THE PERFECT BRISKET - TAKE 2 - TUTORIAL

[KK787]

THE PERFECT BRISKET - TAKE 2 - TUTORIAL

 

His is my second post in regard to smoking the perfect brisket on a KK.  This is my second brisket where I achieved phenomenal results.  The bend/pull tests, perfect.  Flavor, exceptional.  Moist Flat. How did I do this?  I attribute my success to studying what the pros do - the guys that do this for a living and/or who’ve won hundreds of competitions.  So sit back, I’ll share my sources, and teach you what I did.  All the sources can be found on YouTube.

 

SOURCES

 

MadScientist BBQ - 12 Brisket Mistakes To Avoid 

MadScientist BBQ - How To Trim a Brisket

MadScientist BBQ - I Was Wrong - explains how to use WHITE smoke to your advantage.

MadScientist BBQ - Secret Revealed - Explains the importance of using old school moisture and Fat to 

                                      Enhance flavor.

SlapYoDaddy BBQ - Harry Soo - How to set up a Weber Smokey Mt Smoker.  Works perfect in a 

                                      KK.  No Kettle pots needed.

Chuds BBQ - do a YouTube search for brisket - great info.  

 

 

TOOLS

 

KK Grill or similar

KK Upper and Lower grill grates

Weber Stainless Steel Roasting Pan - Rectangular

Weber Stainless Steel Roasting  Basket - Square

 

OPTIONAL

 

Fireboard Controller -  Controls the fan

BBQ GURU Pit Bull 25 CFM Fan with adjustable dampener 

MEATER Block Probe or equivelent 

Meat Injector

Water Resting Cooler - 12 Hour Rest

 

PROCEDURE

 

1.  MEAT:  Find the best brisket you can afford.  For this cook, I stumbled into a lone rouge 10.5 pound Prime brisket in Costco - they have been out for over a year.  Snagged it immediately.

2.  TRIM:  TRIM TRIM TRIM.  Absolutely the most important part.  This brisket had a lot of thick fat that had to be removed.  The Point muscle the was long and thin.  The outer Flat was fairly thin too.  MadScientist BBQ above takes you through the process - heed his advice.  I ended up trimming roughly 3+ pounds of fat and meat that would otherwise be a mushy, dry, tough mess.

3.  RUB:  Basic Rub = 2 parts 16 Mesh Pepper to 1 part course Kosher Salt.

                   Optional: Use a few shakes of Low Sodium Soy as a binder.  Gives an excellent umami quality to 

                                     the cook.

                                     Lightly sprinkle Lawery's Seasoning salt onto the brisket.  Definitely go very light.

                                     Lightly sprinkle Course Garlic Powder onto the brisket.

      Generously coat your brisket with the salt/pepper base.  Go heavy here because this is what gives you 

      the coveted black flavorful bark. You can stop here if you like.  If you go with the options listed above, 

      reduce the salt by a tablespoon or more per cup of rub to keep the overall saltiness in check.

4.  INJECT:  Inject the flat every inch or so with rendered beef tallow. This works wonders and prevents a dry flat.  Not totally necessary but helpful.  

5.  REFRIGERATE: Overnight

6.  PLAN: Plan your cook.  I shoot for about 1:20/lb.  I then plan on a 10 - 12 hour rest.  If the rest is a little longer or shorter, no big deal.  Really makes having it ready for company easy.  More on the Rest below.

7.  FIRE:  Award Winning Harry Soo's Smokey Mt. fire technique works perfect in the KK and produces hours of beautiful clean smoke.  No kettle pots or foil pouches needed. This is a total game changer.  I used a combination of apple and hickory wood chunks.  Follow is technique to a T.  

8.  WEBER HEAT DEFLECTOR:  Game Changer.  Wanting to get rendered fat to the fire, I found these and put them to work.  I used two for this cook.  The square Weber Roasting Basket fits perfectly resting on the fire basket handles over the fire.  Once in place, install the lower grill grate and center the rectangular Weber Roasting Pan directly under where the brisket will sit above.  This pan fits under the brisket perfectly (you can also use either or as a single deflector sitting on the fire basket handles).  Once in places, install the upper KK grate.  The beauty of using the two perforated deflectors is it gives a nice balance of heat/smoke around and through the perforations and the fire burns a little hotter which gives you cleaner smoke.  It also allows fat renderings to penetrate the perforations and reach the fire which gives incredible flavor to the brisket.  Fat on the fire is an “Oldtimers" secret.  

9.  TEMPERATURE:  Shoot for 235-260 at meat level.  If your fire gets away from you, dowse it with some water to get it back in check.  A 250 dome temp with the two heat deflectors is a safe bet.  If no electronics, skip to #12 below.

10.  ELECTRONICS:  I was doing an overnight cook and didn’t want to wake up to a charred piece of leather brisket so I used a Fire Board, MEATER probes, and Fan to keep me safe. 

              - Install 2 MEATER Probes - one in the center point and the other in the center flat.

              - Open MEATER/Fireboard Apps.  Set up MEATER cook.  I set my internal temps to 200/195.

              - Install the fan into the KK fan receptacle, open the fan dampener to 1/2, connect to the Fireboard 

                 Controller, close the KK bottom vents.  The Fan dampener opening is now your new vent.

              - Install the Fireboard Temp probe via the KK receptacle. 

              - You are ready to cook.

11.  THE BIG TRICK - THE FAN DAMPENER:  Once the meat is on, if the temp is increasing and the top vent is set correctly, it could be the fan dampener is allowing to much air in with the fan at idle so you may have to close the dampener opening from 1/2 to 3/4 to prevent a raging fire.  Ideally, you want a fire that is gradually decreasing to the set temperature so the fan is required to engage every so often to keep the temps constant.  If the dampener is open to much, the fire could gradually increase and the fan will never engage and things unravel from there.

12.  THE COOK:  Place the cold brisket over the drip pan.  I also add a small water pan as discussed previously. MadScientist BBQ did a whole video on this.  It works great for me.  If you prefer otherwise, cool.  Open the upper grate swing door and throw a few pieces of fat scraps onto the upper drip pan for incredible smoke and flavor. Close the lid.  After a few hours, some tallow pooled on the flat which I blotted off.  Add a few more fat scraps.  Spritz a few times if you like with water/apple cider vinegar.  No cruching.  No wrapping.  That’s it.  9 hours later, MEATER Alert at 195 point, 190 flat.

13.  IGNORE THE TEMPS:  It’s all feel at this point.  Probe the meat with a Thermopen.  My point was butter soft.  The flat, still a little stiff. Although the 12 hour Sous Vide water chest rest might correct this, I’ve learned to go with feel.  I ended up allowing the flat temp to increase to 206 where it really softened up and the point was still butter smooth.  The 12 hour rest would finish it off.

14.  THE REST:  The Holy Grail!  By far, the rest is the second most important part with trimming being first.  MadScientist BBQ and Chuds BBQ have excellent videos on this - see 12 Brisket Mistakes above.  A long rest is extremely important.  Follow safe food temp guild lines.  I made a water oven from an Igloo cooler and a Sous Vide.  I set the resting temp to 160.  Pull the brisket from the KK.  Let cool until about 180.  Wrap tightly in tallow coated butcher paper. Place into an aluminum pan, add 1/2 cup of water, cover tightly with foil, put in the cooler, and forgetabodit for 10-12 hours.  You can improvise by placing two warm bricks in a cooler, put the foil pan on the bricks, add 170 degree water, close tightly.  Drain the water every 3-4 hours via the drain plug and add more 170 degree water.  Just an idea.

15.  EAT:  ENJOY!!

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by KK787
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