Living in Buffalo, when you get a 55 degree day in last November, you take that opportunity to smoke.
So I decided to try my first brisket. Unfortunately my local wholesale club is in a busy part of town I didn't want to deal with the traffic, so I settled on a 7 pound brisket from the super market. It was Choice cut so probably more expensive than I would have cared for, but oh well.
I fired up the smoker and put on 1 chunk hickory and 3 chunks apple. I couldn't get the smoker up to 325-375 at first, it was topping out at 300 even with all vents open and the door inverted and propped open.
I figured this wasn't so much an issue because this was a lighter brisket. I did end up adding some more coals and that got the temps up to between 325-350. At the 2.5 hour mark the temp registered 165 so I put it in a foil pan and sealed it off. Another 1.5 hours later I decided to prong it and pulled it off and let it rest for 45 minutes.
It was pretty tender and juicier in some parts than others, but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of smoke flavor and smoke ring. There was a definitely pronounced ring in certain parts (I think the thinner parts of the flat). I thought 4 chunks of smoke wood (these were at least tennis ball size) would have been plenty. Maybe I should have gone 2 hickory and 2 apple.
I made the No. 5 sauce which was phenomenal by the way.
BTW, I tweaked the rub a little bit...I know sugar was crossed off by I ended up adding 2 table spoons of turbinado sugar (not an issue as my temps couldn't get high) and used kosher salt and granulated garlic instead of garlic salt.
Any ideas on how I can improve my high heat brisket?
So I decided to try my first brisket. Unfortunately my local wholesale club is in a busy part of town I didn't want to deal with the traffic, so I settled on a 7 pound brisket from the super market. It was Choice cut so probably more expensive than I would have cared for, but oh well.
I fired up the smoker and put on 1 chunk hickory and 3 chunks apple. I couldn't get the smoker up to 325-375 at first, it was topping out at 300 even with all vents open and the door inverted and propped open.
I figured this wasn't so much an issue because this was a lighter brisket. I did end up adding some more coals and that got the temps up to between 325-350. At the 2.5 hour mark the temp registered 165 so I put it in a foil pan and sealed it off. Another 1.5 hours later I decided to prong it and pulled it off and let it rest for 45 minutes.
It was pretty tender and juicier in some parts than others, but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of smoke flavor and smoke ring. There was a definitely pronounced ring in certain parts (I think the thinner parts of the flat). I thought 4 chunks of smoke wood (these were at least tennis ball size) would have been plenty. Maybe I should have gone 2 hickory and 2 apple.
I made the No. 5 sauce which was phenomenal by the way.
BTW, I tweaked the rub a little bit...I know sugar was crossed off by I ended up adding 2 table spoons of turbinado sugar (not an issue as my temps couldn't get high) and used kosher salt and granulated garlic instead of garlic salt.
Any ideas on how I can improve my high heat brisket?
