Thursday, December 28, 2017

Brisket!


ED. Note (9/2020): I'm making 10-12 pounders now with just kosher salt and pepper, but what follows is GOOD, but I've learned my lesson! I'll write a new post on the bigger brisket, and now, on the with the show.

Sometimes I need to just make some quick and dirty briskets to keep the little barbarians (my growing boys) at bay. For this, I like to get small (about 6 lbs) briskets that have very small points. When I get 10-13 lb. briskets, I typically separate the point from the flat cuts, and save up the points for special occasions. One day I served a couple of points up and my kids were complaining that the meat was TOO RICH! That's the point! They are nearly impossible to ruin, and will turn into melt-in-your-mouth goodness given time and proper treatment. The small flats you see above are a very easy to turn into mouth-watering deliciousness with very little effort.


I start by getting relatively small briskets--these are select grade (a relatively low grade) that were available at my local restaurant supply store. I trimmed off the fat chunks from the bottoms, and trimmed the fat cap to about a 1/4 to a 1/3 inch thickness on top. It helps to have a super sharp, flexible knife for this work, and always cut AWAY from your supporting hand. Cover the meat in a rub (this one is kosher salt, brown sugar, oregano, paprika, old bay, and black pepper), and cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking.


Light a 1/2 can of coal in your chimney, and spread about unlit coals against the far side of the grill. When the chimney coals are ready, pour them over the unlit coals, place your wood chunk on top, put some foil under the grill on the cool side, and the place the meat on the grill above the foil. Open your vents halfway and cover for 3 hours. The internal temp of the grill should be around 300 degrees.


After 3 hours this brisket had an internal temperature of about 185 degrees.


Transfer the brisket to a large sheet for foil and wrap it tightly. Two tips: I double wrap the brisket in foil, and I use folded up newspaper as "hot pads" for lifting the meat from the grill to the foil. Put the wrapped meat back on the grill, and replace the lid and let it cook for another 2 hours. This time the brisket will braise in its own juices in the sealed foil pouch. Once I used parchment paper to wrap the brisket, and it worked fine, didn't leak or anything, but the top of the parchment was brittle by the end of the cook, so foil is my go to for wrapping. After 2 hours, take your wrapped brisket off the grill and let it rest on a baking sheet (to catch any stray juice) for 45 minutes.


After the meat has rested, transfer it to a cutting board and slice against the grain. Pour any accumulated juices back over the sliced meat and serve.

Mmmmm, brisket!

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