Just wanted to post up to not only say thank you for all the advise I have received here but also to share my cook for today. I would like to give thanks to the members of this site. Special thanks to K Kruger, Larry Wolfe, Steve Petrone, Bryan S, Chris Allingham,
LarryR and a few others that I can't think of that have really helped me out with their posts. You guys are what makes this forum one of my favorite to visit each and every day. This was a high heat brisket cook that we did today that I have to say was the quickest and one of the best to date. We made a 5.5lb brisket that was done just as the HH threads said it would be. This is the thread that basically lead me to many others. http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/6930045465 Also I made the #5 sauce for the first time and it was a hit. Link http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/2870053653 To accompany this we made baked beans using parts of the recipe from this site. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/beans.html My wife through together some stuffing to go with the beans and all in all it was a great meal.
We started out today by firing up a chimney of K some time around 9:15am. I used some fresh and some previously used that I had laying around. Figured it would work fine as long as it would lite right. Found out that it took much longer to get the chimney going because I put the used on the bottom and I think it took a bit longer to lite. Next time I will reconsider this process. However around 10:00am we were good to go. I chose to use 3 pieces of hickory and a few handfuls of oak chips from JD. Later in the cook I actually added 2 more chucks of hickory. The vents did stay 100% open during my cook. A couple of pic's of the start up.
Notice the amount of coals used. I found that when I was done I still had a few hours that I still could have gone.
Then I assembled the smoker with an empty water pan lined with foil and into the house we went. As per some advise here(IIRC) I was told that you can rub just after taking the meat out of the frig. I was hoping that this would help create a better smoke ring by using meat that was cold and not at room temp. Basically I used a rub that I put together yesterday applying it over some Worcestershire. I first rubbed both sides with Worcestershire and then just rubbed the bottom of the brisket where the fat cap would be. My idea was to then go to the wsm and rub the top side so I did not disrupt the rub. I was kind of bummed because I really did not have much of a fat cap because the brisket was trimmed by the butcher. Here are some pictures.
I believe this is the fat cap side. It looks trimmed to me.
And then a pic of the top side.
Little bit of Lea and Perrins brushed on both sides.
Followed by a layer of rub for the cap side.
Then to the smoker for the top layer of rub to be applied.
Applied some rub.
And we are good to go at 10:20 am with a lid temp of 325*. Recently I have been thinking about how I monitor the cooking temps of the lid of the cooker. I use a candy thermometer that is pretty long and I think it might read more like the grate temp then the lid. I tried something new today with adjusting it a bit with only having a couple inches in the lid portion of the lid. Look at how it is attached to the handle. Here is a picture of how I did it.
Also I discovered a way to prop my door open without doing the door prop mod. Basically I moved the center section of the smoker over just a bit and the door sits nicely propped open. Here are is a picture.
These were are couple things I wanted to share and I hope they help some of you that might be new to this. My cook for the most part went very well and I was able to maintain 350* at the lid with using these methods. Now back to the food pictures! At 1:00 we foiled. I did cheat by sticking a thermometer in the meat to see where the temps were at and it registered right at 160* so I knew I was good to go to the foil stage. I'm still having a problem by not using a thermometer while cooking. Hard habit to break but this HH method is almost fool proof when executed properly. Here are some pictures. The first one is before the foil.
The next is when foiled. I used a disposable pan with foil in it just in case I created a leak so I did not loose the juices that I was planning on later using in the #5 sauce. Basically I did not want to poke a hole in the foil while probing for doneness at the 4 hour marker. Here is the picture at 1:00pm.
I had an idea to make smoked baked beans and used a recipe from the site here that I found. Worked very well. I did not completely follow it to a T but they were some of the best beans I have ever had. I look forward to making them again. Sorry I did not take any pic's of this process. The beans went into the smoker just after I foiled the brisket. At 2:50 pm after checking the brisket a couple times using a wooden squarer it was done. I then put it to rest on the counter wrapped in foil covered with a towel for an hour and 15 minutes. I did per K Krugar's advise remove some liquid from the foiled brisket to add to my #5 sauce that I made to accompany the brisket. Thanks again for the fast reply! I have to tell you this sauce was the icing on the cake. I did cut back on the vinegar per the thread found on the site here. I felt it was a bit much for my taste and liked the way it turned out. When this was all ready it was time to carve up the brisket. The brisket did not have the bark that I have seen some of you get nor the smoke ring. But it was very juicy and extremely tender. Which is really what I was after. Here are some pic's of carving it up and to the plate.
Last but not least.........Dinner!
I'm sure there were a couple things I did wrong and advise is welcome. Thank you. Vince
LarryR and a few others that I can't think of that have really helped me out with their posts. You guys are what makes this forum one of my favorite to visit each and every day. This was a high heat brisket cook that we did today that I have to say was the quickest and one of the best to date. We made a 5.5lb brisket that was done just as the HH threads said it would be. This is the thread that basically lead me to many others. http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/6930045465 Also I made the #5 sauce for the first time and it was a hit. Link http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/2870053653 To accompany this we made baked beans using parts of the recipe from this site. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/beans.html My wife through together some stuffing to go with the beans and all in all it was a great meal.
We started out today by firing up a chimney of K some time around 9:15am. I used some fresh and some previously used that I had laying around. Figured it would work fine as long as it would lite right. Found out that it took much longer to get the chimney going because I put the used on the bottom and I think it took a bit longer to lite. Next time I will reconsider this process. However around 10:00am we were good to go. I chose to use 3 pieces of hickory and a few handfuls of oak chips from JD. Later in the cook I actually added 2 more chucks of hickory. The vents did stay 100% open during my cook. A couple of pic's of the start up.
Notice the amount of coals used. I found that when I was done I still had a few hours that I still could have gone.
Then I assembled the smoker with an empty water pan lined with foil and into the house we went. As per some advise here(IIRC) I was told that you can rub just after taking the meat out of the frig. I was hoping that this would help create a better smoke ring by using meat that was cold and not at room temp. Basically I used a rub that I put together yesterday applying it over some Worcestershire. I first rubbed both sides with Worcestershire and then just rubbed the bottom of the brisket where the fat cap would be. My idea was to then go to the wsm and rub the top side so I did not disrupt the rub. I was kind of bummed because I really did not have much of a fat cap because the brisket was trimmed by the butcher. Here are some pictures.
I believe this is the fat cap side. It looks trimmed to me.
And then a pic of the top side.
Little bit of Lea and Perrins brushed on both sides.
Followed by a layer of rub for the cap side.
Then to the smoker for the top layer of rub to be applied.
Applied some rub.
And we are good to go at 10:20 am with a lid temp of 325*. Recently I have been thinking about how I monitor the cooking temps of the lid of the cooker. I use a candy thermometer that is pretty long and I think it might read more like the grate temp then the lid. I tried something new today with adjusting it a bit with only having a couple inches in the lid portion of the lid. Look at how it is attached to the handle. Here is a picture of how I did it.
Also I discovered a way to prop my door open without doing the door prop mod. Basically I moved the center section of the smoker over just a bit and the door sits nicely propped open. Here are is a picture.
These were are couple things I wanted to share and I hope they help some of you that might be new to this. My cook for the most part went very well and I was able to maintain 350* at the lid with using these methods. Now back to the food pictures! At 1:00 we foiled. I did cheat by sticking a thermometer in the meat to see where the temps were at and it registered right at 160* so I knew I was good to go to the foil stage. I'm still having a problem by not using a thermometer while cooking. Hard habit to break but this HH method is almost fool proof when executed properly. Here are some pictures. The first one is before the foil.
The next is when foiled. I used a disposable pan with foil in it just in case I created a leak so I did not loose the juices that I was planning on later using in the #5 sauce. Basically I did not want to poke a hole in the foil while probing for doneness at the 4 hour marker. Here is the picture at 1:00pm.
I had an idea to make smoked baked beans and used a recipe from the site here that I found. Worked very well. I did not completely follow it to a T but they were some of the best beans I have ever had. I look forward to making them again. Sorry I did not take any pic's of this process. The beans went into the smoker just after I foiled the brisket. At 2:50 pm after checking the brisket a couple times using a wooden squarer it was done. I then put it to rest on the counter wrapped in foil covered with a towel for an hour and 15 minutes. I did per K Krugar's advise remove some liquid from the foiled brisket to add to my #5 sauce that I made to accompany the brisket. Thanks again for the fast reply! I have to tell you this sauce was the icing on the cake. I did cut back on the vinegar per the thread found on the site here. I felt it was a bit much for my taste and liked the way it turned out. When this was all ready it was time to carve up the brisket. The brisket did not have the bark that I have seen some of you get nor the smoke ring. But it was very juicy and extremely tender. Which is really what I was after. Here are some pic's of carving it up and to the plate.
Last but not least.........Dinner!
I'm sure there were a couple things I did wrong and advise is welcome. Thank you. Vince
