45 pounds of midnight brisket, and burnt ends. Success!


 
G

Gil Matar

TVWBB Fan
Hello Everyone,

Here is the finished brisket: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...84749/in/photostream -- If you're interested, read on......
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This weekend I did my second annual midnight brisket. Last year I had about 25 people for a 15 lb packer that I did on my WSM 18.5. I had to cut it in half to fit it on the 18.5.

This year I decided to up my game and did 45 pounds on my new WSM 22.5. My wife thinks we fed 60 people (about 40 adults and 20 kids).

I got three 15-ish pound whole briskets, special ordered, from Hungarian Kosher. Here is one of them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...38129/in/photostream

I decided that I didn't want to trim off much, if any, fat. The fat is yummy, and I planned to do burnt ends for the first time. After I soaked the meat in water for an hour, I marinated the briskets for over 24 hours in an equal parts mixture of Red Wine Vinegar, Guiness Stout, and Apple juice, with chopped scallions, garlic and sun dried tomatoes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...38791/in/photostream (before I put them in the refrigerator).

After 24 hours I drained off the marinade and reserved it -- this is important! -- and patted the briskets dry. I then put slivers of garlic all over the briskets, in cuts I made in the fat. I then rubbed it with my favorite coffee & chilli rub, Fire and Flavor's ( www.fireandflavor.com ) coffee rub. One of these days I'll make my own rubs, but until then, this stuff rocks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...44437/in/photostream

At about 10:00 PM on Saturday I got started. I used Kingsford Competition briquets for the first time. I like making a ring of unlit briquets, and put the lit charcoals from the chimney in the middle. With 5 big chunks of Mesquite. I soak a few paper towels in vegetable oil, put them in the chimney, and load it up with briquets. I take the wire out of the middle of the ring in this picture right before I dump in the lit coals. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...08098/in/photostream

While the chimney was getting started I worked on my set up. I needed an extra rack since I had three big briskets. I put 4 empty beer cans -- yes, I drank two of them -- on the lowest rack, and used them to hold the middle rack: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...13682/in/photostream

Before I put any meat on the racks I oiled them. I also put heavy duty foil on the water pan, and filled it with very hot water. At about 10:30 I put the meat on, directly on the grates. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...16018/in/photostream I've drilled a nice hole in the side of the WSM for my temperature probe. I placed the probe in a thick part of the brisket on the top rack, since it should cook first (highest temperatures towards the top).

TEMPERATURE NOTE #1: The thermometer on the lid of the WSM measured about 225 for the first 6 - 8 hours. But the thermometer probe on the top brisket gave me an oven temp closer to 195. I didn't sweat it because I gave myself a lot of time (people were coming over at 3:00 PM), and the brisket was steadily going up in temperature from an initial reading of 61 degrees. By about 4:00 AM the brisket was almost at 140 degrees. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...18994/in/photostream

I did not turn or rotate the briskets at all. It would have been very difficult to do so with the middle grate. I did spray the briskets every 2 - 3 hours with a 50-50 mixture of apple juice and espresso.

I took the reserved marinade and boiled it down for 30 minutes, and put the marinade in a covered, insulated container for later. This was important, as it was going to become the main sauce for the brisket, and I was going to cook the brisket in it for a bit (see below)

TEMPERATURE NOTE #2: After about 12 hours -- around 10:00 AM -- the brisket was about 160 degrees. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...22398/in/photostream .

I cut off the points from all three briskets, put the remaining flats in foil pans: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...25240/in/photostream and reapplied the rub to the newly exposed flesh: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...68239/in/photostream . At this time I refreshed the coals with a new chimney. I then put the briskets back on the smoker, in foil pans, with the reserved marinade. Throughout all of this the WSM lid thermometer was consistently in the 225 - 250 range, and the probe on the top brisket was about 200. After 30 minutes I squirted them with a small amount of KCs Masterpiece.

I cubed the points to make burnt ends, keeping them on the side foiled up until I was ready to smoke them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...34848/in/photostream Then I put more of the coffee/chilli rub on them.

TEMPERATURE NOTE #3: At about 11:00 AM the briskets in the marinade were at 180 degrees. I removed the briskets from their pans, and again put the marinade in a covered, insulated container for later. I wrapped the briskets very tightly in heavy duty foil several times. I then put all the briskets on my gas grill, with indirect heat. I rotated them periodically so that they would not burn. When they got to 205 degrees in about 90 minutes, I took them off the grill, wrapped them in towels, and put them in a cooler.

I put the trays of burnt ends on the top of the smoker, and sprayed them periodically with a mixture of apple cider vinegar, espresso, and apple juice. I propped open the side door of the smoker, in order to get more oxygen in there to up the heat to the 275+ level. I also put another chunk of mesquite on the coals, and a large chunck of apple wood. After two hours I put them on my gas grill to really up the heat, on bricks, to protect them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...83287/in/photostream and http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...44482/in/photostream

After another hour I lowered the heat to keep them warm. The first thing that everyone ate was a burnt end. I would call over every guest to make sure that every person got one. The reaction was incredible. The charred smokiness was incredible. Such intense flavor!

Here is the finished brisket: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...84749/in/photostream

After we sliced it, we poured the reserved marinade over it. All of the brisket disappeared. All of the juices were sopped up with dinner rolls. I can still taste it. Everyone who was at last year's midnight brisket party said that this one was better. The main differences are that I didn't turn anything this year, and I put on less BBQ sauce this year. Also, this year I cooked the briskets longer at an even lower temperature than last year -- but I have to verify which of the two thermometers is more accurate.

Oh, I also made chicken parts. Here is a pic of three whole chickens cut up. I marinated them for a day in lemon juice. Then patted them dry and rubbed them with mixture of powdered mustard, granulated onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, chilli powder, salt and pepper, and drizzeled them with olive oil. http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...86097/in/photostream And to mix it up, I put chicken parts from another 3 chickens on my gas grill, and pressed them with foiled bricks. Both were very yummy. The grilled with bricks was crisper. The WSM chicken was juicy and smoky.


What I really need to work on is maintaining temperature in the 22.5 with the Minion Method. It seems to be easier on the 18.5, probably because it is a smaller machine. I'll play with a few different set ups, and will see what others post on the board.

A big thanks to everyone on the board who answered questions and provided comments for me.
 
Great job on the briskets! When I cooked a "Midnight Brisket", the only thing that made the cooker temps go crazy was when the water level got low in my water pan. The temps would begin to skyrocket and I couldn't control it, until I added more water to the pan. Once I did that the temps went down and stabilized to about 240. The great thing about cooking low and slow is as long as your within the 225-270 range you'll be all right. I'll tell you what, if it wasn't for the minion method, we would not be able to turn out such great barbecue so easily. Many of my friends who don't have a WSM still don't believe I can get in a 15 hour cook without having to add charcoal!
 
Gil, once you separated the points you put them back on the smoker in the foil pan whole? Then cubed them and put them back in the pan again? Those burnt end picture alone are making me make a whole Briskit this weekend.
 
You must have had quite a few really happy people there, that looks unreal. I've seen a few different posts where people have put coffee grounds in with their rubs (or used a rub w/grounds already in it), what sort of flavor does that ultimately impart, is it very strong? Not a huge fan of coffee, but if its subtle or nutty or something, could be intriguing.
 
Ken -- Thanks for the comments.

I was tired when I wrote it, so I'm sorry if I was unclear. Here are the steps around the cubing:
1) sliced point off of flat
2) cubed the point, put the cubes in a foil pan
3) put rub on the cubes
4) put them in the smoker for about 2 hours, at higher heat, with more wood chunks
5) put them on my grill, on bricks, at higher heat for about another 2 hours.

I sprayed them periodically with the mixture of apple cider vinegar, espresso and apple juice, and turned them periodically to even out the char.
 
Bill -- good point on the water pan. I still have not gotten the hang of when to refill the pan. I just do it by feel and convenience during the cook.

Zac -- Everything disappeared, so yes, there were happy people. The coffee flavor is not very strong. As a matter of fact, many people were surprised that the rub had coffee. It does help with the char/crust, and does give it a nice complex flavor.
 
Yea I've seen Kruger with a bunch of different recipes w/ coffee grounds and several others around the forum, so was curious. Sounds very interesting, and crust and complexity are always welcome.

Thank you Gil
 
Thanks, called the meat market today to check stock, they said they have full briskets every day of the week. Told them to have a 12 to 14lbr ready for me to pick up on Friday. Going to do an all night smoke Friday into Saturday. Hope all goes well. Still a bit nervous about going to bed with a $35 piece of meat on my 18.5. Ken
 
Ken, I know what you mean. I am actually OK with waking up every 3 hours or so, and I'm a control freak. And in my case, since the meat is kosher, each packer is about $100!!! So I had $300 of raw meat on my WSM 22.5 on Saturday night. There was no way I was going to sleep through the night.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. There are a lot of great resources on this site.
 
We have an area in Detroit called Eastern Market. It's a couple of hundred years old. The farmers used to go there to sell and trade goods. They still do the outdoor market on the weekends. Also there are alot of businesses in the same area. It is loaded with meat markets, slaughter houses etc. You can buy whole pigs, goats, lambs etc. Wigleys which is famous for their corned beefs said their full briskits average $35 to $40. I've always been curious what happens to all the points since you mostly see flats everywhere.
 
great primer on what you did.

Your point about 'Temperature Note 1' was right on. I had my ribs in with the gauge at 225o for the whole smoke yet when I took them out (hours were right), they were done but firmer than I thought they should be.

Read on this forum further and discovered grate temp is about 20o less than dome temp. In reality, I was cooking at 200o so time should have been increased.

Your post is a good reminder about temp differences inside the unit AND another good reason to get a thermometer that can read at grate level.

THANKS!
 
Ken -- I am so jealous about that farmer's market, and wish that I could buy stuff at such a place. It sounds incredible.

Len -- I'm glad that it helped. I have learned a lot about the process on this website. It was invaluable in my learning and planning.

Good luck,
 
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