Bull Don't You Hate It When..

[BouldernBun]

The family raves about a smoke and you are just sitting there shaking your head going no, no and no. My wife, mother and I (mainly them) just devoured a 4 lb (choice) brisket flat (my 1st). Injected with Kosmos, seasoned with competition rub, wrapped in Saran Wrap and left in the refrig overnight. Smoked at 225 until the stall, wrapped in foil at the stall (153), turned the Bull up to 275, pulled the flat at 203 (total cook time 6 hrs 15 minutes) . rested for 2 hours. Smoke ring was great, flavor was great. Wasn't REAL chewy either. Even passed the droop a slice over the finger test..Just to damn dry IMO. I am thinking? I need to do what I did with the tri tip I was so happy with a week or so ago and go with USDA PRIME exclusively. I also need to pay more attention to the marbling , something I admit I did not pay a lot of attention this go around. Oh well, I will keep experimenting and at least a happy wife (and mom and dog..) = happy life! I hope everyone is having a great 4th. Smoke on!

 

[ifican]

We have all made things that to us we were not satisfied with but folks loved. Thats what keeps the hohum places in business. Now to your point of marbling, remember that a cow is judge on one section to its quality. A Choice cow will most certainly have some cuts that are prime. Same actually holds true for a Prime cow and you end up with some way less than prime piece of flesh you paid prime prices for. Next time you are at costco (easiest place to really see the difference) grab a good (blue) prime flat and compare it to the (white) choice ones. It doenst take long for you to learn what to look for and score lots of prime cuts at choice prices. I rarely buy prime anymore when buying from costco unless all the choice just look horrible, which has happened once or twice. And remember, sometimes, you simply get a bad cut.............

 

[BouldernBun]

Thank you! Since I have started with my RT 700 I have been looking around all my supermarkets and Costco. I have yet to see prime at the supermarkets (though this might be because of the virus disrupting supply chains). My particular Costco (where I bought today's effort) sometimes has full packers ( I have only seen prime full packers there) and the only flats I have seen there are choice (not in stock daily), so it has been a bit of a challenge to actually compare one right next to another. But I totally get what you are saying and will not make the mistake of ruling out choice. I do not have anywhere near the eye you guys do (yet), but to save face I am thinking that this was just a bad cut even though everyone loved it LOL. I appreciate your comments!

 

[BouldernBun]

One more question about this. I was not just watching the temperature. I was also poking it with a toothpick starting at 197. 197 certainly did not feel like sticking a knife in butter. 20 minutes later at 201 the poke was definitely easier, but still some resistance. 10 minutes later at 203 no discernible difference and pulled. Briefly vented and then wrapped back up for 2 hours. The right moves?

 

[ifican]

203 is usually good for me, but they all can and do act different. You could have also been hitting a tough spot so always check several. If you go slow you can go to 205 but i have never gone past that. Also from what i heard costco was going to stop selling packers, i have not seen them in a while at my local store.

So believe it or not, that 2 hours could have dried it out enough that you didnt like it. I never cook to hold, ever, i always cook to eat when its done. Had you knew you were going to hold it for a few hours i would have pulled at 200 or maybe event 198, carryover would have gotten you to 203 easily. That just comes with practice, but the nice thing about brisket is, if its a little dry. Sauce it up a bit before serving and no one is the wiser. Always remember if your not ready to eat when you pulll anything, pull it several degress before you think you should. Wifes family ruined two roasts i was doing a few years ago for 15 people. We were to each at 7, i pulled the roast at medium rare and medium, they were perfectly temped and ready to eat. Well 90 minutes later they are now ready to eat. If you havent guessed yet. the medium was well done and the medium rare was a solid medium. Was still juicy but way overcooked.

 

[BouldernBun]

Oh I sauced up mine. No one else did lol. Great info. I appreciate it!

 

[BouldernBun]

I did vent though before resting because I was scared of the carryover. Regardless onward and upwards! Thanks again. This place is great!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Just some additional thoughts. Small flats don't usually have much fat compared to full packers, regardless of grade relatively. You are correct to want to move up to choice or prime for a better starting point. Dryness could be a sign of overcook as well (though @ifican is correct, each piece of meat is different). Sometimes a brisket is done at it's best at 195 (203 is an optimal guideline, not an absolute). I'm a bit confused by the use of a toothpick for probing. When you state the internal temps are you relying on the probes supplied with the RT? If so, please do yourself a favor and get a good instant read thermometer (e.g. Thermopen Mk4). You'll get more accurate temps, you'll be able to probe multiple locations at a time (if you use the supplied probe you're only getting info from a singular location). The instant read is also your probe, and if you take multiple pokes and it's very tender in 90-95% regardless of temp, it's good to go and probably won't be as "dry".

On the meat grading, again @ifican has given good info. Just as an example, I picked up a package of chuck roasts that were graded choice, CAB, at Sam's the other day. Of the six packages in the display this was the only one to show the kind of marbling it had which, to my eye, is bordering on prime, even though they were all graded choice. Also, it's probably the portion of the chuck nearest the rib roast cut.

 

[BouldernBun]

The reason I was poking was to try to cultivate a feeling for the meat. I now know what failure feels like LOL

 

[BouldernBun]

Btw. I just noticed Rec Tec only gave me 10% off the now in stock sear plates instead of 20%. You know..The bull is automated. When I called them (and I had never called them before) they had my name, CC info, everything w/o me saying a single word other than hello. The simple act of calling from a phone number I had supplied with my original order. Automation can be your friend but you still have to pay contention, even with an RT 700 and this thing is great.

 

[BouldernBun]

Do not have a Thermo pen but I do have an Ink Bird.