Was at my local grocery store last night and saw a cooler endcap with a bunch of really nice briskets. Get closer and it was $4.99 a pound WITH A CARD. Briskets that we used to be able to get for less than $20 were now priced north of $75. *sigh* So, no...I am not doing a brisket this weekend.
Depending on weights untrimmed choice briskets are anywhere from $55-$70 each now around Austin. Unbelievable.
It's a combination of Biden-flation, and also briskets are popular, and no longer considered junk meat. I remember when cow tails were 99 cents a pound, with the stores trying to give them away. Then ox tail soup became popular, and they're over 10 bucks a pound - more than you can get a steak for. For years I could get pork shoulders for 99 cents a pound - now you're looking at 2 dollars a pound at least, usually $2.5.
Doesn't seem that long ago HEB would have sales for .59 lb for pork butts. Yeah, now $2.59lb and on sale for $1.99lb.
Just smoked one last Friday night....I over trimmed it and the flat was really thin so it dried out on me. Possibly the worst brisket I've ever smoked....disappointing. Everyone said it was delicious, but I was not happy.
Interesting. I am trimming to 1/8 to 1/4 inch. If I expose some meat, so be it. That fat doesn't render anyway. Where the point and flat come together, it is hard to get all of that fat, but I try to get rid of a much as I can. Plenty of intramuscular fat. Did you let it rest long enough before slicing? That can dry it out. Not trying to insult your intelligence, I'm sure you know all this.
There are advantages to being around people who don't know any better...they know the cook and they know the care that went into it, but most of their BBQ experience is going to some chain that slathers the plate with sauce to cover up the smoking errors.
Yeah, had it wrapped in my cooler from 7am to 2pm before slicing. I also got lazy and used straight pecan because it's what I had and didn't want to go buy oak. I figured, "how much different can it be"....Love pecan on pork butt, but not so much on my brisket. Lessons learned.
Well, first cook of the season for me. Not bad. Ribs were great, brisket was so-so. Slightly dry. Tasty and tender otherwise. I forgot how quickly this pit cooks with the convection.
Time to work on the smoke ring...but early Spring Training means there is still time to make the Big Club
I've been on a rib cooking kick of late. Alidi's has been selling really meaty ones for 2.5 a pound, with the meat so thick that it's like a pork chop on the end. I do a 3-2-1 style. Wash ribs, pull membrane off the back, lightly salt the night before as a dry brine. Yellow mustard coating, then my own rub. I used to really like the McCormick's Grill Mates rubs, then they stopped making them, in favor of various ones with salt as the number one ingredient. I salt as part of the dry brine, so I don't need/want to add anymore. So I mix my own: 1 part white sugar 1 part brown sugar (pork, and pork alone, benefits from some sweetness) 1 part McCormick's Bell Pepper and Roasted Garlic spice 1 part black pepper 1 part paprika 1/2 part red pepper Put rub on a least 30 minutes prior to grilling. Fire up the ceramic grill - about 250 F, with pecan wood being my most common. Heat deflector, drip pan of water (heat water to at least 170 or so to avoid being a heat sink when you put it on the grill). When smoke is blueish to clear, ribs on. Cook for 3 hours, moving them around one or twice for more even cooking. Ribs off. Prepare foil with butter and hot honey, meat on it, and wrap up. Back on grill, meat side down for 2 hours, moving around one. Ribs off, drain and collect honey/butter/spice/meat juice drippings. Ribs back on for 45 minutes. Mix drippings with Stubb's BBQ, then sauce ribs for 15 minutes. Fall off the bone tender, meaty meat with a smoke/spice/bark coating.
I've been letting mine sit overnight with a rub and a good quarter inch of brown sugar. The ribs go in sugar side up...Caramelized nicely.
More going on in a little while...one rack with just rub and one with rub and brown sugar. Done offset with mesquite...
