First off, thanks for all the replies to my post earlier this week when I shared my new Pro 22. This crew was incredibly helpful in learning how to best use it. I would now like some feedback from y’all on how my first cook (brisket) turned out.
I injected and rubbed (Meat Church), let sit uncovered in fridge for ~10 hours, Traeger at 225 (Lumberjack oak pellets) until ~165, wrapped and moved to oven at 275 (more on that shortly) until about 198 and probed well, wrapped in towels and sat in cooler for about 3 hours.
The good: It was mostly juicy and tender, very flavorful, looks like a nice smoke ring. The family really liked it and my college freshman who got home earlier that afternoon from finishing his first semester tore it up. For my first time, it was definitely seen as a success by all including me.
The not so good: Some of the flat was not quite as tender as I’d have liked it to be, and I didn’t get that thick black bark I was hoping for.
The one “mishap” was that about an hour in to it being in the oven, I noticed that my ChefIQ was reading the ambient temp at 310 even though oven was set at 275. We’ve always known our new ovens (purchased last year) cooked fast, but never had the ambient temp measured. 35 degree offset is insane, and it was in there for nearly an hour before I noticed. Do y’all think it cooking too fast for that period of time contributed to it being slightly tough in areas?
Anyways, any and all feedback is appreciated. Looking forward to the leftovers later today.
Side note: I also posted this in the r/smoking sub, as they were also very helpful with a post I did yesterday with some questions during the cook. It’s not an attempt to “karma farm” as I could not care less about internet points. I am simply trying to get as much feedback as possible so I can get better at this.
by rdcisneros3
3 Comments
Hey! It looks like you posted an image!
If this is a photo of one of your cooks, maybe share the recipe and techniques
used, as it’s almost guaranteed one of the first questions you will be asked!
*What seasoning did you use?
*How long did you cook it, and at what temperature?
*Did you use any special tricks or techniques?
Traeger on!
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Looks nice, OP. Consider a much later wrap if you want a meteoric crust like you mentioned. I do a no-wrap on my traeger until it gets Texas-style dark and take it off around 195 to finish in my sous vide and it’s perfect every time. Perfectly evenly cooked all over. You might also benefit from trimming your briskets to be a bit more round and less pointy so that it cooks more evenly
The flat is always the trickiest part. It has way less fat and will overcook/dry out way faster than the point. When you checked temp and did probe check for tenderness did you check the flat or the point (or both)? I always make sure to check for tenderness in the flat first and the point is usually done at that time as well, or it will finish up during rest. You also want to make sure that you unwrap and let it counter rest for an hour or so before wrapping it back up to do a cooler or oven rest. The flat can continue cooking quite a bit if you leave it wrapped after pulling and shove it right into a cooler. I also take that time to drain out some of the liquids so it doesn’t continue to cook from the steam, and then I make a gravy or au jus with it. I find the sweet spot for me is pull at 200-203, unwrap counter rest for an hour until ~180, cooler rest 2 hours until desired slicing temp (usually 150-160). Worst case scenario, serve the point and chop the flat up to use on chopped beef sandwiches with an au jus, or make the best chili you’ve ever had with it.