Brisket 9/2/2011

Cooking only a few briskets per year requires care and copious notes if one desires continuous improvement, as I do.  The “Even Better Brisket 5/27/2011″ recipe was an attempt to carefully document best the method and parameters I’ve found at that time.  I used the same method on this 9/2 brisket, except as suggested in the hindsight gained from the 5/27 one.

This post describes our critique of the 9/2 brisket (wifey helped), some pics, and slight tweaks I will make next time.  This post requires the 5/27 post as its baseline.  The entire method stands, but some parameters are updated.

I consider the 9/2 brisket as having achieved all goals, including repeatability.  It was slightly drier than I would have wanted, only in the thinner areas.  The thick areas are fine.  It could have also used a little more smoke.  The fire was perfect, but the brisket needed to stay in the smoker longer.

Parameters I will use next time  (these  supersede the 5/27 recipe):  Instead of cooking in the oven 6:00 hours, I will shorten that by 1 hour and nominally add an hour to the time it’s on the fire.

1.  The new oven time is 5:00 hours (still at 350).  The briket will then be moved directly to the smoker, which will already be at temperature, and the foil will removed.  So far, the method is not changed; only the time is changed.

2.  On the next brisket, the target temperature in the smoker will be 305-315, a little cooler and tighter than the 300-325 range given in the 5/27 recipe.  My goal will be to monitor it closely and keep it very close to 315.  I consider 305 a little low.  Of course, dropping the temperature will slightly lengthen the typical cook time to achieve the desired color and tenderness, for any size of brisket.

3.  In the 5/27 recipe, I suggested checking the color and tenderness every 30 minutes starting 3:00 hours after putting the brisket in the smoker.  Here is the updated method:  Starting 4:00 hours after transferring the brisket from the oven to the smoker, monitor the color and tenderness every 30 minutes, and add wood to the fire if it fails to maintain the 305-315 temperature range.  It is important to keep the temperature up to avoid losing control of the cooking process and serving time.

These are the only changes I will make when cooking the next brisket.  If you read the 5/27 method, and use the updated parameters in this post, I think you will see that the process is described in clear enough detail to repeat it.  If you have any questions, or have found any omissions, please let me know (@daytrend on twitter, or daytrend at gmail).

Pic 1:  Out of the oven, still in the foil, ready for the foil to be removed and to be put in the smoker.  Notice the thick coat of rub and black pepper (nothing else).  The large, thick end was placed nearest the fire.  Note:  The thermometer I use is built into the smoker.  All temperatures are based on the smoker’s thermometer, *not* from an inserted meat thermometer.  The brisket was centered in the smoker area, just below the thermometer.  The blog contains numerous pics of the grill and its thermometer.

Pic 2:  Right off the grill about 4 hours later.  Notice the color.  The fork literally fell into the meat at the thick end; super tender and moist.  Nothing at all is burned.

Pic 3:  Sliced view of the thin side of the brisket.  The normal pink ring is rather absent, confirming that insufficient time was spent in the smoker.

Even Better Brisket 5/27/2011

Brisket right out of the oven

Finished... Note it's dark but not burned (sorry about the blur)

Each year I cook 1-3 briskets on a wood grill.  This one is probably my best ever, and here is exactly what I did.  Readers of my blog know I’ve published two earlier brisket recipes.  Refer to earlier pics for clarification, but follow these directions precisely.  As always, if you have questions, contact me at daytrend at gmail.  In this recipe we use The Rub from an earlier post.

Overview (details below):  Brisket is a tough cut of beef.  Great brisket is juicy and falling-apart tender, throughout.  This one was great.  Most recipes I’ve seen call for a low cooking temperature.  My best results have come, *not* with sub-280 recipes (even after cooking 12 hours or longer), but with higher temperatures.  I am finding the same on chicken.  After adding rub, put the brisket in a pouch of aluminum foil and put the pouch in a pan to catch the drippings.  Put the pan in the oven (normally overnight) and set the oven timer to start 12 hours before you want to serve.  Cook in the oven 6 hours at 350 and move to the grill, with the fire already built.  Remove the foil, when transferring to the grill, and orient the large side toward the fire.  Position the center of the brisket nearest the thermometer, and plan on watching the temperature and regulating it often.  On my grill, the thermometer is located a few inches above the meat and midway and above the center of the smoker section.  Target temperature on the grill,  is 300-325, not less.  Periodically, check the color of the brisket.  You want an even, dark (nearly black) thin coat, but not burned anywhere.  When the color is right, stick a grilling fork in the thickest part.  If the fork almost “falls in” on its own, you know it’s super-tender.  That is exactly what happened on this brisket.  Remove the brisket from the grill immediately, and wrap it tightly in new aluminum foil, and let it sit until you’re ready to serve.  This brisket was sitting on the kitchen counter over three hours.

Meat:  A large brisket, bought at Costco, with the fat on (untrimmed).  I chose the largest one available, and it was slightly thicker than normal at the large end.  If it had been 20% larger I would have bought it.

Preparation:  Cut a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil (18 inches wide) about 8 inches longer than twice the length of your brisket (yes, >5 feet).  Lay the foil on the kitchen counter and put the brisket on top, meat side up (initially) 4 inches from one end.  Use The Rub from my blog (or a rub of your choice).  Add salt to your taste, but we did not add any salt.  Hand-rub it into the meat on all sides, moderately thick.  First, apply rub to the meat side up and all the way around.  Next, flip the brisket and apply the rub to the fat side.  Apply coarse-ground pepper to the fat side.  Then, wrap the rest of the aluminum foil over the top and crimp tightly (if possible) all the way around.  Try not to tear the foil because the fewer leaks the better.  Position the crimped edges as high as possible as you put the whole thing inside a large,  baking pan.  The baking pan will catch any liquid that escapes, so this is important.  Our pan is 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 2 3/4 and it works well except for the very largest briskets.  To summarize, the brisket is fully enclosed in a pouch of aluminum foil, fat side up, and the edges of the foil are crimped to keep liquids inside.  The rub and pepper are applied.  The pouch is placed in a baking pan to protect against a mess caused by inevitable leaks.  The pan has been in the oven all night, and the oven timer is set to start cooking 12 hours before you want to serve.

Fire:  With all brisket fires I use a mixture of oak and mesquite.  With this fire, I used a record amount of mesquite, 40% mesquite and 60% oak.  I think that is important and I might increase mesquite to 50% in the future.

Cooking Time:  My beliefs are changing with regard to cooking temperature versus time, simply because I am more comfortable with this brisket than any earlier one.  This brisket was on the grill 2 hours and 55 minutes (total cooking time was 8:55) when I saw that the the color was right and gave it the fork test.  I would have normally cooked it longer, and that’s why I suggest starting 12 hours early.  My previous successes were with oven plus grill times of right at 12 hours.  If you like more smoke drop the grill temp 10 degrees and leave it on a bit longer.

Summary:  Oven:  Exactly 6 hours at 350.  Grill:  3 hours at 300-325 and begin checking color every 30 minutes.  When the color is right, but not before, fork the thickest part.  If super-tender, take it off the grill and wrap it tightly in new foil, immediately.  No rush to serve.  Do not cook longer than 12 hours total unless the temperature was well below these levels.

Enjoy!

Firewood

Fruit Daiquiri

An excellent summer drink with many variations.  Choose an ingredient from each of the bullets below:

• Ice:  Half fill the blender.  Use a blender that is capable of chopping cubes, otherwise the blender could burn out.
• Frozen or fresh fruit:  Nothing boiled or concentrated.  Costco has at least 3 varieties of excellent fruit in large bags:  Blueberries, Strawberries, and a mixture of many berries.  Any of these are great.  The more you add to the blender the better.  Instead of fruit in a bag, fresh peaches or seedless watermelon also work well, in season.
• Whole banana, optional but highly recommended.  Without a banana, you may want more sweetener.
• Sweetener:  Honey or frozen limeade; honey preferred.
• Optional Rum:  Great, with or without.  One of many excellent choices for this recipe is Flor de Cana GOLD (dark).
• Water:  Fill the blender with water, at least to the top of the fruit.  Otherwise, not even the best blender will stir this!

Blend to a fine, smooth liquid.  Add water if the blender stalls or if it does not pour freely.

Enjoy, and never drive after drinking!

Pork Ribs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pork ribs are everyone’s favorite in Texas, even if Texas BBQ is associated with beef-everything.

We bought two nice racks of ribs from Costco two days ago, and wifey applied the rub (recipe coming) and covered them in plastic wrap.

I built a large, charcoal, oak, and mesquite fire similar to the ones in previous posts for whole chickens, except larger.  For these pork ribs I used a target temperature of 350-370, instead of the lower temperature I use for chickens.  This was important.

To fit them in the smoker, I cut 1/3 off of each slab and placed the pieces in 3 rows.  The thermometer is above the middle row at a good average place.

Even with the larger than normal fire stack I initially used, I had to add wood three times to keep the temperature up.  I used plenty of air venting at both the fire and chimney side.

At 2.5 hours they were damn good, and we took the pieces shown off the grill.  BUT at at 3:00 hours they were fantastic!  3 whole hours, highly recommended.  Be honest, it  your temperature didn’t spend quality time at 370, extend the time a bit.  Meat should fall off but nothing at all should be burned.

We used this sauce.  Add salt if you like.

Nothing else.  (Don’t forget your dog!)

Enjoy!

Garlic Bacon Burgers

(Click the images to see them well.)

Garlic Burgers have been our favorite recipe, but this takes burgers a step beyond.  Start with the recipe for Garlic Burgers, and…

Just add bacon.  We finely cut a pound of raw bacon to mix with about 5 pounds of hamburger.  Mixing thoroughly is important.  Next time, we will increase the bacon 50%, and I recommend that.  Look closely in the ”mountain of burger” to see some of the bacon.

To avoid confusion, before forming the patties, we mixed the grated, sharp cheddar cheese (from Costco) into the “mountain.”  We are fond of embedding ingredients, and, to a limit, that works well.  Normally, we also cut slices of cheese to melt over the top of the burgers, just before they come off the grill.  This time we didn’t.  The moisture was excellent but not messy.

Notice the placement of the burgers on the grill.  The fire was just below the lower right corner in the picture.  It is important that the burgers are not placed directly over the fire, because as they drip they will feed the flame (and you’ll lose a few)… and with the bacon they will surely drip.

Enjoy!

Low-Salt, Low-Fat BBQ Sauce

Wifey (@pscherer) reverse-engineered, researched, and tested this sauce to keep the salt and fat to a freakishly-low minimum, while maintaining the taste from a very popular BBQ restaurant (don’t ask).  It is great for chicken thighs and pork ribs.  The recipe below is considered “1x” but she makes 4x and cans it your grandmother’s way.  Heavy salt users will want to add some.

16 oz tomato sauce

1 cup vinegar (cider or white)

1/2 cup molasses

3 tablespoons onion powder

1 tablespoon paprika

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Makes approximately 3 cups of BBQ sauce.

ENJOY!

Enhanced Brisket, Texas Style

On Memorial Day Weekend (2010), I cooked a 13-pound, untrimmed, beef brisket, and it was perhaps our best ever, certainly our most-commercial.

I used the cooking method described in Damn Good Brisket and pics, with only the following changes:

• No onions, pepper, etc. from the Damn Good Brisket recipe.  (Substitute The Rub, plus garlic, described below).
• The Rub.
• Fat side of brisket scored, through the fat, 1-inch apart throughout its length to allow penetration of the rub into the meat.  Rub was hand-rubbed into the meat on all sides, especially into the scores on the fat side.  A whole garlic was peeled and chopped and spread evenly into the scores.
• Brisket was wrapped in wide aluminum foil and placed in a 4″ pan, as before, and kept in the refrig 36 hours.
• Cooked fat-side-up.  Foil and pan removed when transferring from the oven to the smoker.
• Shorter time in the oven, longer time in the smoker.  4 hours 40 minutes in the oven instead of 6 hours.  Total cooking time exactly 12 hours, 3am to 3pm.
• Temperature in the oven and smoker held closely to 285 degrees (very important).
• Sliced and served hot, 10 minutes out of the smoker.
• Sauce optional, but not needed.

The Rub

Texas-style brisket rubs mostly have the same ingredients with minor variations.  Wifey, the culinary artist, put this one together.  The proportions matter.  The amounts shown would have been fine for even a larger brisket, 20% more than were needed for this 13-pounder.

• 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 4 tablespoons paprika
• 4 tablespoons salt (about right, commercially, but can be reduced)
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 4 tablespoons black pepper (some Central TX restaurants would have used more)
• 2 tablespoons cayenne
• 4 teaspoons dry mustard
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin

This recipe is our new standard.  One caveat:  I have no clue how this would work on a gas grill.

Leftovers were wrapped in foil and kept in the refrigerator overnight, after most of the excess fat was removed.  Here’s a shot, bottom-side up.  The color on the fat side was essentially the same.  This color is typical of what you get at the very finest few Central TX BBQ restaurants… dark, almost black, not burned anywhere, juicy and falling-apart tender.

Enjoy!

Chicken Thighs

Skinless chicken thighs are among of our favorites.  They can be prepared many ways by varying the sauce and whether the sauce is painted on, marinated overnight in the refrigerator, or the meat is dipped in the sauce after grilling.  In any case, the fire and the grilling method are identical.  They are described in the recipe for Garlic Burgers, using the indirect method.  For chicken thighs, I use oak and either pecan or hickory woods… mesquite is a little harsh.  For our grill we can cook 10-12 thighs comfortably, more if forced, by flipping them rapidly, directly over the fire.  This can be a disaster without practice.

We like the following variations:

• A tomato-based BBQ sauce wifey cooks and cans the old-fashioned way.  It’s like some of the better specialty sauces but has no fat or added salt.  With any sauce that’s painted on, I prepare enough sauce to paint all parts of each thigh three times.  Here’s the sequence:  Put the thighs, a few at a time, directly over the fire for a minute or two, until the color changes slightly, then flip them once.  After another minute or two move them to the perimeter of the cooking surface.  Never let the fire get too aggressive, because it wants to.  After all the thighs are moved away from the direct fire, close the lid, stabilize the temperature, and reduce the flame to only a few inches… practice helps.  The thighs will be ready in roughly an hour, so you need to space out your intervals for painting on BBQ sauce.  I will paint, flip, and paint the other side, repeatedly, until each side has been painted three times.  This method works great and I’ve done it more than 100 times.
• Some sauces work best if marinated overnight, for example, a Tandoori sauce bought at an Indian food store.  Prepare plenty of sauce for the number of thighs you have.  Use an air-tight container or large plastic storage bag.  After removing the skin, paint each thigh or dip it in sauce and place it in the bag.  If you have extra sauce, pour it in.  Leave in the refrigerator overnight, if possible, but two nights can be even better.  If marinated meats are placed directly over the fire, most sauces tend to burn, so I place them around the perimeter of the cooking surface, exclusively.  Plan to control the flame to just a few inches, and cook for a whole hour.  Let the color and your sense of the temperature be your guide.  For chicken, blood is not cool.
• Wings sauce.  We have only done this twice.  Use your favorite sauce recipe and rub.  Rub the skinless thighs thoroughly, and place them around the perimeter of the cooking surface.  If you direct-cook a rub for even a minute it will burn and suck.  Regulate the fire and cooking time as described before, and be sure not to under cook.  Take them off one at a time, most-cooked first.  Dip both sides in the sauce and place on a serving tray to cool just a little, but serve hot if possible.

We cook skinless chicken breasts exactly the same way as thighs, except by rotating them rather than flipping.

A perfect fire for chicken.

Thighs with a rub.  Notice the fire at one corner and the thighs around the perimeter.

Moving them closer if the fire gets low.  Patience…

All done and dipped.  Checkout the Texas map on the platter!

Enjoy!

Garlic Burgers

This is perhaps our best recipe, and without a doubt, our favorite for burgers.  We make two versions:  Beef Hamburgers, using 80% lean (on the right), and Turkey Burgers, using ground turkey.  Otherwise, they’re identical.

Put each meat into a container suitable for mixing ingredients.  Spread it out evenly and sprinkle medium-ground black pepper thoroughly and evenly.  Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce evenly.   For the total amount of meat shown, which is typical, peal a whole, large pod of garlic (more if you really like it), and chop it finely.  Cut up half a medium onion and chop it finely.  Spread the garlic and onion proportionately over two pans of meat.  We were out of cheese at the time, but normally we grate plenty of over the top.  We like Kirkland sharp cheddar, from Costco.  Instead of cheddar cheese, you may prefer blue cheese.

Spread mayonnaise over your favorite, large buns.  We like OroWheat Whole Grain 100% Wheat.  Put the buns in the smoker, inside up, away from the fire end, so they will stay moist and absorb some smoke.

Next, start a small fire using a bed of Kingsford Charcoal and lighter.  After the charcoal is coated with ash, spread it into a flat, 10-12 inch square area one piece deep.  With burgers, I use mesquite when available, but live oak or post oak are also great.  Stack the wood, chimney-style, over the charcoal, as shown.  With practice this becomes easy, but until then, use gloves.  If the wood is wet or is starting slowly, drop several slivers of wood down the center of the stack to help it flame up almost immediately.  Blow on the bottom of fire, if necessary, but don’t inhale the smoke.  For medium-cooked burgers, the fire shown is about the right size, but additional wood would be necessary for a longer burn time, as would be the case for cooking chicken and other meats.

For most grilling, I build the fire-stack in one corner of the grill, as shown, and spread the meat around the perimeter, so the meat is not directly over the fire.

While the fire is starting, using your clean fingers, thoroughly mix all the ingredients to half-pound paddies (or larger).  Take several minutes on each pan to pack the ingredients tightly into the meat.  You will need to flip the burgers, and you don’t want them to fall apart.

When cooking both Turkey Burgers and Beef Hamburgers at the same time, a nice balance is achieved using by a two-step cooking process.

1.  Put the beef burgers directly over the fire for just a couple of minutes, then flip them once.  After another couple of minutes, move them to the perimeter of the grill, away from the fire.

2.  Close the lid and adjust the air intake to calm the fire to a minimal, stable flame; none is fine.  Put the turkey burgers directly over the fire; they need more intense heat than the beef burgers.  Be sure to keep the flame to a minimal level.  Leave the turkey burgers directly over the fire and flip them only once for the entire cooking time.  They tend to stick and/or fall apart, so be gentle.

Optionally, flip the beef hamburgers once, but make sure their color is relatively uniform.  If necessary, rotate the less-cooked side toward the fire.

When the turkey burgers are thoroughly cooked (please don’t burn them), optionally place a slice of the cheese of your choice over the top of all the burgers.  It will melt in 2-3 minutes.  Remove all the burgers and buns and serve as soon as possible, while very hot.

We use fresh lettuce and tomato slices, and avocado on top of the burgers.  The hardcore might add a slice of bacon on top, but we don’t.

Tell me what you’d do to take these to the next level!

Mustard Chicken

Note:  The original posting of this recipe on 8/12 contained an error which has been corrected.  Rosemary is the correct ingredient, not sage.  Sorry.

One of our most frequent recipes is Mustard Chicken.  It is a whole chicken cooked on a wood fire in the smoker.  The cooking method is very similar to the method I always use in the smoker, just with different numbers.  A whole chicken can feed 2-4 people, and, yes, it is messy like all good BBQ.

Overview

We’re going to mix mustard, garlic powder, and onion powder into a thick paste, and rub it under the skin.  Then, add fresh rosemary, if available, under the skin and in the cavity.  Lastly, rub the remaining mustard paste all over the skin.  Then, cook for two hours in the smoker.  Stay near the grill so you can monitor and adjust the temperature.  Cut up and serve immediately, with napkins.

Procedure

Defrost, if necessary, and clean a whole chicken.  We buy the largest available, because the small ones can be small for a reason.  The meat is more juicy in the large ones.  Remove all the junk your butcher might have stuffed in the cavity.  Put the chicken in a large flat pan such as the one pictured, with the breasts up, with the cavity facing you.

Put enough Classic/Old Fashioned Yellow Mustard in a bowl to cover two breasts and two legs with a thick coat, plus 20%.  Add garlic powder and onion powder in equal amounts, and stir, until you have a thick but not overly dry paste.  You’ll need a couple of heaping tablespoons on each side plus the extra.

Using your index finger under the skin on each breast, remove the membranes covering the breast and especially the leg.  Try not to tear the skin any more than the butcher did.  Then, use a teaspoon to place the mustard paste under the skin.  Use plenty.  You should be able to see the yellow mustard through the skin over the whole breast and ideally the leg.  Do both breasts and legs, and use 90% of the paste.

Put half the remaining paste in each hand and smear it all over the outside of the chicken, including the wings.  Place whatever is left inside the cavity.

Add a thin, 6-inch piece of fresh rosemary under the skin on top of each breast and in the cavity.  You’ll need 3 pieces.  This, of course, is optional.

We don’t use any salt because the mustard is salty, but there are many ways to tailor the taste to your liking.

Now, prepare the fire.

I use the same method on all fires meant to smoke meats.  (The method is very different for grilling, but this smoking.)  Construct a chimney stack of oak and hickory, using medium-sized pieces.  The fire must hold 325-360 degrees (preferably, mostly 350) for a whole 2 hours, preferably without adding wood.  I start with a bed of Kingsford regular charcoal, about 20 pieces, and use charcoal lighter fluid to start it.  The charcoal will burn away fast, so be ready to spread it and build the chimney on top as soon as the charcoal is mostly gray.  Pre-cut about 8 pieces of wood the best size for your smoker.  See pictures.  Note this is a smaller version of the fire used for the brisket; it must burn hotter but for a shorter time.  Drop a few small pieces of kindling down the center of the fire to get it going.

With the vents wide open and the door to the firebox cracked, let the temperature rise quickly to 400 degrees.  Then, before it burns your paint, close the chimney vent half way and close the firebox intake 80%, and of course, close the door to the firebox.  As the temperature plunges to 350, open the firebox and the chimney vents to perhaps halfway, and begin to stabilize the temperature.  Once it’s stabilized, open the smoker lid and place the chicken directly under the thermometer with the cavity toward the fire, and close the lid.  After about 1:20 minutes, rotate the chicken to put the cavity away from the fire.

Do your best to keep the temperature above 325 and below 375.  350-360 is ideal.  If it spikes to 400, the skin will be burned but the meat is still good.  If the temperature is too low, the meat can be stringy or undercooked and people won’t like it.  A whole 2 hours does very well, but if you overshoot 15 minutes, it will only get a little dry.

FWIW, I’ve actually done 6 chickens simultaneously in the grill pictured, without changing this method.  To do that, I swapped the front and back pairs one hour in.  No biggie.

To take it off the grill, lift it from inside the cavity and place it on your cutting surface.  I use same glass pan (cleaned of course).  Cut it your way and serve very hot.