Eat, Drink, and Go!

During this past year of acquiring pandemic toys, I secured an electric smoker from a neighbor who was giving it away and since then, I’ve had a good bit of fun with it. I wanted to go big this time – smoking a big hunk of meat big. I had a significant task here, the main protein for our Passover dinner, and I was determined to make it great. I got two flat briskets, about 4 pounds each. I know that’s not really big in smoker world, I know folks who don’t flinch at a 20 pounder, but I had to start somewhere, right?

I made a rub of some cracked black pepper, sweet paprika, garlic, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, and a few other seasonings!

I trimmed off most of the fat and got rubbin!

So rubbed was the meat. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and let it refrigerate overnight so the meat and spices could get well acquainted.

I was well advised to smoke the meat LOW AND SLOW. I got the meat in as early as I could in the morning and set the smoker to 225. The plan was to give it about 8 hours, then rest for at least an hour. About half way through, they were looking pretty good!!

Oh so smoky!! I used apple wood chips, seemed like a good choice among my wood chip variety. I filled the chip dish 3 times over the 8 hour haul – that’s where the heavy smokin’ comes from. I checked the temp, learned about the 140 plateau, and let it keep on keepin’ on. I flipped them at about half way through.

It took about 8.5 hours to get the internal temp up to 160. The goal was to get it to at least 165, so I admired the good-looking crust before wrapping them in foil.

I finished the briskets off at a little higher temp of 250 in the oven to get them the rest of the way up to temp, after wrapping in up in foil to lock in the moisture, for about an hour to get up to about 165-170.

After cooking temp was achieved, then it was time for the stall. This was part of my tutelage on smoking vernacular. The stall is when the meat continues to cook after coming out while it’s wrapped in its nice little foil blanket. I let it stall for about an hour. Then the moment of truth!

My anticipation finally quelled, I prepared to slice…

It looked perfect!! I plated up the sliced brisket and selected a blueberry BBQ sauce by Carolina’s Finest for a bit of sweetness to go with the peppery, smoky flavor of the meat.

I’m very please with how my first smoked brisket came out. So smoky, tender, peppery, and delicious. I was worried one brisket wouldn’t be enough, so I made two – meaning tons of leftover!! So this morning, I made breakfast brisket!! Some tomato, yellow pepper, brisket, a little BBQ sauce, and topped with a sunny side up egg!! Yumm again!!!

After about ten hours of commitment (not counting about 20 hours of marination in the fridge), there better be this much left over for more enjoyment!! Got about 3 pounds left for brisket sammies, brisket on salad, and who know what else! Yay for smoked meats!!