First Brisket Cook - in progress!

[Jeff Rushe]

Good morning all!

Beautiful day here in the NE. The sun is out, it's getting warm, no rain in the past week (been a rainy summer up here!) taking advantage of the nice day to attempt my first brisket cook -- and my first clay saucer cook!

Here she is -- a small cut, as previously mentioned in an earlier thread - just shy of 5 lbs (the biggest they had at my local BJ's)

Rubbed and ready to go to sleep for the night. Rub was a random mixture of just about equal parts of coarse salt, black pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a touch of brown sugar.

Using some hickory for this cook...started with 4 decent size chucks -- smaller than the one shown here:

....and speaking of which - anyone from the Boston area (calling Dave/G) - where do you all get your wood? This area is famous for hickory and mesquite and that's about it. I found an apple orchard up in NH, but was looking to find something more local.

WSM being assembled, ready to do it's thing!

Now it's time to sit back and relax and be lazy. Nice iced coffee from Bagel World, wireless Maverick therm, and some embarrassing small tomatoes from my obscenely overgrown garden

About an hour in....just hitting 220'

....fast forward now 2 hours into the cook. The temps are starting to be a pain in the butt. Holding around 260' (grate temp) with all the bottom vents closed. Not the end of the world, but I was hoping to stick around 230-235 for a "high" temp.

The meat itself is very even in thickness (I'd say about 2" thick?) -- right now it's reading 153'. I'll be monitoring that closely. Going to take a peak at the meat in an hour if the internal temp starts to plateau to check and see if it needs a spray down (worrying about it drying out).

So far my impressions with the clay saucer are fairly positive. It's apparent the wood chucks have ignited a bit, hence the jump in temp - but its no where near panic-mode (it actually just dropped a couple degrees).

All in all things are going great - now I must go pick my basil plants that are getting a little out of control. Planning on serving a side of fresh tomato/basil/mozz with olive oil and balsamic (as well as pesto sauce for the freezer). And also tossing around the idea of throwing together some bean chili or baked beans to accompany the brisket.

Hope you're all enjoy the day - BBQ'in or not! More updates and pics to come!

 

[K Kruger]

Looks great so far!

Presently in Denver, left Vegas yesterday, on my way to Ill, but grew up in NE (Conn), and lived on the Cape and in the Berkshires--so am enjoying vicariously your NE summer weather.

Spritzing occasionally won't do a whole lot to lessen drying. Drying out comes from overcooking, sometimes because the cook is too focused on a specific internal temp for a finish, sometimes because the meat was cooked too slowly for its fat content/marbling. Basting (as opposed to light spritzing) can be effective but the baste application needs to be fairly frequent. It isn't required though.

Foiling can even out cooking and lessen or eliminate moisture loss from that point--still, provided one doesn't overcook. I cook at high heat so always foil, but foiling (specially flats) can be quite effective if ccooking low/slow--~160 for lean or overly trimmed flats, ~165-170 for flats of better quality, as yours appears to be. Foiling is also not required per se, but if choosing not to foil it is better, imo, not to cook too slowly lest the moisture loss outweigh the connective tissue and fat rendering.

 

[Jeff Rushe]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the tips - I'll definitely take foiling into consideration if it gets to that point. However, just about 3 hours into the cook - cooking temp finally dropping below 250' (got as high as 260') and the meat is only at 156'...so that seems to have slowed down. I'm far from pressing the panic button right now.

I might give it another 1.5 hours before taking a peek - then I'll decide whether to foil or not.

On a personal note - hope things are dry in your area of Florida. A business partner of mine down in Orlando had over 30" of rain. Haven't checked the weather - hopefully that storm is moving away from you all.

 

[Jeff Rushe]

A total cooking time of 10.5 hours...a fairly successful cook!

Here are the end results:

Coming off the WSM:

Slicin' time:

Accompanied with a random concauction of baked beans, turkey sausage, onions, green bell pepper, fresh Jalapenos from the garden, S/P, garlic, cumin, paprika.

Some fresh tomato and basil from the garden and mozz w/ olive oil and balsamic. And I think the first batches of Sam Adams Octoberfest!!

Platin' time...topped off with some infamous No.5 sauce:

In conclusion:

Being my first clay saucer cook - I think I may have been dealt with higher than normal temps that were tough to control/decrease. Having a piece of meat that was only 5 lbs, I'm looking forward to trying to clay saucer with a much larger cook...maybe I'll notice a difference then?

The brisket itself was on the dry side towards the center...but as you worked your way outwards towards the end it was super tender. One would think it would be the opposite way around?!

Hope you all enjoyed the story and pics as much as I enjoyed spending an absolutely picture perfect day outside with a fairly successful cook!

 

[Gary Michael]

Not sure If I read your post right...24 hours for a 5/lb flat? I know it can be difficult when starting out...dealing w/ the "ideal" temp. You may have 225 in your mind,when in jumps 20 degrees its panic mode. I don not like to go below 250, prefer 250-265. My advice would also be to try a whole packer for the next cook. In my opinion it was cooked too long and looks very dry. It looks nicer than my first brisket. The beans look mighty tatsty!!

 

[Gary Michael]

Ah..10.5 hours...whew! That sounds much better=)

 

[Jeff Rushe]

No, I fixed that part as I noticed it looked wrong...I meant 24 hours from my last post

Yeah a little over 10 hours - I was using 2 probes past the 8 hour mark and it was only into the 170's on both. So I just let it go...especially since it was just me and 2 others - it would have been a total disaster if the cook went far south.

 

[r benash]

Jeff - looks great to me. A little dry in the center I think I could live with. The sammie looks great. Sauces are great for compensating for a little dryness. But you know what I really want are those beans - they look simply awesome!

 

[Dave/G]

Jeff,
I've gotten wood on line from Smokinlicious. If you order from them, get the so called double filet size. That's the size you want for the WSM. I've also ordered apple from Natures Own on line. Their chunks are ginormous. Too large IMO for the WSM. I'm too old to start looking for orchards and cutting, but a friend of mine had the necessary power saw and cut the pieces from Natures Own down for me into thirds and smaller.smokinlicious Natures Own
BTW. I got some of the Natures Own lump and I think it's a winner if you want to try it.
BJ's usually has larger flats, as you probably know. Just have to hit them on the right day. Pardon me now, because if the Red Sox lose this game today, I'll slit my throat

If I'm seeing your 4th pic correctly with these older eyes, it looks like your smoker probe is way out near the edge. This could account for higher readings

 

[Jeff Rushe]

yes, I agree about the probe placement. but towards the end of the cook I got neurotic and tested 2 thermometers/probes in a different section of the meat and they had fairly similar results....so I stuck with it.

and like Ray said, the sauce made up for it

although I'm still a little stumped as to why the center (more thicker) part was dry and the outter portions (thinner) were, I think, perfect (tender and moist)...?!?!

...oh well, I guess I'll just have to try another brisket to compare

Thanks for the wood suggestions...I might give Natures Own a try first -- decent prices and I've got the tools to trim them down if needed. REALLY looking forward to cooking with some apple!!

As for the Sox...whew - that was close. We need a healthy and consistent Beckett back QUICK or its going to be a long next couple of months.