"Dave Bugg" > wrote in message
...
> Kent wrote:
>> After reading a bunch of reports from those who have roasted a corned
>> beef brisket, I decided to have a go at it on my recently acquired
>> Weber Smokey Mountain. First, I soaked the brisket in water for six
>> hours, changing the water halfway through the soak. Then onto the top
>> grate of the WSM. The water pan was not used. To have indirect heat a
>> pizza stone on top of a foiled pizza pan fit relatively snugly onto
>> the water pan receptacle. Using the Minion mode, the temp. held
>> stable between 250-275F throughout the seven hour cook. At this point
>> the internal temp of the brisket was 180F.
>
> OK, now I see what the first post I received was talking about. Was the
> corned beef a point or a flat? A flat will cook out a whole lot drier. I
> hate flats by themselves, they are a bit trickier to cook. Corned beef
> should not be talked about as being the same as a non-corned brisket. In
> my experience they are different animals in the pit. For all any of us
> knows, the cut of corned beef you had would have dried out with the merest
> of a hard glare applied to it. When I bbq a corned beef, I am VERY picky
> about what goes into the pit, and I can rarely count on the grocer to come
> up with a good cut..... too small, too thin a fat cap, too lean a cut,
> etc. If I soak the corned beef, I also change the water at least every
> hour.
>
> The moisture in meat cannot be conserved by the medium it is cooked in or
> surrounded by. The intra and extra-cellular moisture will be driven out of
> the meat, under pressure, when it is cooking. The driest meat I have ever
> experienced is found in my mom's beef and gravy dish. She boils the cut-up
> beef chunks to cook them. God help you if you were to take a bite of the
> meat right out of the pot; it would proceed to suck the saliva and other
> body fluids from your body like some evil, mutant sponge, in its failed
> attempt to regain the moisture that the boiling in water removed.
> <shudder>
>
> I'd say the best advice I can give is for you to get your chops doing big
> packer briskets (IMPS, Beef Brisket 120). Once you feel like you've got
> that under control (ie, you get the feel of how brisket responds to time
> and temp with the flats and points), do the more advanced stuff. I know
> that it seems silly, but it's a bit like wanting to run before you know
> how to crawl.
>
> --
> Dave
> What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
> you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan
>
Dave, thanks for your reply. It was a point, though probably a bit on the
lean side. I think as well that corned beef must be treated is a different
meat than plain beef. I'm wondering if commercially corned beef can be
cooked successfully "low and slow". I wondered throughout this how you would
or could barbecue dry cured ham in this same fashion. Have you ever tried
that?

Kent