Dateline: June 1, 2020 It's Brisket, Baby!

I had a big hunk of brisket, packer's cut, in the freezer.  Took it out and put it into the fridge a couple of days ago to thaw.  In reviewing my options of cooking it, today seemed like the best choice.

Went at it with a sharp knife to trim it up; removing excess fat, and any weird bits that were hanging on.  I follow Franklin Barbecue and season only with salt and pepper, in a 50-50 mixture.

After I seasoned it on the bottom side, I managed to knock the rest of the salt and pepper mixture into the sink, and needed to make more!  D'Oh!

There was a lot of fat between the flat and the deckle.  In the photo at left, the deckle is the higher part at the top right of the picture.  It is also sometimes known as the "point" cut.  In the lower left, is the flat.  

I removed quite a bit of fat and decided to freeze it for when I make sausages, or need more fat in a ground beef concoction that I am making.  

The meat is well marbled, flexible, and looked to be of a high quality.  Why is flexible a good quality?  It is an unscientific theory that a tender raw brisket will be a tender smoked brisket.  I am not sure if this is prime or choice as I ordered it from Baldor and they said there were out, but the brisket arrived in the order anyway!  The markings on the package did not indicate one way or the other.

You can see the rise to the deckle in this photo better.  There is a large vein of fat that separates the deckle from the flat.  Care is necessary in digging it out for 2 reasons.  1)  That type of fat is not the kind that will melt away during the low and slow cooking.  2)  You do not want to accidentally slice off the deckle.

I started going at the meat around 7:30 this morning, hoping that if I could get it into the smoker around 8, it would be finished by dinner time!  Into smoker around 8:20 at 200°- 220° F.

I have 3 thermometers checking temps.  1) the build in one that came with the smoker,  2) in the far mid right you can see a short probe sticking out, that is for grill level temp, and 3) one in the meat which will go in around 10 am.  

I am so stoked for this.  I am using white oak pellets that came from bourbon barrels.  I am hoping that there will be some residual flavor left on the meat.

The meat was ready earlier than I thought it would.  I had a back up plan, but luckily I did not need it!

I wrapped the brisket at about 180° F.  I then replaced the brisket in the smoker and raised the temperature to 250° F until the meat was 190°, about another hour.  All told, the brisket was on the smoker for about 11 hours.  Pretty quick for a 13 pounder!

In the kitchen, the unwrapping

The house smelled great while the meat rested and as I got the salad and stuff ready.  We ate the meat on Martin's potato buns.  I put mustard (dijon) on mine, and was in absolute heaven.  The sharpness of the mustard cut through the fattiness of the meat wonderfully.  The salad was watermelon, onion, feta, cucumber and tomato salad, dressed with sherry vinegar and olive oil

Ready to slice

Servet's only request for a cocktail was my margarita.  I had an epic fail in trying to make a molecular cocktail.  The reverse spherification didn't work well.  The freezing wasn't complete so the little blobs did not form properly, it just ended up looking like snot.  Not appetizing!

MARGARITA RECIPE

1 oz lime juice

1 oz lemon juice

2 oz triple sec

4 oz blanco tequila

6 drops Fee Brothers Foaming Liquid

1/2 oz mezcal

Put first 5 ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice.  Put the top on the shaker and shake until the container feels "full".

Pour into a glass with or without ice and float the mezcal on top.

I took the meat off at 190° F so that I could slice it easily.  If I let it run up to 200-205° F, it would have shredded rather than cut and would have been drier.  Upside would have been a more pronounced bark.  I can live with what I got!

The three of us were in meat comas in no time flat.  I sliced the meat before the second margarita, because I knew that sharp knives and drunken hands are not a good mix.

I pronounce the meal a great eating success!

Dinner is ready