Superbowl + Brisket

Prince was great!
The game? eh ok. Well really sub-ok.
The commercials? I didn't pay attention.

Well I did like the Flowmax commercial. The guys in kayaks and the voiceover talking about improving your stream flow or something. Wow! But those guys should have paid attention in the kayak rental intro class. They had very poor paddling techinque.

At this point in my life I'd rather have Flowmaster 40's than Flowmax pills.

But the day was saved by a fine slow smoked brisket. A beef brisket, hard to make well and hard to make even so you can eat it. The problem? It needs to be cooked really slow at a very low heat. Any other way gives you shoe leather. It really sucks when you make plans to do one and spend hours with it and it turns out ruined. Ahh but yesterday was a total touchdown for the brisket.

I went to the Mojave desert Saturday and hung out with JPL engineers who are working on a Mars mission that will drill into the lava flows on the planet. No really I did. The story and pictures coming soon.

On the way back Saturday night I stopped by Harris Ranch and went to their store to buy some tri-tip. I also saw a nice trimmed beef brisket so I bought that as well. I guess it was about 8 lbs.

Sunday morning I marinated it in a pretty good all around beef marinade.

1 cup each
lime juice
soy sauce
vegetable oil

1 tsp.
garlic powder
pepper
1/2 cup
ketchup

mix well

I put the marinade and brisket in a small garbage bag, squeezed out the air and tied a knot at the top. Marinate for up to overnight or at least 4 to 6 hours.



I used the Big Green Egg to smoke it, filled with hardwood charcoal. When the temp got up to 250 I adjusted the vents to stablize it and put the brisket on a rack, then the rack on a custom bent (to fit in the grill) cooking sheet. I closed the lid and watched the temps. It didn't move much, and if it got above 275 I would adjust the airvents on the top and bottom to bring it back down.

It sat there slowly cooking for hours. I basted it a little, and had a temp probe in it that I could read with the lid closed. The way the Big Green Egg cooks you don't add coals, you leave the lid closed and let it cook. So that is what I did.

Hours and hours later the brisket was only around 130 degrees. It was taking forever to come up to where I wanted it. I added some cherry wood chips for some smoke flavor during the last hour. I was going to cook it until it hit 160 but the game was almost over and I'd settle for 140, take it off and let it sit for 20 minutes. After 5 hours it finally got there. Man, 5 hours! But that is the key to a good brisket, it is going to take time. If you don't have the time don't start.

So after sitting I took my freshly sharpened knife and made the first slice at the end. It was a thin slice, and it was "well done" because like a prime rib the ends cook more than the thick middle. It was really tasty and perfect. Smoky but not over done, and nice and tender.

The rest of the brisket was sliced very thin, and as I got to the thick middle it was a perfect medium rare, and very soft and easy to cut. I plated up without any bbq sauce it tasted so good. I did have a little good old yellow mustard on the side.

So next time you have some brisket at your favorite bbq joint (Doug's in Emeryville is good at it) respect the pit boss who spent hours nursing it before it got to your plate. If you want to give it a try set aside the entire day, start early, don't cook at over 250 ever (some cook at just 200), and use a temp. probe in the meat that lets you monitor it with the lid closed.

The Big Green Egg is great for this kind of cooking. Here's some ways people cook with it.