On Apr 12, 12:26 pm, Denny Wheeler
wrote:

SNIP

[1] 'squunch' is a highly technical term. Somewhat like 'squeeze'
only different.

Occasionally, my SO uses the term "tump". This means to turn over.
So something can "tump over" be "tumped over", etc.

Being in construction, a universally understood term is "wongo". This
can mean anything from not straight to tragically screwed up.
Strangely, everyone around here understands it.

As far as the brisket goes, just a couple of thoughts. I don't put
sugar on beef except on rare occasions. If then, only a touch.
White sugars seem to burn very easily, and that could be what you are
tasting on your meat.

Since you are starting on this road, I would take a step back and
start over. Try your brisket with a simple rub of 1 part salt, 1 part
coarse ground black pepper, and 1/2 part granulated garlic. Don't put
anything else on it, and cook it that way. Build your flavors from
that start point.

You will be surprised how good your meat will taste with only those
ingredients.

Since you are cooking on propane, take a look at your flavoring wood.
Is it really seasoned? I have heard that green wood in the right
hands can be a good thing, but that isn't my experience by a long
shot. Make sure the wood is seasoned well, and the smoke that comes
from it is gray/blue, NOT white. White smoke will kill your meat by
covering it with creosote and other bitter resins.

Personally, I think folks put too much wood into those gas cookers to
compensate for the lack of wood or charcoal. It just isn't needed.
If your wood is seasoned, cut the amount back, and try one wood at a
time before you start mixing. After an hour or so, it isn't unusual
for my cooker to not show anything but an occasional wisp of smoke
(mix of hardwood charcoal and seasoned oak) when starting to cook.
The only other time it is visible is a refuel.

I can hear the screams now, but I am ready.

By a smaller brisket so you can smoke during the day and keep an eye
on the temps, the amount of smoke, the outside temps, the breeze or
wind, and anything else you can think of that might affect your
cooking.

When trying out different woods, rubs, etc, I would buy about a 14 lb
brisket for practice. I would take it home, and cut it lengthwise so
that I had equal representations of the point and the flat. It was
strangely shaped, but I was after the taste, not presentation.

With that in mind, I now had a 7 lb brisket that could easily be put
on mid morning on the weekend and be ready for dinner. With about a
10 hour cooking window I could keep tabs on EXACT details of what I
did to make it taste the way I wanted. It looked like a giant strip
steak when finished, but it gave me a manageable cooking time. I
often cooked the other half the next day for comparison.

As for your brisket that doesn't taste quite right to you now, if you
can't live with it, now is the time to get out the sauce. (Don't use
sauce on brisket unless it tastes bad to you.) This is your
opportunity to make some good, sloppy chopped beef sandwiches. Invite
a couple of buddies over, and they will wipe it all out fast.

Good luck on the next one, Denny. I like pig, ribs, and everything
else that comes off the pit. But to me the brisket is still the king,
worth every minute of time you put into learning how to make one that
you like.

Robert

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:05:59 -0600, "frohe"
wrote:


Forget the CYM and brown sugar; that's for butts.

Here's my brisket rub if you'd like to try it

frohe's Brisket Rub

6 parts black pepper

3 parts kosher salt

1 part garlic powder

1 part onion powder

1 part dried parsley

3 parts chili powder

1 part oregano

Combine all ingredients then rub on brisket

I think I'll first do Robert's suggestion (S&P, granulated
garlic)--that's how I season a steak, so can't see why I wouldn't like
brisket done that way.

Your rub is heavier on pepper than I'd care for, and I can do w/o the
chili powder. Unlike virtually every other Q-lover, I dislike heat in
my spicing--the Gaulden rub recipe calls for 1 TB cayenne; I use no
more than 1 tsp.

That said, I appreciate your posting the recipe.


Now what do I do with all of it?? It's only me here, and I've got 6
or so pounds of brisket.

Freeze what you don't plan to eat in the next few days.

That's pretty much what I had in mind--will take some to the GF
next weekend.

-denny-

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:46:07 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:26 pm, Denny Wheeler
wrote:

SNIP

[1] 'squunch' is a highly technical term. Somewhat like 'squeeze'
only different.

Occasionally, my SO uses the term "tump". This means to turn over.
So something can "tump over" be "tumped over", etc.

'Tump' isn't just your SO's word. It's colloquial in the South, per
my sources. (I was thinking it might have been a form of 'tumpline'
but it isn't)

Being in construction, a universally understood term is "wongo". This
can mean anything from not straight to tragically screwed up.
Strangely, everyone around here understands it.

I like it. Anywhere from 'just out of whack' to 'fubar'.

As far as the brisket goes, just a couple of thoughts. I don't put
sugar on beef except on rare occasions. If then, only a touch.
White sugars seem to burn very easily, and that could be what you are
tasting on your meat.

Brown sugar--I use the same rub on ribs and butts, with never the
first hint of bitterness.

Since you are starting on this road, I would take a step back and
start over. Try your brisket with a simple rub of 1 part salt, 1 part
coarse ground black pepper, and 1/2 part granulated garlic. Don't put
anything else on it, and cook it that way. Build your flavors from
that start point.

I damn near went that road--as I said to frohe, that's how I season
steak.

You will be surprised how good your meat will taste with only those
ingredients.

Bet I'm not (see comment about steak). g

Since you are cooking on propane, take a look at your flavoring wood.
Is it really seasoned? I have heard that green wood in the right
hands can be a good thing, but that isn't my experience by a long
shot. Make sure the wood is seasoned well, and the smoke that comes
from it is gray/blue, NOT white. White smoke will kill your meat by
covering it with creosote and other bitter resins.

WAY seasoned. The cherry and maple I got from Dave Bugg 2 years ago.
Can't detect any sign of greenness about the hickory. As to the color
of the smoke, on this cook I never did see the color--was on for dark
when I put the meat on, and didn't bother adding wood after daybreak
today.

Personally, I think folks put too much wood into those gas cookers to
compensate for the lack of wood or charcoal. It just isn't needed.
If your wood is seasoned, cut the amount back, and try one wood at a
time before you start mixing.

I have been known to get billowing smoke...

By a smaller brisket so you can smoke during the day and keep an eye
on the temps, the amount of smoke, the outside temps, the breeze or
wind, and anything else you can think of that might affect your
cooking.

This was the smallest I found. Well, it was the only one the store
had, actually. But 10 1/4 lb is pretty small for a packer, yes? For
sure I'll be cutting the next one up--aside from the 'fit the pit'
issue, there's the "it's only me and that's a lot of meat" issue.

As for your brisket that doesn't taste quite right to you now, if you
can't live with it, now is the time to get out the sauce. (Don't use
sauce on brisket unless it tastes bad to you.) This is your
opportunity to make some good, sloppy chopped beef sandwiches. Invite
a couple of buddies over, and they will wipe it all out fast.

The buddies I could invite over either are online friends, or people
who have problems with what they can eat.

But, having all this, and wanting to improve it, gives me a chance to
try various things on/with it.

Good luck on the next one, Denny. I like pig, ribs, and everything
else that comes off the pit. But to me the brisket is still the king,
worth every minute of time you put into learning how to make one that
you like.

Brisket's good, don't get me wrong--but for me, the #1 bbq meat is
spares.

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-
(not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)

On Apr 12, 9:30 pm, Denny Wheeler
wrote:


I damn near went that road--as I said to frohe, that's how I season
steak.

You will be surprised how good your meat will taste with only those
ingredients.

Bet I'm not (see comment about steak). g

Sounds like you have a lot of the basics handled, so all you need is
to sit down and isolate each aspect of what you are doing to the
meat. Sometimes, you have to start over. When I was learning to bake
bread, I must have baked about 100 loaves before I got the Italian
crust I was looking for. The devil was in the details, of course.

The cherry and maple I got from Dave Bugg 2 years ago.

Can't imagine DB steering you wrong.

Can't detect any sign of greenness about the hickory. As to the color
of the smoke, on this cook I never did see the color--was on for dark
when I put the meat on, and didn't bother adding wood after daybreak
today.

I don't cook on propane, so I am sure someone else's opinion would be
better on this than mine. Two years of seasoning would eliminate the
green wood idea, so now it is an application method. I know there are
methods to placing smoke boxes in the gas models but I don't know what
they are.

Personally, I think folks put too much wood into those gas cookers to
compensate for the lack of wood or charcoal. It just isn't needed.
If your wood is seasoned, cut the amount back, and try one wood at a
time before you start mixing.

I have been known to get billowing smoke...

Ooops.... regardless of your primary fuel, billowing smoke is not good
for any reason. It give that hard, acrid flavor that the creosotes
and resins give, not the mellow smoke a little gray blue plume will.
That could certainly be the culprit, and there is a large camp that
believes that if you put a very cold, large piece of meat that will
retain its cold temps (like a brisket) it will cause the hot, steamy
creosote to form on the cold meat.

But 10 1/4 lb is pretty small for a packer, yes? For
sure I'll be cutting the next one up--aside from the 'fit the pit'
issue, there's the "it's only me and that's a lot of meat" issue.

10 1/4 lbs... are you sure this wasn't a German Shepard? Just
kidding... that is a pretty small brisket!

The buddies I could invite over either are online friends, or people
who have problems with what they can eat.

Well, that sucks. Half the fun of smoking a chunk of meat is sharing
it with friends.

But, having all this, and wanting to improve it, gives me a chance to
try various things on/with it.

Absolutely. And as has been said many places and many times, one of
the best things about cooking is you get to eat your mistakes!

Brisket's good, don't get me wrong--but for me, the #1 bbq meat is
spares.

Spare what?

Kidding....

Hope you let us know here how your next effort turns out.

Robert

Denny Wheeler wrote:
On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:46:07 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:26 pm, Denny Wheeler
wrote:

SNIP

[1] 'squunch' is a highly technical term. Somewhat like 'squeeze'
only different.

Occasionally, my SO uses the term "tump". This means to turn over.
So something can "tump over" be "tumped over", etc.

'Tump' isn't just your SO's word. It's colloquial in the South, per
my sources. (I was thinking it might have been a form of 'tumpline'
but it isn't)

It is a Black pronunciation of the word "dumped"

As in " He tumped the wheelbarrow over)

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:58:48 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 9:30 pm, Denny Wheeler
wrote:


I damn near went that road--as I said to frohe, that's how I season
steak.

You will be surprised how good your meat will taste with only those
ingredients.

Bet I'm not (see comment about steak). g

Sounds like you have a lot of the basics handled, so all you need is
to sit down and isolate each aspect of what you are doing to the
meat. Sometimes, you have to start over. When I was learning to bake
bread, I must have baked about 100 loaves before I got the Italian
crust I was looking for. The devil was in the details, of course.

The cherry and maple I got from Dave Bugg 2 years ago.

Can't imagine DB steering you wrong.

He didn't--that wood came from the stacks alongside his Q joint. I've
used bits of it over the time I've had it--and I'm about out. Time to
watch the local fruit trees. :-)

Can't detect any sign of greenness about the hickory. As to the color
of the smoke, on this cook I never did see the color--was on for dark
when I put the meat on, and didn't bother adding wood after daybreak
today.

I don't cook on propane...so now it is an application method. I know there are
methods to placing smoke boxes in the gas models but I don't know what
they are.

No smoke box--this isn't a propane grill, it's a bullet. I *can*
grill on it, but when I do, I use lump and remove the center section.
Just above the burner is a large steel plate, with some vent
slots--that's where the wood goes when I smoke, and where the lump
goes when I grill. Pan (was water, now sand) goes above that, then
the usual two round grates.
(Masterbuilt 7-in-1. I could, if I bought the right big pot, use the
stand & burner as a turkey fryer. I won't, but I could.

I have been known to get billowing smoke...

Ooops.... regardless of your primary fuel, billowing smoke is not good
for any reason. It give that hard, acrid flavor that the creosotes
and resins give, not the mellow smoke a little gray blue plume will.
That could certainly be the culprit, and there is a large camp that
believes that if you put a very cold, large piece of meat that will
retain its cold temps (like a brisket) it will cause the hot, steamy
creosote to form on the cold meat.

Wasn't all that cold--left it out for 45 min. before I lit the fire,
so it was about an hour at room temp before it went in. On the 'way
too much smoke' topic, I've had good results with butts and ribs even
with more smoke than I probably should get. Will be cutting down the
amount of wood I use, though.

Well, that sucks. Half the fun of smoking a chunk of meat is sharing
it with friends.

Yeah, I'm sure. I enjoy the cooking and the eating--and I've never
been unhappy with folks liking what I've cooked... g

"Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
winds up persecuting someone else."
-Philip Pullman
--
-denny-
(not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)