I love turkey, smoked or fried doesn't matter. But I grew up with overcooked and dry birds and decided to change that paradigm and found the art of brining to keep turkey moist.
I use a cup of sugar and a cup of salt like every other recipe. I used to add spices but I haven't found those do much. But here's my trick: you should be brining overnight in a non-reactive container and I had been using clear plastic garbage bags like a leaf bag until I found out I'd been poisoning my family and friends for years with chemicals from the bags.
But I found a better and much safer and honestly more convenient way!
Ziploc!
Really!
Ziploc makes a food safe bag big enough for two birds. I found mine at Target, so they're probably available widely. Here's a link: http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/BigBags.aspx?SizeName=XXL. Costs a few cents more, but saves time and possibly later illness.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
My biggest cook ever...
First off, I apologize for being off the blog for the last seven months. I smoked all summer long, up until Labor Day when I did a big smoke for about 30 people (brisket, pork, baby backs) on Saturday with the expectation that I'd be able to feed them on Monday. Alas, Hurricane Isaac had other plans for me and I was sent to Louisiana and Mississippi for a couple of weeks. My ever-supportive spouse decided that since I'd already made all the food and our friends had already been invited, she should go forward despite my absence and throw one hell of a party. They saved me about a baggie's worth. Thanks, guys.
Hurricane Sandy dealt us another blow and I spent six weeks in NJ for work there. I didn't find any good BBQ, unfortunately, but I did find absolutely the best hot dog I've ever eaten. If you're ever in Central New Jersey, along the shore, you absolutely cannot miss going to The Windmill. Hands down the best hot dog ever.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm becoming a much better cook in the past year since I bought my smoker. I keep reading and keep following Twitter and keep learning new things, but I'm getting good at pork and pork ribs. So this weekend I'm trying one of my boldest experiments ever -- smoking for 50+. Each year our church hosts a hypothermia shelter for homeless folks in our area and my BBQ buddy Dave and I, along with a couple of others, volunteered to make pork for our guests on their final night with us. Originally, we thought we had more people coming and so we bought food for 80 or so. And then we were told some guests wouldn't like pork, can we make something in addition. So now we've got nearly 80 lbs of pork, and 30 pounds of turkey to deep fry. All tomorrow. Two smokers, two fryers, four guys, a lot of beer. I'll let you know how it goes.
Stuff I've learned:
1) Buy a food bagger/sealer! I bought one off Craigslist that looks like this (mine's black, not camo):http://www.foodsaver.com/product.aspx?pid=13134. I got it for $40, almost brand new. Best investment ever. Now I can smoke, vacuum seal and throw it in the freezer and we've got smoked BBQ dinner for a busy Tuesday night a couple of weeks, or a couple of months from now.
2) You absolutely CAN make your own rub at home. I'm not sure how much I'm saving because the initial investment in spices is significant. The best part is that a $6 little bottle of cayenne pepper goes a long way. This is the recipe I used. It's actually a combination of a variety of different recipes. It's not cheap, but it's amazing. I call it:
SuburbSlicker's Sublime Pork Rub
Hurricane Sandy dealt us another blow and I spent six weeks in NJ for work there. I didn't find any good BBQ, unfortunately, but I did find absolutely the best hot dog I've ever eaten. If you're ever in Central New Jersey, along the shore, you absolutely cannot miss going to The Windmill. Hands down the best hot dog ever.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm becoming a much better cook in the past year since I bought my smoker. I keep reading and keep following Twitter and keep learning new things, but I'm getting good at pork and pork ribs. So this weekend I'm trying one of my boldest experiments ever -- smoking for 50+. Each year our church hosts a hypothermia shelter for homeless folks in our area and my BBQ buddy Dave and I, along with a couple of others, volunteered to make pork for our guests on their final night with us. Originally, we thought we had more people coming and so we bought food for 80 or so. And then we were told some guests wouldn't like pork, can we make something in addition. So now we've got nearly 80 lbs of pork, and 30 pounds of turkey to deep fry. All tomorrow. Two smokers, two fryers, four guys, a lot of beer. I'll let you know how it goes.
Stuff I've learned:
1) Buy a food bagger/sealer! I bought one off Craigslist that looks like this (mine's black, not camo):http://www.foodsaver.com/product.aspx?pid=13134. I got it for $40, almost brand new. Best investment ever. Now I can smoke, vacuum seal and throw it in the freezer and we've got smoked BBQ dinner for a busy Tuesday night a couple of weeks, or a couple of months from now.
2) You absolutely CAN make your own rub at home. I'm not sure how much I'm saving because the initial investment in spices is significant. The best part is that a $6 little bottle of cayenne pepper goes a long way. This is the recipe I used. It's actually a combination of a variety of different recipes. It's not cheap, but it's amazing. I call it:
SuburbSlicker's Sublime Pork Rub
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup Morton's kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup Morton's kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons rosemary powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne (2 if you like it hot)
3) If you've ever cursed your charcoal chimney, try this: Fill your chimney as you always would, then put it unlit on top of the side burner of your gas grill. Hit the gas and the igniter and you'll have hot coals in just a few minutes. No gathering newspaper or trying to determine which kid stole your lighter (and for what purpose) at 6 a.m. Just make sure that once your charcoal is fully lit, pull it from the gas burner to make sure those little sparks don't spark something bigger around your propane tank (mine's right under the burner, for example.)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Smoking and freezing (and today's fixation on thermometers)
I know it's been a while since I posted anything, but I took some time off from smoking to:
1) Be a baseball dad
2) Do a modest amount of yard work
3) Travel for work
4) Be a baseball dad
Both of my young sons are big Little League players and two games a week plus a practice or two thrown in per week keep me running during the spring. So my grill adventures have been limited lately. Add to that a flooded house from an antiquated toilet supply line two weeks ago (that's a blog for another day) and I haven't touched my smoker in a couple of months except to wash it down a few weeks back.
But today was a different day. Today was a day of smoking destiny!
Well, almost. In our area periodically a butcher shop called Springfield Butcher has a Groupon and they'll sell you $26 of fresh meat for $13. Their meats are top-notch, but usually a little pricey for me unless I have a deal. So the last time the offer came out, I bought three and used two yesterday. So for about $130 I got four racks of babybacks and a large brisket. Having just been in Texas a week ago, and checking out prices on meat there, I'm ready to move. No one said DC is cheap on anything. Regardless I happily plunked down the $70 or so bucks for my meat, my two Groupons and went on my way, ready to smoke today.
For the first time, I'm smoking without eating today because we're traveling in July to North Carolina with four families and I got the bright idea to pre-smoke enough meat for a bbq dinner at the beach house. I bought a used FoodSaver vacuum food sealer on CraigsList for $45 from a guy who'd only used it a couple of times and I was itching to try it out.
Meanwhile, over the spring, if I can't cook, I can at least buy things that make me think about cooking and I decided this spring that I needed thermometers. I'd bought a $15 smoker thermometer at Wal-Mart to replace the cheap one that came with my CharGriller and I had a variety of cheap-o meat thermometers in the drawer. So I made some investments. I first bought a ThermoWorks Thermapen RT600C from Amazon for about $20. I'd read a lot about ThermoWorks and knew I wanted theirs, even if their top-of-the line cooking thermometer was out of my price range at around $90. I also bought a Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer, Graphite for $23, thinking I could use it to keep track of my grill temp. I was wrong as its actually a meat thermometer. But it looked cool, so I kept it. Finally I bought a $8.49 CDN High Heat Oven Thermometer which came highly rated. I also ordered a high-heat oven thermometer used in laboratories, but it's been on backorder for a while now and I'm ready to cancel that order.
Anyway, I put all three of my good temp checkers to the test today and found my $15 WM thermometer that I'd been using for months is actually about 50 degrees off. So all this time I'd been trying to cook at 175 degrees. No wonder everything was taking so long. So now, with the proper temp, I'm cranking along with my ribs and brisket and I try out my Polder as well as my Thermoworks (they were about a degree apart -- close enough).
I left my smoker to run #2 son to a baseball game and watch a little of son #1's game(baseball Dad again) . I got back an hour later, ready to check my temp, and found my new Thermoworks, which I'd shoved in my pocket, had slipped out. I raced back to the field, searched everywhere, but alas, my new toy was already gone on its first day in service.
Meanwhile, the Polder is a good little digital thermometer too and it kept my brisket temp reported and it cooked beautifully to 175 when I pulled it, wrapped it in foil to come up to 185 and rest.
The ribs also looked splendid and I vacuumed sealed the whole lot, and I pull it from the freezer in a couple of weeks and let you know how it works.
1) Be a baseball dad
2) Do a modest amount of yard work
3) Travel for work
4) Be a baseball dad
Both of my young sons are big Little League players and two games a week plus a practice or two thrown in per week keep me running during the spring. So my grill adventures have been limited lately. Add to that a flooded house from an antiquated toilet supply line two weeks ago (that's a blog for another day) and I haven't touched my smoker in a couple of months except to wash it down a few weeks back.
But today was a different day. Today was a day of smoking destiny!
Well, almost. In our area periodically a butcher shop called Springfield Butcher has a Groupon and they'll sell you $26 of fresh meat for $13. Their meats are top-notch, but usually a little pricey for me unless I have a deal. So the last time the offer came out, I bought three and used two yesterday. So for about $130 I got four racks of babybacks and a large brisket. Having just been in Texas a week ago, and checking out prices on meat there, I'm ready to move. No one said DC is cheap on anything. Regardless I happily plunked down the $70 or so bucks for my meat, my two Groupons and went on my way, ready to smoke today.
For the first time, I'm smoking without eating today because we're traveling in July to North Carolina with four families and I got the bright idea to pre-smoke enough meat for a bbq dinner at the beach house. I bought a used FoodSaver vacuum food sealer on CraigsList for $45 from a guy who'd only used it a couple of times and I was itching to try it out.
Meanwhile, over the spring, if I can't cook, I can at least buy things that make me think about cooking and I decided this spring that I needed thermometers. I'd bought a $15 smoker thermometer at Wal-Mart to replace the cheap one that came with my CharGriller and I had a variety of cheap-o meat thermometers in the drawer. So I made some investments. I first bought a ThermoWorks Thermapen RT600C from Amazon for about $20. I'd read a lot about ThermoWorks and knew I wanted theirs, even if their top-of-the line cooking thermometer was out of my price range at around $90. I also bought a Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer, Graphite for $23, thinking I could use it to keep track of my grill temp. I was wrong as its actually a meat thermometer. But it looked cool, so I kept it. Finally I bought a $8.49 CDN High Heat Oven Thermometer which came highly rated. I also ordered a high-heat oven thermometer used in laboratories, but it's been on backorder for a while now and I'm ready to cancel that order.
Anyway, I put all three of my good temp checkers to the test today and found my $15 WM thermometer that I'd been using for months is actually about 50 degrees off. So all this time I'd been trying to cook at 175 degrees. No wonder everything was taking so long. So now, with the proper temp, I'm cranking along with my ribs and brisket and I try out my Polder as well as my Thermoworks (they were about a degree apart -- close enough).
I left my smoker to run #2 son to a baseball game and watch a little of son #1's game(baseball Dad again) . I got back an hour later, ready to check my temp, and found my new Thermoworks, which I'd shoved in my pocket, had slipped out. I raced back to the field, searched everywhere, but alas, my new toy was already gone on its first day in service.
Meanwhile, the Polder is a good little digital thermometer too and it kept my brisket temp reported and it cooked beautifully to 175 when I pulled it, wrapped it in foil to come up to 185 and rest.
The ribs also looked splendid and I vacuumed sealed the whole lot, and I pull it from the freezer in a couple of weeks and let you know how it works.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Mmm...Smoking is for the birds too!
I admit it, I can be a real cheapskate when it comes to groceries and this past Thanksgiving was no exception. Since I'm a more frugal shopper than my wife, and since we're trying to spend less and save more, I do the majority of the grocery buying in the house. So I was pleased when the Wal-Mart around the corner underwent an extreme makeover and added on a large supermarket section.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I was in that section and noted that the cheap frozen turkeys were on sale for 38 cents a pound (as opposed to the major grocery chains selling the same cheap frozen turkey for 99 cents a pound). As I elbowed my way to the freezer, I noticed that frozen butterballs were a nickel more at 43 cents a pound and I bought two. The first one (big boy at around 18 lbs) went into the deep fryer on that Thursday and the other one (little brother at about 11 pounds) went into the freezer.
This past weekend, I decided to throw it on the smoker to see how it would do. Here's what happened:
1) I removed bird from freezer on Thursday to let it thaw. Turkeys need to thaw before you cook them and it always takes forever, so start early, but keep it refrigerated or cold to keep the micro-bugs from growing and sending you on an express trip to the Emergency Room.
2) Beginning Saturday, I cooked up a nice brine to soak bird in. I started brining my turkeys a few years back (instead of injecting with butter) and I think it makes for a much juicier cooked bird. There are any number of recipes out there, but basically you need some liquid and some salt. What else you throw in (and at what quantity) is up to you and will subtly flavor your meat. You can tell below that my recipe is not too precise. This time I used:
3) Sunday morning, I pulled out the bird and rinsed it thoroughly, making sure to get the brine off and patted it dry with a paper towel. Then I worked my fingers under the top layer of skin and separated it from the meat. I didn't want to pull it all off, just work it off enough to be able to get my fingers between the skin and the meat since a rub won't penetrate the skin to actually flavor the meat which is what you're rubbing for.
4) I added rub to the skin, but between the skin to the meat itself. I used a poultry rub from Ashman Manufacturing called Virginia Coastal that I found in the grocery store (http://www.ashmanco.com/category-rubs.html). I did my best to get it under the skin while leaving the skin on. I also added a few shakes inside the chest cavity.
5) I put the rubbed bird back into the fridge for a few hours while I went to church to allow it to all settle together. I read this is called "The Curing Rest" (here: http://www.smoker-cooking.com/smokedturkey.html).
6) I put the bird in a foil pan, rubbed a little more rub and onto the smoke it went.
7) 30-40 minutes per pound is the estimated cooking time at 225. I think mine took longer because it was cold and windy outside. I used lump charcoal, hickory and oak, being careful not to over-smoke it. Turkey is definitely more tender than pork or beef and it needs a little extra TLC.
8) After about three hours, I pulled it from the smoker and moved it over to my gas grill for about 90 minutes on low (offset -- meaning I turned the burner opposite where I put the turkey on to "low" and left the one right under the bird full off). I did this to reduce the smoke and because I needed room on my smoker.
9) Pulled it off at the end of about 4.5 hours and the internal temp was still lower than I wanted so I put it in the oven at 300 until it came right up to 160. Then I let it sit for about 30 minutes letting the bird firm up and the juices to move around a little.
10) DELICIOUS! That's all I can say. Even my father who is a pretty timid eater when it comes to smoke and spice said it was delectable. Everyone at the table said it was the best they'd had in a long time (which puts my standard fried turkey to shame, I guess).
11) Only thing worthy of note, the skin cooks very differently on a smoked turkey. It's not the crispy treat it usually is on a fried or roasted bird. I found it chewy, and less than tasty. Try it yourself first before you serve it to guests. I ended up just tearing off the skin and chucking it in the Dispos-All before sending the platter to the table.
Good luck!
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I was in that section and noted that the cheap frozen turkeys were on sale for 38 cents a pound (as opposed to the major grocery chains selling the same cheap frozen turkey for 99 cents a pound). As I elbowed my way to the freezer, I noticed that frozen butterballs were a nickel more at 43 cents a pound and I bought two. The first one (big boy at around 18 lbs) went into the deep fryer on that Thursday and the other one (little brother at about 11 pounds) went into the freezer.
This past weekend, I decided to throw it on the smoker to see how it would do. Here's what happened:
1) I removed bird from freezer on Thursday to let it thaw. Turkeys need to thaw before you cook them and it always takes forever, so start early, but keep it refrigerated or cold to keep the micro-bugs from growing and sending you on an express trip to the Emergency Room.
2) Beginning Saturday, I cooked up a nice brine to soak bird in. I started brining my turkeys a few years back (instead of injecting with butter) and I think it makes for a much juicier cooked bird. There are any number of recipes out there, but basically you need some liquid and some salt. What else you throw in (and at what quantity) is up to you and will subtly flavor your meat. You can tell below that my recipe is not too precise. This time I used:
- water,
- a little less than a cupful of table salt (you can use kosher or sea salt if you like, but I went with what I had in the cupboard),
- about three cups of peach/apple juice from Trader Joes,
- a cup of sugar,
- a few good shakes of Lawry's seasoned salt,
- about a cup of some kind of salt-free organic all-purpose seasoning blend from Costco,
- few tablespoons of fresh-ground black pepper.
3) Sunday morning, I pulled out the bird and rinsed it thoroughly, making sure to get the brine off and patted it dry with a paper towel. Then I worked my fingers under the top layer of skin and separated it from the meat. I didn't want to pull it all off, just work it off enough to be able to get my fingers between the skin and the meat since a rub won't penetrate the skin to actually flavor the meat which is what you're rubbing for.
4) I added rub to the skin, but between the skin to the meat itself. I used a poultry rub from Ashman Manufacturing called Virginia Coastal that I found in the grocery store (http://www.ashmanco.com/category-rubs.html). I did my best to get it under the skin while leaving the skin on. I also added a few shakes inside the chest cavity.
5) I put the rubbed bird back into the fridge for a few hours while I went to church to allow it to all settle together. I read this is called "The Curing Rest" (here: http://www.smoker-cooking.com/smokedturkey.html).
6) I put the bird in a foil pan, rubbed a little more rub and onto the smoke it went.
7) 30-40 minutes per pound is the estimated cooking time at 225. I think mine took longer because it was cold and windy outside. I used lump charcoal, hickory and oak, being careful not to over-smoke it. Turkey is definitely more tender than pork or beef and it needs a little extra TLC.
8) After about three hours, I pulled it from the smoker and moved it over to my gas grill for about 90 minutes on low (offset -- meaning I turned the burner opposite where I put the turkey on to "low" and left the one right under the bird full off). I did this to reduce the smoke and because I needed room on my smoker.
9) Pulled it off at the end of about 4.5 hours and the internal temp was still lower than I wanted so I put it in the oven at 300 until it came right up to 160. Then I let it sit for about 30 minutes letting the bird firm up and the juices to move around a little.
10) DELICIOUS! That's all I can say. Even my father who is a pretty timid eater when it comes to smoke and spice said it was delectable. Everyone at the table said it was the best they'd had in a long time (which puts my standard fried turkey to shame, I guess).
11) Only thing worthy of note, the skin cooks very differently on a smoked turkey. It's not the crispy treat it usually is on a fried or roasted bird. I found it chewy, and less than tasty. Try it yourself first before you serve it to guests. I ended up just tearing off the skin and chucking it in the Dispos-All before sending the platter to the table.
Good luck!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Review: VA BBQ Manassas
Well, I wanted it to be good.
We entered a little after 7 p.m. and were told it was almost closing time. But the gentleman at the counter was very friendly explaining the menu and helping us all. I ordered the 1/2 ribs with 4 ounces of pulled beef brisket (I wish I'd read it was pulled, I was expecting sliced, but my fault). I got two sides and ordered baked beans and hush puppies. My sons both had pulled pork sandwiches, my daughter had chicken strips and my wife ordered the ribs/beef combo with potato salad and mac & cheese.
First the Q, since that's why I wanted to go. Ribs were well cooked, tender, juicy, but slathered in a non-descript sauce, cold and there was no detectable smoke. The super-salty beef came in a little foam cup and tasted fresh from the microwave. It was swirling around in some juice, but no smoke either. There's an Arby's in the parking lot and I think the beef there would've been much better.
The beans were super hot which told me they were fresh from the microwave as well, but the hush puppies were good. My oldest son said he saw frost on his pork sandwich along with a hair which he neglected to report to us until after we left. My daughter said her chicken and onion rings were pretty flavorless and my wife ate only part of her meal before searching around for some Tums.
The restaurant is in a strip center amongst a sea of strip centers. Inside, it's very casual and you order at the counter (very friendly staff, btw). The soda machine's ice maker was broken on our visit and the sodas all tasted flat. The sauce bottles were covered on the outside with sauce making a sticky mess and I spotted an ant crawling across a condiments table.
Aside from the friendly staff, I wouldn't recommend. That's a shame because it's relatively close to my house and there are a couple of other very weak bbq restaurants in the area, but it turns out those are better than VA BBQ.
We entered a little after 7 p.m. and were told it was almost closing time. But the gentleman at the counter was very friendly explaining the menu and helping us all. I ordered the 1/2 ribs with 4 ounces of pulled beef brisket (I wish I'd read it was pulled, I was expecting sliced, but my fault). I got two sides and ordered baked beans and hush puppies. My sons both had pulled pork sandwiches, my daughter had chicken strips and my wife ordered the ribs/beef combo with potato salad and mac & cheese.
First the Q, since that's why I wanted to go. Ribs were well cooked, tender, juicy, but slathered in a non-descript sauce, cold and there was no detectable smoke. The super-salty beef came in a little foam cup and tasted fresh from the microwave. It was swirling around in some juice, but no smoke either. There's an Arby's in the parking lot and I think the beef there would've been much better.
The beans were super hot which told me they were fresh from the microwave as well, but the hush puppies were good. My oldest son said he saw frost on his pork sandwich along with a hair which he neglected to report to us until after we left. My daughter said her chicken and onion rings were pretty flavorless and my wife ate only part of her meal before searching around for some Tums.
The restaurant is in a strip center amongst a sea of strip centers. Inside, it's very casual and you order at the counter (very friendly staff, btw). The soda machine's ice maker was broken on our visit and the sodas all tasted flat. The sauce bottles were covered on the outside with sauce making a sticky mess and I spotted an ant crawling across a condiments table.
Aside from the friendly staff, I wouldn't recommend. That's a shame because it's relatively close to my house and there are a couple of other very weak bbq restaurants in the area, but it turns out those are better than VA BBQ.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
How I Killed My First Brisket
Ok, so this one didn't go as well, if the blog name gives you any
indication. A few weeks ago, I purchased an Angus brisket -- about $4/lb
at Sam's Club. It was small, about 4.5lbs, so I assume it was actually a
half brisket. Not sure if it was the point or the flat, but I think,
given the fat cap, it was the point.
It was frozen from Sam's, so I threw it in the freezer at home. Apparently I should buy fresh and use immediately. I prepped in the usual way I've prepped anything else -- thawed completely, coated in yellow mustard and applied the McCormick Grill Mates "Cowboy Rub" as I wanted something with a little kick and there's not much to choose from here in the Mid-Atlantic this time of year. I need to start doing more mail order rubs. I'd also nearly run out of my Kansas City rubs that I picked up out there before Christmas.
So I prep and inject with low-sodium beef broth (not sure if that was worth it or not, but I read it somewhere and it seemed like a good idea). I also read that you could spice up the broth by grinding some rub in a coffee grinder until it's powdery and mixing it with the broth before you inject. I found that to mess up not only my wife's coffee grinder (thank goodness she's lazy and only uses the Keurig now) and it clogged my injector. I don't think it was worth the effort. It sat in the fridge overnight.
Early Sunday morning, threw it on the smoker using mostly hickory to start with some oak later in the day as the lump charcoal ran out and I still needed some heat. Checked it hourly and applied a spray of half apple juice and half apple-cider vinegar. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Now theoretically, I should've reached a good temp at around the 7 hour mark. I pulled the brisket around hour 5, double-wrapped in foil to keep it moist, and put it back in the smoker.
And I waited. And I waited. And I waited.
For the life of me, I couldn't get the thermometer to budge off 120 degrees. I tried heating up the smoker to around 300 or so, and waited. I moved the brisket over to the fire and unwrapped, and waited....
Finally we had to get going to party, so I wrapped it in foil and threw into the cooler (thank goodness for a cheap pork butt which was delicious) and off we went. When we arrived, I threw brisket in oven for another hour at about 400. Thermometer is now reading about 135 -- still well short of 190. I had to punt as it was nearly halftime and my brisket still wasn't on the table. As I sliced, I could see that it was fully cooked, but as I tasted, I knew I'd screwed up someplace. It wasn't quite shoe leather, but it wasn't nearly as moist and tender as I'd wanted. The flavor was outstanding, but the overdoneness killed it.
Thinking it's time for a new thermometer.
It was frozen from Sam's, so I threw it in the freezer at home. Apparently I should buy fresh and use immediately. I prepped in the usual way I've prepped anything else -- thawed completely, coated in yellow mustard and applied the McCormick Grill Mates "Cowboy Rub" as I wanted something with a little kick and there's not much to choose from here in the Mid-Atlantic this time of year. I need to start doing more mail order rubs. I'd also nearly run out of my Kansas City rubs that I picked up out there before Christmas.
So I prep and inject with low-sodium beef broth (not sure if that was worth it or not, but I read it somewhere and it seemed like a good idea). I also read that you could spice up the broth by grinding some rub in a coffee grinder until it's powdery and mixing it with the broth before you inject. I found that to mess up not only my wife's coffee grinder (thank goodness she's lazy and only uses the Keurig now) and it clogged my injector. I don't think it was worth the effort. It sat in the fridge overnight.
Early Sunday morning, threw it on the smoker using mostly hickory to start with some oak later in the day as the lump charcoal ran out and I still needed some heat. Checked it hourly and applied a spray of half apple juice and half apple-cider vinegar. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Now theoretically, I should've reached a good temp at around the 7 hour mark. I pulled the brisket around hour 5, double-wrapped in foil to keep it moist, and put it back in the smoker.
And I waited. And I waited. And I waited.
For the life of me, I couldn't get the thermometer to budge off 120 degrees. I tried heating up the smoker to around 300 or so, and waited. I moved the brisket over to the fire and unwrapped, and waited....
Finally we had to get going to party, so I wrapped it in foil and threw into the cooler (thank goodness for a cheap pork butt which was delicious) and off we went. When we arrived, I threw brisket in oven for another hour at about 400. Thermometer is now reading about 135 -- still well short of 190. I had to punt as it was nearly halftime and my brisket still wasn't on the table. As I sliced, I could see that it was fully cooked, but as I tasted, I knew I'd screwed up someplace. It wasn't quite shoe leather, but it wasn't nearly as moist and tender as I'd wanted. The flavor was outstanding, but the overdoneness killed it.
Thinking it's time for a new thermometer.
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