Yet another brisket for me...

[va_rider]

Just a quick post today... I had a ~16LB brisket in the fridge, and chopped off the first 10-12 inches to make a pastrami. So, with the remaining, went ahead and fired up a brisket yesterday. The remaining piece was 5lbs, 10oz. I think this was brisket number 9 or 10 since I bought the #2 in June.

I put it on at 5AM yesterday morning with 3 chunks of pecan, and it was feeling like jelly at about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. I really love doing briskets on the #2. It's so easy. Yesterday was also a bit of an experiment for me as the ambient temps were in the 30's. I was concerned about the box holding heat with ambients that low, but I soon saw that I had no reason to worry. After going on at 5, by the time I woke up my oldest boy and got downstairs for Sunday morning cartoons, the meat was already about to hit 160.

I did a coating with tenderquick, let it sit for about 2 hours, rinsed it, coated in mustard then applied a rub of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, Malabar Pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. It was still a little overkill on the tenderquick. I think I need to take that down to less than an hour, even on big briskets.

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[gregbooras]

Aaron,

Nice looking bark, but I think maybe 10-15 minutes with the quick tender and then a rinse.

Greg

[SuperDave]

I have a suspicion that the tenderquick seals the surface of the meat and doesn't allow any rub penetration.  Anyone else have thoughts on that?

[SconnieQ]

Are the photos of your plain brisket? Or are they of the pastrami? If it is pastrami, then I would say it needed a longer cure. If they are of your brisket, then I'd say, nitrites/nitrates gone wild! My last brisket went 6.5 hours with a Tender Quick dusting, and ended up with about a 1/4 inch faux smoke ring.

Did you brine your brisket first? Possibly using Tender Quick or Prague Powder #1 (pink salt) in the brine? And then add the Tender Quick after brining?

[DivotMaker]

I have a suspicion that the tenderquick seals the surface of the meat and doesn't allow any rub penetration.  Anyone else have thoughts on that?

No different than a brine.  The salt modifies the protein molecules, and the surface, and, as you said, "seals" the surface of the meat.  Besides, you won't get much rub penetration anyways, unless you rub/wrap/rest in the fridge for several hours. 

[BedouinBob]

Well Aaron, that just looks good.

[va_rider]

Are the photos of your plain brisket? Or are they of the pastrami? If it is pastrami, then I would say it needed a longer cure. If they are of your brisket, then I'd say, nitrites/nitrates gone wild! My last brisket went 6.5 hours with a Tender Quick dusting, and ended up with about a 1/4 inch faux smoke ring.

Did you brine your brisket first? Possibly using Tender Quick or Prague Powder #1 (pink salt) in the brine? And then add the Tender Quick after brining?

Yes, it's the plain brisket. The Pastrami is still in the brine. Day 3 so far. Here's how the brisket went down: I cut off the section I'm using for pastrami, cleaned it up and put it in the fridge until I could make the brine. I trimmed the remaining piece down to remove some large veins of fat running through it, then shook on about 1 TBSP of tenderquick over the surface and rubbed it in. I then wen to the grocery store and found some pickling spices and whatnot to make the brine for the pastrami. I was gone maybe an hour. Then, upon returning from the store, I rinsed off the brisket (the one to remain a brisket) very well under running water in the kitchen sink. Rinse time for about 5 minutes. I then patted it dry and applied mustard and the rub, wrapped it in saran wrap and tossed it in the fridge overnight. Tossed it onto the smoker at 225 at 5AM with 3 chunks of pecan, at a 34º ambient outdoor temp.

[SuperDave]

Aaron,
It sounds like the overnight is what did you in, not the hour.  The tenderquick was already in the meat fibers as opposed to just rinsing off the surface. 

[va_rider]

Even though the rinse was after an hour? The overnight was just the salt/pepper/garlic/onion powder rub... not TQ.

[SuperDave]

Even though the rinse was after an hour? The overnight was just the salt/pepper/garlic/onion powder rub... not TQ.

I think the curing process that started during that hour continued to cure after the rinse.  You rinsed the TQ off the surface, not below the surface.  I'd be willing to guarantee that if the brisket had went in the smoker right after the rinse it wouldn't have looked anything like that. 

[SconnieQ]

Aaron,
It sounds like the overnight is what did you in, not the hour.  The tenderquick was already in the meat fibers as opposed to just rinsing off the surface.

+1. Agreed that even though you rinsed off the TenderQuick, the cure already in the meat fibers continued to penetrate the meat in the fridge overnight. Sounds like the TenderQuick step should be done right before smoking.

When I did mine, I just did the TenderQuick for 6.5 hours, rinse, apply rub (low-salt), then directly into the smoker. 1/4 inch faux smoke ring.

When using the TenderQuick faux smoke ring method, I can see the challenge/dilemma as to how, and when to get "flavor" into the meat. If you brine (using plain salt and no curing salt), then adding the TenderQuick step at the end might make it too salty. If you rub in advance, and leave overnight, you are going to have to rinse off the rub, then reapply after the TenderQuick.

[va_rider]

so, I should do a quick dusting in TQ, let it sit 20-30 minutes, then rinse it off, rub it down and smoke it?

[SuperDave]

My last brisket went 6.5 hours with a Tender Quick dusting, and ended up with about a 1/4 inch faux smoke ring.

Aaron,
Since this whole smoke ring thing is a personal preference and nothing more than visual, it will take some experimenting on your part.  If 1/4" ring sounds right to you, it sounds like dusting it right before you go to bed might work for a 5 a.m. smoke start.  1/4" is a little too thick for my liking so maybe a light dusting for 3 hours would be what I would use, if I was motivated to do a faux ring. 

[SconnieQ]

Last time Tender Quick + 6.5 hours gave me a 1/4 inch ring. Tony (DM) also did either 6 or 7 hours and also reported a 1/4 inch ring. I agree that 1/4 inch is a little larger than what I'm going for, so I'm going to go 3-4 hours next time. I think the issue for you was that the cure had a chance to penetrate further overnight, even though you rinsed it off after an hour.

If you TQ or 20-30 minutes, rinse, rub, and smoke, you won't get anything. I would suggest for your next brisket, to TQ for 3-4 hours, rinse, rub, smoke. Just don't have too much time between the TQ and the smoke, or the ring will expand.

[DivotMaker]

I agree that the extra time in the fridge is absolutely what did it!  A few hours of TQ, then rinse, rub, smoke immediately.  No need to let the rub penetrate, it you use a nitrate agent first, or it will continue to work.