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PChop - Brisket

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FV, looks about right for a first effort, all considered. remember, brisket is an ornery piece of meat! you are definitely gonna sacrifice some of your smoke flavor when you cook it foiled; it just does that. sometimes with the hot-boxed ones too. if you skip cleaning all the fat off the flat when you carve, that fat does get awfully tasty if you do right! takes some experience! can't say it's entirely worth it tho! i like to be lazy!

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are definitely gonna sacrifice some of your smoke flavor when you cook it foiled; it just does that.

Just curious on that one PC, but the are a lot of folks that say the meat will not accept any more smoke once it reaches 140 degrees. I have also read that in several books; some even saying 130. You do not subscribe to that theory then? I rarely foil anything myself except something lean, like turkey breast (or a really trimmed brisket), after it has taken the smoke. Generally speaking in a ceramic, foiling is not neccessary. But I do know that foiling the brisket half way through is a very popular thing for some folks (Dr. BBQ for instance). Anyway, just trying to pick your brain some on the subject; always looking for wisdom as I know you have done more briskets than me!

-=Jasen=-

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deej, i don't know about all that with how long it'll take smoke. just my experience; you wrap 'em and they kinda steam, and the smokiness is not as pronounced as not-wrapped. more true when cooking (or reheating, which we did in the restaurant) wrapped than hotboxing wrapped, altho it can happen there too. the very best it will taste, smoke-wise, is fresh as possible out of the smoker, or only an hour or two in the wrap. don't know the reason, just my personal experience.

i know alot of competition cookers will pre-trim their briskets so that there's like a 1/4" of fat cap on the brisket, and rub it down. then, when it comes out, that fat stays on the brisket. now, when i did them for the store, we never trimmed, but the fat was so soft after cooking, it usually just took a little pressure from your hand to remove it. HOWEVER, whenever i cut brisket for myself, i never cleaned the fat off first and always cut off a fresh brisket, so that the slices i got for myself came off that "toe" that's on the flat! that is the best part! seems to me that most of the smoke flavor (and rub!) is in the fat, so if you can save it on the brisket and serve it, the flavor is better. since most folks (not me!) find a thicker layer of fat on their sliced to be off-putting, it MIGHT be better to trim a little so that the thinner layer of fat combines with the rub as it renders down, and leaves just enough to become a nice layer. also the reason i don't clean all the fat off the top of the point when i do chopped beef; all the smoke flavor is in that fat. i just discard the pieces of fat that are not rendered soft and squish the rest of it into the meat. the fat that you keep should be the consistancy of softened butter.

probably not the best for your health, but great for flavor, and keeps the chopped beef moist for reheating. fwiw ymmv

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are definitely gonna sacrifice some of your smoke flavor when you cook it foiled; it just does that.

Just curious on that one PC, but the are a lot of folks that say the meat will not accept any more smoke once it reaches 140 degrees. I have also read that in several books; some even saying 130.....

Isn't there a theory that the color change associated with the smoke ring stopped developing after that 130-140 temp is reached but that the flavor continues being infused?

Where I got that from I have no idea... might have been from someone as clueless as me.

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deej, i don't know about all that with how long it'll take smoke. just my experience; you wrap 'em and they kinda steam, and the smokiness is not as pronounced as not-wrapped. more true when cooking (or reheating, which we did in the restaurant) wrapped than hotboxing wrapped, altho it can happen there too. the very best it will taste, smoke-wise, is fresh as possible out of the smoker, or only an hour or two in the wrap. don't know the reason, just my personal experience.

i know alot of competition cookers will pre-trim their briskets so that there's like a 1/4" of fat cap on the brisket, and rub it down. then, when it comes out, that fat stays on the brisket. now, when i did them for the store, we never trimmed, but the fat was so soft after cooking, it usually just took a little pressure from your hand to remove it. HOWEVER, whenever i cut brisket for myself, i never cleaned the fat off first and always cut off a fresh brisket, so that the slices i got for myself came off that "toe" that's on the flat! that is the best part! seems to me that most of the smoke flavor (and rub!) is in the fat, so if you can save it on the brisket and serve it, the flavor is better. since most folks (not me!) find a thicker layer of fat on their sliced to be off-putting, it MIGHT be better to trim a little so that the thinner layer of fat combines with the rub as it renders down, and leaves just enough to become a nice layer. also the reason i don't clean all the fat off the top of the point when i do chopped beef; all the smoke flavor is in that fat. i just discard the pieces of fat that are not rendered soft and squish the rest of it into the meat. the fat that you keep should be the consistancy of softened butter.

probably not the best for your help, but great for flavor, and keeps the chopped beef moist for reheating. fwiw ymmv

Thanks for the info Porkchop! I also leave fat on any of my chopped meat, pork or beef. On the sliced beef though, I scrape off the fat cap by hand and sqeeze it back over the sliced beef a little.

-=Jasen=-

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