I like to smoke a bunch of things on my PBC but, for me, BBQ is 90% about brisket. In fact, unable to match some of the BBQ spots nearby, I'd pretty much stopped doing my own brisket. But I enjoy it, so I decided it's time to try again. Here's what I'm trying and a few associated questions.
First, I got a new rub. Meat Church Holy Cow. Applied it quite liberally (maybe still could have gone a bit heavier).
Second, I bought a Prime cut. Kroger had Choice at $3.99/lb, but I decided to try Costco's Prime for $5.99/lb. I'm curious whether people have found there to be a noticeable difference between Choice and Prime cuts?
Third, I'm trying lower and slower. Typically my 12#-ish (before trimming) briskets have been done at 225-275, having taken somewhere between 8 and 10 hours - and have still just been disappointing in texture. It seems like I haven't been low/slow enough. To rectify this, I started my cook about 5:30pm and plan to let it go overnight. For the almost two hours so far, the temp has ranged between 190 and 210. I just checked it this moment again and it was showing 234, so I slid the air intake closed a bit more to let it down. I hear people talk about cooking the brisket to 200 degrees, and I hear people talking about 12-18 hour cooks. My issue? Those are incompatible. I reach 200 degrees long before I can get the brisket to cook for 12+ hours. So I'm trying the - what I'll call - extreme low and slow. I'll see how it comes out, but anybody with thoughts on that, I'd appreciate hearing it.
Fourth, I bought some butcher paper to wrap instead of foil. My understanding is that the butcher paper should slow the cook down versus foil.
Finally, I'm toying with the idea of making burnt ends. I need to look up some recipes for them (and thinking about it now, the one recipe I saw required a different cut/prep method on the point, so I may have to save that for the next cook).
Anyway - all thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome.
Chris