Any tips for smoking meat and any recipes or places to get a good brisket rub? (eat, electric)

[neddy]

we have smoked backstrap (venision) and the kids love that most of all.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

DH just brought home a trimmed brisket - any advice for keeping it from drying out? I told him we should smoke it on the grill and then finish in the oven wrapped in foil - which after reading this thread sounds like the right way to go - but now I'm thinking we should cook less on the grill and move it to the oven sooner. Is there anything I can do to keep it from drying out on the grill?

Is this grill also a smoker? If not, I guess you could try putting a pan of water in there and some soaked woodchips wrapped in foil on whatever the heat source is (charcoal, flame). It's gonna soot up your grill a bit, so if you have some fancy clean one you might want to think twice...

I think you have the right idea that most of the cooking should be in the oven -- maybe just a short time on the grill to give it some color and smoke flavor. Then the rest wrapped in the oven very low temp (220). Baste frequently. I think marinating in advance will help the tenderness, that's what I do when smoking sirloin. Let us know how it turns out!

[woodinvilleguy]

I suggest the book "Smoke and Spice" it covers all kinds of smoking meats with traditional receipes from around the nation. It is an awesome book.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Is this grill also a smoker? If not, I guess you could try putting a pan of water in there and some soaked woodchips wrapped in foil on whatever the heat source is (charcoal, flame). It's gonna soot up your grill a bit, so if you have some fancy clean one you might want to think twice...

I think you have the right idea that most of the cooking should be in the oven -- maybe just a short time on the grill to give it some color and smoke flavor. Then the rest wrapped in the oven very low temp (220). Baste frequently. I think marinating in advance will help the tenderness, that's what I do when smoking sirloin. Let us know how it turns out!

Well, we use the grill as a smoker. It's a heavy duty grill, so mostly we use hardwood charcoal and wood chunks. It's not clean, it's well flavored!

Anyway, thanks for the idea about the marinade - I have used dry rubs in the past but a marinade makes sense. I cook my pork butts over a pan of water, so that's another great idea.

Thanks and I'll let you know how it turns out!

[shaxs]

Im starting my smoker for the first time right now... wish me luck

[shaxs]

Everything seems to be going okay so far.. I have the meat smoking and the thermometers measuring everything. I have an oven thermometer sitting on the rack next to the meat. It is reading 250 degrees. I moved the smoker into the shade. Hopefully that brings down the temp a little

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by shaxs

Everything seems to be going okay so far.. I have the meat smoking and the thermometers measuring everything. I have an oven thermometer sitting on the rack next to the meat. It is reading 250 degrees. I moved the smoker into the shade. Hopefully that brings down the temp a little

All we need is a webcam now, so we can watch the meat in real-time

[shaxs]

I was having a very hard time getting the temp down. It was between 300-350 for awhile and then I took some of the coal out of the bottom. Did I probably just use too much coal?

[woodinvilleguy]

it is a smoker or a bbq? you don't need to roast it with tons of wood, try cutting back.

[shaxs]

This is a vertical ECB (El cheapo brinkmann as they are called on the internets). I used coal with wood chips wrapped in foil as mentioned in this thread. I think I used too much. I was trying to go for a longer burn by heating some of the coals and then placing them on top of unlit coals. They all caught faster that I expected.

Net result of my first run through: Brisket flavor good. Slat Lick rub was pretty spicy, may need a way to tone it down more if I use it again. Since the brisket got cooked too hot for awhile, the end result was a very rubbery brisket.... very hard to eat Wasn't dried out, just rubbery. While not a huge brisket, it still wasnt cheap so I am going to attempt to eat it regardless