K Kruger
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
A rundown on yesterday's dinner:
13.5-lb packer (no-roll); I decided to do no trimming at all.
82 degrees and sunny with light variable breezes. I did not want to tap my low supply of lump (it's only R.O. as I haven't made it to Tampa to get better lump but I am not sure if I'm ccoking here through Sunday and hence needing the lump or leaving today) so I used Kingsford.
MM start but instead of 12-15 fully lit coals I used twice that and only waited till they were partially lit. Empty water pan; no Guru or Stoker; 6 small pieces of hickory and I managed to find one small piece of apple (I'm now offically out of apple). The only therm I used was one stuck into a top vent hole (the one from BBQ Guru with the silicone plug). I did not temp the meat during cooking at all.
I made two rubs: a paste to apply to the brisket first, and a dry to go over the paste. (Recipe here.)
Had I known the previous day that I was definitely going to be here to do the brisket I would likely have applied the paste rub then, wrapped the meat in plastic, and fridged it, applying the dry rub just before cooking. One over the other applied just before cooking is fine though.
Paste-rubbed:
Dry applied over the paste:
The paste is a puree of onion, garlic, a splash of Worcestershire and some pickled jalapeños. A little salt finished it. The dry rub includes ground coffee; several 'sweet' spices (fennel, clove, coriander, cardamom); the aromatics onion, ginger and garlic; thyme and marjoram for herbs; and black and white pepper plus Aleppo pepper for the pepper and chile components. No sugar. Since I was putting the dry rub over the paste rub I included some salt in the dry rub.
The meat went into the cooker at 3:20pm, just after pouring on the partially lit and assembling the cooker. Lid temp climbed to 280 over the course of 30 min but did not want to go higher. The farrier showed up at 4 and, needing to help him and wanting to move the cook along, I propped the door open an inch. When I checked at 4:20 or so the lid temp was 350. I closed the door and checked later: it was nearing 300 so I propped the door open again.
For most of my high heat brisket cooks plateau is broken somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours. This brisket was a little larger than most I do and, as it was untrimmed, I decided to go a little longer and foiled the brisket at 2:40 into the cook. I did not check the internal temp. I did not add anything to the foil. The cook continued at 350-370 lid for the duration.
I checked the brisket for tenderness about an hour later and could feel that it needed more time. 20 min later I checked again and the probe went in smoothly. The brisket had thrown off quite a bit of juices, 2 cups of which I removed to a fat separator, then I added a piece of foil to the brisket, wrapping it well, and left in on the counter to rest, under a towel.
Brisket just off the grate:
I never see butter lettuce in town, never. Surprisingly, I found a single head of hydro butter when shopping the day before and nabbed that. Salad was butter lettuce topped with local ripe tomato (the season is starting nicely here), local Kirby cuke slices, and a dollop of a sort of thick cesar-like dressing topped with toasted almonds, with a garnish of avocado slices.
The brisket rested about 30 min, ample time for high-heat briskets cooked till tender though one can go longer. It sliced very easily, was very tender and moist. I was quite pleased with the rub flavors but thought it lacked a little salt. A sprinkle of that and the brisket was delicious on its own--my requirement for barbecue.
But(!) I love sauces of course. I had scored some delicious ripe Chilean nectarines for the previous day's cook and decided to make a sauce based on them as I felt ripe nectarine would go so well with the flavors of the two rubs. So the sauce was ripe nectarine sweetened further by red bell pepper, onion, shallot and garlic, with a touch of turbinado, smoked paprika and a little chipotle for smoke and heat, and ketchup for balance. (Recipe here.) I finished the sauce with a generous pour of the juices I had (mostly) fat-separated--the juices I'd saved from the brisket after I'd pulled it from the cooker. Worked very well.
I blanched then sauteed chopped kale in a little butter with a little garlic then folded in freshly roasted quartered fingerling potatoes. Garnish: Chilled nectarine slices topped with toasted almonds.
13.5-lb packer (no-roll); I decided to do no trimming at all.
82 degrees and sunny with light variable breezes. I did not want to tap my low supply of lump (it's only R.O. as I haven't made it to Tampa to get better lump but I am not sure if I'm ccoking here through Sunday and hence needing the lump or leaving today) so I used Kingsford.
MM start but instead of 12-15 fully lit coals I used twice that and only waited till they were partially lit. Empty water pan; no Guru or Stoker; 6 small pieces of hickory and I managed to find one small piece of apple (I'm now offically out of apple). The only therm I used was one stuck into a top vent hole (the one from BBQ Guru with the silicone plug). I did not temp the meat during cooking at all.
I made two rubs: a paste to apply to the brisket first, and a dry to go over the paste. (Recipe here.)
Had I known the previous day that I was definitely going to be here to do the brisket I would likely have applied the paste rub then, wrapped the meat in plastic, and fridged it, applying the dry rub just before cooking. One over the other applied just before cooking is fine though.
Paste-rubbed:
Dry applied over the paste:
The paste is a puree of onion, garlic, a splash of Worcestershire and some pickled jalapeños. A little salt finished it. The dry rub includes ground coffee; several 'sweet' spices (fennel, clove, coriander, cardamom); the aromatics onion, ginger and garlic; thyme and marjoram for herbs; and black and white pepper plus Aleppo pepper for the pepper and chile components. No sugar. Since I was putting the dry rub over the paste rub I included some salt in the dry rub.
The meat went into the cooker at 3:20pm, just after pouring on the partially lit and assembling the cooker. Lid temp climbed to 280 over the course of 30 min but did not want to go higher. The farrier showed up at 4 and, needing to help him and wanting to move the cook along, I propped the door open an inch. When I checked at 4:20 or so the lid temp was 350. I closed the door and checked later: it was nearing 300 so I propped the door open again.
For most of my high heat brisket cooks plateau is broken somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours. This brisket was a little larger than most I do and, as it was untrimmed, I decided to go a little longer and foiled the brisket at 2:40 into the cook. I did not check the internal temp. I did not add anything to the foil. The cook continued at 350-370 lid for the duration.
I checked the brisket for tenderness about an hour later and could feel that it needed more time. 20 min later I checked again and the probe went in smoothly. The brisket had thrown off quite a bit of juices, 2 cups of which I removed to a fat separator, then I added a piece of foil to the brisket, wrapping it well, and left in on the counter to rest, under a towel.
Brisket just off the grate:
I never see butter lettuce in town, never. Surprisingly, I found a single head of hydro butter when shopping the day before and nabbed that. Salad was butter lettuce topped with local ripe tomato (the season is starting nicely here), local Kirby cuke slices, and a dollop of a sort of thick cesar-like dressing topped with toasted almonds, with a garnish of avocado slices.
The brisket rested about 30 min, ample time for high-heat briskets cooked till tender though one can go longer. It sliced very easily, was very tender and moist. I was quite pleased with the rub flavors but thought it lacked a little salt. A sprinkle of that and the brisket was delicious on its own--my requirement for barbecue.
But(!) I love sauces of course. I had scored some delicious ripe Chilean nectarines for the previous day's cook and decided to make a sauce based on them as I felt ripe nectarine would go so well with the flavors of the two rubs. So the sauce was ripe nectarine sweetened further by red bell pepper, onion, shallot and garlic, with a touch of turbinado, smoked paprika and a little chipotle for smoke and heat, and ketchup for balance. (Recipe here.) I finished the sauce with a generous pour of the juices I had (mostly) fat-separated--the juices I'd saved from the brisket after I'd pulled it from the cooker. Worked very well.
I blanched then sauteed chopped kale in a little butter with a little garlic then folded in freshly roasted quartered fingerling potatoes. Garnish: Chilled nectarine slices topped with toasted almonds.
