1) cold meat + cold smoker = deep smoke ring.

I've been trying to reduce my overall smoke flavor for my comp meats (shhhhh...judges dont like smoke). And one strategy that I've been toying with is allowing the smoker to warm some and eliminate some of the thick white smoke that comes early in a minion start. I also bury my wood so it doesn't get a chance to burn until the fire has had a chance to get established.

This time I put the brisket on cold, however the wsm had been running for about 5 hours at 260* with a chuck roast. Where the chuck roast had one of the deepest and reddest rings I've ever seen, the brisket's was about half as deep as normal.

2) what's missing? fat

I usually work with choice packers and I haven't had much luck with them. I've moved towards injecting them with brines to try to improve their final moisture, but haven't been totally satisfied with my turn-ins (and my score have been bad).

I was at a farmers market, and my local, pasture/grain finished, angus dealer had briskets on sale for 4/lb. I grabbed the biggest one they had which was a 4 lb piece, that looked like it was from the back half of a packer. It was mostly point that thinned into a shortened flat.

I was hoping for some decent marbling in the flat, and it looked like it had some but not much. It was certainly lacking in any external fat, with just a small strip on the one side. I threw caution to the wind and cooked it HH with just a rub and hoped for the best.

It came out as one of the moistest briskets I've made and it resembled something I've noticed when I've tried better briskets: there was space between the muscle fiber bundles. My thought is that this space resulted from rendering of the fat marbling. Even though I thought that this brisket wasn't well marbled, it was and sufficiently enough to yield a far better final product.

guess its time to try wagyu!

I paid $170.00 for 1 wagyu brisket. Just for 1. It was the best piece of meat you could imagine but I screwed it up by not seasoning it enough, and not injecting. I wont blow that much money on one again unless it is at The Jack. Which probably wont happen. But the meat was beautiful.

quote:

I paid $170.00 for 1 wagyu brisket. Just for 1. It was the best piece of meat you could imagine but I screwed it up by not seasoning it enough, and not injecting. I wont blow that much money on one again unless it is at The Jack. Which probably wont happen. But the meat was beautiful.

sounds awesome. I'd love to try a wagyu brisket.

I likes this little one so much I emailed in an order for a whole packer. I think I'm in for 6 bucks a pound, which will probably bring it to around 50 bucks, I got nervous when I thought about that. I can't imagine pluncking down 170 clams!

$170 bucks for the brisket made my wife shake her head. All of the hobbys i have had in my life, this one tops them all in the
1) money spent
2) time invested
3) weight gain

quote:

$170 bucks for the brisket made my wife shake her head. All of the hobbys i have had in my life, this one tops them all

in terms of mine and my wife's cooking hobby, I keep telling myself "we got to eat...right?"

so my thoughts are:

is it better to spend money on a hobby that is also a necessity. That way a percent of the money had to be spent anyways.

or is it worse because you are spending money everyday. I find it hard to put together a weekday meal for less than 20 bucks. Buying fresh veggies and good quality meat isnt cheap.