Kosher Blog

Start with a colder brisket, trim a little more of the fat cap, and a lower heat, and you should be able to increase the width of the smoke ring significantly. If you’re using a water pan, you should be able to get away with as little as 1/8-3/16″ of fat cap. And taking off the point allows the smoke to better penetrate the flat. I often like the flavor and texture of the properly smoked point better than the flat, but they’ll judge you on the flat, and it’s nicer to have the ring all around.

I’m perfectly happy with the thickness of that ring. FYI, there was a water pan, and that is just the point-cut. I saved the flat for my next attempt. And ASBEE judging isn’t a set process – it’s mostly a matter of hoping the judges’ taste matches my flavors.

It’s a nice ring, don’t get me wrong. Just thinking of ways to maximize it. I don’t usually have such thick pieces of brisket from the flat, much less the point. On the contrary, the way the grain runs on the point, I generally have very long, thin pieces, since it runs the width rather than the length of the point, and the opposite with the flat. Did you halve the point prior to smoking it, so that the pieces look extra thick in the picture?

You have sharp eyes. I did cut the point in quarters before I sliced it thinly – the slices in the lower half of the picture don’t have a ring on all sides. The piece in the top half of the picture was probably the “point” of the point. When slicing against the grain I angle the cuts pretty sharply, to maximize the slices.

I’d also like to report that I’m getting my feet a little wetter in the smoking department. I picked up a Brinkman electric smoker at Lowes on Sunday, at a very nice discount (less than $60). It’s nowhere near professional grade, but it makes cooking on my roof very convenient!

In my fridge, I had a nice slab of fresh Texas ribs from Gordon & Alperin, and my buddy brought over a defrosted Vineland duck. After some moderate preparation, both went into the smoker wtih some hickory chunks, and four hours later I had my best ribs yet. Plus, I had no idea how much I’d love smoked duck … it was tremendous.

Plenty of areas to improve though … my dry rub on the ribs could’ve been punchier, and a touch sweeter. And while they weren’t tough, the ribs could’ve smoked for a little while longer (these were mammoth ribs). The duck was delicious, but despite pricking the skin and melting some fat off with boiling water, the skin didn’t crisp up… perhaps some higher heat in the oven at the end would do the trick.

BS”D
Yes, poultry skin turns out leathery, but tasty, in a smoker. Put a very light coating of oil on it and set it in the highest oven heat for the shortest amount of time you can get away with, and you can crisp up the skin without overcooking the poultry. I don’t bother- just eat the skin as-is. Too much trouble to crisp the skin, and everyone raves about it anyway. I haven’t done a duck, ’cause they’re so expensive, but chicken is fair game, and I do them a lot. The other poultry I do alot is turkey breast. I somewhat modified the recipe I got from Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook for Smoked Turkey Breast in Alabama White BBQ Sauce (pg 108)(I like the rub a lot less sweet and hotter and more pungent, and I also modify the white sauce). It’s an outstanding recipe the way it’s written, though, works 100% of the time, and always gets rave reviews. Ray Lampe really knows what he’s doing.

I forget if I heard it on Good Eats or in Cook’s Illustrated, but isn’t the smoke ring just a side effect of volatile compounds that are emitted by charcoal? Does it really effect the flavor or texture?

Craig – I feel the same way about that recipe. I said as much in my review of the book :)
jabbet – Indeed, it’s just window dressing. The smoke ring tastes like the rest of the meat.

Jabbett:

It’s just a chemical reaction between the myoglobin in the muscle and compouds in the smoke. Doesn’t affect flavor or texture, but it looks so nice. It only happens below a certain temperature, so the smoke theoretically can penetrate even further, but won’t result in a greater ring.

Sweinberger:

So you did. I never read your review, or even knew it existed. My wife bought me the book, and I read the whole thing front to back. Then, there was a good price on kosher turkey breasts at Trader Joes’s, so my wife bought a bunch of them,and then we couldn’t freeze them all, it was Thursday afternoon and so Shabbos was coming up, and I remembered the recipe, and so I made 3 breasts for Shabbos to rave reviews. This was last Fall, so your review long preceeded my first attempt at the recipe, and the subsequent modifications to taste. Be that as it may, my reaction to the recipe was completely independent from yours. There. 2 independent thumbs up for the recipe and the book.