Speaking of full retard . . . smoked tongue pastrami after home picking a large cow’s tongue. If you make it, you will be only the second person in the universe to have attempted it and, trust me, it’s worth it.
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Managing your time for long cooks/smokes is one of the most important things to learn. Nothing worse than having a bunch of hungry people show up, and your meat is still in the “stall”… Warm coolers keep things like Pork shoulders warm and ready to serve for 4-6 hours+. Start a few hours earlier!
This happened this weekend! I read about the stall before, but for whatever reason it was never a problem in my barely insulated water bath vertical electric smoker. Lo and behold, 6 hours after I’ve got the BGE chilling at 240 no problem, the internal temp stops at 160 for an hour. 2 hours later I had to pull it at 175 and guess what? That’s not high enough. Finished product wasn’t bad but not what it could have been. Damn shame as I would have had no problem putting the meat on earlier, I just didn’t want it to finish at 4 pm. Ah well, as a wise man once said, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle”.
Has anyone experimented with a device to remove the placesetter while it’s hot, in order to reverse sear steaks?
Perhaps you’re hosting Bacchanalias I can only dream of, but the XL seemed way too large for me. Large was just fine - plenty big enough for large ribs, briskets, etc.
A nice sturdy pair of leather gloves works for a quick move off the grill.
As far as pulling meat at 4 pm for service later, I’d recommend the FTC system.
Pull meat off grill wrap in Foil
then wrap it inTowel
Place in the Cooler
it will hold temp for a # of hours (sort of depends on the cooler)
I had to prep a BF rib cap a few hours prior to dinner and used FTC
after 2 hours the internal temp had dropped all of 3˚
For Brisket you will have to consult others about how to keep the bark, I’ve not done a brisket.
For Brisket you will have to consult others about how to keep the bark, I’ve not done a brisket.
Yesterday I cooked what may have been my best brisket ever. I did not cook it on my XL BGE but on a 270 Standard (if interested, just google it).
IMHO, it all depends on what you mean by “keeping the bark”. If you mean keeping it just as crusty as it was before the wrap, I don’t know that there is any way to do that. With the BGE, you don’t have to place a water pan on top of the plate setter and under the meat, but why wouldn’t you? The benefit, moist heat, is greater than the deficit, a possibly softer bark.
But (again, just my opinion), it is mostly a theory rather than a reality anyway. It’s a slow cooked slab of meat, not bacon. Like Aaron Franklin says, the bark is a bunch of things-fat, protein, rub, smoke particulate. To the extent it is ever “crusty”, it does not soften much when you wrap it. Franklin says he likes wrapping in parchment paper to allow the bark to maintain some of it’s texture. Why not?
I started my 16 pound whole-packer at 4:00 am and at a steady 270 it was ready to wrap at 11:00. I wrapped it loosely with parchment paper, only. After another two and half hours, at 1:30, it was so floppy and loosey-goosey when I picked it up in the middle that I knew I had a good-'un.
It went as-is, in the loosely wrapped parchment paper into the bottom of cooler along with a pork shoulder I did at the same time. Then a layer of aluminum foil and then on top of that, I lay down a jumbled up moving blanket. Like Mel said, any heat loss three hours later was minimal. It was plenty hot at service. The bark was still prominent and pleasing, but yes, it gets softened by all that trapped steam. How much more soft or “less crusty” it was at serving than it was when took it out of the smoker is anyone’s guess.
On the BBQ boards (like, BBQ-Brethren.com) there are those who say they don’t wrap because they want maximum bark. I think these guys are mostly off-set stick burner users. Off-set stick burners don’t use water pans. If your smoker is designed for using a water pan, your bark is steamed to some degree in the cook. So, and one last time, just my opinion, but I think the focus on brisket should be proper trimming of the hard fat that won’t render, a good rub, consistent temp, and proper tenderness. The bark should take care of itself. And fwiw, I believe that cooking at 250 to 270 gives better results with just about everything rather than 220-240, but people do find ways to cook great stuff using all kinds of techniques.
I take a different approach to brisket. I smoke for 6-8 hours a day or two in advance, then cover with caramelized onions because I love them and mole sauce because I learned that at the CIA. I double wrap tight in heavy foil and refrigerate. I then reheat and bring slowly to 205 degrees internal temp and let sit at that temp for two hours with oven at about 215. Gives me better control over delivery time, readers out the fat, and tastes great. Come to BF 1000 on May 29 and try it yourself.
I read your full breakdown of this and while it does sound great I have a mental block about spending that much time/energy on a piece of meat.
I cook my brisket over 2 days. 7 hours or so in the egg and then wrapped in the oven the next day.
vacu-seal whatever isn’t cut/eaten and bring it back up to temp via sous vide
What temp do you reheat the brisket to sous vide?
I had a bunch of leftovers yesterday. I sealed them up along with a few ladles of gelatin (that had rendered out) in each bag.
@ 165
No intent to offend, but even on the competitive BBQ circuit, it is not uncommon for brisket to resemble-and get knocked down for resembling-pot roast. It is one thing to use the Texas Crutch to get over the stall and another to braise. It’s all about texture. If the finished product crumbles upon slicing, you have pot roast. I realize that this is a BGE thread and not a BBQ thread, but most who use a BGE to cook brisket want to smoke and get a BBQ style result.
I’m not on the BBQ circuit. I only reheat via sous vide as mentioned
BBQ competitions are so divorced from reality that it isn’t even funny. It was interesting to see Aaron Franklin “fail” so badly at one. That was all I needed to know about them…
I’m not on the BBQ circuit. I only reheat via sous vide as mentioned
Kind of a nasty/snarky comment Jordan but I can take it/don’t care. A little critical reading would have disclosed that I said “Even on the competitive BBQ circuit” to emphasize that the BBQ circuit is hardly a proper litmus test. If you like pot roast brisket, so be it. To each their own. Sous vide is to BBQ as the eBike is to a TdF cyclist, what a Meps spinning lure is to a fly fisherman, what an RPG launcher is to a bow hunter, you get the idea. Also, why sous vide a brisket when braising does the exact same thing. The vast majority of otherwise solid home cooks never learn how to properly braise meat. So says Michael Ruhlman. I happen to believe him.
BBQ competitions are so divorced from reality that it isn’t even funny. It was interesting to see Aaron Franklin “fail” so badly at one. That was all I needed to know about them…
Both of my sisters and both of their husbands and a few of their kids are certified KC BBQ judges. I’m not because I was busy the certification weekend. They all agree that the stuff that wins BBQ competitions would never make it in a restaurant. Too much sugar, way over the top flavor injected into the meat to distinguish it from others, and a bunch of other sins.
Yep. This is something that gets discussed all the time on the BBQ Comp boards. It comes up all the time, but there is virtually no disagreement about it. What pops and impresses in one taste is not something anyone would want to endure over an entire meal. Hmmm, sound familiar with wine and scores? That said, when it comes to pot roast brisket we are talking about an entirely different issue. I bet just about every certified BBQ judge knows to be on the look out for it and downgrade the score when the meat crumbles apart demonstrating that it is overcooked. It happens to the best of brisket cooks. Even if the cook time and temp are spot-on, the brisket has to rest and one never knows for sure if during the rest the meat is steaming too much or firming up too much. Every brisket is different along with variables in atmospheric/weather conditions. Pork is far more forgiving and nothing is tougher to cook right than a brisket.
Hey Mitch
A little off topic but this really interested me. I assumed braising was super easy but maybe I’m doing it wrong. I like most of what Ruhlman has to say and would love to hear more about proper braiding technique. Is there a Ruhlman article you’d recommend? Or maybe another source for me to peruse? Not specific to brisket or BBQ.
Thanks!
Scott
I bought Ruhlman’s book on braising. It is good, not great, but worth taking a look at. There is more to doing it right than chopping up a bed of root vegetables and adding liquid up to the level of the meat, covering, and letting the oven do the work at low temps-which is what most of home cooks understand braising to be.
https://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-How-Braise-Foolproof-Techniques/dp/0316254134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533228617&sr=8-1&keywords=ruhlman+braising
Since this thread is back up here, how does everyone light their BGEs (Cajun Cigarette lighter excluded)? I use the BGE brand sawdust blocks and it takes forever - 45 min, min. I don’t really want to deal with a chimney, anyone want to recommend those electric starters?