HH today

[PeterD]

OK folks. The waiting is killing me now

I foiled it after about 2 hours. The internal temp was 160 according to the ET-73 probe, but when I stuck a ThermoPen in the side in 4 or 5 other places it was in the 170s.

After placing it fat-up (such little that there is on this particular cut) in a roasting pan and covering it with foil, I thought I'd check it after 45 minutes just to see how it was coming along. Well, to my surprise, my Thermapen went in with no resistance whatsoever. I immediately pulled it off and it's now resting inside, still tented. I'll know in about 20 minutes or so whether this first run was a success.

I'm very surprised that the whole thing is done is 3-1/2 hours. For a flat under 6 pounds, based on everything I've seen, it should take quite a bit longer.

Temps spiked up beyond the ET-73's range for a few minutes after foiling but I got them back down to 375 for most of the foil time.

 

[Glenn W]

Sounds about right for that size. Pictures?

 

[PeterD]

Pics will come after dinner. I have a few already uploaded in another thread.

Here's a link to the Photobucket collection of everything up to and including putting the meat on the smoker. I didn't photograph it in foil (kinda boring to see a chunk of foil on a smoker).

http://s291.photobucket.com/al...ent%3DWrapped.jpg%26

 

[PeterD]

Phooey. Looks like I blew it. The bark looked great, the smoke-ring couldn't be beat but the taste? Not so much.
Problems:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> Bark was extremely spicy. Two tablespoons of ancho was far too much.
<LI> Meat was grey in appearance
<LI> Meat was quite tough. You could actually stretch it length-wise and see "elasticky" fibers. I'm guessing I pulled it far too early, despite appearing to be fork-tender.
[/list]

Wife not impressed, nor was I. Part of the problem is that I've never had BBQ brisket in my life before tonight, so I had no idea what to expect. Were my results actually good and typical or over/under-done? I'm a beef-a-holic and was expecting a more traditional beef taste, I guess.

Here are the final pictures.
Brisket On.

In foil

Finally revealed

Almost Ready to slice

Ready to slice

Smoke ring!

Closeup money shot

Plated. Voila!

 

[George Curtis]

for soft the int temp needs to be around 195 before you start to probe. and ya need to probe in several places. also you need to cut the meat a bit thinner across the grain.

 

[Glenn W]

Sorry it didn't turn out for ya!

Good Brisket is hard to beat, so don't give up! It looks and sounds like it may have been over done. That is what makes brisket such a challenge, the window for perfect is super narrow.

 

[Guy Wallace]

To bad I agree good brisket is hard to beat ! So keep trying ! My last one took 17 hrs a full packer and was OMG good . Never tried HH thou .

I always do butts over brisket and it IMO helps a lot with those butts dripping on the brisket basting it . Thou iam sure some a disagree .

 

[Jeff_B]

Peter, been there done that.
Brisket aren't the easiest to get right, but don't give up!

Once you get it right it becomes much easier

and the wife will be impressed

 

[Craig Castille]

To me, if it was tough.....then it wasn't done....and 3.5 hours is definitely on the short end.

I've done many dozens of HH, and never had any finish sooner than 4 hours, while most for me average around 4.5.

When they are over done, typically they'll be hard to slice without falling apart (pot roast).

Looks great though....

 

[Stewart M.]

I'm with Craig: 3.5 hours is way short, even for a high heat, and if it was tough, then it was undercooked. Overcooked brisket is mushy, not tough.

Also, as George notes, that's cut awful thick. You want your slices to be about half that.

 

[K Kruger]

It wasn't done. The meat should not 'appear' tender. It should feel tender - no resistance when probed.

It does look good. Nice ring. If you still have leftovers then when you reheat go longer. It will finish coking that way.

 

[Noe]

Not bad Peter for the 1st time, next time do not use the tin pan, foil the brisky tightly so the liquid will braise the brisket, in the tin pan the liquid is only on the bottom of the pan doing nothing, when u pull the brisket from the foil by all means use a tin pan to catch the juice, anyway the brisket does look nice, gd smoke ring but it is under cooked, keep trying u will nail it, keep it simple tastes a lot better

 

[PeterD]

Well, I vac-sealed it up and brought it out to a party this afternoon and re-heated in low-boiling water for about 20 minuntes. By itself it was really dry but with some sweet BBQ sauce (of unknown origin) it really tasted good. the spice was less-"bam" as well.

There were leftovers but I left them with the party host (she'd sliced it up, with big thick slices and there was no way to vac-seal again.

The reason I pulled it off when I did was the Thermapen probe was going in without resistance and I was afraid of overcooking it. I will try one at my big September party, but that will be in a smaller Brinkman, while my original WSM will have 9 or 10 racks of ribs goin' at the same time. That should be a fun smoke!