Better Homes and Gardens Grilling Book brisket


 
K

Kyle H.

TVWBB Fan
I was wondering if anyone has used the recipe for Texans' Beef Brisket from this book with any success. My dad gave me a 3lb. brisket cut and has been pestering me to smoke it for him and this recipe calls for just that.

The recipe calls for a 3 lb. cut using 6-8 pieces of mesquite wood and a 5-hour smoking time. Sounds to me like this would seriously over-smoke the meat. Any comments?

The recipe also lists a Spicy Beer sauce which sounds really really good... So maybe that will mask the over-smokiness of the meat :P
 
I'm not familiar with this particular recipe, but I would say the time wouldn't 'over-smoke' the meat, but the choice of mesquite may. Mesquite is strong and personally I only use it for grilling. For smoking beef, I stick to oak or pecan. The 5 hours implies a relatively high heat cook. What are the details of this recipe?

Paul
 
That's about it. This is from a generic smoke cooking section of the cookbook. All it says is to prepare the coals to the manufacturer's direction and to put water in the water pan. I thought I read somewhere that brisket should take about 1.5 hours smoke time per lb. of meat so maybe 5 hours is about right. My memory could be wrong however. But yes, I have read here that mesquite is a stronger smoke wood but I have a whole 10 lb. bag of it that I have yet to use. Maybe I should just wing and it post the results for your enjoyment, eh?
 
I'm looking over the recipe to go shopping and the Spicy Beer sauce recipe calls for 1 cup of bottled chili sauce. This has me stumped because I'm not really sure what they mean by chili sauce. Is that just another term for hot sauce like Frank's? Or is chili sauce something else altogether?

Any help on this would be great. I cook a lot honestly, and I think this is the first time I've heard just the generic term 'chili sauce'. Another thing that has me worried is my dad's woman is a wuss when it comes to hot stuff so if the main ingredient in the topping is hot sauce, I forsee some whining...
 
Kefka! Havent seen you in awhile, welcome back!
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If it were me, I would go the low and slow route. Dont worry about how long it will take. Rub it down well and stick a probe in the side of the brisket so that you can find the middle without shoving it through.

I would definitely stay away from the 6-8 pieces of mesquite
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Try a couple hunks of hickory or oak, add a fruit wood chunk if you have one. When you reach 180 start checking for tender. I would check every 15-20 min after 180 since its such a small brisket. Hope the little bugger comes out well for you and your father... Let us in on the spicy beer sauce!

Brandon
 
Spicy Beer sauce:

In a medium saucepan melt 2T butter or margarine. Add 3/4 cup chopped seeded peeled tomato; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper. Cook about 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in 1 cup chili sauce, 1/2 cup beer (I will be using Sam Adams Winter Ale), 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 2T brown sugar, 1-2T chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Boil gently uncovered about 10 minutes or until reduced down to about 2.25 cups.

I hope I don't get sued for that.
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Smokes on! Just checked the temp and it read 247 degrees so I threw the brisket on. There is A LOT of smoke coming out of the WSM. I ended up putting 6 chunks of mesquite on... just like the recipe said. I look at it this way: if the brisket turns out bad then I will blame the smoke-bbq-inept morons at Better Homes and Gardens
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The recipe calls for a vinegar mop sauce to be applied during the last hour of cooking but I will be foiling at 160-5 and adding my altered version of their mop sauce to the foil. I think all that smoke is giving me smokers lung, and boy is it cold outside. Time for another beer and some videogames while the WSM does its thing!
 
Ch. 2 in adventures in BBQ:

So... yeah so I definitely overcompensated for the cold weather by... A LOT. I checked it after an hour and a half and it was running at 320 degrees with an internal temp of 177! Hah. So, I foiled it and added the liquid. Checked about 30 mins later and it was reading 189 and it was time to come off... As I remove it from the grate the bottom of the foil rips and I hear a steady stream of liquid pour down into the water pan. Fudge.

Well I foiled it again and to save what I could of the remaining liquid and put it in my cooler. I left the WSM going because I've got some sweet potatoes cooking on it. Unintentional HH brisket? Yep, that sounds about right. I'll post later with how it all turns out. Hopefully its edible, hah.

edit: Yes, it is my fault. Got giddy off a beer or two on an empty stomach and I forget to close the vents. Yep, destined for greatness!
 
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