I am not going to claim to be a BBQ Pitmaster or posses master smoking knowledge (smoked BEEF and such...not Cigars you guys) but I have found some success among the many failures. Recently I had an opportunity to smoke a couple of whole briskets and I thought I would share my thoughts about the whole process and how everything turned out.
After failing more times than I care to recount to properly prepare a smoked a beef brisket (one that could actually be eaten and enjoyed) I found several videos describing the 4-2-10 method. The quick and dirty is, you smoke at about 250 degrees for 4 hours, then turn up the temp to 300 for a couple more hours and finish by wrapping the brisket and holding at 150 for 10-16 hours (the internal temp of the meat should remain at or slightly above 150). Sounds pretty easy...too easy. Having smoked SO many other meats (pork shoulder, ribs of all sorts etc) and being accustomed to the idea that "slow-n-low until the internal temp hits the 200-205 range" works for most situations. So I just couldn't get my around the idea that starting at 250, increasing briefly to 300 then dropping the temp to 150 and holding would come any where close to getting the job done.
The first Brisket ended up "cooking" for nearly 24 hours when all was said and done. I couldn't bring myself to let it "cook" at 150 for 10+ hours so I used a higher temp (I think i kept it between 170 and 190) for the long portion of the cook, then I rested it in a cooler for several more hours. The end result was a thoroughly over cooked, fall apart, hunk of beef that tasted more like a pot roast than a brisket...but it was entirely edible. I did more research to find what internal temp the beef should be at each stage and found a couple guys who said the hunk of beef should be around 175-185 before it is wrapped and held at 150 and that the holding period would do the work that is usually done by pushing through the 175 range all the way to a 200+ range.
The second brisket was cooked around 5-6 hours at 250 then another 3-4 hours at 300 before I wrapped it and turn the temp down to 150 for a 12 hour hold. This seemed to work well but did impart a bit too much smoke and MAY have made it drier than is could have been. Although the trimming of too much fat may have contributed to the slight dryness I think the extended period at 300 was the culprit. The key here is it did NOT reach the desired internal temp of 170-175 range until it had been exposed to a good amount of heat for almost 10 hours. I will continue to play with the timing and temperatures but I think this general technique is worth exploring.
As good as the brisket was I found a secret little lovely delight in the process. No it's not burnt ends, although I LOVE a good plate of burnt ends. The tasty delight I speak of is the slow rendered strips and hunks of fat that had been trimmed from the brisket. I placed all the trimmings into a large pan and slowly smoked/rendered them in the 10ish hours the beef was being cooked at 250-300 and the result was a pan full of smoked beef "cracklins" that was just plain delicious. A little salt and pepper made them even better and an application of BBQ sauce glaze made them even MORE wonderful. So now I have a large jar of smoke rendered beef tallow to use as I see fit and a couple empty zip locks where a bunch of fried out beef fat once resided. MMM.
You can look up your own videos from real Pitmasters discussing the virtues of the 4-2-10 method, so I won't belabor that part. What I REALLY want you to take from this post is the wonder that is the FAT that would normally be disposed of.
After failing more times than I care to recount to properly prepare a smoked a beef brisket (one that could actually be eaten and enjoyed) I found several videos describing the 4-2-10 method. The quick and dirty is, you smoke at about 250 degrees for 4 hours, then turn up the temp to 300 for a couple more hours and finish by wrapping the brisket and holding at 150 for 10-16 hours (the internal temp of the meat should remain at or slightly above 150). Sounds pretty easy...too easy. Having smoked SO many other meats (pork shoulder, ribs of all sorts etc) and being accustomed to the idea that "slow-n-low until the internal temp hits the 200-205 range" works for most situations. So I just couldn't get my around the idea that starting at 250, increasing briefly to 300 then dropping the temp to 150 and holding would come any where close to getting the job done.
The first Brisket ended up "cooking" for nearly 24 hours when all was said and done. I couldn't bring myself to let it "cook" at 150 for 10+ hours so I used a higher temp (I think i kept it between 170 and 190) for the long portion of the cook, then I rested it in a cooler for several more hours. The end result was a thoroughly over cooked, fall apart, hunk of beef that tasted more like a pot roast than a brisket...but it was entirely edible. I did more research to find what internal temp the beef should be at each stage and found a couple guys who said the hunk of beef should be around 175-185 before it is wrapped and held at 150 and that the holding period would do the work that is usually done by pushing through the 175 range all the way to a 200+ range.
The second brisket was cooked around 5-6 hours at 250 then another 3-4 hours at 300 before I wrapped it and turn the temp down to 150 for a 12 hour hold. This seemed to work well but did impart a bit too much smoke and MAY have made it drier than is could have been. Although the trimming of too much fat may have contributed to the slight dryness I think the extended period at 300 was the culprit. The key here is it did NOT reach the desired internal temp of 170-175 range until it had been exposed to a good amount of heat for almost 10 hours. I will continue to play with the timing and temperatures but I think this general technique is worth exploring.
As good as the brisket was I found a secret little lovely delight in the process. No it's not burnt ends, although I LOVE a good plate of burnt ends. The tasty delight I speak of is the slow rendered strips and hunks of fat that had been trimmed from the brisket. I placed all the trimmings into a large pan and slowly smoked/rendered them in the 10ish hours the beef was being cooked at 250-300 and the result was a pan full of smoked beef "cracklins" that was just plain delicious. A little salt and pepper made them even better and an application of BBQ sauce glaze made them even MORE wonderful. So now I have a large jar of smoke rendered beef tallow to use as I see fit and a couple empty zip locks where a bunch of fried out beef fat once resided. MMM.
You can look up your own videos from real Pitmasters discussing the virtues of the 4-2-10 method, so I won't belabor that part. What I REALLY want you to take from this post is the wonder that is the FAT that would normally be disposed of.
