Because of the stupid virus, my folks haven't been coming up to visit like they used to. Consequently, this was the second time they have come to visit in about a year. Last time they came to visit, I tried too hard, bought a grass fed brisket, not realizing they are just a different type of meat and not as succulent and juicy (or even flavorful) as normal briskets, so I know they weren't impressed because I wasn't. I decided to try again, but it was tricky since they came to go see Baby A at the wrestling tournament and that meant we were at the will of the time it took for us to be there. The tourney was supposed to be originally a Friday evening and all day Saturday affair, but because there were so few competitors, the meet was reduced to just Saturday, and the tickets said from 9:00am to 7:00pm. This seemed like a daunting task, to sit on those hard stadium benches for that long. The saving grace was before we got off, we looked in Wife's Telluride and she had a couple of blankets and even a pillow, which we got down to figure out a use for. I knew I was going to sit on that pillow right away and it saved me because I was having a hard enough time sitting on those wood or metal benches for the three hour football games before I bought my stadium chair. I wasn't sure I would be able to use it, so I never considered bringing it with me. My dad also had a bad back and he rolled up a blanket and made it into some extra padding which at the end of the day also said it had helped him from being so sore. The tourney ended up finishing at 3:00pm, so we got a little lucky and saved a few hours time.
My solution after this and then getting home after eating lunch and napping until 7:00pm was to smoke the brisket overnight. I know from experience that a brisket this size needs about 12 hours of slow smoking to cook, so I got it ready around 10:30pm and smoked it through the night. It is so easy to do this with a pellet grill, just load the hopper with pellets (I recommend mesquite) and then keep an eye on it after loading the meat. I dressed my brisket simply with some salt, Salt Lick rub and some lemon pepper which Wife thinks I shouldn't use. I read the salt is important in making a good ring in the meat, which is the pink coloring one can see after the meat is sliced. It not only had a good ring, it got perfectly blackened on the outside, it turned out super moist and delicate and pretty much fell apart while I tried slicing it. I took it out around 11:00am, let it rest for an hour still wrapped in the oven (it was off), I don't think I had heard my dad be as impressed with me as he kept saying that was one of the best briskets he had ever had. My mom even forced down a fourth taco saying it was so good and she doesn't usually eat that much. I honestly prefer when my briskets stay together in slice form but this was so soft it was falling apart even as I took off the foil (I ran out of the parchment paper stuff, so I wrapped it in aluminum foil on the 7th hour or so). I don't know that I did anything much different than on the other briskets I have done, but this one was a "Prime 1" cut, so maybe that was the difference. I will need to try and buy another one, even if they are pricier than the "Choice" ones.
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