Chaos Kitchen Creations: All-American Smoker Brisket
Smoking a brisket, preparing for new books, and some random animal pictures! Just another weekend with A. Kristina Casasent.
It has been a week. A very long week. Therefore, what is best to do is to sit down, smoke some brisket, and cuddle a puppy while the world settles down. I hope everyone else’s week has been smooth. And if not, that you have a puppy, a kitty, or what other other support you can find.
Tod made some wonderful smoke brisket, and provided another recipe for it… I think we are up to three now, but you never can have enough brisket recipes or enough brisket after all. I mean even Dante agrees. (It’s the first smoked recipe! -Tod)
Ingredients
4-5 lb. Brisket Flat, Market Trimmed
Sea Salt
Spice Inc. All-American Dry Rub
Preparation
Trip the cap of fat off the brisket. “Market trimmed” is supposed to be trimmed but the “1/4 inch” of fat seems more like half an inch or more. And some of it is the harder fat that doesn’t render. Plus, we like a leaner brisket, since we’re used to game meat. (Note the amount of fat trimmed off to one side.)
Most of the brisket flats tend to be 2 lbs. or less. Find, or ask the butcher, for one that is 4-5 lbs. The larger brisket, while it takes longer to cook, comes out much more tender, since the larger mass acts as a better heat sink. (Or something like that. If you know why, tell us in the comments!)
For us, it is a good balance between the small, quick brisket and the whole brisket that takes forever to cook.
Spices
Now we coat all sides of the brisket with salt and with the Spice Inc. All-American Dry Rub. Anna mixes some incredible spices for brisket but the ones from this company are pretty good. After spicing, the brisket can be wrapped and left in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigeration an hour before cooking.
The Smoker
We bought Anna a Traeger Pellet smoker. There are pluses and minuses to all the different smoking methods. We like the pellet smoker because it’s easy to use, with minimal maintenance, and produces a decent smoke flavor. The Traeger Pro 22 wasn’t too expensive either.
The Pellets
Pellet smokers use processed wood pellets that slowly feed from a hopper into the burn/smoke chamber. We like the Camp Chef Charwood Charcoal Hickory Blend. Other pellets we tried didn’t stay fresh and had too much dust in them - both of these cause your grill to flame out (too low temperature) or to flame up (way too high temperature). We have to have the airtight container for the pellets, because Houston humidity is too high for the pellets to stay fresh otherwise.
Prepare the Grill
For our grill, we set it to “Smoke” and wait for it to come up to temperature (around 180F). The smoke setting produces continuous smoke.
Monitoring the Temperature
When smoking, monitoring the temperature of the grill and the meat is paramount. The meat will be smoked on low until it “stalls out” around 160F. Then we’ll turn the temperature up to 275F until we reach 195F.
After trying many options, I like the ThermoWorks Smoke X4 for a thermometer. I got blue because Anna likes blue and the yellow burns her eyes. This setup has a large base unit that has plug-in wires to a grill thermometer and three meat thermometers. I like the wires because the wireless setups had trouble going through the metal of the grill.
Then there’s a little remote. You can set temperature alarms for each sensor.
I really like it. Simple and reliable.
Smoking Part 1: Low Temperature
Now we put the meat in and insert the probe. Notice the ambient grill temperature probe on the upper rack. Close the grill and leave it alone until the meat temperature stalls out (goes no higher) around 160F. I mean it - don’t open the grill. It’ll cook better.
Smoking Intermission
This is important, vital, necessary information: monitor the level of pellets. We were used to shorter smoke times with the smaller briskets and let the pellets ran out, which caused issues.
Smoking Part 2: High Temperature
Once the meat stalls, turn the temperature to 275F. (I sometimes use 250F if I have more time.) Wait until the meat hits 195F before removing it.
Resting
While removing the brisket, be careful, the probe and probe wires will be HOT.
Let the brisket rest for at least 10-15 minutes. This lets any “carryover” cooking finish - the internal temperature will probably go up 5F after removing from heat. And it lets the meat reabsorb juices that would otherwise be lost when slicing.
Slicing
Slice the meat against the grain. Note the pink “smoke rings” of flavor.
The Knife
I have some really nice knives. But the one that works best for cutting the fat cap off the brisket is a lower end J.A. Henckels EverSharp Pro. They don’t make that line anymore - it was replaced with the Henckels Silvercap 8.00 inch Chef Knife.
It also works great for slicing the brisket.
Serving Suggestion
We recommend serving with sliced brussels sprouts cooked with olive oil, salt, vinegar, and a little honey.
Publishing News: Five Seconds of Power
Our first superhero story, In Fine Print, is out and available on Amazon as part of Five Seconds of Power: A Five Second Rule Anthology!
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Seconds-Power-Kristina-Casasent-ebook/dp/B0F319V1M7
Through an accident of alphabetizing, we’re lead author! I guess we’re really Team And More emeritus now! We are joined by our fellow Alpha Merc Sam Robb, who was in the first anthology in which we were published and also published us in Minstrels of the Galaxy.
Based on the 5 Second Rule RPG from Lucky Newt Games.
Live Real Press says:
You are participating in a new study by L&G Inc. Though the compensation isn't very good, they could be the key to your dream of having superpowers. After weeks of pokes and prods, and far more mental and physical tests than should be legal, you are one of the few whose power awakens! The catch?
You're stuck in this facility with a few powered individuals until you learn how to work together as a team of superheroes. Oh yeah, and everyone's power—including yours—is limited by 5 seconds in some way.
So why go through all this?
Because someone mentioned there would be a portal at the end of this training that could take your group anywhere, anytime. And did you catch the part about being a superhero?
Chaos Tip of the Week
Patience is key. Whether you are waiting for a brisket to cook or the aliens to land, yelling at the top of your lungs isn’t going to speed things up.
Chaos Question of the Week
If you were serving brisket to visiting aliens, how you explain what it meant and why it is better in Texas?
