First Cook...

[Tim Johnson]

Well the time has come... I'm gonna do my 1st cook with my brand spanky new SMC. My wifes fav is brisket, and since she bought it for me, thats what I'm gonna cue up. Plus as I'm sure you all know, its always best to keep the signifigant other happy!

Heres my plan, Let me know what you think:

Gonna pick up a packer this afternoon. I figure 10-12 lbs.

I'm gonna use my own rub mix. Trim it up and rub, then wrap and refrig overnite.

I'm figuring 10-12 hours for the cook so I'm gonna put it on around 7am. I plan to use the MM and to fire up the cooker at around 6am. Run it up to between 225 and 250f. I'm gonna use a mix of hickory and mesquite chunks cause that what I've got right now.

One question I have is when to Flip and when to baste. I plan on useing apple juice to baste.


When the brisket gets up to an internal of around 160-165 foil with a cup a apple juice and return to the smoker. Continue till fork tender. Remove the bad boy, let em rest, carve, and then stuff myself.

I've gotta admit, I'm as nervous as an expectant father. I just want the dern thing to come out right. I already love the SMC even tho I ain't fired it up. I tried to convince my wife to let me keep it in the bedroom till I was ready to cook with it, but she said "NO". So I left it in the living room!

If you folks can give me any tips it sure would be appreciatd,,, Thanks...

Can't wait to smoke!

 

[Mike Draper]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tim johnson:
One question I have is when to Flip and when to baste. I plan on useing apple juice to baste.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sounds like a plan. One thing is for me...I don't flip it or baste it, especially if you are going to foli and use some apple juice there.

One other thing to watch is your temps since it is new, will run hot, so be sure to start shutting down the vents way before your target temp. I have used mine 10 times, shut down vents 100% at 170 and it still climbs to 250-260.

That size brisket may take longer as they are all different.

Good Luck andhave fun!

 

[Ken Nelson]

You're likely to get conflicting opinions but, since you asked, I'd skip the basting part of your plan entirely. Unless you're cooking over direct heat or cooking on both the top and bottom grates, there's no real need to flip/rotate mid-cook.

The benefits of basting are purely psychological. It does nothing to add moisture to the interior of the meat.

One thing the process of basting definitely does is dump out a lot of heat and thereby extend the overall cooking time, especially since you're banking on just an hour per pound for a packer.

Nonetheless, it sounds like a Saturday well spent. Enjoy your WSM.

Ken

 

[Craig Castille]

Cook fat side down.

No need to baste.

 

[Dennis Cramer]

Okay...I'm doing a brisket this weekend also. I just read in Jamie's book that Jim Minion cooks his brisket fat side down also. I've read to put fat side up in other books. Okay, so what is the preferred method?

 

[Jeff T Miller]

I cook fat side down and don't open the smoker til around the 11 hour mark to see how it is coming along. Once it hits 180 I just probe for tenderness. I then cut off the point and foil both seperately with the fat side up on the flat. The point goes back on for a couple of hours.