Smoking 101

[spiceplace]

[If you smoke a brisket, expect to smoke for at least 12 hours or more. For a whole chicken, about 2 hours.

12 hours for a brisket? Wow; I'm surprised but not! We tried to smoke a beef brisket last weekend in our electric smoker and we slow cooked the brisket for only 3 hours.

The resulting meal was tough, even with Adolph's Tenderizer on top, so we sliced it thin to make up for the toughness. This was the first time we made a brisket in our slow smoker so we weren't disappointed.

Any tips for making a tender brisket and how to flavor it?

Matt

[KYHeirloomer]

Well, boys and girls, there are briskets and there are briskets.

There are two different cuts of meat called brisket. The tail piece, which is more like a flank steak than a roast, and the larger, thicker piece. You can usually tell the tails because they are thin and don't weigh much. When the market sells "brisket" that's only a pound or two, that's the tail. The tail is difficult to do on the grill.

The main part (whose other name I forget) is what most of us think of when smoking a brisket. Of late, they come smaller, with 5-6 pounders common. But experienced barbecuers look for the big briskets; hunks of meat in the ten to 14 pound range. Those are the ones that work best.

Everyone does it differently. But typically you start with a dry rub, worked into the surface of the meat. Then you let the meat stand for at least an hour, so that a pelicle develops. Then you start grilling---low and slow---using offset heat at no more than about 250F.

That's the kind of brisket that smokes for 10-12 hours without drying out.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Can I ask a question?
In most rubs there is salt, my Uncle always told me not to salt beef until you had seared it, he claimed this toughened and dried the meat. Is there any truth to that?

[KYHeirloomer]

Well, yes and no.

How's that for a decisive answer?

When you salt meat it draws protein-laden liquid to the surface. If you let that dry the resulting film is called a pelicle. It serves the same function as searing; that is, a seal that keeps juices inside.

If you heavily salt a piece of meat and do not let it dry, the salt continues drawing moisture from the internal cells. And that could, indeed, cause the meat to dry out and get tough.

The open question is, how much salt is "heavily." When used as a rub it is certainly applied heavily. But does a light sprinkling draw enough moisture to matter?

As a rule, I salt when the meat is done, so as to not take a chance. But whether it really matters---I dunno. And you can quote me on that.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Thanks KYH, I am glad to know that.
And I guess the way to avoid salt in rubs is to make our own "from scratch rubs", homemade is always the best anyway!

[KYHeirloomer]

Well, Cathy, I don't see how you can avoid salt in a rub intended for smoking. The chemical reactions---both within the meat, and in how the smoke reacts with it---are dependent on it.

FWIW, here is a typical dry rub as used in Texas---where "barbecue" means "brisket."

1 tbls salt
1 tbls celery salt
2 tbls black pepper
2 tbls chili powder
1/2 tbls cayenne powder
1/2 tbls wite pepper
3 tbls paprika
1/2 tbls garlic powder
1/2 tbls dried lemon peel
1 tbls dry mustard

Mix together and place in a closed container. Sprinkle generously on meat before smoking or barbecuing.

Note that as a percentage of the whole, the salt isn't that great a part. Counting the celery salt as 100% salt, the salt content is 16%.

For whatever it means, this is the same percentage, more or less, used in cajun spice mixes. For instance, here is the recipe for Emeril's Essence:

2 1/2 tbls paprika
2 tbls salt
2 tbls garlic powder
1 tbls black pepper
1 tbls onion powder
1 tbls cayenne pepper
1 tbls dried oregano
1 tbls dried thyme

Essence actually is a simplified mixture. Here is a cajun spice mix I learned down in the swamps, while duck hunting with some Cajun fellas:

1/4 cup salt
2 tbls paprika
1 tbls balck pepper
1 tbls garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground mustard
2 tbls cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tbls onion powder
1 tbls white pepper
2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp ground cloves.

I also learned how to make genuine gumbo from those boys. But that's a different topic.

[KYHeirloomer]

That really is the question, when it comes to smoking. Or barbecuing at all.

Folks have actually come to blows over this issue.

However, on the assumption that you do sauce, the question is, "when?" And that one's simpler to answer.

If you sauce the meat ahead of time, and/or continue brushing it with sauce as it smokes, you're gonna be disappointed. Under low & slow conditions (actually, even more so over high, direct heat), the sauce first caremelizes (which is good) and then carbonizes, forming a burnt crust on the meat.

Most people, therefore, sauce after the fact.

However, if you want a baked-in sauce flavor, there's nothing wrong with brushing the meat with your sauce during the last half hour of cooking. This will give you that caremalized coating that tastes so good, but you won't need a jackhammer to break through it.

[KYHeirloomer]

So, in a fit of pernicious boredom, I spent a goodly part of the day looking at what must be several hundred rub recipes.

With one exception, all dry rub recipes included salt as an important measured ingredient. The exception includes "salt to taste" in the ingredients list.

Interestingly, many of the wet rubs leave the salt out. I suspect this is because wet rubs stick better, to begin with. And, if there were a pelicle formed, their flavors wouldn't penetrate into the meat.

That is a guess on my part, and I would love to hear from anyone with a more definitive explanation.

[mitchb2]

I smoke on my gas grill. I soak wood chips in water. For longer cooking times, I use two pans for the chips. In one pan, I place 2 cups of soaked chips. Same in the other pan, but I add a cup of water to act as a "time delay." I put these over the back burner, and leave the other 2 burners off.

For brisket, I use a dry rub, and tent with foil, and smoke for 3 hours. My grill stays at about 250-275 degrees.

Then I wrap the brisket in foil and finish in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.
It comes out really tender, and the leftovers are great for sandwiches.

I also smoke salmon with this method, but I brine it first.