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Hello,

Am keen to cook some pork ribs next weekend.

I've never done them before on the smoker – would you recommend starting with St Louis/spare ribs, or baby back?

I'm inclined to go with spare ribs as they're bigger/meatier. Any advice much appreciated!

6 minutes ago, ExclusiveBBQ said:

I'm not giving up on the flat yet though - it's the cut that's used in competition so it must be possible to get decent results with it. 😅

Is that right? They don't judge both?

48 minutes ago, ExclusiveBBQ said:

Mine was also dire, so we must be on the right track 😁.

 

It looks great for a first attempt though. The bark looks awesome, which I suspect is a result of decent seasoning and plenty of smoke. Was the flat definitely overcooked? The reason I ask is that I thought mine was too (point was soft but flat was tough) but my research has lead me to believe that I probably undercooked it and another 30-60 minutes would have seen it through to where I wanted it to be. Not sure if it was possible due to timings but it looks like it would have benefited from being sprayed, especially towards the latter part of the cook, and also from being wrapped too. I suspect you considered these but they're the main things I noticed.

 

Looking forward to seeing more - hopefully we'll both reach brisket nirvana in the near future.😄

Cheers, Chris. I did add plenty of rub after watching your video.

I'll never know re the flat! But while it was tasty, it was pretty dry. I'm sure I should have let it cool a bit before wrapping it in foil and storing in the coolbox.

Very happy with the point, though. On Mon/Tues, I chopped up the end piece of the point, and cooked it in a hot oven with some beef stock, barbecue sauce and some dark brown sugar – it was really good. Almost tempted just to buy point-end briskets from now on! (fat = flavour etc)

But it's really encouraged me to have another crack 🙂

Looks great; am sure it tasted great, too 🙂

1 hour ago, Simon said:

I think you did a great job mate. Well done 

Thanks very much, pal 🙂

6 hours ago, Simon said:

Great job there. Brilliant job for first try. Was there anything you would do differently next time?

Ha, where should I start?!

1. A plainer rub, just salt and pepper, not one with paprika/garlic/onion etc (not that I think a plainer rub would be better; just keen to see the difference

2. I would trim it and shape it. This time, although I removed some big lumps of hard white fat, and some silverskin, I didn't trim bits off to square it off - will do that next time

3. Will buy a 5kg brisket, not a 7kg one!

4. Will cook it during the day, not overnight, so I can top up water pan halfway through the cook (and spritz it more often)

5. Will let it cool in the kitchen for a bit before wrapping in foil etc

So the answer to your question is yes 😁

6 hours ago, sotv said:

You may have been closer to 225F than you thought? I don't know how accurate the lid thermometer is on the new ProQ but a lot of analogue thermometers are not the most reliable. Mine on the older ProQ is is usually around 20F out (lower reading than actual reading). When finances allow investing in a digital thermometer is worth considering especially if they have hot and cold alarms that you can set for the pit temperature, to warn you of any big temp fluctuations, during the cook. 

Yes, quite possibly. I think the thermometer is about 20deg or so lower than it actually is, so may well have been just over 200.

1 hour ago, sotv said:

Worth considering using sand instead of water, with a covering of foil over the sand, still keeps the internal temp steady and doesn't need any  maintaining during a long cook.

Could always split the brisket between flat and point and spread the cook over 2 levels in your frontier or places like gridironmeats sell points and flat seperate 3Kg each approx .

Never cooked a slab of meat above 4.5kg on the frontier on 1 level, interesting to see although you weren't 100% happy with it, it can be done.

Thank you, will try that next time. Topping up the water every couple of hours is a bit of a faff, I must admit. 

I thought about cutting the brisket and putting them on separate levels, but because this was my first crack at it, I was keen to do a 'neutral' test and just see how things went, to give me a benchmark. If you do that, which would you put lower down? The point?

This brisket was 7.25kg. I should have trimmed it more judiciously, definitely, and not ideal to put it on the smoker and disappear off to bed for 8 hours 😄

1 hour ago, sotv said:

Where were you reading the internal temp of the frontier  from above or below the meat? if above, that looks almost big enough to act as a second heat deflector for the frontier, which may have been the reason for the low temp reading?

Very good point. I just looked at the thermometer on the ProQ itself, but yes, the meat was so big, it was wider than the water pan sitting below it!

I think, because I've seen amazing briskets from Aaron Franklin, T-Roy, Harry Soo etc, I had that sort of brisket in mind - naive, I know. 

But Aaron said that his first brisket was dire, and you can only learn and get better which each one. I'm already planning the next one! 

2 hours ago, Phlashster said:

It looks great! I bet the flavour was immense even if you are slightly disappointed on the texture. 

Well done. Good info on the capacity of the Frontier too. I was wondering how that was going to go. 

Did you use water in the pan?

Phil.

Yes, water pan overnight (it seems to dry up after about 3hrs), then filled up again first thing. 

My first brisket is done and dusted! 

Overall: not bad. A little overcooked, but the point had a good texture and was still juicy. The lean was too dry but still tasted good. 

I cooked it overnight for 8hrs, with briquettes and oak/cherry chunks. Weirdly, the smoker struggled to get over 200F, but when I checked this morning, the brisket's internal temp was 166F, so fresh load of charcoal, and cooked for another 3hrs.

Took it off at 205F, then wrapped in foil and placed in coolbox for a couple of hours. I suspect I should have let it cool on the worktop for 20-30 mins first - another lesson learned! 

I've cut the end of the point off and will make burnt ends later in the week, and I still have a huge slab of meat left, which I'll probably freeze. 

Also, the brisket was just over 7kg, and in all honesty was too big for my ProQ Frontier - I had to prop it up a bit, and really cram it to make it fit. Will go for a 5kg brisket next time. 

Always knew that my first brisket would be a steep learning curve, and so it proved. And even though it wasn't brilliant, it was still very tasty! 

Some pics (I served it with sweetcorn pudding and some greens with garlic and chilli):

2 hours ago, Matto2494 said:

I think this shall suffice for the first cook. 

So do I! Looks great. 

I think it's best to trim the skin off, then do it separately as crackling if you wish (and, as you say, leave a thin layer of fat on top)

But others know far more about this sort of thing than me!

@Wade @Justin

28 minutes ago, Justin said:

Road trip where?

to Austin!

15 minutes ago, Raptor72 said:

Definitely would look into it 

bbq food tour plus have a couple of good contacts over there from the fbook forums 

Ah, good to know. March/April would be good time, given the avg temp.

And so many places to see (other than Franklin!). 
Would be fascinating, on so many levels 😀

53 minutes ago, sotv said:

You doing it on your ProQ? Big piece of meat, interested to see how it all goes if so.

Yep. 8hrs overnight (tomorrow), then however long it takes on Sunday!

51 minutes ago, Raptor72 said:

Roaaaaaddddtrrriippp I’m in 

Somebody make it happen! 😎
(direct return flights from Gatwick for £360 #justsayin'

1 minute ago, Justin said:

Good luck with this. It reminds md if when I did my first. Rested for three hours in cool box as Wade advised and it was wonderful.

Cheers, Justin, will do. I'd prefer not to get it on the smoker and go to bed, but because this is a big'un and am sure will take 10-15 hours, would rather give it 8hrs overnight then see how things are on Sunday morning, rather than try and do it all in a day.

7 minutes ago, Wade said:

Be careful if you are going to inject. Too much injected marinade can often turn it into a pastrami rather than a brisket and it can also end up giving an "ammonia" edge to the flavour. Personally I prefer just using a rub or just salt and pepper and then vac packing it overnight.

Your proposed timings will be fine but please take note of what I said above. A little injection goes a long way.

Thank you, Wade. You're right – as this is my first brisket, I'll strip it back and just do rub and see how it goes, then I have a benchmark.

I think I will just trim it tonight, then apply rub tomorrow afternoon.

Is there an optimal time for adding rub before smoking?
 

3 hours ago, ExclusiveBBQ said:

Not quite, he just mentions that there's two schools of thought and that he believes in letting beef (brisket and steak) come to room temp. but everything else from the fridge

Yep, makes perfect sense. Will do that. The brisket was delivered today. Nobody in the office believed me when I told them that it weighed 7kg, so I asked them to pick up the box 😂

6 minutes ago, ExclusiveBBQ said:

Interesting stuff. Don't necessarily disagree as I need to try it for myself however I'm a huge Aaron Franklin fanboy and found the clip where he talks about it (albeit briefly).

Will take a look later - am guessing he says to bring it to room temperature!
Yes, Aaron is the daddy, isn't he? Would love to visit his restaurant one day... there should be a WoodSmoke Forum trip arranged!

Found the article:

https://amazingribs.com/technique-and-science/myths/let-meat-come-to-room-temp

(please delete if quoting from other forums not allowed)

34 minutes ago, ExclusiveBBQ said:

The majority of people will take their brisket from the fridge, season it and leave it to come up to room temperature before cooking. Leaving it to come to room temp. is the most important part here

Is that right? Am sure I read on amazingribs.com that it's better to smoke meat straight from the fridge, as smoke particles stick to meat better, but I have no idea if that's true!

I always take steaks etc out of the fridge 30 mins before cooking. 

Another question: 
After trimming, am going to inject it – how long should I leave it before applying the rub?

And what's the ideal time between applying the rub and getting it on the smoker?

Was planning to trim/inject/rub Friday night, then start smoking Sat evening (as I'm playing golf early on Sat, not back til early afternoon), give it 8hrs, then check early on Sunday and fire up the smoker again.

Apologies for the multitude of questions…