Shabbos Fleishfest

As the 9 days approach and I contemplate how to spend my 9 days of no meat, I also consider what needs to be done to make sure I can survive those 9 days. This usually involves a surge of fleishigs to carry me through this time (keep in mind that milchigs for me is milk in my coffee). Luckily I had company coming for shabbos which meant that I could go a little overboard. I decided to take the day off on Thursday as this would be my first attempt to smoke a brisket.

On Wednesday night I did my spice rub and but the brisket in the fridge to marinate. This brisket is a 2nd cut with the fat cap still on (that I trimmed down a bit)

The next morning, I cleaned out the smoker and setup approximately 30 coals in the chimney and filled the bottom of the smoker with unlit coals. This smoke would be done with a mix of pecan and cherry woods.

Once the charcoal was lit, I setup a rack of ribs on the bottom rack and the brisket on the top rack.

This also gave me an oppurtunity to try out my new wireless thermometer

After about 3.5 hours the ribs were ready to be foiled and the brisket was at 162 and also ready to be foiled. The smoker was holding a steady temperature of 265.

Since I was about 6 hours into my cook and the smoker was still chugging along I decided to go to the store and pick up a chicken to throw on. Once the ribs had been on for another 2 hours, the chicken was on for about 3 hours and the brisket hit 203, everything came off and inside. The brisket was then wrapped in towels and placed in a cooler for 2 hours. The ribs and chicken were done and could rest.