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When I first got into outdoor cooking, I was used to the regular items that people cook outside – burgers, steaks, chicken, fish, etc. It took some trial and error and a lot of reading, both books and online, to figure out what was different about doing brisket, ribs and the like. |
The biggest
reason for cooking an item low and slow is that the cut of meat needs
the time to convert collagen (connective tissue) to gelatin. Without
the conversion, the meat will be tough, almost impossible to eat in
some cases.
Grilling is a high heat process that basically heats up the meat until it cooks. This is important for food safety issues. Here is a food safety chart
to ensure you’re cooking to the right temperatures. Personally, I like
steaks rare, even Pittsburgh rare (where the outside is charred, but
the inside is cooked very little). I’d never try brisket like that,
though.
The advantage in using low and slow is that you can take a cut of cheap meat and make it taste really great.
Why low and slow and not just to temperature?
The
problem is with the connective tissue. First of all, the safety chart
to what temperature to cook a brisket or boston butt. What tells you
is pretty simple, really… tenderness. when you reach the right
tenderness, it’s done. This can be somewhat equated to temperature
when you’re first starting to cook low and slow style meats, though…
I cook brisket to 190 (182 for Wagyu brisket), and I cook boston butts
to 195 to pull, 180 to slice.
If you cook at too high of a
temperature, the problem that occurs is that the collagen doesn’t have
time to convert to gellatin, so you end up with a still tough piece of
meat. Boston butts can take higher temps ok as that cut doesn’t have
as much connective tissue as a brisket does, but they do best at lower
temps, I think.
The process I like to use is to start up the
smoker with Wicked Good charcoal and pecan logettes. Once up to
temperature, I take the meat out of the fridge and put it right on the
smoker grate. I do this instead of letting it get up to room temp for
2 reasons: 1. I like to maximize the smoke ring, which stops forming
around 140 degrees, and 2. I think the meat is taken through the danger
zone of temperatures faster by putting on the smoker instead of letting
it sit on the counter.
Usually, you’ll find that the temps climb
fairly quickly, and you’ll think that you’ll be done in no time. I
tend to plan 1.5 hours per pound for each piece of meat, and I take
that up slightly if I have a smoker full of food. Somewhere around
165-175 degrees, the meat will hit what is called the plateau, where
the connective tissue is converting to gellatin. This takes energy,
which is what heat is, so the energy that would go into raising the
temperature of the meat instead goes into the conversion of connective
tissue. Once it’s converted, the temps start going up again.
Once
the meat gets to the tenderness I want, I foil it and set it aside in a
cooler filled with towels for an hour or so. The towels take up all
the extra air and help insulate even more, and boston butts and brisket
can last for hours in a cooler and stay hot.
The best part is when I get to pull or cut the meat and see if I did it right… one of my dog’s favorite moments!
