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Smoked brisket- fat side up or down?


idahorn

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I have done several fat side up briskets on my BGE with a rub and a vinegar-broth+ mop.  They turned out great.  A friend has a Komode Joe and insists on fat side down.  There could well be other factors involved, but the flat on his brisket seemed a bit dry to me.  Five of us ordered some 'Q two weeks in advance from Franklin in Austin back in October.  I was real nice to the cashier lady and she asked if we would like to visit the smoker room!!  I asked the guy in charge of the smoking that day about fat up or down and he said it depends upon whether you are after taste (up) or health (down).

The Egg type cookers are not purely indirect heat (like Franklin) but should be buffered with what BGE calls a 'plate setter' and a water pan (?).  I wanted to do an A/B comparison with my friend, with two briskets and the only variable being the fat location, but the various schedules didn't work out (we are talking about game-watching opportunities).  My friend's KJ is huge so we could do two at a time.  Hopefully next year.

Anyway, I am soliciting opinions from this board.

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Off to the Surly start that I would expect (and know and love). Ida, I am as far from an expert as there could be, but in my limited experience (and attempt at a somewhat serious answer), fat-side up has always made a significant difference in keeping the meat (all types) more tender and flavorful. <Insert my/South Austin's mom joke here>

Edited by smoothlonghorn
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5 hours ago, idahorn said:

I asked the guy in charge of the smoking that day about fat up or down and he said it depends upon whether you are after taste (up) or health (down).

I think he was fucking with you, or just giving you a completely bullshit answer since he's so tired of answering that question. 

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Tree fiddy: The mop is composed of cider vinegar, beef broth, peanut oil, garlic powder, chile powder, paprika, dry mustard,  ground bay leaf, Tabasco, and Lea & Perrins.  Very thin consistency; I could probably spray it on and may try that next time to reduce loss of the rub. My opinion is that the vinegar helps to dissolve the fat.

My rub is 2 parts each black pepper and paprika, 1 part salt.  All that is followed by a table sauce that takes me back to the 1950's-I got the recipes from Linda West Eckhardt's The Only Texas Cookbook.  Key ingredients there are the dry mustard and vinegar.  The result has plenty of whang. Also works on country style pork ribs barbecued 'cowboy style' on raft trips.

I use the water pan as a heat sink, actually have a sheet pan beneath the meat which is on a roasting rack.  May have some liquid smoke somewhere in the back of the pantry, but I can't remember when I may have used it.

I don't have a sous vide, but I got one for my son for Christmas last year.

Edited by idahorn
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3 hours ago, idahorn said:

Tree fiddy: The mop is composed of cider vinegar, beef broth, peanut oil, garlic powder, chile powder, paprika, dry mustard,  ground bay leaf, Tabasco, and Lea & Perrins.  Very thin consistency; I could probably spray it on and may try that next time to reduce loss of the rub. My opinion is that the vinegar helps to dissolve the fat.

My rub is 2 parts each black pepper and paprika, 1 part salt.  All that is followed by a table sauce that takes me back to the 1950's-I got the recipes from Linda West Eckhardt's The Only Texas Cookbook.  Key ingredients there are the dry mustard and vinegar.  The result has plenty of whang. Also works on country style pork ribs barbecued 'cowboy style' on raft trips.

I use the water pan as a heat sink, actually have a sheet pan beneath the meat which is on a roasting rack.  May have some liquid smoke somewhere in the back of the pantry, but I can't remember when I may have used it.

I don't have a sous vide, but I got one for my son for Christmas last year.

This would seem to be the opposite of a minimalist effort.

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18 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Wait, you're not supposed to flip it every five minutes?

Yeah and also pro tip: just go ahead and leave the lid open between flips.  Really no need to keep opening and closing it.  I‘ve found it becomes a huge beating by about hour 2 when you have to keep opening and closing the damn lid.  Much easier to just leave it open.

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21 hours ago, idahorn said:

Tree fiddy: The mop is composed of cider vinegar, beef broth, peanut oil, garlic powder, chile powder, paprika, dry mustard,  ground bay leaf, Tabasco, and Lea & Perrins.  Very thin consistency; I could probably spray it on and may try that next time to reduce loss of the rub. My opinion is that the vinegar helps to dissolve the fat.

My rub is 2 parts each black pepper and paprika, 1 part salt.  All that is followed by a table sauce that takes me back to the 1950's-I got the recipes from Linda West Eckhardt's The Only Texas Cookbook.  Key ingredients there are the dry mustard and vinegar.  The result has plenty of whang. Also works on country style pork ribs barbecued 'cowboy style' on raft trips.

I use the water pan as a heat sink, actually have a sheet pan beneath the meat which is on a roasting rack.  May have some liquid smoke somewhere in the back of the pantry, but I can't remember when I may have used it.

I don't have a sous vide, but I got one for my son for Christmas last year.

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On 12/7/2019 at 3:50 PM, idahorn said:

I have done several fat side up briskets on my BGE with a rub and a vinegar-broth+ mop.  They turned out great.  A friend has a Komode Joe and insists on fat side down.  There could well be other factors involved, but the flat on his brisket seemed a bit dry to me.  Five of us ordered some 'Q two weeks in advance from Franklin in Austin back in October.  I was real nice to the cashier lady and she asked if we would like to visit the smoker room!!  I asked the guy in charge of the smoking that day about fat up or down and he said it depends upon whether you are after taste (up) or health (down).

The Egg type cookers are not purely indirect heat (like Franklin) but should be buffered with what BGE calls a 'plate setter' and a water pan (?).  I wanted to do an A/B comparison with my friend, with two briskets and the only variable being the fat location, but the various schedules didn't work out (we are talking about game-watching opportunities).  My friend's KJ is huge so we could do two at a time.  Hopefully next year.

Anyway, I am soliciting opinions from this board.

generally it depends.  I have a tejas smoker with a center fire box with a water reservoir between the heat fire box and the smoking chamber.  If I had to do them one way I would simply do them fat down to act as another barrier between the heat source and the meat.  What I actually do it rotate it and flip it every hour to ensure an even cooking, and no one side exposed to any potential pit falls too soon.  The whole thought that the "fat side up, the fat melts through the meat keeping it moist" is mostly bullshit according to John Fullilove.  

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