Maybe My Last Brisket


 
Lew Newby

Lew Newby

R.I.P. 1/26/2024
Today I smoked a 13 lb. Prime Brisket, from Sam's Club, for my daughter's cook book. It took 2 hours for the erratic temps to settle but for the remainder of the cook the EX4 hummed. It probed tender at 203 so I rested it in a cooler for 4 hours. The broth that I captured from the foil was delicious. The flat passed the pull test and everyone enjoyed their dinner. I had slices of flat and point and wasn't disappointed with the meat. Because our family get togethers keep shrinking in numbers and I usually only cook for the 2 of us I'm switching over to Chuck roasts. I will never claim to be a great cook but today was "good enough". If this was my last Brisket it wasn't a bad way to retire.2-27-22 Brisket 1.jpg2-27-22 Brisket 2.jpg2-27-22 Brisket 3.jpg2-27-22 Brisket 4.jpg2-27-22 Brisket 5.jpg
 
Looks great Lew, let us know when that cookbook hits the market. I’m in for one.

SmokeFire delivers a nice smoke ring that’s for sure.

I’m also looking to do a chuck roast soon, Brett’s looked killer.
 
Last edited:
Lew, just say no! Maybe pick up the small points that wally world sells, they weigh about 4-6lbs and of course can make a good meal on day a Sunday night, and nibble on it the rest of the week. I save the big ones for big gatherings and the small for regular meals.
 
TimA said:
Lew, just say no! Maybe pick up the small points that wally world sells, they weigh about 4-6lbs and of course can make a good meal on day a Sunday night, and nibble on it the rest of the week. I save the big ones for big gatherings and the small for regular meals.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. Or go old school and make an oven pot roast from a point.
 
Lew - my family is small and will not justify a full packer brisket. I bought a small one once just to prove I could cook it on my 14" WSM.

Last brisket is a milestone I am not looking forward to - but it sounds like you've had the opportunity to cook several for your family and friends - cheers to that!
 
Darren Lebner said:
@Lew Newby , could you please give details about pre-grill prep, grill flame settings, and time it sat in the grill, etc.? Thanks.
Click to expand...
On Saturday I gave it a light trim and put on a light coating of McCormick's Grill Mates, Montreal Steak Seasoning. That's essentially a SPG rub. I put it in the fridge, uncovered, for about 18 hours. My plan was for a 6 to 8 hour cook at 300 degrees. Man plans - God laughs. For the first 2 hours I was scrambling to gain temp control. It was running hot. I had to uninstall the app and reinstall to get it working. At 1 hr. and 45 min. I had my first flameout (no pellet bridging), followed by a mildly explosive re-ignition when temp shot up to 480, and then the grill settled down and maintained temp close to set temp after that. After 2 hours I could see that I was ahead of schedule on meat temp so I set the temp to 280 and let it cruise. I wrapped it in foil at an IT of 165, it probed tender at 203, and it spent a total of 6 hours on the grill. 4 hours, double wrapped, in a cooler and then I was slicing a still hot Brisket. After the cook I shut the grill down and then turned it on to check if the firmware had updated. It had updated during the cook but that should not have been the cause of temp control problem. I need to run a couple of tests to see if I can figure it out.
 
Andy Linn said:
Lew - my family is small and will not justify a full packer brisket. I bought a small one once just to prove I could cook it on my 14" WSM.

Last brisket is a milestone I am not looking forward to - but it sounds like you've had the opportunity to cook several for your family and friends - cheers to that!
Click to expand...
Andy, my wife and I both turned 80 in 2021. I've cooked my share of Briskets to include a couple where I mixed Sous Vide with the smoker. We're making adjustments to what we do and this is just one of those. It's time.
 
Great cook Lew, brisket looks perfect.
Barb and I are in that same boat. I cooked my last brisket last summer with just the two of us in our mid 70's, it's just too much.
Finally used the last of the point in some chili in early February. Moving on to lighter cooks and smaller amounts. My final big cook will be a 12 pound pork butt. That will have to wait until it warms up, don't like cooking in the cold.
Becoming very happy with my instant pot and slow cookers along with our cast iron cook ware.
We've accumulated over 2000 recipes off the internet. that will keep me occupied for the rest of my days.
Will still be doing a lot of grilling when it warms up but due to the charcoal ban in the summer it will just be on the gassers.
 
If you’re saying good bye to briskets, I’d say that’s a fine farewell!
I understand the dwindling attendance at family gatherings, the numbers have gone from almost forty down to maybe 20-25 here, I used to do two large butts with little leftover, last year I had one entire butt left un pulled. By the time people were leaving, my wife’s son and I opened the foil on that second one and it was head and shoulders above the first one the 2 of us had a lot of of pork that week!
 
wow, that thing is a monster! looks pretty tasty - congrats on your 'retirement' - :)
there will be other opportunities to allow your bbq skills to be utilized, I'm sure
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top