Brisket=Revisited with Pellets

[roaniecowpony]

Years ago, I gave up on brisket and just decided to hone my tri-tip to my best ability. Well, my tri-tip has been great all these years and friends and family ask for it a lot. But, I always felt like I sidestepped the "holy grail" because I didn't have much success with brisket.

So, today I decided to do one in the Bull after watching Harry Soo's videos on brisket. The first video I saw, he just lightly trimmed it. The next video I saw, he trimmed the heck out of it, exposed the point almost fully for burnt ends simultaneously finished for competition. I took a little from both videos. His basic video was just salt and pepper and a bit of celery seed. I used that as the rub, but used my tri-tip au jus (beef stock, spicey rub, soy sauce, hot sauce, worchestershire, Dales seasoning sauce) as an injection.

Harry does hot and fast at 400F on a komado. I knew there would be no smoke at that temp on the pellet grill. So, I built up some foil "burritos" with mesquite and cherry chunks and a piece of burning charcoal to keep it lit. I had several in there at any given time. Harry also props up the center of his brisket to drain juices from the top to build bark. I did the same as he advised. This went for 2 1/2 hrs at which time I trayed it in a full size aluminum tray, poured more au jus over it slowly multiple times (Harry's technique), then covered and put it back in at 300F (Harry used 275 in his video. I'm pushing a little here tonight). I think about 2 hours should be about close (Harry went about 2hrs 45 mins). I'll start checking tenderness at around 1 3/4 hrs.

Crossing my fingers here for a moist and flavorful brisket.

[roaniecowpony]

It went 2 hours 40 mins before it passed the poke test.

But it was really moist. I cut up the point into cubes for burnt ends. They are great!

Here's the pix. Best one I've done so far. Smoke seemed light, but I can't smell anything right now. Tomorrow the wife and I will try it. It's late. She's out for the night. I'm right behind her

[Rambo]

Looks good

[spacetrucker]

looks good from here
pellets are extremely efficient at higher temperatures, so you are correct at higher temps little or no smoke flavor, you can do a low temp smoke for a hour or two then set the temp up for the fast cook. I can, and have learned to cook hot & fast but prefer the low and slow due to the easiness of the overall operation, and taste of the finished product

[astrohip]

Looks good. Very interesting approach to brisket, thanks for sharing. Can't wait to hear how it tastes.

Like @spacetrucker, I've been taking advantage of the pellets to do a very low & slow. Using a basic Texas rub, I put it on around 10PM at 225. Let it smoke all night, and start checking temps around 6/7 AM. (Aside: make sure your hopper is feeding pellets, I had mine darn up one time). Once I hit 160/165, I'll pull and wrap in butcher paper. Put it back on, and leave it until 205. Once 205 rolls around, I put in a cooler wrapped in old towels, and let it sit. I've had it sit for as long as 3-4 hours, and it's *still* steaming hot when I cut it. This method takes 14-18 hours, depending.

This is all I do, and my briskets have never been better. So simple it's scary. And I've done this with both fully trimmed briskets, and those huge, untrimmed monsters.


PS: I noticed the forum software is changing the stoppage in my pellet hopper from d-a-m to "darn".