A winemaker is coming to The Count’s house for dinner and drinking, so I decided to make my customary offer of smoked pork shoulder or smoked whole brisket. No one expressed an opinion and since I had a frozen whole brisket just dying to be smoked, that won out. This thread will show the proper use of a BGE to smoke a brisket my way. You may have other ways. They would be wrong. It’s not like this is wine, where different tastes can co-exist and you can like different styles from the next guy or you might even like multiple styles. This is more important than wine. It’s brisket. Smoked brisket. Distinguish from Passover boiled brisket. I’ve done that for 120 people, but that’s for another day.
First, you have to start with a whole brisket WITH ALL THE FAT STILL ON IT. I forgot to photograph it before butchering it, but you need to cut off AND SAVE some of the excess fat to allow the rub to penetrate. After you cut off the fat and rub in the brisket with your favorite rub, you get this:
Notice the well-marbled fat on the left side in the deckel portion. That’s the best part.
I put the brisket in the refrigerator over night. Normally, I give it a few days, but time is short. Now move forward to the next slide.
You must carefully loan the BGE with lump charcoal and raw hardwood. Briquettes are forbidden and if you just dump the coals into the BGE, you are missing the point. You are assembling a careful jigsaw puzzle with flat side down and smaller pieces filling in the holes between the bigger pieces. This is essential fr a smooth smoke. Use some well-cured raw oak and some raw hickory mixed in with the coals. If you are careful, you will get this when you are half way done:
Keep adding coals carefully to your three dimensional jig saw puzzle until you are full to the bottom of the lower fire box. Now go to the next slide.
I start the fire with a chimney and about five hands full of coals. I get the coals roaring and dump them out. This makes the initial fire too hot but I find I can control that better. If you start one of those little baby fires in the middle of the coals, sometimes it will got out after a few hours. I do not have that problem with the chimney method.
My plate setter has one leg broken off, which actually makes it work better. I can set it upside down in the BGE and I get this: Sorry, the photo isn’t so good. Who do you think I am, Mel Hill?
Then I place a black enamel rectangular pan on top of the plate setter, fill with two liters of water, and then put the grill on top of that. The grill is actually sitting a bit higher than it would if it was just on the grill by itself with no place setter and pan. It looks like this - if you can see it through the massive smoke now rising from the fire.
You remember that fat I told you to save? Lay some of it on top of the brisket as it smokes, so that the fat drips through and keeps it really extra juicy. It looks like this:
At my hourly rate, you can’t afford my brisket. Below is what it looks like after one hour in the BGE. I set up the Digi-Q DX 2 read out (without the blower attached) and at 1:50 into the smoke, the Pit temp is 248 and the interior is 117. That’s a bit high for the pit. The BGE thermometer says 210, but they are notoriously inaccurate. I will shut down the dampers a bit and cool it down ever so slightly.
I would argue briquettes are ok as long as they’re made from hardwood. Royal oak does briquettes, as does Trader Joe’s and now Whole Foods, I do a 50/50 blend of hardwood & briquettes for long smokes and the briquettes last a bit longer.
Post appropriate directions near the exit signs on the Hutch/Saw Mill…smoke signals too difficult to divine.
It seems that you’ve placed some basting strips on the “whole” brisket you’re smoking? Are they your passover pork bacon strips for basting? If not…what? it does seem that you gave the brisket a crewcut. Is there a downside to leaving the fat on until carving? (In a BGE…perhaps a flaming issue? In my “Smokin’ Tex” there is no such danger…and I never trim before.)
Ok. It’s time to go Full Retard. I always wanted to do this. Remove the fat that has ben smoking for over 5 hours. finely chop in food processor, and pour back on top of the brisket fr the last few hours. Will post Photos of this phase later. I have to run out for a few hours.
I gave the brisket a haircut, not a crew cut. I take of some of the fat so that the rub can develop a closer emotional relationship with the meat, but then I put fat on top of the meat when it smokes to have the same effect as leaving the fat in place. When I have more time to butcher, I cut off the fat in flat sheets and pit it to the top of the meat like wallpaper. BUT SEE the FULL RETARD presentation below to make sure of the fat.
Why put the coals in like a jig saw puzzle? Here’s what it looked like after 8-1/2 hours:
Note it has burned down and gradually out, but it could go for many more hours. In fact, after pushing the coals in the center to grill steaks for dinner, I will now smoke some ribs.
