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First brisket (ever). PBC, no wrap.

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Jim_R:
Hi there.  Brand new to LTBBQ, and brand new to pit cooking in general.  Anything besides simple grilling, anyway.

My nephew shared some of his brisket and chicken with me a few weeks ago, and it made me realize that I was missing out on something fun.  I don't have a lot of room, I'm a complete novice, and I wanted a cooker I would _want_ to use (i.e., simple to set up, simple to clean, and simple to get decent results with), and I ended up getting a Pit Barrel Cooker.  So far, I've done ribs, chicken, and salmon on it, and have been very pleased.

Today, I tried brisket for the first time (in my life).  I think it came out fine for a first try, but I'm an easy guy to please.  I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement.  My plan is to try a variety of cooking methods, and start feeling out what I think I prefer or don't prefer.

I wanted to keep my first cook as simple as possible...sort of establish a "baseline" to which I could start adding variables.  I decided to use a simple 50/50 mix of kosher salt and course cracked pepper, and I also chose to cook straight through on the cooker without a wrap.

The brisket was ~13-14 lbs after trimming, and I let it go for about 6.5 hours.  Probe thermometer near the top read 197 when I took it out. 

Temp in the PBC varied a fair bit during the cook.  Had my probe through one of the rebar holes and it dipped from 277 to around 240 after the first couple of hours.  Opened up the vent at the bottom a little bit to keep it from cooling any more than that, and cracked the lid a bit to let it fire back up.  Got up to over 300 before I closed the lid again (didn't think it'd ramp up that quickly).  When I checked again around 3 hrs, it was back to around 280.  I moved the probe from the rebar hole to straight in from the top of the brisket, and started watching internal temps.  I routed the probe wire under the lid instead of through a hole, and later I noticed a lot of smoke seeping from under the lid; I think my probe wire might have allowed a fair bit more airflow and hotter temps, but since the probe was in the meat, I don't really know.  Next time, I'll keep the wire routed through the side hole.

When it got to the upper 190s and the "toothpick test" indicate it was tender all the way through, I pulled it.



I didn't wrap it in foil, or paper, or towels.  I didn't put it in a cooler, or in the oven.  I set it on an aluminum cookie sheet and tented some foil over it, and let it set for about 40 minutes.  That was about all I could stand; the aroma had permeated the townhouse by then and I wanted to try some.   (I did manage to take a few photos; they're attached.)

So I sliced some of the flat, and it had a good flavor and was a tender chew, but it wasn't fork-tender.  I really liked the bark.  Later, as I was cutting the slab-o-beef into smaller chunks that would fit well in the fridge, I sliced off some of the thinner, more crusty bits of the point.  Honestly not sure what "burnt ends" are yet, but maybe that's what I served myself...the combo of crunchy bark and soft fatty meat made a flavor explosion in my mouth that I really enjoyed.  Some might have called those bits overdone, but if they don't like it, I'll take it!

At any rate, I now know what this method will produce.  Next time, I plan to try the "wrap at 160" method to see how that works.  Later, I'll try some different rubs.

I'm looking forward to a long series of experiments!

Jim

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teesquare:
Looks like you are off to a great start to me!

From the pictures - I think that is a brisket flat you have there. When you get ready to cook your next one, for fun - you may want to try a full "packer". That would be the brisket point and flat together and intact. More fat to moisturize during the cook ;)

Yours appears to have turned out really good!

Jim_R:
Thanks, tee.

Well, okay, maybe I don't yet know what I'm talking about, but I thought I had a packer-style brisket.  See "brisket3.jpg" for where (if I'm using the correct terminology), I have cut away most of the flat, and you can see part of the point below it where no bark set up because the flat was sitting on top of it.  (Do I have that right?)  ("Brisket4.jpg" is the piece of the flat that is missing in the "brisket3.jpg" photo, sitting on a cutting board separate from the rest of the brisket.)

I may have over-trimmed it, though; I did take out quite a bit of fat from the middle, based on "how to trim a brisket" instructions I found in various places.  Wasn't sure how much would render out; next time, I think I'll leave a little more in place all around.

Las Vegan Cajun:
Great looking PBC brisket.  ;)

muebe:
Brisket looks great to me!

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