A Saturday Afternoon Packer


 
K Kruger

K Kruger

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Just got a packer on at 2:40. 11.5 pounds, paste-rubbed with a paste of chicken base, pomegranate molasses, fresh garlic, pickled jals, and Dijon. Dry-rubbed over the paste, a mix of granulated onion, extra hot NM chile, garlic, thyme, marjoram, smoked paprika, coriander, Worcestershire powder, ginger, sugar, cumin, clove.

The rubs and rubbed brisket:





Temp at 3:05--250.
 
3:17 277 and climbing; smoking with hickory and apple. Will prop the door open a bit, if needed, in 10 min or so. Up to 290 now.

(The cooker is in direct sun. No breeze. 85F ambient temp in the shade.)

3:20 301.
 
Got a little breeze. Trended up to 356 at the point I removed and foiled (4:55). Prior, I slow-fried the last of my sassafras bacon. In the fat I sauteed minced onion. Now, with a water addition and two pieces of unfried bacon, I'm doing green beans for tonight's side. Not sure what else I am doing yet.

The bacon:




The brisket, pre-foiling:




The brisket, post foiling:



For the helluvit, the view from my grill deck (top) and my front porch:







The temps hit 415 after foiling. I closed 2 vents, but now (5:15) we're at 361. Will likely open one a bit.
 
Lookin' good, Kevin. Nice view, too. I remember those days .. Jan/Feb/Mar in Orlando. Best time of year down that way.

Bill
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Almost. Bbef done at 6:35, a bit less than 4 hours. Drained the foil into a fat separator and had 2 c or so. Drained off the fat and had right at 1 c juices. Added 2 T unsalted butter, a tiny splash of sherry vinegar, and some water to cut the intensity some.

Brisket, foil drained, pre-rest:

 
Done and delicious.

Plating, pre-garnish, with roasted red pepper brown basmati rice (top); close-up; green beans cooked with bacon, topped with crisp crumbled bacon.








Now I've got to freeze the point and drive to Orlando...
 
Looks great! I am going to have to give the high heat another chance....

Kevin, FYI - If you find yourself on I-4 through Orlando you will have a Wholefoods opening at the corner of Sandlake Rd and Turkey Lake Rd (one exit east of 528). It is right off the freeway in a new strip mall with easy access.

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n..... too many choices!
Gary
 
Kevin,

Can you give a newbie some basics on your high heat cooking methods? Do you fire up using the standard method as described on this site? Are you shooting for temps around 350? Water pan empty and foiled? Do you cook butts in this manner too? Finally, can you notice any discernable difference between a brisket or butt cooked "low and slow" and those cooked at high heat?

Thanks,

Derek
 
Kevin - great job as always...

On the picture of the pre-foiled brisket, it looks like there is some foil that appears from he color to have been there throughout the smoke to that point. Do you do that to protect the smaller end from drying out? I ask because I tried my first high heat cook this weekend and the flat ended up pretty dry.
 
Yup, Dale, moist is very good.

Jeff-- Dunno exactly. I do not compete so I'm no where near those guys in quantity. Probably just a few hundred.

Kevin-- Yes. If the end of the flat will be near the side of the cooker I often do. This brisket was long and the end of the flat was thinner than I like. To fit the thing in I wedged it between the handles, bowing it up in the center and sticking folded foil under the flat to deflect direct heat.

Derek-- I Minion the start. Usually I use about 50% more lit though. Prior to this cook I have been using Wicked Good lump briquettes. Out of those now. I used Kingsford--been a long time--and decided to try the Minion with even more lit just to see what happened. I used 25. Temps rose faster than usual and I got a bit of a smaller smokering. I do not trim briskets at all anymore.

Yes, empty foiled pan.

I shoot for 335-360 lid during the unfoiled phase, 350-375 after foiling.

I do not care for butts that have been foiled so I never foil them. I have cooked them at high heat but prefer them cooked at ~275-290 lid. If an overnight is more convenient for me I cook them lower.

I prefer high heat briskets--at least those that I can get regularly. I buy no-roll beef usually. (No-roll means that it is ungraded.) It mostly seems to be mid-to-low Choice but sometimes high Select.

The bark on high heat briskets is much less bark-y. I don't really care about brisket bark as long as the flavors are there (butt bark is a different story). But one can return the brisket to the cooker after removing it from the foil to re-establish bark texture somewhat.

There are other differences, mostly I think favoring high heat. There is more consistency to the finish in the flat, imo, and, as long as one lays the smoke on up front, not much difference in smoke flavor--at least not between those I do now and used to do low/slow. I think that, for high heat briskets, it's a matter of tweaking the method so that the results mimic what you like about low/slow (smokering, say, or smoke flavor; bark texture, perhaps--or not). Then you can get those results--but much faster.
 
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