Posted by david on February 20, 1999 at 09:27:03:
In Reply to: overnight brisket smoking posted by Jay Smith on February 13, 1999 at 23:16:55:
This brisket technique is compliments of Smoky Hale.
BRISKET
Choosing the Better Brisket
The brisket comes from the chest/breast area of a cow - the roping end. It is
two alternating layers of muscle and fat. The two layers of meat are se
parate,
but not equal: one is thicker and wider. Observed with the fat layer on the
bottom, the upper layer of meat is interspersed with strings of fat which do
not render out during cooking.
In restaurants, this layer is normally chopped
with a little of the trimmings
of the lower layer for chopped sandwiches. The lower layer, although less
fatty, also has streaks of fat - the size and shape of which offer some
indication of how it will cook. Thick, ropy strands of marbl
ing will probably
yield a tougher product from a cut already fabled for toughness. Choose
instead, briskets with more slender, consistent streaks of marbling fat.
There seems to be a consensus that, all things being equal, flexibility is an
indication of potential for tenderness. The exercise goes this way: Pick up
the brisket, grasping it in the center. The more the ends droop, the more
tender it is likely to be. Remember that tenderness, in the case of brisket,
is a relat
ive term. Do not for one moment, delude yourself into thinking that
a limber brisket is a tender brisket. Compare briskets of similar size and
temperature for the closest approximation of accuracy. Don't bet the ranch on
any of them.
Jim
Erickson rightfully points out, "Don't pay extra for prime grade." Prime
only means that there is more fat marbled in. The brisket is already overly
endowed with interspersed fat. Jim does advocate using a 'certified' beef and
his successes
lends credence to that belief. Charlie McMurrey, Jr., pitmaster
as well as webmaster of Barbecue'n On The Internet, believes that buying at a
butcher shop rather than a supermarket gives him an edge in finding a less
tough brisket.
If you
are serious, which is in itself a fault and likely to make the meat
tougher, get more than one brisket. After they are done, choose the most
tender for contests and guests whom you wish to impress. You can chop the
other for sandwiches or gre
ase the axles on the chuck wagon.
The shape of the brisket is more an indicator of cooking time than weight. A
chunky 8 lb. brisket 5" thick will take longer to cook than a long, slender 10
pounder. Select a 10-12 pounder with a good 1/2" min
imum layer of fat on the
bottom side.
Preparation
Remember, "Each brisket is an adventure." After you have selected what appears
to be the best available, it's trimming time. Trim the hump of fat from the
pointy, 'nose' end. This side
will be on the bottom during cooking; the
external fat will not do any basting and may actually interfere with
seasoning. Don't bother with the fat layer on the other side. Tidy up by
trimming off the thinnest parts and trim the fat off the
sides.
Bring to meat to room temperature, regardless of what the beef people's
representatives say. The meat will absorb flavor more readily and it will
reduce the cooking time. Check the internal temperature and record it in the
rare chan
ce that you may want to do this again..
"Aye, there's the rub.."
Seasoning for any meat should complement the meat's natural flavor, not over
power it. We value meat, as the price reflects, for its taste and texture as
well as a prime sou
rce of protein. It is illogical, therefore, to over season,
over smoke and over cook. Of course, it is difficult to overcook the brisket.
I am amazed at the range of ingredients considered to be proper for a brisket
rub. Salt is an essential i
ngredient because it serves as a conductor of
flavors. Salt enters the meat by osmosis and can carry along certain flavors,
but no externally administered flavors will penetrate very far into the meat -
especially through that layer of fat. C
hili powder, cumin and oregano are, in
my opinion, more aptly used in chili and other Southwestern dishes. Sugar
belongs in the dessert course and only a sissy would use a tenderizer.
Over the years, I have found a simple mixture that seems t
o bring out the
best in beef without any off notes of taste and it doesn't over power the beef
flavor.
Mix thoroughly: 1 c. salt, 1/4 c. each garlic and onion powder, 1/8 c. each
ground thyme, ground bay, black pepper, celery seed and Hun
garian paprika.
Spanish paprika has only color. Overloading with paprika and overcooking
paprika will create a bitter after taste. Using it as you would for proper
saltiness, rub this into the brisket a few minutes before it goes on the
g
rill. Use this as a starter and build your own to suit your taste.
When a rub with salt as a significant ingredient is put on meat, the salt
begins to draw moisture from it. That's why salt is used in curing processes.
Moisture is very importa
nt in the cooking mechanism. Water conducts heat much
more readily than dry tissue. It follows, therefore, that the longer you can
retain moisture in the meat, the quicker the heat will be conducted from the
exterior to the interior. Getting
the inside done before the outside is burnt
to a brick like texture is the secret to successful barbecuing.
ACT III
Cooking a brisket is a long term relationship. Producing a better brisket
requires 8-18 hours at consistent temperature
with minimal smoke exposure.
You can roast a brisket at 350 degrees in a couple of hours, but the result
would challenge a pit bull's jaw muscles. Cooking temperatures in the 200-215
degree range are most likely to bring a brisket to its op
timum potential. This
is the traditional range for barbecuing that is a result of centuries of trial
and error. Brisket would actually be more tender if cooked at below 200
degrees, but the time on the grill goes up drastically.
Those who
have cooked, burning wood in offset firebox, may have, unwittingly,
been saved by the placement of the exhaust vent. Where the vent exits from the
top of the cooking chamber, the hottest gasses go out first. The meat, resting
on the grill be
low, doesn't get as contaminated with the vile products of
combustion.
Don't sweat the 'smoke ring.' The ring of color grading from dark on the
outside to a pale pink deeper into the meat is not really a smoke ring at all.
It is a chemic
al reaction of meat's constituents. The depth of color depends
more upon the moisture of the meat than upon the density of smoke. It has no
bearing on flavor and is only important to smoke blowers. Next time you eat
Chinese, check the "smoke
" ring on the roast pork which has never even had a
passing flirtation with real smoke.
Build a proper bed of coal by burning down sufficient wood or charcoal to
bring the whole grill up to 350 degrees, then shut down the air intake to
re
duce the temperature down to 225. Put on the briskets, fat side up and close
the lid. Check in 20 minutes to see if the temperature has stabilized around
210. If it hasn't make adjustments in the air intake. If it has, go find
something inter
esting to do.
How often you need to check the grill depends on the grill. If you are working
with a small kettle grill, you may need to replenish the coals and move the
brisket frequently. If you have properly heated and stoked a massive iron
sidewinder, it may maintain its temperature for 4 hours and will require less
frequent, if any, turning.
Did you say, "What about the water pan?" Tell me that you are joking! A water
pan in a closed grill is, at a minimum, a gross waste of
fuel. It takes more
heat to boil a gallon of water than it does to cook a 10 lb roast to 185
degrees. And what do you get in return, "Nothing of value." The water pan was
introduced by manufacturers of dinky little tin can cookers, without a
ir flow
control, as a means of controlling the temperature. As long as there is water
in the pan, the temperature will not exceed the boiling point of water. It is
only useful for those who cannot control the temperature of their grill.
Grilling is cooking meat in dry heat. Water has no place in grilling.
We may as well discuss that other grilling abomination, aluminum foil.
Anybody who cooks his brisket wrapped in aluminum foil, probably puts catsup
on his steak. - after h
e has cooked it 'well done'! At barbecue cook-offs in
other parts of the country, aluminum foil is known as the 'Texas crutch.'
Aluminum foil is a crutch for those who over smoke and over cook at
temperatures too high. By hermetically sealing
the damaged goods in aluminum
foil, the abused brisket is braised (cooked enclosed with moisture) to try to
retain moisture and tenderness. Is this grilling? Certainly not! What, other
than the thickness of the container, is the difference
in heavy duty aluminum
foil and a pressure cooker.
After about 8 hours, check the internal temperature of the briskets with a
bi-metal thermometer. Most beef is edible after 125 degrees - for a fine steak
- but the troublesome brisket ne
eds to get as close to 185 degrees and you can
stand. At that temperature, most of the interspersed fat has melted and
mellowed the surrounding tissue into a reasonable facsimile of tenderness.
Paul Kirk, Baron of Barbeque, teaches grilling a
round the country side. He
says that he tests for tenderness by inserting his thermometer probe laterally
into the brisket. If it enters and exits easily, he considers it ready to
remove.
The Finale
Even after the extra effort in select
ion, the trimming and seasoning and the
long term cooking process, the brisket demands still more than any rational
fare for the grill. It still must be sliced in a particularly peculiar fashion
in order to be rendered edible.
I am no slou
ch with a blade, but when I watched Texas native, Charlie
McMurrey, Jr., dissect a brisket at a cook-off in Cookesville, TN, I
recognized immediately that I was in the presence of a master brisketeer.
First, he removes the fat from the top sid
e - that is the side that was on top
during cooking. Then, starting on the flat end of the opposite side, he starts
through that layer of meat, continuing slicing toward the nose end until
reaching the internal layer of fat. He removes the fa
t separating the two
layers of meat, separates and sets the top meat layer aside. The grain in this
layer runs differently from the bottom layer and brisket needs to be cut
across the grain to be chewable. It is instructive, at this point, to
look
closely at the directions of the grain.
He continues trimming and scraping away the fat. Then he places the top layer
on the bottom - with the grain of both aligned. He is able, then, to slice
both layers thinly across the grain. Bri
sket begins to dry quickly, so have
everything else ready to serve.
(c) 1998, Smoky Hale
C. Clark Hale
8168 Hwy 98 E. McComb, MS 39648