Ive made brisket 3 times now, after my first cook i think i got the actual cook and taste more or less as to where i like it, and yes i know the smoke ring doesnt matter that much but i havent gotten a smoke ring once, is it really just nitrates? Is there anywhere to get it soley off smoke (ive been smoking on oak and apple wood )
by Available_Control_43
12 Comments
Smoke rings stop forming at around 140 degrees, so if you start your brisket cook with it being a little bit cooler you can get more opportunity for a smoke ring to form. Another way is to include some celery seed in your rub. Celery seed naturally contains some nitrate.
What’s your setup and process?
Looks like you have a pretty thick layer of fat on there and that could affect your smoke ring. It’s either the fat is too thick or you’re cooking at too high of a temperature. The meat reaches 140ish before the nitrates can penetrate. Fat keeps nitrates from penetrating the meat.
Low and slow baby
What fuel are you using?
Go straight from the fridge to the smoker with the meat. This will help your smoke ring develop.
Don’t let it come up to room temp first.
Where are you actually cooking on? If you’re doing the snake method or something similar on a kettle, I highly recommend putting your wood chunks underneath the charcoal. It will burn better and give you better smoke. How much of it are you using? You really do need a good six or eight fist sized pieces throughout the cook if you want to get good smoke, although the fat majority of it will happen in the first 4 to 5 hours of the cook.
You mentioned that you don’t spritz until you get the bark that you want, but that is a big mistake. You either have to have a water pan to keep up the humidity or you want to very lightly spray with 50-50 apple cider and water. As long as you’re not spraying too heavily, it’s not gonna slow down the bark formation very much, but the smoke will adhere a lot better to moist meat.
Unpopular opinion but you can very easily fake smoke rings if you care about it from a presentation standpoint. Most “smoke rings” you see on social media is caused by peoples rubs containing celery salt, which is higher in nitrates (i.e. the stuff that makes bacon and pastrami stay pink while cooking) than table salt.
I always get a smoke ring but I smoke the shit out of it during the first hour. A single large wood chunk on top of hot charcoal immediately replaced the second it smoulders for an hour or more. Maybe get a little “white smoke” at first but never get any complaints, nothing but compliments about taste and I certainly can’t taste any acridity or anything .
You could use a brown or red sharpie and color it in…..
Marry a fire? I’ll let myself out
Use smoke