Winter Brisket Cook

Here are a couple of pictures from my brisket cook yesterday. It turned out pretty well with a very nice smoke ring. It was moist throughout, but sliced clean and easy.





Sliced brisket

Brisket close-up

Weekend Pork Butt and Brisket

I started cooking some pork butts and a brisket today. I've got two boneless 5 lb. butts and a 14 lb. brisket on the smoker. Here's a picture from 6 a.m. when I was kicking everything off.

Currently everything is humming along just fine. The smoker is pegged at 230 degrees.

Adding water to my insulated McCullough 2 x 2

We've had 90 something inches of snow so far this year and a month with temps in the lower single digits. This weekend we're close to 35 degrees for highs, but it's still cold enough that cooking all day requires an insulated smoker.

Once I get it up to temp it maintains cooking temps very well.

Brisket Prices

I stopped by the local butcher today to purchase a whole brisket for a cook this weekend. I got sticker shock!

I think back to the good old days when I used to purchase a 13 - 14 lb. briskets for $32-$33. I purchased a 14 lb. brisket today for $71.

Memorial Day Weekend BBQ Activities




BBQ Guy prepping brisket

For the holiday I cooked brisket, 2 pork butts and 2 whole chickens. On top of that, it was my favorite day of auto racing all year long, so I thought, "why not make it better by cooking some bbq too?!"

Pork Butt Spice Rub Recipe

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle powder





BBQ Chicken Rub Recipe

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of rosemary sprinkled in the cavity

Weber Smokey Mountain and Backwoods Party vertical water smokers



BBQ Guy seasoning whole chickens

Beer cans firmly seated in the chicken "roosts"

Three hours later, here's what beer can chicken looks like

"Resting" the chicken before pulling

Pulled bbq chicken sliders

It was a fun filled day of bbq and racing. I've never made pulled bbq chicken before, but it turned out very well.

Linda made "white bbq sauce" for the chicken too. It's popular in northern Alabama, but I've never tried it before either. It was unusual, but very tasty. Next time I think we'll use less vinegar to reduce the "bite" a little bit.



BBQ beef brisket close-up

We finished everything off by slicing a nice looking brisket. The picture above was taken after slicing, but before adding a thin brushing of bbq sauce on both sides of each slice. Ummm, good stuff!

And for desert, Linda made a nice looking rhubarb pie.

Rhubarb pie with the crust protector still in place.
The metal ring protects the outer crust from over cooking.

Oven Baked Brisket

A few years ago, my younger self would have scoffed at the idea of cooking a brisket in the oven, but cold weather, darkness, lack of time, and the need for a potluck dish to feed up to 20 of my co-workers caused me to actually embrace the idea last week.

I used the Cook's Illustrated brisket recipe circu 2005 that I credit for helping me fine tune my competition brisket technique. After experimenting with the recipe a little bit back in the day I drastically improved the consistency of my brisket at KCBS contests. I would gladly post a link to the recipe if I could find one, but most of the links are to personal blogs and discussion boards that have reprinted the recipe from the published magazine. If I run across a direct link to the recipe, I'll post it here.

Whole brisket trimmed to make it a "flat".
I used a skillet for 7 minutes to help sear the meat side.

I flipped the brisket and skipped the skillet for another 7 minutes.

Then I carmelized some onions with a little brown sugar.

I don't have any more pictures of the process to share, but to summarize the onions were layered across the bottom of the pan with the brisket placed on top. I finished off the brisket in the oven for 3 hours at 300 degrees. At that point the brisket was 198 internal temperature.

I removed it from the oven and let it rest 30 minutes at room temperature before slicing. The slices were marinated in the au jus overnight in the refrigerator. The fat was skimmed from the surface before reheating.

The brisket was reheated for 25 minutes with some cooking wine and 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar as suggested by the original recipe.

An oven cooked brisket will never compete directly with a smoker cooked brisket, but it was actually pretty good overall.

Real BarBQ Canton

I lived in Plymouth, Michigan from 2004 - 2007 and during that time there wasn't a barbecue restaurant to speak of in the Plymouth-Canton area. So after we moved back to the area in July 2011, I was kind of excited to see an "Opening Soon" sign on Ford Road announcing a new barbecue restaurant.

I lived in temporary housing for several months waiting to close on our home and stopped by the restaurant several times hoping to eat some barbecue. My smokers were in storage and I wanted to cure the craving for some 'que. But each time I pulled in the parking lot, the "Opening Soon" sign was still being displayed.

We were running errands today in Canton and were surprised to see Real BarBQ open for business. After cooking 35 lbs of brisket and pork butt for a work event later this week, we weren't craving bbq but after waiting 10 1/2 months for the opening we couldn't resist giving it a try.

Pork ribs, beef brisket, burnt end baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread.



The house bbq sauce at Real BarBQ

I ordered the Ribs + 1 (my plus 1 was brisket) and Linda ordered the Real Chop Shop (pulled pork served on a brioche roll).

While we waited for our meal, I was offered a tour of the kitchen. I didn't ask for permission to take a picture, but they did show me the Southern Pride they cook everything on - 1,100 lbs of pork butts is a lot of barbecue goodness.

I liked the ribs and brisket. I'm partial to my own homemade bbq, but it was good restaurant bbq. The atmosphere is very nice - actually much nicer than I anticipated. The staff is very friendly and the kitchen was organized and clean. Linda is a tough critic for pulled pork and didn't "love" it.

We'll definitely go back and will certainly recommend it to friends and co-workers. After driving an hour to eat at Slow's in Detroit to be told there was a 3 hour wait, it's good to know there is a nice bbq restaurant option much closer to home.

In case you're wondering what a brioche roll (I know I was) here is the definition from Wikipedia: brioche

BBQ Brisket Technique

Apologies to cat lovers, but just like that old saying "there's more than one way to skin a cat", there are several ways to cook a brisket.

• Hot and fast
• Low and slow
• Fat side down
• Fat side up
• With foil
• Without foil
• Baste
• No-baste
• With injection
• Without injection

I've experimented with all the techniques through the years, but during a Saturday afternoon practice cook using my Weber Smokey Mountain several years ago I stumbled on a hybrid method that combines the best of all those options.

1. Start the brisket fat side up and cook for 3 hours
2. Spritz with apple juice every 90 minutes to promote bark formation (I prefer Martinelli's)
3. Flip the brisket to fat side down and cook for 2 hours
4. Wrap in foil when brisket reaches 165 degrees (or after 5 hours)
5. Cook brisket to 194 degrees measured in the middle of the flat
6. Allow brisket to "rest" inside an Igloo cooler wrapped in towels for at least 2 hours (4 hours is even better)
7. Slice brisket with an electric knife (I use a Black and Decker)
8. Lightly sauce each brisket slice with Blues Hog BBQ Sauce before serving
9. Vacuum seal the  "extra" brisket slices and freeze to eat later when you get the craving

15 lb packer brisket fat side up

15 lb packer brisket fat side down

This technique works very well on my old Weber Smokey Mountain. It's won several dollars in bbq contests and it's won the hearts of family, neighbors, and co-workers for the past 10 years. This exact technique might not work the same way on an offset smoker, Big Green Egg, pellet smoker, etc. but perhaps through my trial and error experimentation you will find a golden nugget you like to assist with your brisket cooking results.

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BBQ for Christmas

We travel out of state for Christmas to visit relatives every year. To make it easier on the family we visit, we like to take some bbq along. We cook it the week before, vacuum seal it, and freeze it. When it's time to eat - we thaw it the rest of the way, reheat in the microwave, and add a little Blues Hog BBQ Sauce. It always turns out well. I highly recommend this method if you need to take food along with you when you're traveling - especially if you like to eat well. After all, what's better than bbq you cooked yourself?

I seasoned the pork butts and brisket the night before. I always refrigerate the meat overnight in the refrigerator to allow the spices to penetarate the meat better. I used my own spice rub on the brisket and tried some Oakridge BBQ seasoning on the pork butts.

I don't inject anything into the brisket, but usually inject a mixture of apple juice (3 cups), honey (1/2 cup), and whatever spice rub (3 TBSPs) I'm using into the pork butts. Those amounts work well for two pork butts. You would need to adjust the quantities accordingly for less or more meat as desired.

Since the cookers were hot, I decided to cook some chicken quarters (minus the drumsticks) on the WSM.

These were seasoned with poultry rub and marinated for 3 hours in Newman's Own salad dressing.

Here's a video of the pictures from the prepping and cooking process if you'd like to see them:

Brisket for Lunch?

After a recent drive over to St. Petersburg to visit the Salvado Dali Museum, my taste buds were hankering for a brisket lunch.

Linda and I saw a piece on the local news about The Brisket Basket on 5th Ave North (across from the high school) a couple of years ago and stopped by for an enjoyable lunch.  Unfortunately, my more recent attempt didn't work out...the brisket has left the building. It's now a Java Bar or Java Hut or something similar. Bummer!

I didn't have the phone # with me for lunch, but after dialing it a few minutes ago it appears the phone # is now out of service.  The website still works though.  I hope it's not getting much traffic, because if it is there are going to be a lot of other dissapointed bbq fans (besides me).

If any of my readers are familar with the details regarding whether the brisket relocated to another building, or closed down completely, and would like to share....I'm all ears.

Superbowl BBQ Brisket

This movie clip attempts to provide some insight for preparing an untrimmed packer brisket for seasoning and cooking. I use a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM), but this prep method will work for Klose, Lang, Jambo, Backwoods, Stumps, Superior Smokers, etc. I freely admit that everyone outside of a true bbq afficianado will probably find it very boring (actually they might think it's boring too), but it is what it is - bbq. And if you don't already own a Jaccard go buy yourself one. Your brisket will thank you for it.

The Brisket Movie - How to BBQ Brisket Pictorial

I've been playing around with Windows Movie Maker tonight and came up with this little "movie" about preparing a bbq brisket.



More background:

I use Certified Angus Brisket weighing about 13 pounds and a cooker temperature ranging from 200 - 250 degrees. I start them cooking fat side up and flip them to fat side down after 3 hours. I wrap the brisket in aluminum foil after it reaches 165 degrees internal temperature, or after 5 hours (whichever comes first). I cook my brisket to 198 degrees and let it rest in an Igloo cooler for at least 1 hour prior to slicing and serving.

December BBQ Pictures from Florida

Here are some pictures from yesterday's Christmas gift cook. For those from colder climates....it was in the mid-70's and sunshine.  It sure beats the 19 degrees when I was in Missouri last week.



Pork butts in McCullough insulated 2 x 2 vertical smoker


Brisket on WSM



Pulled pork butt steaming hot



Sliced brisket prior to sauce

BBQ for Christmas

Tonight I am sitting in for The BBQ Guy because he is busy on a very important duty assigned by his wife (me) and Santa. Last year we started giving barbecue and our favorite bbq sauce, Blues Hog, to those hard to buy for folks on our list.

While we were competing we purchased a vacuum sealer from Cabela’s to reduce the amount of waste we had during practice sessions, this is the perfect way to seal and freeze the bbq gifts. So what do I put under the tree? I take a picture of the final product and put the photo along with the barbecue sauce in a box under the tree.

The toughest part for us was sneaking the cooler into my mom’s house and hiding the Que in the freezer. It was a hit last year with my brother- in- law and father , so this year I expanded our list to include nephew, brother –in-law, father, and two more friends.

So as I type in the Lazy Boy the BBQ Guy is busy as a beaver in the kitchen preparing four pork butts, two packer briskets, and three racks of ribs for a long day with the smokers tomorrow .

There is more than 60 lbs of meat in the picture that will go on the smoker bright and early tomorrow.