Busy days today and tomorrow along with some rain that can't decide if and when it's going to happen, but I haven't done a brisket in a little while. Besides that, I am out of space in my freezer and SWMBO has limited my overage space to the top shelf of the fridge. That's where I had a 13 lb packer living at. So, what's a man to do? BBQ for breakfast, that's what! At the store last night, I saw a small tri-tip for $5.99/lb and grabbed it so that I could do a trisket along with my brisket.
Brisket went on (cooking on the offset of course) at around 6:30 last night, and the trisket a few hours later. Sorry for the lack of progress pics. You all know by now that I hate taking pics before the meat comes off the pit. Plus, I was working in the dark most of the night. Brisket wrapped in butcher paper at 4 hours (about 170 degrees) and came off after 7 hours when it probed tender. It was around 213 internal. Cook was really hot and really fast (between 325 and 350 for the most part). Trisket was wrapped at the same time as the brisket, but was really stubborn and actually ended up finishing a little bit after the brisket (about 6 hours for a 2.5 lb piece of meat). It never got past 190, but that is about where trisket stops and about where it probes right normally. This piece simply didn't have enough marbling to climb past there. It was delicious still. If you like really lean brisket flat served thin sliced, you will love trisket. Same everything, but a more robust beef flavor. Similar to clod without having to buy a 20 pound hunk of the primal. funny that I was just talking about stores selling tri-tip that looks more like a small chuck roast. This was one of those. Hard to find grain without the boomerang shape, but I managed.
Rub for the brisket was my standard brisket rub... SPOG with coffee grounds and a little bit of sugar. Trisket was the same along with a layer of Cattleman's tri-tip rub. On a side note, all the things folks tell you to do to ensure a good smoke ring... low cook temp, meat straight from the fridge, etc. None of these were true on this cook, and there was no TQ used either yet somehow there is a killer ring. An all wood cook (no charcoal even for a starter base) with post oak, pecan and mesquite did the job all by itself.
Got 2 hours of sleep before I woke up for "breakfast" and pulled the meat from FTC.
I had a little bit of excitement when I caught a split on fire preheating it on my firebox lid. I've had them start smoldering before, but this one went up in full flame. Luckily, I waas watching and saw it happen. I was able to get the split into the box. Why I don't sleep during cooks... never know what is going to happen.
