Miguel Vergara brisket

[The Chairmaker]

I've tried a few briskets over the last year and usually find that the Irish/British briskets are a bit too lean and are over-trimmed. I've tried the Irish Angus from John Davidsons and whilst the flavour was good the brisket ended up being a bit dry (even with injecting it). Ditto a more recent one from Sherwood Foods, lots of flavour but just a bit too dry. I tend to buy them in the 4.5-6Kg ranges...maybe I need to go bigger?

 

This weekend I tried one of the Miquel Vergara briskets, again from John Davidsons. This was a 6Kg one that arrived nearer to 6.5Kg. About 1.5Kg of fat was trimmed (later rendered into tallow). I injected it with a mix made from an OXO beef cube, a few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce and some Knorr liquid seasoning. The rub was homemade- roughly 2 parts fresh ground pepper, 1 part sea-salt, 1/2 part of smoked paprika and 2 parts fresh ground coffee. The brisket sat for about an hour with the rub before smoking.

It went on to the Big Joe at 11PM. Smoking wood was chestnut and Mesquite. The grill temp was 230f. At about 4AM I boat-wrapped the brisket in foil with some of the left-over injection mix in the boat. Some of the freshly rendered tallow was spread over the exposed bark. I pulled it off the grill at about 12 the next day, so that was 13 hours on the smoker. The really strange thing was that the point hit 190F yet was tender. The flat (in the boat) was butter soft and anymore time would have it falling apart.

I rested it for 2 hours in the polystyrene packaging that the brisket came in (excellent recycling!). Without a doubt, this was the best brisket that I have ever tasted...tender, huge flavour, tremendous bark (sorry...too busy eating to take piccies!).

Try these briskets if you are after some...they are on a special offer at the moment and you won't go wrong!

 

[Nick9one1]

That sounds amazing, I'll have to try one of the Miquel Vergara briskets some time.
I'm smoking a UMI brisket from John Davidson as I speak.. 

I've found that injecting beef tallow/fat/dripping is the best way to make the less marbled local briskets juicier (the stuff you can buy from the supermarket that comes wrapped like butter).
What you perceive as moisture in a cooked brisket is actually fat. The water is cooked off long before you eat it. Thinking about it, you probably prolong the stall if you inject a water based solution.

 

[AdamG]

3 hours ago, Nick9one1 said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Nick9one1 said:

That sounds amazing, I'll have to try one of the Miquel Vergara briskets some time.
I'm smoking a UMI brisket from John Davidson as I speak.. 

 

Can we have some pics of this once its finished?👍

[Justin]

My local butcher does great British brisket, lightly trim and leave lots of fat on as it comes out so juicy. delicious.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Justin

[Deano]

I love the Miguel Vergara briskets, they were my favourite brisket cooks in the UK. I've emigrated to Greece now and getting a decent brisket is next to impossible as they slaughter their cows at around 200kg.