Office Wagyu Brisket Cook - Help The Logistically Challenged!


 
M

Mordechai F

TVWBB Member
Our office has a tradition of holding a round-robin tennis tournament at a local park on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, which is basically a fun excuse to get a head-start on the beer and sangria consumption. After the so-called "sports" portion of the day is completed, everybody heads over to the Casa de Boss for a BBQ. Last year I did a monster chuck for pulled beef, as I was able to cook it the day before and then reheat it at his house (he's got a warming drawer in his kitchen) and it went over pretty well. (Entirely thanks to this board's helpful experts, you know who you are.)

This year I figured I'd cook a larger packer high-heat, today, the Sunday before (bless you Kruger, Castille, et.al.). I was counting on being able to leisurely cook it, wrap it and let it sit for a few hours, cool it and freeze it, thaw it Thursday, reheat Friday and not have to worry the day of. Went to my butcher this AM, and lo and behold, he had put aside a 15+lb Wagyu packer for me that he knew I'd fall for, since I'd mentioned my interest it trying one. A quick perusal of this board made me realize that HH is not the preferred method for such a beautiful slab of meat (it's got to be one of the thickest packers I've ever seen, it's like a fat rectangular brick of beefy joy), so there went my Sunday plan.

Now I'm entirely at a loss for how to plan this cook. The tourney is called for a 1:00pm start and dinner is at 5:00pm. Everything is pretty local, but I figure I need to be entirely done with the cook by noon or so to give me enough time to deliver the meat to boss house and then get over to the park. I understand that I should go very low and slow (210), and that Wagyu can sometimes get tender at much lower temps than regular packers. As such any and all advice is appreciated on the following:

1. What time do you recommend I start the cook? How much "wiggle" time should I allocate?
2. Do I attempt to hold at temp, or do I allow to cool and reheat? (I'm guessing there's a law somewhere against trying to reheat Wagyu beef.)
3. Trim fat cap or no? (With my regular HH cooks I trim minimally, if any, mainly because my default mode is "lazy".)
4. My go-to beef rub is usually Wolfe Rub Bold (thank you Larry!). Do I use the WRB, or should I use something simpler, such as a "dalmatian" salt/pepper combo?

I'm definitely feeling the performance anxiety with this one, as it's not only my first attempt at a Wagyu packer, it's also for the entire office. If I screw up this cook, I'll be hearing about it until next year's Labor Day...
 
I did a wagyu packer from Snake River Farms a few months ago, and am about to do one this sunday. I don't really recommend cooking, then freezing the meat, as it would lose something in translation--bark most significantly. Given the time of your party, I'm afraid you'll have to do an overnight. (I've heard that HH is a no-no for wagyu, but haven't seen reports from anyone who's actually tried it-- you may be able to get away with it, and not start the cook until 6 am maybe, then pull the meat--hopefully--by 12ish, wrap it and lest it rest until serving time).

If you are going low and slow, my vote would be for a midnight start time on thursday. My 15# packer took about 10 hours, with temps ranging from 225-280 during the cook. I can't imagine it taking more than 12 hours, but if you wanted, you could start earlier, like 10 pm.
I really think 200-210 is unnecessarily low. You'd be fine with 225-260, imo.

I would try to hold at temp, in a cooler, wrapped in foil and towels. I pulled my brisket at 11 am, and served it around 3, and it was piping hot, with a great bark.

I trimmed some of the fat cap, down to maybe 1/4 inch, just because the meat was so marbled. You don't really need to.

I used KK's brisket rub from the forum, with great success. I will never buy premade rub again.

I will say that in my very limited experience, wagyu brisky is so incredibly marbled, that you can relax a bit when it comes to temp control. Above 200 and under 300 and you'll likely be fine. Though above 270 or so and you may have to check on her pretty regularly. My WSM held about 250 all night long, though, which allowed me to get a full night's sleep.

Like you, I was nervous about such an expensive and notoriously finicky cut. But it couldn't have been simpler. No water in the pan. No foiling. No injecting or mopping. Just the rub, and 10 hours later, the moistest, richest piece of meat I've ever had. Staying up late and eyeing temps overnight can be a drag, but the results with wagyu can be spectacular.
 
You could do a pseudo high heat style cook. I've done that with the Wagyu.

Prep as you would for a overnight. Cook until the internal temp is 185-190. Then foil until tender. It took my 13LB wagyu packer about 5-6 hours to get to temp then foiled for about 1 hour. Let rest in foil and go. It does shorten the time slightly plan about 8 hours from puttin on the smoker to slicing.

With this method you get good bark and have the advantage of the foil to finish off getting the meat to tender which cuts down on your time.
 
I'm assuming you have a 22" WSM....

Load the ring with lump. About 85% full. Rattle it, twist it and get the lump to settle. Load some more and sprinkle in 8-10 fist-sized chunks of smoke wood. You should leave the ring with enough to dump two full Weber chimneys full of red-hot coals.

Get a chimney going and dump it. Start another. Let it get going and dump it. Assemble cooker and fill the water pan with hot water/beer. Put the brisket on and prop the door open with the other vents wide open. Prop the door about 1".

Let the temp climb to 300-325°F and let it roll for 3-4 hours.

After the meat hits 150-165°F internally, wrap it with two layers of HD foil or put it in an AL pan and cover. You might choose to add some red wine or other liquid.

Let it cook at 300°F or higher for another 4 hours. Start checking on the doneness then. When it's probe tender, pull that sucker and let it rest for an hour, slightly insulated.

You won't be sorry.
 
Dave: Just read your post from back in May about your first brisket cook, great write-up. Pretty ballsy move taking apart your cooker in the middle just to scoop out lit coals to bring down the temp. Glad to hear that you found the Wagyu to be tolerant of a fairly wide temp range. I think I will trim some like you recommend, and I will use the Wolfe Bold as the rub, I love that stuff.

Brad: I'm feeling like I'm going to start around 10pm the night before, and get the WSM settled in really low, at around 200 - 215, as I often find that if I cook lower and slower (with almost anything) I have more margin for error. I figure this way I can ride easy into the AM, and if I need to speed things up at the end I can bump up the temp and/or foil.

Terre: I actually have an older 18.5 model. I'm probably gonna have to shoehorn this one on the grate between the handles, but I've done that before with little trouble. I'm also using an empty foiled water pan with a flowerpot clay base as a heat sink, I find that it really helps with with temp stability. Do you really think I should use 8 - 10 fist chunks? That seems like a heap of wood, I usually only use about 3 or so chunks.
 
Mordechai-- Good luck, and let us know how it turns out! (PS-- I really don't think you need to foil)
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Wagyu tolerance is wide but I think they do best rather low. Your temp target is the same as I use. I do not foil them during cooking. I do minimal trimming, if any. 3 chunks, cut into 5-6 smaller pieces each, is what I prefer.
 
I put it up a little more than two hours ago over three healthy pecan chunks. Dialed in at about 208 or so, internal temp is up at 124...
 
Ten hours in, WSM drifted down to 206, internal's been hanging at a plateau of 160-161 or so. I've never done at packer this low and this slow, I'm going to try and bump the temp up just a few degrees...
 
David, thanks for the advice, I'm going to follow your lead and let it creep up into that range now that I've gotten through the night. I'm always afraid I'll wake up and find a 400+ degree smoker, had some bad experiences when I was first starting out. Now that I have a bit more trial-and-error experience (and a clay saucer), I can literally sleep easier. Plus I gotta be done here in three hours or so, time to speed things up.
 
I much prefer the finish of Wagyus cooked rather low/slow but you can certainly let the temps rise. Check for tender sooner than you normally would.
 
Kevin, at what temp do you recommend I start probing for temp? You converted me to high-heat, so it's been a while since I did an overnight packer. I think my last one didn't hit tender until over 200.

Cooker has drifted up to 250, internal has finally budged off the plateau and is reading 163.



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I start checking in the upper 170s. I've had them tender there or just above. This is at low temps, as noted, so that's why. The increased soft fat coupled with the long cooking provides for this. I'd expect higher temps at tender if the cooktemp is higher but still check sooner. Won't hurt.
 
What's the best way to "shoehorn" a larger brisket into an 18" WSM? I prefer not to have to cut the point off until afterwards. I guess I can skewer the flat by doubling it over.
 
Originally posted by Jerry S.:
What's the best way to "shoehorn" a larger brisket into an 18" WSM? I prefer not to have to cut the point off until afterwards. I guess I can skewer the flat by doubling it over.
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Lift it up in the middle and wedge the ends between the grate handles. You could even use a foiled brick or a rib rack to hold up the middle.
 
Just checked at 178, and we're a ways off from tender. Cooker at 258. I realistically have less than two hours until I have to pull this off and foil. Should I open up the vents and run at hotter temps? Or should I foil now to speed things up? Note that I'm planning in it being foiled and resting in a cooler for an additional 3 - 4 hours. Thoughts?
 
I would defer to KK on this one, but I would probably slide the vents open and let the temps go where they will. You've cooked low and slow for the majority of the cook. I would think another hour or two between 258-280 would do no harm and--combined with the carryover cooking of three hours in foil--get you right around where you wanna be.
 
Agreed. And feel free to use the resting time for cooking instead. Once tender is achieved you only need 20-30 minutes resting as there is little need for carryover. If you get to almost tender carryover should cover the rest.
 
OK, we're blown wide open with all three vents at 100% Internal is 181, cooker is at 260 and moving upward. Should I get worried if the cooker runs up above 300-350? Or am I just letting it rip?

I'm a little freaked out by the higher temps, but I know the Kruger Catechism - time x temp to tender...

Thanks both of you so much for the support and advice!
 
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