I've been sitting on this note for a while, I've been gone all summer and haven't touched my WSM for months, do things slow down around here in the summer? This is about one of my last cooks on the WSM a while ago:
My wife has always held her nose high to my brisket. I don't blame her. I've always made a merely acceptable brisket. Oh I've tried. I've been trying for 17 years. I've tried to make brisket on the Kettle, wrapped, unwrapped, charred then wrapped, started in the kettle then finished in the oven and every combination in between. I've asked relatives from Nebraska (just cook it slow - how slow is slow? - six hours!) to Texas (wrap it up in foil and just throw it in the ground with some hot embers son) to California (smoke briefly, then place in the confection oven, top with cilantro chutney).
My wife eats brisket once a year: March 17. It's not my brisket. It's boiled then served. With potatoes and cabbage. "Maureen" always tells me how it is. She heartily pity’s me and lets me know what she thinks of my brisket with the honesty and contemptuous glee of a 14 year old. I don't bother her with my brisket anymore.
Yesterday I finished cooking a 12 pound brisket, one of those big long ones wrapped in cryovac. I don't know a point from a flat but I think I have an idea. I cut the $25 beast in half, cooked the thinner part on the bottom nearer my paverstone-in-the-waterpan-mod and the fatter 'pointier' half on the top grill. The thinner part was done in about 17 hours and the fatter, more pyramid shaped part was done in about 24 hours. I pulled each part off when the internal temps reached 200. No basting no turning no peeking. I slightly modified Big Tim's ingredients by adding Sage and using too much dry mustard (glutinous sticky) and too much brown sugar (burned - way too burned). I also added crushed dried Pasilla Chiles. No marinating.
I can't say I was completely satisfied with my effort other than the texture was good. I'm still looking for that brisket I had in Laredo Texas at the airport cafe back in 1996. That's my standard. After the perfect tender texture I remember the sauce, slightly reddish orange almost tangy (not sour) a betrayal of sweet and an aftertaste that only made you seek out another bite - at all costs.
I knew I was going to have too much brisket after this cook. Between myself and my daughter, despite her valiant efforts and her demands for, "more - brisket - now!," we had too much and I'm of the philosophy that prepared food is not stored. I always plan on distributing the spoils of my cook to the neighbors, their pets, wherever I can. Since it was a work day I asked my wife if she would take the sliced pointier end of the brisket along with some flour tortillas and salsa to her office for the boys to heat up in the microwave. She works where a lot of "in-the-field", hard working types pass through the office.
Now I knew this was good enough for the guys to make a quick taco then get back to work, and I was expecting them to politely thank my wife for the favor, and that would pretty much be the end of it...
After returning from work, my wife, through gritting teeth, complimented me on the brisket. I asked her what “the hey” she was doing eating my (well now it’s “our”) brisket? Outside of the holiday no less? “Our” brisket was causing quite a stir in the office and she had to see what all the fuss was about.
Of course this shall never be spoken of again in our house.
My wife has always held her nose high to my brisket. I don't blame her. I've always made a merely acceptable brisket. Oh I've tried. I've been trying for 17 years. I've tried to make brisket on the Kettle, wrapped, unwrapped, charred then wrapped, started in the kettle then finished in the oven and every combination in between. I've asked relatives from Nebraska (just cook it slow - how slow is slow? - six hours!) to Texas (wrap it up in foil and just throw it in the ground with some hot embers son) to California (smoke briefly, then place in the confection oven, top with cilantro chutney).
My wife eats brisket once a year: March 17. It's not my brisket. It's boiled then served. With potatoes and cabbage. "Maureen" always tells me how it is. She heartily pity’s me and lets me know what she thinks of my brisket with the honesty and contemptuous glee of a 14 year old. I don't bother her with my brisket anymore.
Yesterday I finished cooking a 12 pound brisket, one of those big long ones wrapped in cryovac. I don't know a point from a flat but I think I have an idea. I cut the $25 beast in half, cooked the thinner part on the bottom nearer my paverstone-in-the-waterpan-mod and the fatter 'pointier' half on the top grill. The thinner part was done in about 17 hours and the fatter, more pyramid shaped part was done in about 24 hours. I pulled each part off when the internal temps reached 200. No basting no turning no peeking. I slightly modified Big Tim's ingredients by adding Sage and using too much dry mustard (glutinous sticky) and too much brown sugar (burned - way too burned). I also added crushed dried Pasilla Chiles. No marinating.
I can't say I was completely satisfied with my effort other than the texture was good. I'm still looking for that brisket I had in Laredo Texas at the airport cafe back in 1996. That's my standard. After the perfect tender texture I remember the sauce, slightly reddish orange almost tangy (not sour) a betrayal of sweet and an aftertaste that only made you seek out another bite - at all costs.
I knew I was going to have too much brisket after this cook. Between myself and my daughter, despite her valiant efforts and her demands for, "more - brisket - now!," we had too much and I'm of the philosophy that prepared food is not stored. I always plan on distributing the spoils of my cook to the neighbors, their pets, wherever I can. Since it was a work day I asked my wife if she would take the sliced pointier end of the brisket along with some flour tortillas and salsa to her office for the boys to heat up in the microwave. She works where a lot of "in-the-field", hard working types pass through the office.
Now I knew this was good enough for the guys to make a quick taco then get back to work, and I was expecting them to politely thank my wife for the favor, and that would pretty much be the end of it...
After returning from work, my wife, through gritting teeth, complimented me on the brisket. I asked her what “the hey” she was doing eating my (well now it’s “our”) brisket? Outside of the holiday no less? “Our” brisket was causing quite a stir in the office and she had to see what all the fuss was about.
Of course this shall never be spoken of again in our house.
