'll remove the wish bone before cooking to make the breast easier to remove and might either try spraying the chicken with the bourbon butter while it cooks or brushing it very lightly. Also, might try brushing the sliced white meat with a thin layer of the butter. It's really hard to go wrong with lemony bourbon butter on chicken. Oh, it's so good!
Hope this post might help some other first-timers avoid some of the rookie mistakes I made but also know that even if you screw up here and there, your brisket and chicken might still turn out really tasty.
--Ross
Pictures of the first smoking experience
https://picasaweb.google.com/107025848318380780817/FirstTimeWithTheSmoker
Last edited:
