Smoked brisket with smoked Wagyu tallow wrap, and smoked beef tallow from the trimmings
Mad Scientist BBQ · ♥ 60K likes · 3.9M views · 33 min video
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Read about brisket in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 15 lb brisket
Trim off thin hanging pieces that would burn; take the fat cap down to about a quarter inch; cut out the hard fat chunk between point and flat, and angle off the big fat mound on the underside without hollowing the meat.
Cut off any part of the flat thinner than your thumb; save the trimmings. Optionally notch the thin end to mark where slicing starts.
- kosher salt
- coarse ground black pepper
Mix kosher salt and coarse black pepper 50-50 and season evenly all over.
Smoke on an offset smoker with pecan wood at 225 to 250, thick side toward the fire and fat side up, keeping clean smoke; do nothing but hold the temperature for the first three hours.
- Wagyu tallow
- brisket trimmings
Put the trimmings and a container of Wagyu tallow in the smoker to render and absorb smoke; pull the thick flat piece early to cube for chili.
- cheap beer
- apple cider vinegar
After three hours, spray exposed meat (not fat) with the beer and vinegar mix every time wood goes on, about every 30 minutes.
Spritzing with beer and vinegar, and raising the heat
Wrap only when the fat has rendered (it gives when pushed and is translucent yellow, not cloudy), the colour is dark, and the bark is a little crunchier than wanted; temperature is the last check (178 internal here, after eight hours and a further 30 or 45 minutes).
Strain the rendered trimmings through a metal sieve into a glass bowl or jar to collect smoked beef tallow; let the smoked Wagyu tallow cool to semi-solid.
Spread a layer of smoked Wagyu tallow on butcher paper, set the brisket meat side down on it, and wrap: over once, fat side down, again, then fat side back up; return to the smoker.
Wrapping on smoked Wagyu tallow
If the flat lags the point in temperature, turn the flat toward the fire after wrapping.
Evening out point and flat, and probing
Check every 15 to 30 minutes, probing through the paper, until about 203 internal and it feels like softened butter; this one came off at 202.
Cool at room temperature to about 180, re-wrap in fresh butcher paper with more smoked tallow, and rest in a cooler, here 12 hours (at least two; eight to twelve is ideal), keeping it above 135 or rewarming in an oven set to 170 Fahrenheit.
Slice the flat from the notched thin end; at about halfway, where the point muscle sits on top, turn 90 degrees and slice the point a little thicker. Make burnt ends from the flap.