I hate the learning curve

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mar52

Senior Cook
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
309
Location
Marina del Rey
I am so stupid!

I've only had the Big Green Egg a short time and I've only used it a half dozen times.

Now don't laugh.

I bought a beautiful 7 pound brisket for my first time.

I trimmed most of the fat off of it, rubbed it down with a little mustard and sprinkled liberally with Wolfe's Rub Original.

I got the lump burning and it held at 225º for an hour before I loaded it with the brisket.

I watched it for an hour staying at 225º so I left for work instructing my roommate to look at it every hour.

At 3 o'clock I called and she took the phone down to the BGE for my next instructions. I was going to tell her to take the internal temp of the brisket, foil it and wrap in a towl if appropriate and before I was ever able to do it she said...

It's ruined! It's burned to a crisp. It's not edible.

I didn't know if I believed her so I told her to wrap it in foil and I'd check it out when I got home.

It was worse than ruined. A chisel wouldn't have cut it. The dogs wouldn't eat it and the worst part...

I wasted all that precious Wolfe's Rub on it.

It held the 225º the entire cook.

Hanging my head....

I had it directly over the fire. I forgot to put something between the brisket and the heat.

I need help! I've found a lot of recipes and instructions but not one mentioned putting anything under the brisket.

How many briskets did you waste until you got it right?

At least my steaks are the best ever since using it.
 
Don't feel bad mar52 My first & last (so far) brisket was dry as a bone & tough as shoe leather :oops:
There's definitely an art to smokin' a good brisket.....& I have not mastered it yet :roll:

8)
 
Dry to the bone would have been gold. I think I could have used it for fuel on my next cook if I hadn't of thrown it away.

It really was a hard lump of coal.

thanks. :)
 
Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the help. So... on the plate setter, legs up or down?

I really want to try a brisket again. My biggest problem is the time element required for a brisket.

So far I've done a few steaks and burgers direct and they came out great.

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Marlene
 
Sorry for your loss. I am sure you will get the hang of it soon. Just remember, if you are having trouble getting something to come out right, don't blame your equipment.
 
Don't feel bad. I have tanked a few. They are sure not like a pork butt. Thought I screwed one up at Oink a few years back, Quote wittdog, "get the hell up pigs" :LOL: Came in the top 10. Hang in and it will come around.

Pigs
 
Find another place to buy briskets... I have got bad ones too & there is nothing you can do except make taco meat.
 
Pigs On The Wing BBQ said:
Don't feel bad. I have tanked a few. They are sure not like a pork butt. Thought I screwed one up at Oink a few years back, Quote wittdog, "get the hell up pigs" :LOL: Came in the top 10. Hang in and it will come around.

Pigs
I like getting tanked :LOL:

Sorry to here bout it 52
 
surfinsapo said:
Find another place to buy briskets... I have got bad ones too & there is nothing you can do except make taco meat.

How do you determine a bad brisket?? Or for that matter if a finished brisket being 'bad' is the brisket or where you got the brisket? Just curious???

This is not directed at you Sapo, but I think all this nonsense about picking out a good brisket, by how it bends, etc., is a bunch of nonsense and the only thing that will give you a bad brisket is by either over or under cooking it.

I've got briskets from local butchers, restaurant depot, BJ's, Sam's, Grocery stores and WalMart. They have varied in price from $1.29lb to over $4 lb, some have been Select, some Choice and some ungraded and for the life of me every single one of them came out basically the same and tasted the same.

Unfortunately, Marlenes brisket was simply way overcooked and burnt and didn't have anything to do with where she purchased it. Just my opinion though..
 
It was a beautiful brisket.

I just had it directly over the heat source when I didn't know any better.

I do know how to make charcoal now.
 
If the temps were higher...it would've been fine and done in 4-5 hours...But I know that's not what you intended. ;)

I don't use anything under mine when I do high heat brisket
 
ain't nobody on this board that hasn't had a bad cook.

The good thing about it is you learned, you gained
experience, and now you're a better cook.
 
Larry Wolfe said:
...

How do you determine a bad brisket?? Or for that matter if a finished brisket being 'bad' is the brisket or where you got the brisket? Just curious???

This is not directed at you Sapo, but I think all this nonsense about picking out a good brisket, by how it bends, etc., is a bunch of nonsense and the only thing that will give you a bad brisket is by either over or under cooking it. ...
Seen some that sure look GOOD, like this Wagyu brisket, I'd love to try one of those ...

img_202624_0_4140354515a1c9c8b3e411561bfa2575.jpg
 
You'll get it. And when you do, you will slap yourself for thinking a brisket is hard to cook. I find the words hard to come by to describe my first brisket FU.
 

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