Independence Day Brisket

Only a day late? Maybe TdF kickoff brisket. ;) Got a 14.75 lb packer from Sam's.

Weather was warm and sunny holding at about 75°F. Wind is light to moderate at about 12 mph. Towards the end of the cook a light drizzle began, but not enough to cool the cooker.

KISS - salt and pepper rub. I cut the brisket more or less in half to fit the 18 WSM.

This cook is going on the 18 WSM fired mostly with Stubb's briquettes and mostly oak with some hickory for smoking wood. Should throw a piece of mesquite in there as well. Using both ET-73 and ET-732 remote thermometers so I can get readings from both pieces of meat. One is much thicker than the other. A not over full charcoal ring kept the temperature between 275°F and 310°F for over ten hours (with no fiddling except opening an additional bottom vent when the brisket came off.)

time	temp	comment
11:15 AM		Lit cooker closed up - wait to come to temp.
11:35		With cooker temps approaching 300° F (only one bottom vent wide open) time to put the meat on! (Bigger piece up top.)
12:55 PM	270°/277°/138°/75° (lid/grate/lower/upper)
1:59	265°/275°/167°/111°	Threw on a piece of mesquite.
3:23	265°/275°/178°/153°	Coming along nice!
3:50		With the bottom (smaller) piece hitting 180° I opened the cooker and wrapped it in white butcher paper.
5:35	275°/307°/207°/191°	I think I'll pull the small piece and wrap the big piece.
6:25	320°/295°/.../202°
7:20	300°/.../.../212°	Bigger piece off - CI grate on and now for some bacon.
7:42	250°/275° (lid/grate)	Stirred the coals a bit.
8:00		Put some butcher paper on the bottom rack and laid out the rest of the bacon.
8:30	280°/300°	Bacon nearly done on the top rack (CI) bottom needs a little more to go.
9:00	285°/305°	Bacon on top done - on the bottom - not so much. Peeled off paper as best as I could and left on the top grate to crisp.
9:30		Rest of bacon off.

About three hours into the cook - looking good so far.

Rested and sliced and ready to eat! A slice will support its own weight but pulls apart with a little more tension. And is moist. And tastes marvelous!

Possibly my best brisket so far. 

I needn't do anything differently with the brisket next time. Perhaps serve with some fresh grated horseradish.

Bacon on the cast iron grate works well and takes advantage of the lingering heat from the charcoal. The bacon on the paper - not so good. Moisture puddled up and it stuck badly to the paper.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Or Happy St. Patrick's Day (But never St. Patty's Day!) I headed to the store to see if they had corned beef brisket on sale. Marianos had near 9 lb. corned beef flats for $2.99/lb. I bought two to smoke. They should freeze well. :D

Weather is still late winter clinging. About 26°F at the start of the cook and climbing rapidly toward an expected high in the mid 30s. The sky is clear and thankfully wind is light

I soaked the briskets in a big pot of water for about an hour before laying them out on the full sheet to apply the rub. They should really soak overnight to leach the salt but I did not want to wait for another day. Hopefully they will not be too salty. For rub I started with the little spice packets that came with the briskets. They look like mostly mustard with some anise and maybe coriander. Some were wet so I stuck them in the oven (spread on a plate) to dry and went to start the fire. By the time I got back in, they were toasted. ;) There were a couple tablespoons of this to which I added about a tablespoon of black pepper corns and another of coriander. In order to fit these flats on the 18 WSM, I draped them over stainless steel bowls. (Cat will have to go hungry for a while.)

This cook is on the 18 WSM. I almost went with the 22 but the flats almost fit the 18" grates and I bought a little space by draping them. They will shrink a little and at that point I could remove the props so the flats lie flat. I fired the smoker with Stubbs briquettes with a large chunk of oak and a couple chunks of mesquite.

time	temp	comment
10:45 AM		Dump lit coals on and close up the cooker
11:00	220°	Meat on!
11:33	190°	Opened one bottom vent full.
12:07	205°
1:20 PM	220°	Set up ET-73 for remote temps
1:58	235°/148°/245° (grate/meat/lid)
2:57	245°/156°/240°
3:25	247°/158°/240°	Removed SS bowls. Briskets a little firm but may settle to grate eventually.
4:07	242°/163°/245°	Pulled half of the top brisket to cook conventionally. (e.g. boil with cabbage and carrots. Maybe a potato.
4:54	259°/164°/265°	Closed single open bottom vent to about half
6:27	238°/168°/235°	Added carrots to the pot
7:10	218°/166°/225	Stirred toe coals, added cabbage to pot (about 7:00)
7:33	240°/168°/230°	Finished a plate of corned beef and cabbage and it was very good. Still a bit firm but not tough and gristly like the one I recently got at a restaurant.
9:00		Cooker cooling down so I took the meat off. It is done.

Fabulous! The corned beef and cabbage was good. The meat was a little firm when I had it so I took the cabbage out and let the meat cook another hour or so and it was much better. Flavor was a little bland but some horseradish and stone ground mustard turned that right around.

Next time I need to soak the briskets a little longer. They are bordering on a little too salty. These got about a 1 hour soak. Otherwise flavor was great!

Beef Neck Bones - Liver Dumpling Soup

We were at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle (which I highly recommend, both for food and their selection of beer.) Cindy and I both had liver dumpling soup. While I found the dumpling itself a little on the firm side, it reminded me of a favorite dish from my youth. I resolved to give it a try at home. This recipe resonated with me so I started assembling ingredients. I picked up a package of neck bones yesterday (for $3.59/lb.) That evening I saw that neck bones were on sale at Valli for $1.99/lb. <sigh> I decided to employ dollar cost averaging and bought two more packages for a total of nearly 8 lb.

Weather has broken! Temperature was 22°F at the start of the cook and had dropped only 2 degrees by the time the meat came off. The sky was cloudy and wind light at less than 6 mph.

The first step was to smoke the neck bones. Yes, I had to figure out some way to get a Weber in the act. :D I recall that some recipes for beef stock start with roasting the bones to utilize the Maillard reaction to develop more flavor. In addition to that, I added some smoke to the mix. I rubbed the bones with Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper before they went on the fire.

I used a drip pan (two actually) to catch drippings as well. The cook was done on the 26 to leverage the grate real estate to lay out 8 lb. of beef neck bones with an indirect fire. I used some left over lump in the mini-chimney to light some Stubbs briquettes behind the fire-brick wall. I was loath to wakl through 20" of snow to get to the shed so I grabbed a split of maple and another of oak for smoking wood. I alo threw in a chunk of what looked like apple.

time	temp	comment
4:00 PM		Meat on!
5:10	400°	Thermometer is almost over the coals. Nevertheless, closed the top vent to about half.
5:30	300°	Meat off! Looks good! Trimmed a bit of meat off and it is tough but very tasty!

Results - A little of the meat trimmed from one bone was tough but tasted great! The smoked bones made a great stock with smoky overtones. I will do this again.

What to do differently next time: I could watch the fire a little more carefully but 400°F measured near the coals is not at all unreasonable for what I was doing. I just wanted to brown the bones before boiling.

I went on and boiled/simmered the bones that day and the next until the meat was falling off. After removing the bones, I added some carrots and celery since they were called for in the Liver Dumpling Soup recipe. The liver dumplings came out rather substantial. Very tasty but not exactly fall off the bone. I will try a different recipe next time (Mom's recipe acquired from little sister.) I will definitely make this again!

I could probably make them a little smaller too. ;)

Jerk Chicken

Someone else posted this at the WKC as a way to move past the cold weather. I picked up 7 lb of chicken leg quarters (on sale 59¢/lb!) and had everything else needed. Tonight I prepared the marinade using "Phrasty's REAL Jerk recipe. (Copied here.)

1°F, sunny and wind moderate at 10 mph. I'm using our new recyclable bin as a wind block.

For the rub I made a double recipe and made some substitutions.

8 green onions and a medium yellow onion. (Should have been 12 green onions.)

4 tsp allspice berries

2 tbsp fresh thyme (or as much as I dared trim from the plant on the window sill.)

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp grated nutmeg (~1/2 whole nutmeg grated.)

2 tsp brown sugar

3 tsp salt

2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 C half and half rice vinegar and white vinegar (didn't have 1/4 cup malt vinegar.)

2 tbsp peanut oil

juice of two limes

I put the wet rub on the leg quarters about 10:00 PM the night before the cook. Total marinade time is about 17 hours. The plan is to cook indirect until nearly done and then crisp the skin over the coals.

I'll do this in the 26 kettle so I can spread the chicken parts out. Better to have more space than not enough. A couple fire brick ob edge will provide for indirect cooking. Stubb's briquettes will be providing fire. The fire is started - a chimney full - about 2:10 PM. I grabbed a couple chunks of what I believe to be apple for smoke flavor.

time	temp	comment
2:35 PM	°	Poured lit briquettes out of the chimney and added the apple chunks. Temp went up pretty fast to about 350°F on the cooker. I'll let it settle a few minutes before putting the chicken parts on.
2:55	425°	Meat on! And no extra space on the grate. Good thing I went with the 26.
3:40	450°	Flipped the pieces over. They seem to be cooking pretty evenly across the the grate.
4:25	325°	Chicken probing at 150° and more. Time to add more briquettes and crisp the skin!
4:40	350°	Spread lit charcoal out and put chicken on it skin side down.
4:50		Meat off!

Results: chicken was delicious! I'll be doing this one again.

What to do differently next time. The only weak spot was that the skin still was not crispy. Tasty, but not crispy.

And now for something completely different

That's the theme of the most recent throwdown at BBQ Brethren. I've got some goat meat I picked up on sale that has been in the freezer for a while so I decided it was different. I cast about for recipes and finally decided that Mole Goat would be good. Having recently learned that the mole paste in the refrigerator is actually Adobo paste. Duh! I'd use that to season the goat.

Weather is right balmy with Temperature at 39°F and a bit of wind reported at 15 mph. Sky is presumed to be a bit cloudy (but the sun is down) and no rain is predicted.

The goat was sliced into 3/4" slabs after freezing and sold that way. I think it might be a goat leg. I thawed and drained it. The Adobo paste is pretty stiff so I mixed several tablespoons with enough water to make a loose paste that I then marinated the goat in for about two hours. My plan is to do the goat in the 14 WSM until it is well done and then put it in the smallest Dutch oven with some more adobo sauce to braise until it falls apart. Here I'm thinking of the treatment of Pepper Stout Beef.

As noted, this is going on the 14 WSM. To do something different, I put about a quart of hot water in the bowl. For charcoal I used some left over lump and briquettes with some fresh Stubbs briquettes in the small chimney to light things off. I had some hickory that hadn't completely burned away in my last cook and added a couple pieces of oak to that. Temperature is measured using the Maverick ET-732 (cooker probe only) and the lid thermometer. After closing up the cooker, I left one bottom vent open. At my first temperature check, I opened a second vent since temperature seemed to be lagging.

time	temp	comment
6:20 PM		Meat on! (cooker still coming up to temperature.)
6:40	191°/150°	Opened a second bottom vent.
7:35	225°/185°	Meat probes about 150°.
8:16	236°/195°	Meat probed at 150-165°. the surface no longer holds puddles of meat juices so I put the meat in the Dutch oven.
9:45	262°/210°	DO lid temps at 210° and meat over 200°. Not yet falling apart so I'll let it go a little longer.
11:17	282°/240°	Done!

Results: The goat was tasty - reminded me of lamb but stronger flavor. It was just a little on the dry side and not terribly tender but not tough either. It made tasty tacos.

What to do differently next time: Not sure. I might look for a different recipe to try.

Stuff It!

Stuff it is the theme I chose for a BBQ Brethren throwdown. You win one and you get to choose the following theme. I won "That's a Wrap" and chose this. I decided to realize this theme with a stuffed tenderloin when I found whole tenderloins on sale for $1.99/lb.

The stuffing will be made from wild rice and mushrooms.

Weather was chilly at about 20°F with snow coming down. Wind was light.

I trimmed and split the meat.

I pounded it as flat as I could get it which was not very much.

The stuffing was made with rosemary, sage, cumin, pepper and crushed garlic. I added some bread crumbs (processed commercial stuffing) and a handful of dried cherries (which actually include cranberries and currants as well.) I mixed in a couple eggs to hold it together and some milk so it wasn't too dry. I didn't want it pulling moisture from the meat.

After spreading the stuffing on the meat, I rolled the whole assembly in parchment paper and stuck it in the car trunk (where it would be safe from neighborhood canines) to firm up for a couple hours. Then the task was to tie it up. On the outside I had to decide between a bacon wrap and a rub. I decided on a wet rub with crushed garlic, cumin, sage, black pepper and a little crushed red pepper in a peanut oil slurry.

The cook was done on the 26" kettle to handle the length of the roll. I used an indirect fire held back by a couple fire bricks. Fire was using some Royal Oak and Stubbs briquettes. I dropped a hickory stick on the lit coals to add some additional smoke flavor. The bottom vent was closed to about 1/3 open and the top to about 2/3. Part way through the cook the top was opened fully. This resulted in a temperature on the lid thermometer of about 350° measured half way between the fire and lid vent. (In other words, the lid vent was positioned opposite the coals when I remembered to do so.) I also wrapped a couple spuds in foil and put them over the coals until done. Here it is ready to come off.

time	temp	comment
4:30	°	Closed up the cooker
4:40	350° (lid)	Meat on!
5:17	400° (right over charcoal)	Meat probes at about 70°.
6:00	320° (opposite charcoal)	Meat probes about 110°.
6:30	350°/130° (lid/meat)
7:10	350°/153°	Meat off!

The meat and stuffing had good flavor. I could have used a few more cherries and a little less cumin. The pork was neither dry nor overly moist.

What to do differently next time: I can think of several things. First, I could slice the meat thinner doing a spiral butterfly rather than just one cut. I might also take it to a lower temperature. With the middle at 153° the pork was well past the required 140°. I could also cut the tenderloin in half and do two different treatments, trying out different fillings and/or bacon vs. wet rub.