Just got my first smoker

[*michaelsean*]

(03-22-2021, 11:55 AM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: The weather was beautiful here on Saturday (low-70s), so I got my smoke in before the next snow rolled through yesterday (I've got 8" on the ground currently --- gotta love Denver springs!).  

I smoked as usual, but added some tallow when wrapping.  Here are my results:

• The brisket bark was softer as a result of the added fat mingling with it instead of just rendering inside. The exception were the corners which didn't touch the paper directly and had crunchy/dry bark.  
• The brisket itself was very moist, but I don't know that it was any more moist than what I normally would get.  I've never had an issue with a dry brisket, but was wondering if this technique might push it over the edge.  Particularly the flat with less marbled fat.  I didn't feel it made a significant difference, though I only smoked one so couldn't really A/B them and I'm just going off memory of what I typically smoke.  
  

Now it was just one experiment and to be honest when I started trimming the brisket Friday night I had already decided it wasn't going to be the best brisket (only able to grab a Choice, and though you can make a mighty fine Choice brisket, the reality for me is that they're just never quite as good, especially in the flat, as a Prime).  The results in the end were about what I thought they'd be.  I'm looking forward to trying again before too terribly long, however.  

I will say that I've been giving some thought the other supposed Franklin method of high-humidity oven.  I haven't tried it at all, but thinking about it while I smoked and ate the brisket over the weekend, I don't necessarily like it.  I think I'd run into the same issue I had this weekend of a soft bark from all the moisture.  Additionally, if you have a leaner brisket so there's less fat to render, it won't end up any more "moist" in the end, just "wet" (and I would consider them as two separate things).  

So I guess I see it as two different approaches, depending on what you're dealing with.  If you have a super well marbled brisket and need to keep it warm for hours on end, using a high humidity oven would prevent it from drying out, and you'd already have the rendered fat to make it moist.  If the brisket has less fat inside of it, adding some tallow (or butter or other fat) will help add moisture.

Also, I made some Oklahoma style onion burgers last week and cooked them in tallow and wooooow, they were amazing.

Thanks for the update.    I will say, that on the advertisement for Franklin's master Class, he is definitely squirting something on  butcher  paper.  It's pretty quick, so I don't know exactly what's going on.  The onion burgers sound really good.

Quick question.  How would you warm up a whole brisket?  I've got a couple of big ones, and since I don't want to get up in the middle of the night again, I'll probably be looking at finishing somewhere between 10:00 and midnight then just stashing the brisket (still wrapped) in a cooler or something overnight.  Can you just put it in the over at 250 until you hit 140 or 150?

Btw I now have to do fire management on my pellet.  Occasionally the thermometer loses its mind and starts climbing 5 degrees every few seconds, so I have to spray it with water before the machine shuts down due to overheating which isn't really happening.   I have one of those meat probes hanging out so I have an idea of what the real temperature is, so then if I want it hotter, I have to dial it in to hotter than what the thermometer thinks it is and vice versa for cooler.  Then all of a sudden the thermometer just bounces back to where it should be.  It's actually kind of fun except for the fact that I just bought the damn think in Oct. Certainly a big advantage of a stick burner. You aren't relying on electrical and mechanical devices.