The week since I last posted was mostly routine, nothing too special. At least it was until Thursday. I played pickleball in the morning with the 3.5 group and planned to head to Costco before lunch. I wanted to look for a beef brisket flat. I thought about getting another tri-tip, but Donna thought I should smoke a brisket. She was right, as usual. It’s been a while since I’ve done a brisket in the Traeger.
My last game Thursday morning changed my plan. On the last shot of the final game, my opponent hit a lob to the back right corner of the court. I beat feet from my position on the left side of the court, caught up with ball as it bounced and twisted my body to the left to make the return shot. When I did this, it felt like an electric jolt ran through my spine. I limped home after the game.
A trip to Costco was out. I was afraid if I got into the Midget, I wouldn’t be able to get out. I popped a 500 milligram naproxen tablet that I had left over from a previous injury and sat outside with a heating pad on my lower back. After dinner, I took an Aleve pill and wasn’t good for much.
Friday morning I felt better, and took another naproxen with breakfast. By 11am, I was feeling pretty good and decided to make the Costco run and check out the briskets there. Once again, the Costco foot traffic was fairly light. I didn’t expect this a week before Christmas. I think the lack of snowbirds from Canada is having an effect.
Costco had whole packer briskets in the 16- to 20-pound range and flats cut in the seven- to nine-pound range. This was way more than I wanted to buy – it’s just Donna and me. The brisket was USDA Choice and I think it was $6.79/lb. They had USDA Prime tri-tips, but I passed on them and thought I would go to Chuck’s Fine Meats again and see what he had. I wrote about USDA meat grades in this post and everything you ever wanted to know about brisket here.
At Chuck’s, I found USDA Prime brisket flats. The butcher selected a four and a 1/2-pound hunk of flat (HOF) for me. I don’t recall ever seeing USDA Prime brisket before. It wasn’t cheap at $10/pound. Back at home I found it needed very little trimming – they had already trimmed most of the fat cap to less than a quarter of an inch. I seasoned it with the Kinder’s Blend – salt, pepper and dehydrated garlic granules – wrapped it in cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator. I didn’t do much of anything else Friday. I wanted to rest my back. Meanwhile, Donna played pickleball in the morning and tennis in the afternoon.
Saturday morning, I filled the hopper of the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker grill with CookinPellets Perfect Mix – a blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple and apple wood pellets – and fired up the Traeger. I put the brisket HOF on at 8:30am on the smoke setting. I mixed up a mop sauce to baste the brisket. I used a base of eight ounces of Pepsi cola and added two ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I used Pepsi as a base instead of the usual beer because I wanted to add some sugar for the bark. I spritzed the brisket every hour with the mop sauce from a spray bottle.
I left it on the smoke setting for two hours, but I wasn’t getting much heat. The pit temperature was only about 150 degrees, so I increased the temperature to 180 for the next hour. Then I stepped it up to 225 and continued to spritz the meat every hour. At 1:30pm, I checked the brisket with an instant read thermometer in the thickest part and found the internal temperature to be 150 degrees. I checked it again at 2:30pm and found it was stalled at 169 degrees. I pulled the brisket off the smoker and double wrapped it in foil, basted it heavily and put it back inside.
I didn’t open the smoker again until 4pm when I carefully peeled back an opening in the foil and checked it again with the instant read thermometer – I was close, it read 191 degrees. I closed it up and waited another 25 minutes. When I checked it at 4:25pm, it read 201 degrees. Perfect!
Next I bundled the foil-wrapped brisket in a heavy towel and packed it away in the microwave/convection oven. I didn’t turn the oven on, I just wanted to pack the insulated brisket in a confined space so it would hold its temperature for a long while. It would re-absorb some of the moisture in the foil while it slowly cooled. Meanwhile, Donna cooked red potatoes and made southern fried cabbage with bacon. After resting for an hour and a half, I pulled the brisket out of the oven and opened the foil. It was still steaming hot and the bottom of the foil held about a cup and a half of au jus from the rendered fats and collagen.
Donna calls the au jus “gravy.” That works for me. I sliced the thin part of the flat off – I’ll cube it for use in other dishes later – then I confirmed the grain direction so I could slice across the grain. This was the most tender hunk of brisket I’ve ever encountered.
The brisket displayed a beautiful pink, or magenta, smoke ring penetrating a quarter-inch or more into the meat. It was absolutely delicious and tender – there was no need for steak knives. We cut it on the plate with regular table knives. Donna had a glass of California merlot while I paired my dinner with Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish ale. I have about a cup of au jus leftover and plenty of brisket for sandwiches and whatever else Donna comes up with. I guess the premium price for USDA Prime at Chuck’s Fine Meats is worth it.
The weather has been on the cool side. We’ve had daily highs in the low to mid 60s with overnight lows down to the upper 30s the last couple of nights. A warming trend should begin today and we’ll see mid 70s again if the forecast holds true. I’ll take it easy again today and hit the pickleball 3.5+ round-robin tomorrow.
Have a safe and merry Christmas. That reminds me – Christmas presents. Sometimes I’m at a loss to think of a good present for Donna. I still have a few days!
*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!