Veal Brisket

[Dan Allen]

Well, the veal brisket went on the kettle at 6am. The early hour gave me a chance to practice my "stealth BBQ" technique. I didn't want to wake either my family or the guy next door. Darn living in a townhouse.

It's only a six pounder and seems to be an extremely lean cut of meat (the fat cap was trimmed off and there's not much marbling that I can see) so I'm keeping a close eye on it (my computer is about eight feet from the grill).

I put the rub on about 12 hours ago and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The rub I'm using is my standard rub. It's worked well with pork (ribs and butt) but this my first time using it with beef. I don't remember where I got the original but it's been modified since then anyway. Here's what I use:

1/4 C Paprika
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1/4 Onion Powder
2 T Cinnamon
1 T Salt (I use low sodium)
1 T "Seasoned Salt"
2 t Nutmeg
2 t Thyme
1/4 t Ground Black Pepper


That's about it for now. Better head back out and keep an eye on things.

 

[K Kruger]

Start checking for doneness much earlier than you would for beef--go by feel. You might wish to foil in the upper 140s (check it the first time then so you get a sense of it) then check every 5- to 7-degree rise thereafter. It could easily be done in the 160s (minus 7 or plus 15) but it's hard to say. So much depend on the quantity or lack of connective tissue. Good luck with it.

 

[Dan Allen]

Whew, that cooked fast. I ended up pulling it at about 90 minutes because the internal temp was already at about 155 and it felt done. I wrapped it and have been letting it sit. I'll slice it about a half hour before dinner and if it's running towards dry I'll throw it in the crockpot with some beef stock.

Definately a learning experience. Lessons learned:

1. A full chimney of unlit and a full chimney if lit charcoal is definately way too much charcoal for a 22.5" kettle to start out with. I was running 470* at the lid and about 450* at the grate and couldn't get it down more then 10* even with the bottom vent almost closed. "Start small and add later" is my new mantra.

A WSM might be able to handle that much charcoal but a kettle, not so much. I usually use the "start small" method, don't know what got into me this morning.

2. Meat with low fat content cooks fast.

3. Meat that's only a couple of inches thick also cooks fast.

I'll post later when I find out how it turned out. I think it will be ok.

 

[M D Baldwin]

Dan,
"Experience is that thing you get when you were expecting something else." We love veal any way, but because of the limited marbeling and fat I have never tried to smoke it. Unlike beef and pork, veal is not so forgiving. I do hope it turned out well. Good thing you kept a close track of the temp.

 

[adam clyde]

dan - how did it taste?

On the charcoal in a kettle front, yes, that is way too much. The big thing about a WSM and why it can handle so much charcoal is because of its very efficient air flow. Kettles are a totally different story. air vent control does some, but not like the WSM. It's a totally different animal completely. In a kettle, I'd only use a handful of lit coals on each side to keep it at 225-ish. If that handful sits on a bed of unlit coals, and you don't remove the lid, and you keep the vents almost completely closed, you can maintain some temps. But open that lid more than once or twice and all the charcoal will light and you've got a furnace going again.

Anyhow, curious to hear how the veal brisket turned out.

- Adam

 

[Dan Allen]

Well, all in all it turned out pretty good. Much better smoke-ring then I thought it would have. Very flavorful and tender. Of course the bark was more mushy then 'barky' but at least it's got the taste.

I definately wouldn't want to duplicate the method but the results were much better then I had hoped for.