How do you prep and cook your briskets? In effect, I'm wondering at what temperature and for how long to produce the optimal, tender brisket meat. I know if you cook it at higher temperatures quicker, then it will come out tough. But I'm not sure at what temperature and for how long I should cook...say per pound? Also, would you choose oven or gas grill given the choice(I know neither is optimal). I'm thinking oven rapping the brisket in tin foil at about 225 for 1 hour per pound? Will I die from E. Coli ? Does that sound reasonable? I know I could wing it but I'd rather ask you all on this glorious fourth of July. Today is a day to bbq and drink beer and eat potato salad and drink beer and eat ice cream and watch fireworks. Am I wrong? Anything called the jack shiyat of "work" is not on my time card. But, it won't be complete if I ruin the brisket. I have some dry rub from Salt Lick that I imagine I will coat it thoroughly with. Also, when is the best time to apply the necessary bbq sauce to the meat. I'm thinking either don't or apply it in the last 15 minutes so it won't burn. Please offer some advice on brisket preparation and cooking. How do you do it? That is the extent of the work I'm doing today. The rest of my time will affectionately be referred to as "lounging". Happy Safe Fourth of Terrorist-Free July(err...whatever)! Surf
Hmm....I guess everyone hates me or all the bbq experts are sweating it out at their grills. I guess I'll wing it. I'm still interested, though, if anyone comes along with their methods. thanks, Surf
First off, if you are starting your brisket at 3 in the afternoon, you have no shot at eating it today. But, for tomorrow, it's really not as hard as some make it out to be. I cook mine on a smoker (gas grill-bad) for 10-12 hours at a steady 225. If it a large (over 12 pounds), go the full 12 hours; under 10 lbs, use your discretion. Use pecan wood if available at the beginning of cooking to seal in the meat, then again during the middle and at the end. I use Fiesta brand Brisket rub and let the smoker do the rest. Once it's done, I slice it up and trim the fat away, then put it into a pan, add some bbq sauce and put back on the grill just long enough to heat the sauce. It's a simple recipe. The hardest, yet most crucial part, is maintaining that 225 degrees temperture for the entire cooking process. This requires a thermometer on your grill*. *All grills are different. 225 for my grill may be different for others. Practice makes perfect.
Dang! It looks like you'll have to drive 60 miles to get some brisket. Poor soul. Yahoo lists about 10 Bar-B-Que restaurants in Ohio. Ms. Margo's Backyard Bar-B-Que 1828 East Hudson Street Columbus, OH 43211 (614) 476-8822
Here is what I do, and it works every time. Use an untrimmed brisket. Defrost the brisket if frozen and rub it generously with crushed garlic and Stubbs BBQ rub. Smoke it overnight, Friday night if you are going to eat it Saturday or Saturday night if you are going to eat it Sunday. Start the fire around 9PM, and at 9:30, toss a good 5-6 soaked chunks of smoking wood on the fire...my favorites are pecan and mesquite. Then put the brisket on the grille and fuggedaboudit. Let the brisket smoke all night. When you wake up the next morning, take it off the grill and put it in a shallow rectangular pan or pyrex dish. Put it in the oven at the lowest possible temperature and let it bake. By 3:30 PM, you will be able to cut it with a butterknife.
My brisket started around 4 pm and ended cooking around 8(for the smaller one) and 9(for the larger one). They were not medium to large briskets...thank God. Anyway, it's amazing how much juice from fat comes out of those things. I drained like several cups of liquid toward the end(damn....should have saved some for the dogs). The smaller one was lean...however the larger one had alot of fat swirls(eww). So, I ended up hand picking apart the larger one(threading the meat) and removing the fat swirls(who wants to eat that shiyat). That process was pretty gross. In the end, it turned out pretty good. The meat fell apart and was tender as could be. Couldn't really taste much of the rub, though, which is disappointing. I rubbed the Salt Lick dry rub all over it. It was still there when I cut the meat. Most of that flavor probably came out with the juice. But, bbq sauce cures all that in the end. I had a spicy variety so I was good there. Also, beans, potato salad, and the bbq sandwich with sliced purple onion and jalapeno. It was all good. Could have used a little more of flavoring in the meat but when it's drenched in bbq sauce...it's pretty damn flavored anyway. Lessons learned: 1.) Buy a f*cking charcoal grill or at least buy wood chips for the gas grill. Never again without. 2.) Although you can cook it in an oven, it would best served to smoke it, grill it w/ wood chips, or water cook it(buy placing a pan of marinated liquid directly underneath the meat on the grill). 3.) Brisket is definitely an exception item. 4.) Drink more beer. 5.) Hay Caramba.....what a mess!!!!!! Dios Mio!!!!!
