Brisket:
From Hen House cryopacked. Flat end, purchased trimmed.
$4.29/lb., 6.77 lb. = $29.04
Dry Rub:
Leftover dry rub from last week's ribs:
Big Time Barbecue Rub
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated garlic (I used garlic powder)
1 tbsp granulated onion (I used onion powder)
2 tbsp paprika (I omitted since we were out)
2 tbsp chili powder (I used the hot chili powder from Penzey's)
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground nutmeg
Mop
1 1/2 can Schlitz
3/4 of a yellow onion, chopped.
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/3 c Canola oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Added all ingredients to saucepan, simmerred for about 20 minutes, removed from heat.
Sauce:
Left over from last week's ribs:
3 cups catsup
1 tbsp Grey Poupon
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp Sririacha hot pepper sauce
1 tsp El Yucateco habanero sauce (the green stuff)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
dash cayenne
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp hot curry
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp honey
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
Preparation
Brushed a light layer of yellow mustard on entire brisket. Sprinkled about 2/3 cup of rub all over brisket.
Let brisket rest on counter for about 30-45 minutes while I lit coals and the grill got up to temperature.
Equipment:
Weber 18.5" Kettle
Kingsford regular charcoal
Mesquite wood chunks
I couldn't find a proper barbecue mop, so I made my own by cutting a washcloth into strips and nailing it to a wooden spoon. It worked surprisingly well.
Outside Conditions:
High of 86°
Light wind
Cooking process:
6:00 AM
Lit 1/2 chimney full of charcoal.
Brushed mustard on brisket.
Used a bit more mustard on fat side.
Applied about 2/3 cup of dry rub to brisket.
6:21 AM - Coals re-lit
They didn't take using paper towels to light.
Newsprint works a lot better.
6:40 AM - Coals added to grill.
Grill closed.
Lower vent directly below coals open about 20%
Other lower vents closed.
6:45 AM - 250°
Splashed coals with some water
Closed vent to about 10%.
6:49 AM - 260°
About 7 chunks of wet mesquite added.
Brisket on, fat side up.
6:53 AM - 260°
Still a bit high.
Smoking.
7:30 AM - 225°
Temperature perfect.
No more smoke.
7:53 AM - 215°
Added two large chunks dry mesquite.
9:00 AM - 217°
10:10 AM - 200°
Lit about ten chunks charcoal + 2 pieces wood in chimney.
10:40 AM - 200°
Added coals.
10:58 AM - 260°
Added two pieces wet wood
Splashed coals
11:25 AM - 250°
12:10 PM - 240°
Added 5 briquettes, unlit.
This was a bad idea, they never lit.
12:41 PM - 230°
1:31 PM - 214°
Applied first of the mop.
Lit about ten coals in chimney
2:25 PM - Temp. Low
Added coals
Lit about ten more
2:49 PM - 205°
2:57 PM - 205°
Mopped
Added coals
3:15 PM - 250°
4:13 PM - 230°
Mopped
4:45 PM - 210°
Lit more coals
5:23 PM - 200°
Added coals
6:26 PM - 225°
7:02 PM - 205°
Mopped
Lit coals
7:27 PM - 200°
Added coals
8:06 PM - 225°
Internal temperature of brisket 165°
Brisket off
Corn added
8:33 PM - Sliced brisket
Results:
Very nice bark, very tender. It was on for 13 1/2 hours, but was in no danger of being overcooked.
The butcher at Hen House trimmed it very well, I didn't have to trim the fat off after cooking, it had mainly dripped away.
Every once in a while I hit a bit that was a bit oversmoked. I read several articles saying that brisket soaks up smoke like a sponge, and they're not kidding. I think it would have been fine with the initial addition of about six pieces of wet wood and then charcoal from then on out.
Maybe I'll try a different wood next time. I hear fruit woods work nicely.
We served it with tater tots and sauce on the side.
Brisket is a bit more difficult than ribs. It really needs a lower temperature for a longer period of time. It was a bit tougher to keep the Weber between 200° and 225° than it was to keep it between 225° and 250° like I did for the ribs. By the end it was working well without much tending. I think that's mainly because all the spent coals had formed a nice layer of ash over the lower vent and were cutting off the oxygen supply.
Good stuff. Smoking in the Weber is awesome.
Does anybody want my useless old Char-Broil H2O?
I made these using a dry rub from Chow Magazine and with a sauce very close to my last one. This is the first definite success I've had smoking ribs, and I think that I'll be using the old Weber kettle for smoking a lot more often.
Ribs:
Two racks cryopacked baby back ribs from Hen House.
Dry Rub:
From the July/August issue of Chow Magazine.
Big Time Barbecue Rub
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated garlic (I used garlic powder)
1 tbsp granulated onion (I used onion powder)
2 tbsp paprika (I omitted since we were out)
2 tbsp chili powder (I used the hot chili powder from Penzey's)
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground nutmeg
Combined all ingredients.
Preparation
I tried to remove the membrane from the back of the ribs but was unable to get it off. It really wasn't a big deal, but I need to look into how to do this. Rubbed the ribs with olive oil and patted on the rub. It really mixed with the olive oil and formed a good crust on the ribs. The recipe called for 1 cup of rub for three racks of ribs. I used more like a cup and a half on two racks.
The ribs then rested in the fridge for about four hours. When we got close to cooking time they came out to come to room temperature before going on the grill.
Cooking:
Used the Weber set up for smoking. I got a new hinged grate for the Weber so I could add wood and coals as necessary. I used a disposable aluminum roasting pan as a drip pan. This worked great because I could mold it onto the side of the kettle and get it as far away from the coals as possible. I added about a half inch of Apple juice and about a half a cup of Dewars Scotch to the drip pan.
Coals were lit at about 1:00. I used a chimney starter, full to the top with charcoal. At around 1:20 it was poured into the Weber, as far away from the drip pan as possible. I closed two of the three bottom vents, leaving only the bottom vent directly beneath the coals open. I added a few chunks of wet mesquite to the coals, put on the grill top and put the lid on the grill.
I gave it some time to come up to the temperature it would find. It started too hot, close to 400°, so I closed the lower vent completely. I added some more wet wood and finally the temperature started to come down to around 310°. I placed the ribs on the grill over the drip pan, and put the lid on the Weber with the top vent over the ribs so the smoke would be drawn over the ribs as they cooked. I reclosed the grill, put a glass candy thermometer through the top vent holes, and let it cook. My notes follow:
1:30 - 310°
Ribs put on grill
1:56 - 310°
Lower vent opened to 10%.
2:15 - 290°
Opened lower vent to 25%
Added a handful of dry mesquite and a few chunks of wet.
2:30 - 280°
3:00 - 275°
Lit about 8 briquettes in chimney and added.
Added about 6 chunks of wet mesquite.
Splashed a bit of water on coals to cool.
3:15 - 290°
4:30 - 300°
5:20 - 305°
Just about perfect. The temperature held steady throughout the cooking process without too much fiddling. The ribs just looked terrific when they came off, and I actually had problems getting them off the grill. They were so tender they would fall apart when I tried to take them off with tongs. When I took them out we weren't quite ready to eat so I put them in a 300° oven to keep warm until we were ready.
Sauce:
3 cups catsup
1 tbsp Grey Poupon
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp Sririacha hot pepper sauce
1 tsp El Yucateco habanero sauce (the green stuff)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
dash cayenne
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp hot curry
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp honey
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
Served with sauce on the side. I didn't ever brush the ribs with sauce.
Results:
Finally, a success. If I need to remember anything for next time it is to reduce the cooking time a bit. Also, if I really needed to keep them warm, a 300° oven is too hot. I think that helped to burn the ends a bit, but overall they were very good.
The Chow recipe called for one cup of dry rub for three racks of ribs, and I used quite a bit more. More like 1 1/2 cups on two racks of ribs. Although I think it might be nice to do, I'd definitely need to reduce the amount of salt in the dry rub. A few of them came off kind of salty.
Overall I'm very happy, though. The Weber kettle worked a whole lot better than I expected it to. The temperature stayed steady, which I think was my downfall with all my previous smoking attempts.
I'll be making ribs again soon.