OK, I did a little test on the brisket this week end. I had 2 flats in the freezer about 6 # each. One was a select the other a choice. I picked up a 13 # fresh packer at waly –world, it was a select. All three were cooked on one WSM. I used sand in the WSM water pan with foil over the sand. Next I placed the bottom rack on the water pan. Then I placed another WSM water pan with two layers of foil on top of the bottom rack. On top of all this I put another bottom rack in on top of that second water pan. All of this was to keep so much radiant heat from burning the briskets that are going to cook on the lower area”it worked”. I am down to my last few bags of Hickory Specialties charcoal and this is what I used for this cooking. I did use a layer of cowboy lump near the top because I knew it was going to get cold that night and the lump would give a little more heat than the other charcoal. For the smoke flavor I used 3, 1/3 cup packs of J.D. smoke pellets placed in different locations. I like to use a propane torch to light some coals in the center of the pile.
Prep: brisket 1, was the select flat, all it got was some dry rub an hour before going on the WSM.
Brisket 2 was the select flat, It got a dose of FAB B LITE with water , allowed to sit with that for 12 hours at 36*f. Then the same rub as # 1, one hour before cook time.
Brisket 3 was the fresh, never frozen select packer. It got a dose of FAB B LITE with apple juice and allowed to sit at 36*f for 12 hours. Then it got the same rub as the others one hour before cook time.
The two flats went on the lower cooking area, the packer on the top, all fat side down. Cooked in the 225*range, foiled in the 165* range, and pulled at 195* and let rest.
The shrinkage was about the same on all three. All had a good color. All had a nice smoke ring of about1/4”-3/8”. This was my first time with the fat side down, I like it. This was also my first cook with J.D. pellets. Good color, mild smoky aroma and flavor, I liked that also. I did not think I could get the smoke I wanted out of only 1 cup of pellets. I think next time I will blend the smoke flavor some maybe with oak, apple or some hickory.
Back to the meat of the topic. The two flats had been frozen for a few months and I wanted to see what if any affect FAB would have on them. Brisket one, nice tender and moist, maybe too tender “the way I like it”. Brisket 2, the meat was a little firmer, the injection did not flow out very well and it looked like it had zebra stripes in it. Yes I did my best to inject this stuff evenly. It did have a little more flavor than # 1, much more in the dark part of the stripe. Brisket 3, this was the fresh select packer. This one had no zebra stripes. Flavor was good, it was tender. It would seem that the FAB did flow out better in the fresh brisket. From the looks of it I have enough FAB left to inject one more good size packer. I think next I will try a packer with and one without the FAB and see side by side how it goes.
RICK
