Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef

Brisket is a tough meat to master for many competition and backyard cooks. You may or may not have noticed that brisket can have different grades from the USDA.  Below are the grades you may run into and a quick course in the differences.

Select Grade: This is the second lowest grade of brisket I have seen available. There are lower grades such as standard, cutter, etc.  These cuts contain the least amount of fat and will be firmer. Do not use these in competitions if you can avoid it. These are usually seen in grocery stores.

Choice Grade: This is the most common grade you will see and the most used grade in competition. Sam’s, Costco, and many butchers will carry these.  They will have more marbling than select and standard.  It is very important use the basic factors such as size, thickness, marbling and feel to find the correct choice brisket. They all may be labeled Choice, but some are clearly better.

Prime:  This is actually a choice brisket that has received the highest mark of the choice cuts. Typically they will have a little more marbling and will have a softer feel to them.  If you keep your eyes peeled, they are often mixed in with the Choice grades  at Sam’s and Costco. Look fat side of the packaging and you will see a USDA Prime stamp. You can talk to the butcher and the above resources and they can order prime for you.

Wagyu- Referred to as the American Kobe beef.  The USDA does not grade Wagyu.  It’s actually a different breed of cow originating from Japan and uses a different grading system. The Kobe breed of cattle used in these cuts produce a well-marbled brisket. The biggest deterrent is price. They can be up to 5x the price of the above briskets, and often you have to pay a hefty shipping cost as they need to ship refrigerated. We cooked a few of these and they produce a slightly different taste and seem to cook faster. If you can cook them correctly, they are just fine. However, reports of low scores using Wagyu are common, due to unfamiliarity of the judges and the difficulty to cook.

CAB Certified Briskets:  Beef branded as Certified Angus Beef® has a higher amount of marbling and an exceptionally tender, juicy flavor. Only some USDA Prime beef and top grades of USDA Choice beef are sold under this brand name.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef

Here is a quick post on a great way to cook a prime rib PERFECTLY…just in time for the holidays! 

First, when purchasing a Prime Rib, consider all of this:

1. Purchase a bone in prime rib roast
2. Have the butcher ‘Chine’ the roast, which is to ask the butcher to mostly cut the bones from the roast for easy separation after cooking.  After the butcher chines the roast, he should tie it back together with some string
3. You can feed (2) people per bone in the prime rib roast.  In other words, a 3 bone rib roast will feed 6, 4 will feed 8 and so on.  A full prime rib roast is usually around 7 bones. 
4. If you are feeding a large crowd, estimate that you can feed 14 people per full prime rib roast.

Here’s the roast we picked:

Ingredients for paste and rub (this is for a 4 bone roast…adjust accordingly):

• 1 8oz tub of whipped butter
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 cup of course ground black pepper
• 1 cup of course ground sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/4 cup or rosemary 

Prepping and Seasoning the Prime Rib Roast:

Get the meat up to room temp.  6 hours on the counter, loosley wrapped in plastic wrap should do.  This is a very critical step.  If it’s a larger roast – you might need 7 or 8 hours.

While the roast is coming up to room temperature, you can prepare your paste and seasonings

In an electric chopper or food processor, chop 5 or 6  large cloves of garlic from the garlic head.  Once finely chopped, add the butter and whip it all together and set aside

In a large bowl, blend the pepper and salt so it becomes a nice even mixture, then spread out the mixture on a large cooking sheet and set aside.

When the rib roast is up to room temperature, evenly spread the butter and garlic mixture onto the entire roast…almost like you are frosting a cake

Grab your cookie sheet of salt and pepper mixture and take the ‘frosted’ rib roast and roll it around in the mixture until all sides are covered evenly with salt and pepper.  A thick coat is what you should have…covering the meat entirely.  Then set the roast in a roasting pan, bone side down and cover the top with rosemary.

Cooking Method:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and wait an extra 15 minutes after the pre-heat timer goes off….basically – you want the oven to be lava hot.

Some ovens go all the way up to 550, some 500 and some only to 450.  In general, this rule should work, but might need a slight adjustment.  My oven goes to 500 degrees. 

Multiply the weight of the meat times 5 and write down the exact number. This will give you the amount of time to leave it in the oven at 500 degrees.  5 times the weight gives rare. For medium rare, multiply the weight of the meat by 5.5.  For medium 6.  Prime rib cooked anything more than this just destroys it!

Put the meat in a roasting pan and then quickly place it in the oven so all the heat doesn’t escape.  Wait one minute then set your timer for the amount you came up with in step 2.  Be exact with this timing!

When the timer goes off, shut the oven off and reset your timer for 2 hours BUT DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR UNTIL 2 HOURS ARE UP!   After 2 hours, take the rib roast out of the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and Serve!

Here’s the finished product:

This method will not produce a lot of extra juices, so if you want au ju, it’ll need to be made separately.  I use this: http://www.johnnysfinefoods.com/French-Dip-Concentrate–8oz_p_10.html  It’s money.

Also – you get great leftovers if you make enough!  I slice mine thin like this so we can have sandwiches for days!

Hope you enjoy – Happy Holidays!!!

Product Review: IQ 110

Manufacturer: PitmasterIQ.com

Description:
Automatic Temperature for Charcoal Smokers (Weber Kettle, Weber Smokey Mountain models, Big Green Egg Smokers, Drum Smokers, etc.). 

Our team discovered the impact automatic temperature control can do for your turn ins when we added Rock’s Stoker BBQ controller to our main rig last year.  Additionally, it gave us a chance to actually get some rest instead of monitoring our rig temp, fuel level, etc. This led us to consider adding a second stoker fan and adaptor kit for our Weber bullets.  In our search we stumbled upon the IQ110.  We were intrigued by the design, and reached out to John Kennington, owner of PitmasterIQ.com, for more product information. A few weeks later, we were sent a demo model to conduct a review, so here we go. 

Installation:  
When the unit arrived, it consisted of 5 parts: the control unit, air adapter, hose, temperature probe, and an AC adaptor.  A couple of koozies also found their way into the fed ex box, which was much appreciated.  We found the instructions to be straight forward and easy to follow. Just looking at the pieces, it was pretty obvious how to use it and set it up, but we did due diligence and went through the steps in the instructions. For our review, we used the Weber 22” Smokey Mountain cooker. We were running some trial briskets, so we had two long cooks coming up, which would be a perfect time to put the IQ to the test. We installed the IQ110 in about 2 minutes, no problems.

Operation: 
Operating the IQ110 is simple, you turn the dial to the desired temperature and the IQ takes care of the rest. There’s a LED light that will be doing one of the following:

• Flashing green – your pit is10 degrees cooler that the set point
• Solid green- the pit is within 10 degrees of the set point (desired result).
• Solid red- pit is 10 degrees or more over the set point
• Flashing red- pit is 50 degrees or more over the set point, not good.
• Alternating red/green: This happened to us a few times, and was due to us taking the lid off to mop the brisket. This is the unit detecting the lip being open, and the LED returned to normal within a few minutes.  However, if it would have stayed alternating red/green, it could mean the probe has failed or the main unit has overheated.

As you can read above, it is easy to set up the unit and have a decent idea of where your temp is by observing the LED light. If you can’t figure out how to do that, you probably shouldn’t be around fire and need to stop reading now. For the rest, I digress to the results.

As side benefit:  Even though there isn’t a current temperature gauge on the IQ – you can turn the dial until it turn’s solid green and get a real good idea of where the temp sits currently.  Quickly turn it back to your desired temp though!  The IQ reacts very well! The fan will kick off within a couple seconds if you move it to a temp where it thinks it needs to stoke the fire! 

Cook:  
We filled the charcoal chamber up and used 1 charcoal starter full of lit coal to start the cook, in addition to hickory chunks. The LED flashed green and the fan kicked in.  In 35 minutes, it was at our set point of 240, and the LED was a steady green. Our brisket was added.  For the next 8 hours the unit rarely went away from the steady green, and if it did, it recovered quickly. In both cooks, we found the product to work near perfect during the first 8 hours. The only issue we had was when we began mopping our brisket, and we took the lid off every 40 minutes or so for 5 hours. We did have a couple of times of flashing red and red LED indicators, for about 15 minutes an episode. It is important to note that the Weber 22” is a great cooker, but has the flaw of extreme temperature rises when the lid is off. We had better luck in our second cook when we closed the bottom intake vent and top vent ½ way. The issue we faced was related to the smoker, not the IQ. For the 18” Smokey Mountain, we would not foresee this issue. Also, if we weren’t mopping so often, it wouldn’t have surfaced.  

Turning to accuracy, the IQ’s temperature dial is segmented in 25 degree intervals, with space to set in between (see pic below). So you if you want 240, you need to use your best judgment where that is. To test the accuracy, we used the built in thermometer on the Weber as well as a 3^rd thermometer placed in one of the top vent hole as our gauge. Both thermometers and the IQ ran at the same temp, which was great to find out. We were left with the impression that the IQ temperature probe is very accurate. 

Final Thoughts: 

The IQ110 did what it said it would do.  It does not have the features of some of the fancier controllers out there, such as digital readouts, food probes, etc. It also does not have the hefty price tag that comes along with those. It’s a no frills temp controller that is a great match for bullets, kettles, Big Green Eggs, Drum smokers, and similar types of smokers.  What we found with the IQ110 was an easy installation, easy to operate, and most importantly, a very accurate temperature control for long periods of time.  As a competition BBQ team, the last thing you want to do is battle rig temperatures all night long.  When we cook on our bullets, we find them to be accurate, but still get up every few hours to check the temperature during the night and usually make an adjustment to the vents during those times. With the IQ110, I would be comfortable sleeping through the night. Many backyard bbq folks and competition folks use aforementioned cookers. With the smaller price tag, the IQ110 isn’t going to break the bank and should provide some comfort before you close your eyes for some sleep during your cook.  Here is a pic of the brisket we turned out using the IQ110.

Here is a recipe I made with some smoked chicken that turned out awesome!  It was my first crack at homemade tamales….and though it was mildly time consuming – it was well worth it.

Here are the ingredients:

• 6 cups Corn Mesa Mix
• 6 cups Chicken or Beef broth (match with meat selection; chicken broth for pork)
• 1/2 cup corn oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 – 3 lbs of smoked chicken, brisket or pork! (you could also use 2 store bought cooked roaster chickens for simplicity sake – a local store in Omaha, SuperSaver, sells them smoked)
• 2 cans salsa; I personally use homemade from the garden – but a good mexican salsa works well.  Tomatoes, cilantro and jalepeno would be all you need.
• 1 bag corn husks

Instructions

• Soak the corn husks in warm water until soft.
• Blend with an electric mixer Mesa corn mix for tamales, corn oil, salt, baking powder and the chicken broth to obtain a consistent mixture.

• Shred the meat selection (this is chicken) and marinate in the salsa for 60 minutes in the fridge

• Spread masa evenly over corn husks, and spread a spoonful of marinated chicken on top of the masa.

• Place the tamales in a steamer (or in my case a steamer pot, which I’ll cover with another pot as a lid!) and cook tamales for 45-60 minutes.

• Check every 20 minutes.The tamales are cooked when they separate easily from the corn husk.  It may take longer than I specify depending on how often you open the lid and the type of steamer!
• Let them cool quite a bit before eating – they get better with time and can be reheated in the microwave perfectly!

I like to top them off with a Mexican Chile Gravy recipe I came up with.  I highly recommend it!

Ingredients

• 1 TBSP Butter (you can add more of this up to 1/4 cup for even more rich flavor, but I like to keep the calories out)
• 4 TBSP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions

• Take about 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and whisk the flour into it, slowly.  Creating a smooth paste.  (Hint:  This trick works well for any gravy and avoids the clumps flour can create!)
• Heat all the other ingredients to a mild boil and whisk in the flour paste you made above. 
• Whisk constantly until the gravy is the thickness you desire, over low to medium heat – about 10 minutes.
• You can add or subtract the flour to your liking – totally up to you!
• Use this gravy on top of your tamales and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy!

I was performing some searches online to find the finished cook weight of an average whole chicken and it became very frustrating when I couldn’t find ANYTHING!

I have a general idea – but wanted other opinions.  After no luck, I decided to cook 6 birds and get the average.  With that – I decided it would be valuable to post a general overview of all the meats we’ve cooked, provide their finished yield and our estimate tools for serving a party, catering an event or otherwise.

We follow this general rule when estimating costs and quantities for providing smoked meats to a party, event or otherwise.  We always prefer to have leftovers available, whether it is for a client or our own personal party – so we estimate conservatively. Some folks like to figure differently based on how many meats, sides, etc are being served and that is probably a good idea. You’ll just want to use your own judgement in that regard – if you know a ton of other food is going to be served – just scale it back!  These estimates are basically “worst case” scenario…meaning…you’ll have lots of STUFFED people!

To calculate how much food we need for any event – we estimate that (1) pound of total finished product will feed (2.6) people. As an example – for a party of (26), you would need 10lbs of finished product – regardless of how many meats. A more complex calculation would be – if you were to have a party for (100) – you’ll need to take (100) and divide by (2.6), which gets you to roughly 38lbs of finished product needed, rounded to the nearest whole number.  This could be split, as an example, into 10bls of brisket, 10 lbs of pulled pork, 10lbs of pulled chicken and 8lbs of sliced pork loin….or any combination that gets you to the total of 38 and remember – this is FINISHED weight/yield…not starting weight of the product.

All meats have a starting weight – which is the weight at purchase on the label - and a finished weight – which is cooked weight after moisture loss, bones, fat, trimming, etc.  I want to throw out a disclaimer:  This is not an exact science!  It is only an average.  There are several unpredictable variables such as the distributor pumping a pork butt with lots of juice before packaging or larger bones or just a generally more fatty piece that ususal.  These estimates are intended to avoid situations like this because they are conservative and on the high end….they have had yet to fail us (if having leftovers is no issue to you!). 

Here are our findings, over a long period of time, averaged, for finished weight calculation on several meats.  As we cook more – we’ll add to this list so bookmark the post!

For each item below – take the total starting weight (from the package) and multiply it by the percentage.  This will give you a good estimate for what the trimmed, finished and cooked product weight will be:

• Brisket: 43%
• Pork Butt: 50%
• Pork Loin: 65%
• Whole Roaster Chicken (4 – 7lbs): 34%
• Whole Turkey: 50%

In addition to these, we often are asked to provide other meats that are less of a poundage calculation and more of a quantity.  Though it varies by order – these are generally our rules:

• Pork or Beef Ribs:  2 people per rack if this is the only meat item, otherwise 3 people per rack
• Featherbones:  1 person per uncooked lb if this is the only meat item, otherwise 2 people per pound
• Chicken Pieces (any):  2.5 pieces per person if this is the only meat item, otherwise 1.5 per person
• Sausage: This is never our main meat item, but as an accessory we figure about 4 people per lb of uncooked sausage, sliced into bite sized chunks

Stay tuned to the post!  It will be added to as often as we cook new meats!

-HGOGA

• 1 – Large Brisket (about 12 – 14 lbs)

Basic Directions

• Heat Smoker using favorite rig and fuel source
• Trim brisket
• Rub brisket with Lipton’s Beefy Onion Soup Mix and fresh ground black pepper
• Smoke @ 230 degrees F 8 hrs
• Remove brisket from smoker, placing on 2 large foil sheets
• Wrap brisket with 2 cups mop sauce, recipe follows
• Smoke @ 230 degrees F for an additional 4 – 6 hours
• Remove brisket and place in a cooler

Detailed Directions 

Remove most of the fat from a whole brisket, leaving only 1/4 inch to help preserve the juiciness during the cooking process.  Gently remove the membrane from the meat side of the brisket as it allows you to (this can be tough).  Hand rub brisket with all the contents of 4 packets (2 boxes) of Lipton’s Beefy Onion Soup Mix and then generously cover with fresh ground pepper. Start the smoking process!

Smoke the brisket for 8 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

After 8 hours, brisket should be almost black.  This blend of smoke and rub forms a crunchy exterior called ‘bark.’  To ensure brisket turns out tasty and tender, wrap each brisket in a double layer of aluminum foil and pour 2 cups of Mop Sauce over brisket. Seal foil tightly and return to smoker @ 225 degrees F for 4 – 6 hours or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

Remove brisket from smoker and place in a cooler or oven for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

Remove brisket from foil and let rest 15 minutes.

Slice, against the grain,  just before serving to preserve juiciness. Save the ‘burnt ends’ for yourself, they’re the best part!

What to drink: Lots of Beer

Mop Sauce:

• 1 cup of Apple Juice
• 1 cup of Coke

Ingredients:

- (1) 12 lb Brisket
- 1 12 oz can of Coca-Cola
- 1 cup of Apple Juice
- Your favorite  Brisket rub seasoning (lots available, to see the ones we win with go here http://www.bbqrevolution.com/ )

Get your Rig of Choice fired up: For this cook, I will utilize the Weber Smokey Mountain (bullet smoker).

The WSM is a fine choice. Grab some hickory chunks and let's get started!!

Step 1. Unwrap and trim brisket.

You can tap the fat areas and if it feels solid, it needs to be trimmed. you will notice 2 major areas of the brisket where you need to trim every time. The are located in the point. One is on top and the other is in the thickest side of the point. These are large fat “wedges” that need to be removed. Some folks trim off the fat cap, I am not a big fan of that. The cap will provide the brisket with moisture and taste as the fat renders and is absorbed into the meat. I also trim of meat on the sides that appears brown.

Inject sites are 1 inch apart. Note: Puddling can be seen in this pic

Step 3. Apply a thin coat of mustard over the brisket. This will act as a binding agent to hold the rub on the brisket throughout the cook.

Step 4. Apply a generous amount of rub on the brisket. It is of this Pitmasters opinion you cannot over-season a brisket. That said, don’t get in a contest to see how much seasoning you can get on your brisket. Use you common sense.

Logan’s note: Some of you pros will appreciate this one: It is not necessary to season the fat cap of the brisket yet… since you will cook the brisket Fat side up, you can season the fat cap after putting the brisket on your rig.

Step 5: Place the brisket on the smoker fat side up and season the fat cap if you have not yet. You will notice you can really get a good amount of seasoning on with this method. As the fat cap renders, this seasoning will absorb into the brisket with the rendered fat.

Pitmaster tip: Wait to season the fat cap until it's on smoker, if you can. You will hold more seasoning.

Step 6. Cook the brisket until internal temp reaches 160 degrees.

Step 7. Re-season and wrap the brisket in heavy duty foil. Many briskets, and pork butts for that matter, seem to hit a wall at this temperature and cook slowly, jeopardizing your turn in time. This will also seal all the juices inside the foil, making for a nice, juicy brisket nearly every time.

Re-season the Brisket

use heavy duty foil

Step 8. Cook brisket to 195 degrees.

Step 9. Keep in foil and let brisket sit for 1/2 hour to 3 hours. A brisket will stay tender for that long, maybe longer. Ideally, for a competition, try to keep this time as close to an hour as possible. The brisket absorbs a portion of the juices in foil. Take it out right away and you will have a dry brisket.

Step 10. Slice against the grain and enjoy!!!!!

• 1 – Large Brisket (about 12 – 14 lbs)

Basic Directions

• Heat Smoker using favorite rig and fuel source
• Trim brisket fat
• Separate flat and point with sharp knife
• Rub each piece with (1) tablespoon minced garlic and Rib Rub, recipe follows
• Smoke @ 200 degrees F 8 hrs
• Mop briskets every hour after first 4 hrs, recipe follows
• Wrap briskets with 2 cups mop sauce, recipe follows
• Smoke @ 200 degrees F for 3 hrs
• Remove briskets, let cool and wrap in plastic wrap
• Store in ice or fridge overnight
• Reheat whole briskets @ 250 degrees F for 3 – 5 hrs or until internal temp reaches 160 degrees F

Detailed Directions 

Remove most of the fat from a whole brisket, leaving only 1/4 inch to help preserve the juiciness during the cooking process. Separate brisket into two muscles, the flat and the point. Hand rub each brisket with (1) tablespoon freshly minced garlic and Rib Rub. Start the smoking process! Smoke briskets for a minimum of 8 hours, keeping the temperature from 180 to 200 degrees F.

After 4 hours, start mopping with sauce every hour. After 8 hours, briskets should be almost black. This blend of smoke, rib rub and sauce forms a crunchy exterior called ‘bark.’ To ensure brisket turns out tasty and tender, wrap each brisket in a double layer of aluminum foil and pour 2 cups of Mop Sauce over brisket. Seal foil tightly and return to grill at 200 degrees F for 3 hours.

Remove briskets from aluminum foil and cool down. Once cool, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or ice overnight.

Next day, re-smoke over indirect heat at 250 degrees F for 3-5 hours or until internal temperature of brisket reaches 160  degrees F.

Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Slice just before serving to preserve juiciness. Save the ‘burnt ends’ for yourself, they’re the best part!

What to drink: Lots of Beer

Rib Rub:

• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup garlic seasoning
• 1/4 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup lemon pepper
• 1/4 cup onion salt
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons whole celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed cloves
• 1 tablespoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash original blend
• 1/4 cup salt 

Combine all ingredients and store in sealed container.  Makes 6 cups.

Mop Sauce:

• 3 (20 ounce) bottles Famous Dave’s Rich and Sassy BBQ sauce
• 2 quarts water
• 1 cup beef stock base
• 1/4 cup Kahlua
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter

Combine all ingredients in stockpot and mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Yield: 1 gallon.

• 1 – 8 – 12lbs Brisket

Basic Directions

• Heat Smoker using favorite rig and fuel source
• Prep Brisket as desired
• Inject Brisket w/ Beefy Onion Soup Mix (ground)
• Season Brisket w/ Beefy Onion Soup Mix and Pepper
• Baste Brisket, recipe follows
• Wrap Brisket
• Slice Brisket
• Sprinkle slices with Bacon Salt (original)

Smoke @ 225 – 275 degrees F on your favorite RIGGGGGG.

Take 1 package of Lipton’s Beefy Onion Soup Mix and use a Magic Bullet (or equivalent) to grind the seasoning into a fine powder.  Mix ground soup mix with about 2 c of hot water.  Inject soup mix into the fat side of the brisket in a diagonal motion, being careful not to go entirely through the brisket.  The fat side will seal the holes you make, but you don’t want the juices running all the way through the brisket and escaping, since you’ll cook fat side up for the first several hours +.

Insert a thermometer and place in the cooker, fat side up. After 2 hours spray every 2 hours with basting spray. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165°F.

Lay out aluminum foil, place the brisket on foil fat side up, pour about 1 c of apple cider over the brisket and securely wrap in the foil. Reinsert the thermometer. Place back in the cooker and cook until the internal temperature reaches 195°F

Remove the brisket from the cooker and place brisket in foil pan, allowing to rest at least 30 minutes or until you are ready to slice.

Cut the flat off the whole brisket,  Slice the brisket flat against the grain into 1/8-inch slices, dredging in the sauce (if desired).  Sprinkle slices with Original Bacon Salt.  Serve or turn in immediately.

What to drink: Lots of Beer

Basting Spray:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle.

Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 cup favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
• ½ cup of Brisket juices

or try Grandpa Murray’s Homemade Sauce (http://www.topinternetguides.com/2008/07/25/barbeque-sauce-steves-ultimate-kansas-city-style-recipe/ )

• 1 cup ketchup (home made is best, then Heinz)
• 2 cups apple cider
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup brisket pan drippings or 1/4 teaspoon of liquid hickory smoke (or both if you like it really smokey)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh ground coffee
• 2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 – 8 – 12lbs Brisket

Basic Directions

• Heat Smoker using favorite rig and fuel source
• Prep Brisket as desired
• Brisket Paste, recipe follows
• Season Brisket, recipe follows
• Oil the Brisket
• Wrap Brisket, recipe follows
• Barbeque Sauce, recipe follows

Smoke @ 225 – 275 degrees F on your favorite RIGGGGGG.

Combine the paste ingredients and spread on all sides of the brisket. Combine all of the seasoning ingredients and sprinkle evenly on all sides of the brisket. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Using your hands or a brush, evenly, but lightly, coat the brisket with canola oil.

Insert a thermometer and place in the cooker, fat side down. After 2 hours spray every 2 hours with basting spray. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165°F.

Lay out aluminum foil, place the brisket on foil, and cover with the wrapping mixture. Securely wrap in the foil. Reinsert the thermometer. Place back in the cooker and cook until the internal temperature reaches 195°F

Remove the brisket from the cooker and place brisket in foil pan, reserving juices.

Lay out a double sheet of aluminum foil place brisket on foil.

Strain all of the juices from the pan and put in liquid measuring cup. Discard any solids and allow the fat to come to the top, pour off, and discard.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the beef liquid.  Pour the remaining defatted liquid over the brisket.  Securely wrap in the foil, place in a disposable pan, and transfer to the cooler.  After the brisket has rested for about 30 minutes, increase the temperature of the cooker to 300°F.

Remove the brisket from the cooler, carefully unwrap, coat with the sauce, place back in the cooker, fat side up, and cook for 30 – 40 minutes minutes.

Paint the remaining sauce on a cutting board, top with the brisket, and let rest for 10 minutes.

Slice the brisket against the grain into 1/8-inch slices, dredging in the sauce. When you’re carving, you’ll notice that the grain changes direction when you move from the flat to the point. Don’t let it throw you-just make sure that you are cutting against the grain at all times. Sprinkle with fleur de sel (hand-harvested sea salt).

What to drink: Lots of Beer

Brisket Paste:

• 6 tablespoons mild chile powder
• 3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
• 3 tablespoons beef base in paste form, such as Better than Bouillon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, reserve, refrigerated, for later use.

Seasoning blend:

• 1/4 cup garlic salt
• 3 tablespoons coarsely ground fresh black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Basting Spray:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle.

Wrapping Mixture

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter or margarine, melted

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, reserve, refrigerated, for later use.

Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 cup favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
• ½ cup of Brisket juices

or try Grandpa Murray’s Homemade Sauce (http://www.topinternetguides.com/2008/07/25/barbeque-sauce-steves-ultimate-kansas-city-style-recipe/ )

• 1 cup ketchup (home made is best, then Heinz)
• 2 cups apple cider
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup brisket pan drippings or 1/4 teaspoon of liquid hickory smoke (or both if you like it really smokey)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh ground coffee
• 2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper