Show us what you're cooking...

[TheRicker]

Postlude: finished off the rest of the salmon tonite in a salad. It was great; lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumber, grated hard-boiled egg and salmon. I put honey mustard on mine, the lady of the house prefers blue cheese.

View attachment 22181

I don’t see grated hard boiled egg on salads so much anymore. I love it.

Thanks for the pic. Very nice looking salad.

Maybe I’m in a rut. I’d prefer honey mustard on a salad like that and prefer a blue cheese if I’m having steak/beef with my salad.

 

[Jim6820]

I don’t see grated hard boiled egg on salads so much anymore. I love it.

Thanks for the pic. Very nice looking salad.

Maybe I’m in a rut. I’d prefer honey mustard on a salad like that and prefer a blue cheese if I’m having steak/beef with my salad.

For me, the dressing choice is easy as I don’t care for blue cheese. Never have. That has been one of the few enduring disagreements in our 60+ year marriage.

 

[TheRicker]

Just bought my first prime grade brisket at US Foods here in CHS. Same price as Costco ($4.99/lb) but with a better selection.

I’m nervous about trimming it. It’s a 17.5 lbs. I think I may end up with a 13-14 lb’er by time I finish the prep. Couple of big chunks of the hard, white fat (deckle?). I’ve trimmed only 1 before. I had my butcher trim the first one I cooked.

Game plan is to prep it around midday Wednesday. I’ll season it and wrap in plastic then refrigerate it till I put it on around 10pm Wednesday night. I’ll do the same with the two pork butts. I’m gonna cook at 200/225 F. I’m going to set my alarm to wake at 6am. I’ll check to see if I’m at/near 160 F. When it gets there, I’ll wrap and finish it at 275 F. When the meat temp gets around 200-203 F, I’ll start probing for tenderness. Once tender, I’ll put a towel around it and put it / them (pork butts too) in the big cooler to rest til we eat at 5pm.

I’ll have temp probes in all the meats and will get up sooner if needed.

I’m kind of unsure if I want the overnight portion of the cook at 200 F or 225 F…or something in between. I’ve not cooked so much meat at once…good size brisket and two (about 10-lb each) butts. Seems like I cooked butts only at 200 F last time. I can’t find my notes.

This is also my first big cook with my PCS Rackworks shelves…other than rib slabs. I’m planning to put the brisket on the middle shelf with the fat side up. The two butts will be below it and my hope is they’ll keep the bottom of the brisket from drying out. When I’ve cooked brisket before, it was on the grates fat side down. So I’m wading into new waters with this cook.

Yall have a couple of days to offer any suggestions.

Here’s a pic of the packaged brisket, I’ll pickup the butts Wednesday morning. My meat guy at Publix is setting a couple aside for me when his truck comes in Tuesday/night.

.

 

[Jim6820]

Just a personal preference here, but I never wrap a brisket (or any protein) in plastic wrap overnight. The rub will pull out moisture and it pools in the bottom of the wrap. Instead, I do my overnight dry brine in a foil pan with small rack in the bottom. This provides a place for any moisture to collect away from the protein. I do loosely cover the foil pan/protein with foil, however. Just my procedure and yours might work just fine.

As for trimming the prime brisket, you don’t need to get too aggressive. Just trim the hard fat to about 1/4” and remove any silver skin and loose pieces of protein. I like to shape the flat end a bit to provide rounded corners rather than sharp ones. That helps prevent the corners from burning. You can elect to cut out the deckle between the point and flat, or not. Unless it is really thick, I usually leave it. YMMV

Have a blast with your cook!

 

[Waterboy]

When I cook overnight at 200 the cook takes forever. You should be fine at 225. Even if the brisket is at 170-175 in the morning (my guess is you’ll be in the 150s) it won’t hurt. Lots of times I don’t wrap until around 180. It all depends on the color and how much moisture or dryness I’m seeing.

Bottom line is take until it’s probe tender and everything will be fine. Good luck!

 

[Greg Jones]

I’m far from an expert on brisket cooking, but I’m a pretty aggressive trimmer myself. I want that brisket to be as smooth and streamlined as possible, with no thin parts that are just going to burn up anyway. As for cooking overnight, I’d second the recommendation from @Waterboy.

 

[Buckeye1]

Bacon wrapped walleye
Back loin ribs with Corky’s rub and bbq sauce