First Brisket of 2023

Spring is trying hard to be sprung around here.

Yesterday had some crazy winds that cancelled my intended shake-the-rust off flight.  Gusts of up to 35 knots with a minimum direct crosswind factor of 30 knots in a plane rated for 17 knots was not my idea of a good time for pattern work.

So yesterday,  I instead got the brisket prepared with my homemade rub for smoking.

So today, among other things that needed to be done, I got the smoker cleaned up from it's winter of non-use, and got it ready to smoke.

I decided to use pecan wood for the brisket this time, for a change of pace.

After all day of being on the smoker, the brisket was ready for dinner tonight.

 

 Nice and tasty and served up with baked beans, and mac & cheese, it was announced by all to be a tasty success.

A Great BBQ Party

I had 17 people over yesterday, all friends from jitsu and some with their families.

The Brisket, after 14 hours in the smoker came out great.  The Weber Smokey Mountain 18 really makes temperature control easy and the large water bowl keeps the heat moderated perfectly.  It works so much better and more consistent than the Ol' Brinkmann that it's not even funny.

Better than last year, and the guests devoured it.  Tender as all get out and people were happy.

The ribs took six hours in the smoker and were ready by 3:30 with the guests coming at 4.  I had started them in the driving rain Sunday morning and they turned out to be worth the effort.

They similarly were devoured happily, some had them straight, and some added sauce first.

The rain continued on and off all day, which made holding the party inside necessary, but it all worked out.

I also made a double batch of macaroni and cheese which was a hit for the kids some of the friends brought along.  

The kids also played with Jett and he enjoyed that profusely everything from retrieving a ball to chasing each other around.  Jett was tolerant the whole time and had a ball. Jett slept real well last night.

Guests brought dishes to pass including some really good Texas Caviar. This was the first time I've heard of that or tried it. It was a perfect accompaniment to the BBQ.  I need to add that to future BBQs as it works.

Lots of good discussions had an people had a good time.

Great food and a great bunch of people over.

Of Smokers And Smoke Alarms

It's a do-stuff-around-the-house-day today.

First, I'm smoking a brisket for a party with friends tomorrow.

Its going to be a 12-hour cook, using pecan and hickory wood.

Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up early to smoke ribs to add to the party as well.

As for smoke alarms, did you now they don't last forever?  A couple of ours, both in the kids' bedrooms, died just about simultaneously, both with a weak electronic shriek and then nothing, and no change of batteries did a thing.

Turns out they were manufactured in 2007, and the average detector is good for 10 years, so we're a bit over life expectancy, and definitely got some decent use out of them. 

I switched them out today for combo carbon monoxide/smoke detectors with sealed 10-year batteries.  I then replaced the remaining battery change ones with a couple more sealed detectors.  No more biannual fire alarm battery changes now.

 

Of course, they had different mounting systems because no fire alarm manufacturer can coordinate on a standard mount. This gets annoying. 

Then, finding out the prior owners of the house, who installed the battery ones just before they sold the house to us did not use drywall anchors, but just screws added to the fun.   Well its done now, and these are now properly installed and anchored.

So that's done,  and its time to check on the smoker again and then to do a little work and some IFR studying for the written test as there's an absolute to understand, know how to apply, and retain.

Sunday Gardening And Smoking Corned Beef Day

Today was an all-outdoors day.

It was weeding the landscape time.  With the rain and sun there had been a  surge of weeds sprouting up and turning practically into weed-trees overnight.

Since we would be outside anyways, might as well smoke something for dinner.

 Since we had a flat of corned beef I was requested to make some smoked corn beef - otherwise known as Pastrami or Montreal Smoked Meat.

First I unpacked the brisket and let it soak in water for two hours changing the water every half hour to make it a tad less salty.

While it was soaking I prepared the smoker.

Hickory wood (found a box of hickory under the Pecan wood box which was great),  locally sourced of course.  I also filled the water bowl with boiling water and started the full chimney of charcoal. 

The brisket was covered in my brisket rub and placed on the grate.

 

 

Then the charcoal was added and the smoker closed up to do its thing.

Once the smoker was moving along, I began chopping weeds in the backyard. Many bags full of weeds were removed and the place looks much better now.

After 9 hours in the smoker, the brisket was ready for dinner.

To say it tasted great was an understatement.  The burnt ends tasted like candy. That's 2 for 2 in the Weber smoker so far.

Socially Distant Jiu Jitsu Party - With Brisket

I had invited friends from Jiu Jitsu over for a fun socially distant get together at the house today.

I enticed them with a promise of my homemade smoked brisket. So smoked brisket there had to be. I purchased a whole packer brisket earlier this week and got the preparations underway.

So I made the rub and applied it to the brisket, than into the smoker it went.

Then began 18 hours of smoking low and slow over locally-sourced hickory wood (I'm running out of hickory and apple wood now).

It came out rather awesome, if I do say so myself.

The meat from the flat was nice and lean but still moist and fork-tender. The meat from the point of the brisket was fatty as expected and described by some of my meat-loving jiu jitsu friends as "candy".

The brisket was a big hit and we pretty much devoured the whole thing.

Everyone brought a dish to pass (and some brought more than one - a generous group they are), and they brought beer to help wash the brisket and other delectables down.

A great time was had by all 10 guests as we sat around in a socially distant manner and had some good food among a good bunch of people.

Success: Smoked Brisket For Dinner

Total Cook Time: 10 hours, 4 minutes, including an annoying stall that required the use of the Texas Crutch (ye olde aluminum foil) to get through. Thence, 1 hour to rest.

After the rest, some slices were made and served and it came out great.

Pronounced perfectly tender, flavorful with excellent but not overwhelming smokiness, and served with some asparagus, and mac & cheese.

Did not require any BBQ sauce but it could be added if desired.

Now, I may need to make some social-distancing-approved meat-packs for some friends and neighbors.

Working From Home, So Might As Well Getting My Smoking On For Dinner

Since I'm working from home, I might as well do some food smoking since I can be here to give it the attention that it requires.

This one will require quite a bit of attention. Luckily, I can see the smoker from my home office.

Today's smoking item: Brisket. Or as they called it in Texas - BBQ.

I got a nice packer brisket from Costco yesterday and seasoned it last night with my homemade brisket rub.

It then sat out this morning for a couple hours to come up to temperature before having it ready to be placed in the smoker.

I then got the fire built and placed some locally sourced apple and hickory wood in the smoker.

And she's off and the cook has begun. We will see how this goes.

Today's A Smoking Day: Brisket

The day started out raining.

I prepped a nice 8 pound Brisket last night, giving it a nice scoring and application of a good spice rub, then into the fridge it went.

Then I fired up the smoker this morning, in the rain, using the hickory wood from Eaton Rapids Joe for the first time.

Once it was going nicely I added, the brisket and closed it up to smoke, and the fresh-cut hickory smoke smelled great.

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After a few hours I checked and added more water to the pan, more charcoal and more of that great hickory wood, here''s how it looked before more was added:

Checking the brisket during the refueling shows it's enjoying the smoke quite a bit. It already smells great, but it's hours away from being done.

This brisket is on its way to coming out nicely. We'll see how it does for dinner tonight.

And it came out great, tender with a nice smoky flavor.

Brisket Results Report

The brisket, I'm happy to say, after a long slow cooking time came out great.

Excellent smoke ring and tenderness throughout,

Slicing it before dinner after it had cooled, we then reheated it and served it to us and out two guests.

It didn't need any BBQ sauce at all and was great straight and served with roasted potatoes and it was highly complimented.

The sad part - there's absolutely no leftovers - it was gone and gone fast.

Today's Project - Smoking Brisket

Since we're having guests over tomorrow, Natasha wanted me to make something special and since the weather is nice for outdoor cooking she wanted me to make brisket on the smoker.

Her wish being my command, I prepared the brisket with a rub, stoked the smoker with charcoal and hickory wood, got boiling water for the water pan and then introduced the brisket to its new best friend, smoke.

Temperature is up to a nice 200 degrees, heading to about 220 for the initial smoking.

This is going to be a long, long cook, probably about 12 plus hours or so.

We'll see how it turns out tomorrow.

Smoked Brisket - It's What's For Labor Day Dinner

There's a first time for everything, and this was the first time to smoke a brisket.

To begin smoking a brisket, you need to prepare it, aye there's the rub.

And A rub there was:

Comprising brown sugar, ancho chili pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, onion flakes, garlic and pepper, the brisket was covered with it, wrapped in foil and placed in the fridge for 24 hours.

Then it was time to begin the smoking of the meat: The smoker was warmed up, topped off with water and fuel and the smoking began.

For the first attempt I went with a small brisket of 3 pounds, so the cook time was four and a half hours.

Every hour the brisket was lovingly basted with mop sauce.

Making the mop sauce was easy:

Step 1. Grab a beer, drink some beer.

Step 2. Put 1/4 cup of beer in a bowl

Step 3. Add 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar

Step 4. Add 1/4 cup olive oil

Step 5. add some squirts of Worcestershire sauce and mix thoroughly.

Step 6. Drink some beer while applying mop sauce to the brisket.

After 4.5 Hours cooking and then two hours of rest wrapped in foil, it was ready:

Served alongside some roast beets, roast potatoes, and corn it was a meal fit for the labors of the day, and yes, it came out tender and perfect tasting. Whether it was beginner's luck or otherwise, I made a darn nice brisket.