Thanks Peter and Jason for the thoughts on the brisket. Unfortunately I didn't see them until just now. Nice looking turkey and fatty there Jason. I've been pretty busy and I haven't been online since my last post. I followed a similar approach I read on SMF to how I handled the chuckies. However, I wanted to slice, not pull the meat at the end.
Here's the 8lb brisket before it went into the Not-So-U, DS.
This is the bottom. It had a thick fat cap that I did NOT trim prior to smoking. Per instructions I read, I put the fat cap on top when I put it into the smoker. I rubbed it in worshteshire first, then a rub I made using these ingredients (which I had on hand)
1/4 cup cumin
1/2 cup of pepper
1/2 cup of koser salt
1/2 cup of granulated garlic
1/2 cup of onion powder
1/2 cup of paparika
1/2 cup of chili powder
1/2 cup of brown sugar
However, I didn't have a half-gallon storage container for all that so I used 2 tablespoons for the 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon for the 1/4 cup. It made more than enough for the brisket.
I did NOT get any pics before slicing or after. Unfortunately all I could do was take a picture of the leftovers I brought to work for lunch today.
Here's the external thermometer reading pre-meat.
The Story:
I had my cousins wedding to attend Saturday. I had to leave at 5:00 PM to get there on time. Since I was not going to be home for this cook, I had to rely on my MIL to tend to things while I was gone. My plan was to put the brisket on at 225 and cook to an IT of 170, then put it into an aluminum pan, add sauce (apple juice, BBQ sauce, worshteshire mix), put back into smoker, cook to IT of 200, then rest in cooler until I got home. The goal was sliceable meat but almost tender enough to pull. However, the only aluminum pans I had on hand weren't big enough. So I had to cut the brisket in two. I did so with the grain, from top to bottom in the first pic. I put the two halves on the smoker at 4:45 PM. I told the MIL to check the IT temp in 3 hours. I explained the plan and I premade the sauce. She checked the IT at 7:45 PM and it was at 170 already. So, she followed my instructions. I didn't get home until after 3:00 AM so I left the meat in the cooler until morning. At 8:00 AM I checked and the meat was still warm. I poured off the sauce into a bowl and wrapped the meat back up. The bowl went into the freezer so I could skim the fat off of it. When it was time to eat I wanted to warm the two halves back up. But, when handling them the meat under the fat cap felt a little tough. My concern was that perhaps the MIL did not measure the temp correctly, perhaps just getting the thermometer into the fat cap and not the meat. So, I put a little of the sauce with some apple juice into the aluminum pans, covered the meat, and popped it into the oven. I figured warming them and keeping them moist might help them tenderize a bit if it was undercooked (not raw, just tough). I kept them in the over for about 2 hours, when the IT reached about 190. I pulled them out, sliced, and dumped the temp sauce as it was full of rendered fat. The bulk I had kept aside was warmed and poured into a gravy boat. Overall it was very tender, tasty, and a big hit with the whole family. My 20 month old son at 5 slices himself. When slicing I took most of the fat cap off only to realize how much bark/flavor I was losing in the process. My in-laws then told me the like more fat on. Oh well. Not sure if I should have trimmed more and left some on or should repeat and not slice it off next time.
Side note: I forgot to have my MIL close the vents when she pulled the meat off the smoker. I also forgot to check when I got home. So, when I woke up and saw it smoking I checked the temp. Still rock solid at 225. It had been15.5 hours (4:45 PM through 8:15 AM) and was still holding temp perfect. In fact, later Sunday afternoon when I put the smoker away, the charcoal basket still had about 1/4 of its fuel left. Also, my Maverick ET732 is en route. It's an early Christmas present from my mom.
