j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
I cooked my first brisket exactly 7 years ago. It was a practice for a comp a month later. I went hot and fast, and it was good. I did the same thing at the KCBS comp and ended up 5th out of 50, and was pretty proud. After 19 contests, brisket turns out to be one of our stronger categories with 7 top tens, 2 being first overall. I've cooked a lot of brisket, and a lot of them were good. But I can't say I've really enjoyed any of them. Brisket isn't my favorite, the flat is too lean. I'd much rather cook short ribs or chuck, and if weren't a comp category, I probably wouldn't bother with it. I've tried different ways to cook brisket, and I feel like I hit a ceiling that is limited by my starting product. I've been hunting briskets for a while now, tying the likes of CAB, Creekstone, and Australian wagyu. I've even tried a A9 grade of Australian wagyu, that while taking first (and contributing to a KCBS GC), it didn't blow me away. That's all in the past now.
I got another opportunity to try another A9 wagyu, and when I trimmed it up, it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It looked nothing like the previous one that I had cooked about a month earlier, which had a speck more marbling than a choice CAB. This flat looked better than most prime steaks:
Realizing I had something special on my hands, I didn't want to do much to it and I really didn't want to ruin it. I used what's essentially a salt and pepper rub that is enhanced with a bit of cardamom, long pepper, and chipotle. I started it at 11:45 pm and let my 22" wsm ramp up in temp. I went to bed at 1 am with the cooker still a little below 200*. My temp alarm went off at 4:30 am at 260*, I shut it up pretty tight and came out at 6:30 to see it still chugging along at 250*. The sun was up and I grabbed this shot:
I kept the temps down most of the morning and around 10:30 decided to prob it for temp and foil it. Surprisingly she had made it through the stall and was reading over 180*. The probe went in pretty easily so I figured I give it a little more time as is (this would be the first brisket to not get foiled). It was on the cooker for 11.5 hour, and finished around 185*. It had that magical wobble when poked.
The trick was to keep myself from immediately slicing into, because it wasn't due to be eaten until 4 hrs later. I tented it for about 20 min before loosely foiling and dropping it into a cooler. By the time we were ready to slice, it had just cooled enough to handle it.
It was intended as a little predinner snack for about 50 people, including some of my favorite local chefs and food people, at a pig roast being held at an incredible pig farm that raises Glochester Old Spot, Tamworth, and Mangalitza. There were little pigs, big pigs and cooked pigs:
The resulting brisket was it: incredibly moist, pull apart tender, with a nice bark. After pining from afar at Franklin Barbecue, I felt like I finally made something as good. One of my teammates, ate there, and confirmed that this was as good. They say success is where preparation and opportunity meet, and I couldn't agree more. It was like I was waiting and practicing for this moment for the past 7 years and I didn't mess it up.
Cheers everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read this, and never stop moving forward, barbecue is a journey that never ends....
I got another opportunity to try another A9 wagyu, and when I trimmed it up, it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It looked nothing like the previous one that I had cooked about a month earlier, which had a speck more marbling than a choice CAB. This flat looked better than most prime steaks:
Realizing I had something special on my hands, I didn't want to do much to it and I really didn't want to ruin it. I used what's essentially a salt and pepper rub that is enhanced with a bit of cardamom, long pepper, and chipotle. I started it at 11:45 pm and let my 22" wsm ramp up in temp. I went to bed at 1 am with the cooker still a little below 200*. My temp alarm went off at 4:30 am at 260*, I shut it up pretty tight and came out at 6:30 to see it still chugging along at 250*. The sun was up and I grabbed this shot:
I kept the temps down most of the morning and around 10:30 decided to prob it for temp and foil it. Surprisingly she had made it through the stall and was reading over 180*. The probe went in pretty easily so I figured I give it a little more time as is (this would be the first brisket to not get foiled). It was on the cooker for 11.5 hour, and finished around 185*. It had that magical wobble when poked.
The trick was to keep myself from immediately slicing into, because it wasn't due to be eaten until 4 hrs later. I tented it for about 20 min before loosely foiling and dropping it into a cooler. By the time we were ready to slice, it had just cooled enough to handle it.
It was intended as a little predinner snack for about 50 people, including some of my favorite local chefs and food people, at a pig roast being held at an incredible pig farm that raises Glochester Old Spot, Tamworth, and Mangalitza. There were little pigs, big pigs and cooked pigs:
The resulting brisket was it: incredibly moist, pull apart tender, with a nice bark. After pining from afar at Franklin Barbecue, I felt like I finally made something as good. One of my teammates, ate there, and confirmed that this was as good. They say success is where preparation and opportunity meet, and I couldn't agree more. It was like I was waiting and practicing for this moment for the past 7 years and I didn't mess it up.
Cheers everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read this, and never stop moving forward, barbecue is a journey that never ends....
