Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Or Happy St. Patrick's Day (But never St. Patty's Day!) I headed to the store to see if they had corned beef brisket on sale. Marianos had near 9 lb. corned beef flats for $2.99/lb. I bought two to smoke. They should freeze well. :D

Weather is still late winter clinging. About 26°F at the start of the cook and climbing rapidly toward an expected high in the mid 30s. The sky is clear and thankfully wind is light

I soaked the briskets in a big pot of water for about an hour before laying them out on the full sheet to apply the rub. They should really soak overnight to leach the salt but I did not want to wait for another day. Hopefully they will not be too salty. For rub I started with the little spice packets that came with the briskets. They look like mostly mustard with some anise and maybe coriander. Some were wet so I stuck them in the oven (spread on a plate) to dry and went to start the fire. By the time I got back in, they were toasted. ;) There were a couple tablespoons of this to which I added about a tablespoon of black pepper corns and another of coriander. In order to fit these flats on the 18 WSM, I draped them over stainless steel bowls. (Cat will have to go hungry for a while.)

This cook is on the 18 WSM. I almost went with the 22 but the flats almost fit the 18" grates and I bought a little space by draping them. They will shrink a little and at that point I could remove the props so the flats lie flat. I fired the smoker with Stubbs briquettes with a large chunk of oak and a couple chunks of mesquite.

timetemp comment
10:45 AM
Dump lit coals on and close up the cooker
11:00220°Meat on!
11:33190°Opened one bottom vent full.
12:07205°
1:20 PM220°Set up ET-73 for remote temps
1:58235°/148°/245°
(grate/meat/lid)

2:57245°/156°/240°
3:25247°/158°/240°Removed SS bowls. Briskets a little firm but may settle to grate eventually.
4:07242°/163°/245°Pulled half of the top brisket to cook conventionally. (e.g. boil with cabbage and carrots. Maybe a potato.
4:54259°/164°/265°Closed single open bottom vent to about half
6:27238°/168°/235° Added carrots to the pot
7:10218°/166°/225Stirred toe coals, added cabbage to pot (about 7:00)
7:33240°/168°/230°Finished a plate of corned beef and cabbage and it was very good. Still a bit firm but not tough and gristly like the one I recently got at a restaurant.
9:00
Cooker cooling down so I took the meat off. It is done.

Fabulous! The corned beef and cabbage was good. The meat was a little firm when I had it so I took the cabbage out and let the meat cook another hour or so and it was much better. Flavor was a little bland but some horseradish and stone ground mustard turned that right around.

Next time I need to soak the briskets a little longer. They are bordering on a little too salty. These got about a 1 hour soak. Otherwise flavor was great!