One of the things that got left behind in Florida was our grill.  It was just too big and messy, so we found it a good home (neighbors a few doors down who had just moved in).

So of course a new grill was one of the first things we wanted to get once we moved in, and Wind got me a medium BigGreenEgg for my birthday/father’s day.  Combined with a plate setter (convEGGtor, really?), I was ready to try my hand at brisket for the first time.

I started out with a small cut (3.7lbs) and this recipe/instructions.

In my hands, it went something like this:

1. Fill the Egg with charcoal and get the fire going.
2. All the recipes say to use dry rub, but then half of them say to use oil or mustard as a medium, which starts sounding like BBQ sauce to me.  So I whipped up a batch of Big Al’s KC BBQ sauce and used that instead.
3. Make the classic rookie mistake of letting the Egg get too hot and try to dial it back down.  In 10 minutes while I was getting all my stuff assembled, it shot up to 400°F.  Closing the vents down to just a crack brought it down to 300°F, but it wouldn’t budge from there.
4. Throw everything in the Egg in one big batch: two handfuls of soaked mesquite chips, plate setter, drip pan full of water, grill rack, brisket fat side down
5. Luckily, adding the brisket and plate setter added a lot of cool thermal mass and brought the temp down to 250°F.  It did creep back up a bit, but generally stayed where I wanted it.
6. After about 3 hours (1¼ hours per pound, minus 2 hours) the brisket had plateaued at 155°F — the fabled stall.
7. Pull the brisket out, wrap it in foil with a splash of beer, and toss it back in for another 2 hours.
8. Agonize over the last 3° as it slowly creeps past 197° and 198°, as the clock ticks past dinner time.
9. Pull the brisket out at 200°F and let it rest for 15 minutes while the potatoes are boiling.
10. Remove the foil and slice it up, quickly making some gravy from the drippings.

The brisket wound up tasting fantastic — flavorful and smoky.  The texture was decent, but it wasn’t falling-apart-tender.  And because it was wrapped, there was no “bark”.  So a good first attempt, but I’m looking forward to doing better.

Next time, I’ll start a little earlier so we’re not rushed for dinner, and keep a closer eye on the Egg as it warms up — it’s very easy to open the vents to bring the temperature up.  And if I have more time, I can remove the foil and 200°F and give it some high heat at the end.