The ultimate smoked brisket

This is the start of a two week saga. Mikhail Lipyansky’s wife, Svetlana, for those of you who do not know, is the Executive Director of the Coney Island Hospital, a position she took on prior to the Covid epidemic, but that put her reasonably close to ground zero. In addition to having to suffer through photo ops with our mayor, she had to run the hospital in the middle of a medical war zone. As a result, I told her that when the plague had passed over our heads, she could have the pick of my cellar, excluding only for bottles already reserved for other things, and we would have a nice meal outside in the backyard overlooking the swimming pool. I now have arrangements for that, with smoked brisket being one of the entrees.

This thread represents a ten-day photo essay of the creation of the ultimate brisket. Yesterday, I rubbed it in, vacuum sealed it and put it in the refrigerator, where it will sit for at least six days. Here are the initial photos and recipe directions:

Buy a brisket. Normally, I get a full packer brisket but they didn’t look good at Restaurant Depot and the flat cut ones at Costco had enough fat. Remove from vacuum sealed package and wash in cold water.

Pat dry

Using really good knife that son got you for a gift, slice the fat horizontally but not all the way through so you can rub under the fat layer.

Rub both sides heavily with special home made rub consisting of fresh ground coriander, Tellicherry pepper and cumin, a bit of salt, garlic powder, paprika and home made chili powder (dried Ancho, Guaillo, Chipotle and Arbol) with Swerve fake brown sugar.

Seal in a vacuum bag and place in the refrigerator.

I have met Svetlana and Mikhail in their Queens abode years ago.

Looking forward to the conclusion. I never quite got the hang of brisket, but with the new addition of a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain I will give it another go.

six days yet? I’m hungry.

Your rub is interesting. Mine tends to be salt/pepper and maybe a small bit of garlic or paprika if I’m feeling cheeky. That’s it. I confess I am not sure what the Swerve is bringing to the dance. My first thought was that sweet smoked brisket is a shanda. My second thought is that it’s not your first rodeo and if it works for you, so be it.

Are you going to spritz and/or wrap during the cooking? I have started to do both, and I’m pleased with the results.

Can I come for leftovers, and what should I bring?

WTF Jay? We’re all waiting for the ultimate brisket update. Clients, billings, neighbors be damned! SHOW ME THE BRISKET!

I don’t recall if I’ve used brown sugar on brisket but I’ve definitely done it with pork shoulder. My most frequent mop sauce is a butter, brown sugar and bourbon concoction.

Sorry for the delay, I had a bank merger to complete that got in the way.

First, you need to marinate your apple wood in leftover Northern Rhone Syrah. To marinate, put wood in container with vacuum sealing top from FoodSaver, vacuum out as much air as possible so that the bubbles come out of the wood and are replaced by syrah, and then allow to marinate for at least 24 hours. You can periodically re-vacuum as more air seeps out of the wood.
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Then you need to gently place the marinated wood in the BGE
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Then you need to start the smoke and get half way through, at which point you need to add more water to the pan to maintain humidity in the BGE.
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Then you need to carefully remove the brisket
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Then if you are completely nuts, you need to scrape off the really crusty fat and pulse in a food processor to get nice chunks and spread it on top of the smoked brisket with 3-5 pounds of caramelized onions before wrapping it in double foil.
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Then you need to refrigerate for a day and then reheat gradually until the internal temp of the wrapped meat gets to 200-205 degrees for two hours, which renders out the connective fat and collagen and melts a lot of the fat that you pureed and put on top to infuse the brisket with more flavor. At that point you need to remove it and serve it to friends on the back porch while forgetting to photograph the final steps. Be sure to use extremely sharp thin bladed knife because the brisket is ready to fall apart due to lack of connective tissue.

on forgetting to photograph the final product.

Thanks for the tour

What’s your re-heat method?