British BBQ Society Forums

I think aris has it right you started a curing process . The best news is it had a good taste which means, if you can't eat it now, it makes a superb chilli or cottage pie. So stop beating yourself up (unless you are paraphillic in which case be my guest) it was a good job, especially as you did it in a kettle rather than a dedicated smoker.

Toby has some good videos on trimming for competition which are good viewing for general practice.
http://bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2898

Thanks again for the info

I'll check out the videos that Toby has & somewhere in the near future I'll have another go
As for my next try at something .... I have a pork shoulder just waiting to be abused

Cheers Fizzy

Fizzy,
A tale of dropped burnt ends is a real tear jerker, would have applied the 3 second rule, only 3 seconds in my household as this is how long it takes my faithful Guide dog to hear that meat is down and he will beat me to it. Lost half a boerwurst this way a couple of weeks ago.

As for your brisket, difficult to say, but my experience is -
Always takes half as much time again as you expect.
Leave more fat on you can always trim off when serving
Foiling, foiling, foiling
Finally might sound obvious but you have to cut across the grain, even the tenderest brisket eats like an rubber band if cut with the grain.

As I said in the first post brisket is notoriously hard to do so top effort,

Cheers
Tiny

Thanks Tiny

Next time I plan on having the butcher do the trimming, then only put the rub on a max of 30mins prior to cook and hopefully things will be better.
I had tried cutting both with and against the grain just for my own amusement, just to see the difference that people mention but believe me when I say, it was not much better
I was scared to cook it for any longer so I just went with the temps that a lot mention on different posts and hoped for the best.
Glad to hear your guide dog is getting well fed

cheers Fizzy

I'm not sure where all of this talk of salty rubs curing all meats has come from recently

Rubbing thick cuts of meat like Brisket and pork shoulder is fine over night, my rubs are salty as hell and i often rub my big meats 10hrs ahead of putting them on the smokers at contests.

The only thing that i won't rub for that long is pork ribs as they're very thin and could cure if rubbed overnight.

Going back to your problem with chewy brisket, at 195f the brisket wouldn't have been cooked enough, it probably needed an extra 10f if not more depending on what temp' you're cooking at and how stable your temp's were.

True - a brisket will not be cured overnight - but what the salt will do is extract moisture from inside the meat. May or may not be an issue here, particularly if you inject.

the issues is simply not cooking it for long enough, it has nothing to do with the rub. I take my brisket to a slightly higher temp however the only way to make sure its done is to probe it. if you have a thermapen (if not a skewer) see how easily is slides in, if there is resistance leave it on. Remember every time you lift the lid it will need 15 mins to get back up to temp so no point testing it again 10 mins later. Hope this helps,

Pork, rub it, leave it for about 4 hours, throw it on, foil after 5 - 6 hours with a little apple juice and leave it until it hits 200. Keep it simple and stress free and you will be onto a winner

Thanks again for all the advice.
I hope the next one will be a lot better although I did love the taste of this one. Just have to try the more fat on & more time in method.
Looking forward to the next attempt already

keith157 wrote:The best news is it had a good taste which means, if you can't eat it now, it makes a superb chilli

I gotta thank Keith, I made a sweet/hot thingy and put the brisket into it ...... WOW I have never had anything with an immense flavour as this gave.


IMG_2116 by Fi55y, on Flickr
Warming stage


IMG_2117 by Fi55y, on Flickr
Leftover for another night

Keith .... ur a genius

Thanks, but just passing on acquired wisdom, as with all stews/chillis it will taste better the following day