The only major differences in my approach to theirs was:
- halved the amount of salt in the dry rub. I ran out
Plus...- I didn't get the beef bouillon cubes, so used good ol' beef Oxo cubes for the injection which are saltier anyways;
- instead of Worcester sauce in the injection, I used some Mushroom Ketchup which from experience I know adds a great depth of flavour to stews, chilli's etc I did use the Worcester Sauce in the other area of the recipe;
- I didn't use a whole brisket & the point & flat were separated;
- I mucked up my timings (rushing around to end-of-term plays etc!) and the brisket had less time on the grill uncovered & 1 hour more on the grill in foil than their recipe - temps the same though. The crust wasn't as set as it should be because of this;
- decided against doing their BBQ sauce for the burnt ends - used Stubbs instead - I would definitely do these longer than 30 minutes next time.
My 5kg brisket trimmed down - I weighed the fat off cuts & these came in at just under 1/2kg. So a 4.5kg / 10lbs - half what the recipe calls for. So given that they were shooting for a 10 hour cook time, I was counting on 12 hours total being sufficient for me including resting of around 2 hours.
This recipe takes some time - you've the dry rub, injection & BBQ sauce to make. But these can all be made ahead of time & they will keep. The only thing that might catch you out is the garlic - you need to pre-roast a whole head. I did this a few days before knowing that I was going to do this recipe. Even more if you are going to use their BBQ Sauce for burnt ends - for this you also need to make up their dry rub.
Once you have all your components you then inject the meat, rub both sides with the dry rub & then wrap or vacuum pack & let it absorb the goodness in the fridge. I did ours around midday the day before it was going on - a bit longer than they say but that was when I had the time....
The brisket came out of the fridge at 7am in order to come up to room temperature. The Kamado Joe went on at 7am on the Friday to bring up to temperature ready for the meat to go on around 7.30am. I decided to use the my forced air system to control it as I didn't want to be faffing during the day.
Came off at 5.30pm to rest - kept the grill going low to be able to put the burnt ends back on for half an hour as suggested.
Some pictures.....
Lump lit & ready in the Kamado Joe:
Brisket marinaded ready to be cooked:
Brisket on the Kamado Joe and grill extender:
The point cooked & ready to be cut into burnt ends:
The flat cooked & ready to be cut:
The flat cut:
The flat close up:
It was very very tasty - quite spicy (although not for chilli-heads I guess!) & I am glad I lowered the salt content. The beef was melt in the mouth tender. I have vac-packed two two-person portions from the leftovers - plus it fed four one night, me the next - so about £2.50 per person in beef, which isn't too bad. A definite do-again recipe - looking forwards to trying their Boston Butt recipe next.
Edit: rubbish smoke ring - surprised as I put quite a lot of hickory through the coals & usually use a lot less. But the smokey flavour did come through. Weird....
