I just got a tiny offset smoker. Almost impossible to manage temperatures. Stayed up most of the night, made a million mistakes. Cooked too hot, a bit too smoky sometimes. Took it off too early thinking it was going to keep cooking during the hot hold until lunch. Had to reheat it to get it going again. Turned out AMAZING. The only real mistake was trying to sear the fat cap to get it to tighten back up a bit. The fat dripped onto the fire and made it smoky in a bad way. I took it off right away, no major damage except some of the fat stuck to the grill lol! Plus I almost dropped it trying to pull off this maneuver!
Everyone was raving about it and I’ve learned a lot for next time!
How much did it cost?
It’s on foil so I assume you were freebasing it.
Oooooooooo
I have questions.
I’ve never done a brisket (california doesn’t do brisket for some reason. we do tri tip which is wonderful smoked but it’s still not brisket) partly because of imposter syndrome, partly because i don’t have a good brisket dude. But lately i’ve been smoking brats and MOINKSs on my 18" weber smokey mountain. I’ve fallen in love with cherry again so that’s what smoke all my meat is getting, and it only takes an hour to cook the brats.
What’s your smoker? What wood? How long did it take? Do you have any spare leftovers?
I have an Oklahoma Joe longhorn dual fuel. I picked it up dirt cheap almost new from a retired guy who realized it’s no good for serious smoking because the chamber is tiny to make room for the propane side. It’s a bastard grill because real offset pitmasters would consider the original OJ longhorn too small for serious smoking and the dual fuel is half that size again.
I love it for my house because I’ll only do a brisket once a year or so, but now that I have gas the wife will grill things when the mood strikes her, which means more bbq for me. Plus the smoke flavour is unbeatable smoked chicken and salmon galore! You don’t have to get things perfect for it to be family approved.
I used kiln dried oak from the grocery store because it was there, but I’ll buy a face cord one of these years and season it myself, maybe maple? I used to be a Weber kettle grill charcoal man, but cooking on real wood is a pleasure and that’s what you get on an offset. I’m not an expert but I hear the delicate fruit tree flavors are lost on beef so you move to medium and bold wood like oak and mesquite.
It took all night to have it ready by lunch, maybe 14 hours? I’ll definitely never do it for lunch again, brisket is a dinner food now lol. We had 15 people eating for a 16lb pre-smoke weight, about 1/3rd is left!
My buddy who introduced me to smoking has a weber smokey mountain and he makes the best chicken wings I’ve ever had. I’ll have to try to show him up next time he’s over but we’ll see how it goes. His sauce game is absolutely on point!
I got a pellet smoker. Did burgers as a test cook.
2 hrs at 180. Started raining. Freaked out. Cranked it to max for a 20min cook.
10 min in I flip them and add bacon to cook.
10 min later I open to add cheese and check temp. Grease fire
Looks like a hobo warm me in the winter barrel fire.
I calmly close the lid to snuff it out. Wait 5 min.
Overcooked burgers and I realise my floor isn’t level so all the grease is pooled on the bottom…
Thankfully the burgers were just dry. Bacon was a loss.
Brutal, but we live and learn. Smoked burgers that are a bit dry is better than no burgers!
Better to make these mistakes on burgers than ribs or a brisket!
I’m so jealous! I have a pellet smoker and bought a 17# pork shoulder for this weekend. I even had my ex-in-laws excited about the coming abundance of pulled pork.
Then yesterday morning I got up to start it, and the outlet is dead. And the gfci won’t reset. And I have no other outside outlet. And I’m not leaving a door open all day to use an inside outlet, in 97°F heat with ac on. So I had to cancel, and it’ll be a project. We’ll see how big.
The only good news is my backup plan worked well. I nailed the Mac and cheese on propane grill, deer burgers cooked perfectly, and made bacon jam. I overheard my older kid tell his girlfriend “my dads a fucking professional chef”, so I’ll be smiling about that compliment for years
Wrong community, there is nothing dull about brisket.
Now it’s just a short step to bacon…
i’m halfway to converting my WSM to a cold smoker for just this reason.
i’ll never have to think what to get someone for a holiday again! just give them a few pounds of homemade bacon.
edit: on second thought, my wife will probably need something more than bacon.
Looks great, would like to see it sliced.
What kind of wood?
Mostly oak, kiln dried. It’s what I had access to. I’ll have to get a face cord of oak or maple and season it for the future.
It’s pretty insane how much better homemade brisket is than really any restaurant. Even if you fuck it up, it still turns out good.
That’s how I knew when to stop going to my former favorite bbq place. I think they’re still in business but they never recovered from pandemic. The first red flag was when the brisket was no longer good. But then they stopped making their own sausage and the beans tasted fresh out of the can. I still went several times, hoping it was temporary, but no.
It’s even more insane how much they want to charge you for it.
Eh, only a few people I’ve known have ever been able to match an on point barbecue place like Terry Black’s in Lockhart or Franklin’s in Austin. Most of the people that know what they’re doing end up matching a middle of the line place like Chisholm Trail in Lockhart. But if someone really doesn’t know what they’re doing, it’ll come out as bad as something from Rudy’s or worse. Unfortunately barbecue restaurants charge out the ass now. $35 per pound is highway robbery. But making it at home requires the right equipment and enough friends to take shifts babying it at 2 in the morning. On the other hand, a lot of restaurants end up getting bad as the years go on as well. Places like The Salt Lick, Smitty’s Market, Kreuz Market, Cooper’s, and City Market all turned to crap ages ago.
Brisket on the whole has kinda flagged as the popularity increased. Cooper’s out in Llano is great for ribs, chicken, and goodness me the pork chops…
But yeah, doing brisket on your own is great. A pellet smoker will make it good, a proper stick burner will make it great. But it’s all about the preparation. Good prep will make a mediocre cut so much better.
i won’t stand for this Smitty’s and Kreuz’s slander. i have a comfy chair and i would like to sit.
Kreuz still at least has pretty good jalapeno sausage, and at a cheaper price than some of the other places. It’s still worth going to for that.
Honestly, I just think brisket is overrated. I’ve been to Austin a few times and went around to the “local spots” as my friend puts it, and it’s good, but nowhere near as good as the best ribs or pulled pork IMO. It’s just all grease. Anywhere else that kind of texture would be done in very small portions, or considered too slimy and rich. A few bites are great but a half pound of the stuff is just an unpleasant gut bomb.
Honestly, I just think brisket is overrated.
It’s applaud you. We should all be able to explore our character flaws and developmental gaps in a safe space. Personally, I have trouble getting a really good finger-snap.
yeah i’m all about the dino bones. one rib and you’re done.
I love me a good smoked Texas brisket, but god damn, acquiring and then babysitting a smoker for an entire night, all to land at “really quite decent” is my definition of diminishing returns.
If I ever accidentally acquire a raw brisket, I’ll turn in my Texas card (no great loss these days) and put that fucker in the oven with some foil and liquid smoke. Meantime, I’ll stop by the HEB sometimes, or a better place when we have out of town guests.
liquid smoke???
You’re not entirely wrong, but that’s specifically why I’m not diving down this particular rabbit hole. I’m sure I could make something safe and edible, proper smoker or all the cheats, but I ain’t looking for a calling here, just a meal, so that much raw beef potential would be wasted on me.
Yeah I put way too much effort into my meals when it’s my nights to cook dinner, but like it’s also one of my favorite hobbies.
I’m living proof that that isn’t true. I’ve done two so far. Had to throw the first one out. Completely inedible. Second one I still undercooked.
But I did find out the probe on my smoker is pretty far off at high temps. So, hoping my next one is better since I got a new thermometer.
Also means I need to check that the sensor for the smoker isn’t as messed up.
Great job doing the calibration first! Now you can try for real!
i can’t remember if our calibration runs were SLC ribs or pork butt, but i have smoked a hell of a lot of pork on my WSM
I learned a lot from smokingdadbbq on YouTube for my Kamado Joe cooking. Two big helps were: a Meater wireless thermometer, there are lots of knockoffs for way less money. No matter what you get, knowing the temp is the key.
For the rest time, wrap it in foil then wrap it in old towels you don’t care about smelling like meat and getting juices on, then put it in a cooler. This will keep the temp going up for around 10 degrees right after the cook and keep it stable and safe for another hour. After that make sure it is in the safe temp zone or you could make people sick.
i have some thermoworks thermometers that are doing great. they don’t connect to your phone or anything i love them.
That’s who I was watching the whole time I was smoking the brisket to get tips! Great channel!
I have done ribs, chicken, and pulled pork from his videos and all have worked out great.
Brisket is a bit too expensive for me to do but someday I might find a brisket on sale that I will finally try out.
I bought it a couple years ago on sale for $60 Canadian buckaroos for 16lb. These days it’s almost completely unaffordable. It’s been sitting in my deep freeze waiting for me to buy a smoker.
here’s a great guide for tri-tip if you’re in an area that has it. i’m in california and it’s way cheaper than brisket here.
Not much is better than smoked brisket. Congrats! It’ll probably be even better in the future.
I’m not gonna judge you, I’m just going to tell you that I hope you quit because I care about you.
It’s my last pack I promise I’ll quit. Smokes more brisket
Momma? Hacksaw went out for brisket a year ago and hasn’t come back. What happened to Hacksaw?
This reminded me of smoking these meats - ft. Mark Zuckerberg
Congrats on your brisket, btw!
Meat like a brisket!
That’s what I’m talking about, yeah! 🎶🎵🎶🎵
I get it, you’re not vegan, why do you have to ram it down our throat all the time.
If you get offended by what other people eat, why do you have to externalize that into mean comments? Why not just block people who trigger you?
