It’s this kind of day in Voller land! #BBQ #Brisket

I’ll tweet some tips and ideas in this thread today.

One thing you’ll want as you get into smoking meat is good knives. You don’t have to break the bank. Victorinox has some great options for quality knives at reasonable prices.

Here’s a brisket tip for beginners that I wish I had known when I started out:

- Trimming the brisket to perfection is WAY less important than some people make it out to be.

- It’s MUCH easier to trim the fat off AFTER you smoke it.

#BBQ #Brisket

Another tip:

- Invest in a mammoth-sized cutting board. This one is 18” x 27” for reference. And that’s a 17 lb full packer brisket on a huge cookie sheet.

- The huge cookie sheet is also a good investment. Trust me. Large meats, slabs of ribs, etc.

#BBQ #Brisket

. I typically do a reference cut on my brisket so that there is no doubt that when I cut it up later that I am slicing against the grain. Bonus points if you can get photo bombed in the process! #BBQ #Brisket

. Here’s a photo after I spent about five minutes trimming the brisket With a combination of flat and serrated knife blades.

With regard to which #BBQ rub to use for your smoked meats, you are simply going to need to experiment and find something that you like. I used to make my own rubs and, while it was fun, it was also expensive and tedious. I recommend finding a store-bought rub you enjoy.

For a binder to hold the rub on to the meat well and to add additional nuance to your cook, I recommend a light coat of olive oil and yellow mustard prior to putting on the rub.

First the olive oil, then the mustard, then the rub. #BBQ #Brisket

. Now some general comments on smoking in the middle of the thread.

- Large cuts of beef and pork — you do NOT want them to be room temperature. If you learned that from someone, unlearn it. Colder meat takes on more smoke. Seem counterintuitive, but this is science.

- Poultry, you of course want it not frozen, but you also don’t want that stuff sitting out and getting up to room temp.

- “Get to know your meat” is a phrase I’ve uttered before. Dive into the science of it and try to understand what’s happening. Don’t just go buy some meat.

- Know the differences between cuts of meat, both in terms of what they are and what the quality is. Today, I’m smoking a prime grade brisket. You can have a great smoke with choice (a lower grade) or with a higher grade. The point is to simply know what you’re getting into.

- Smoke what you like. Don’t try to measure up to what some other person is smoking as if you have to be like them. This brings me to my next point:

- Enjoy it! Have fun... don’t put a ton of pressure on yourself to be the next Smokin’ Jesus. Invite friends. Dig in. #Fun

- Now, wood.

You’re going to want to get to know which types of wood work well with which types of meat.

My preference is typically to combine different woods for each smoke. Today I’m using mesquite, hickory, and cherry. Mesquite and hickory are typical #brisket wood choices, and so is oak, but we don’t have a ton of oak smoking wood here in Ohio.

So, a lot of my smoking gets done with Apple and Cherry, both woods that work well with just about anything.

- You pretty much need two things to smoke:
1) Heat
2) Wood

A wood smoker uses the same source for each of the above. My smoker uses charcoal for heat, and wood chunks..

...for smoke. Smoke brings flavor, and your heat source’s smoke is part of that flavoring, so be aware of that. Which charcoal I use impacts the flavor the meat I smoke.

Again, smoke what you like, be it cherry, apple, mesquite, pecan, maple, alder, hickory, whatever works 4 u.

In my case, since I am using charcoal for the heat source, I placed the wood chunks directly on top of the charcoal to generate smoke. One of the absolute best parts of smoking meat is simply smelling it while it happens.

This brings me to probes. What I have learned over the last five years is that probes are pretty much all junk and you can count on replacing them at least once a year if you do a lot of smoking.

Pictured above are two types of probes. The one pair is a transponder and a receiver. The other one communicates using a mobile app. I recommend some kind of remote probe like these so that you don’t have to constantly walk out and by hand put a probe into the meat to check.

And, of course, at some point you put the meat on the smoker when the smoker is up to heat and you have put the wood on. #Brisket #BBQ

Let’s talk temperatures.

Do some research so you know at least the ranges of different levels of doneness in your meats.

For #brisket, You’re looking at a final done temperature of between 195° and 205°.

But there is a lot that happens along the way.

In the above pic, I’ve got two physical probes in the meat coming off the same device. This is in my house so I can see the temps without running in/out all day. This probe also has alarms I can set for each probe, so I can get warnings when temps are nearing.

#Brisket hits a “stall” at about 160 degrees F and slows down. This is an interesting point in the smoke where have two options, both of which are valid:

1) Wrap the meat in butcher paper or foil
2) Don’t wrap it and just keep smoking

Again, both choices work out in the end.

Among the reasons people wrap the #brisket:
1) Help push through the stall a bit faster (holds in heat, smoking finishes a bit faster than unwrapped).
2) Help hold in moisture and collect juices. Use the juices later to pour over the meat when you serve it.

Now, on wrapping...

If/when you chose to wrap your #brisket (OR your pork shoulder, for that matter, when you’re doing pulled pork), consider:
1) Adding a secondary juice like apple juice or orange juice (even beer if you want to try it) — Maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup — you don’t need a ton

Also...

What you wrap the #brisket IN makes a difference:
1) Butcher paper — won’t collect as much juice for you, but you’ll likely get more bark (I call it Mrs. Brown) — the nice crust on the outside — than you will with
2) Heavy foil — Pay the extra for heavy duty. Trust me.

“But Chad,” you say, “When do take it OFF the smoker? At what temperature?”
- I take my brisket off at ~200
- Set that warning alarm for 195 so you have plenty of time to get ready to take it off
- And WHEN you take it off...

Put it in a cooler and close the lid... Because...

...now it’s time to REST that thing. “Rest?” you say. Yes, rest. Do not serve the brisket right away. It needs time to chill out, reabsorb some juice, and think to itself about life for a while.
Resting time for brisket:
— Bare minimum 30min
— Preferred 1-1.5 hours

So... I’ve been waiting. You’ve been waiting. We’re here at 160° and wrapping in butcher paper. Looking nice here for a 17lb smoke!

Lovely Mrs. Brown!
Double wrapped and back on! #brisket #BBQ

Aaaaand, we wait for 200°. Thanks for hanging w/me! Will hit this thread up w finish photos later. Time to get more yardwork done and maybe grab some bourbon.