Texas Style BBQ'd Brisket

Since leaving Texas I've had to learn how to make a lot of food you can't find anywhere else other than Texas. And this might be on of the one's I miss the most. BBQ'd Brisket.




It's an all day event, and that's half the fun. Plus, in the end it's really really really worth it.

The first step is finding your brisket. You don't want a trimmed brisket. Fat is good. You can get an entire brisket or they section it off into two parts. A flat cut and the point cut. The point cut is fattier, which equals more gooder. But you can do the whole brisket, the flat cut or the point cut. It doesn't matter.

Next is the dry rub. This is pretty straightforward and as long as you have the basics you can add different spices depending on your preferences. You'll need Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika, Brown Sugar, Salt, Pepper at the very least. Other spices you can add: Ginger, ground coffee, turmeric, cumin, chile powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, thyme.

For mine I did 1 part Garlic Powder, 1 part granulated garlic, 1 Part Onion Powder, 1/2 part Paprika, 2 parts brown sugar, 1 part salt, 1 part pepper, 1 part white pepper, 1/4 part ginger, 1 part coffe grinds.

Don't worry about this too much, put your spice mix together, taste it or smell it, get the salty sweet balance right, and a little sweet is better. And you want it to be full of flavor.

Rub down your brisket with your spice mix. And be very liberal with it. This will be your bark when you're done. And you want it to have a little bit of thickness. The brisket should have enough moisture to hold the rub. Really get it in the meat and completely cover the entire brisket. Top, bottom, sides, everywhere.

Cover that in foil and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Next you'll need to get your grill ready You'll need a charcoal grill. I have a basic weber grill.


You'll need a aluminum tray, you know the ones at the grocery store. Get one the same size or bigger than your brisket.


Charcoal. And mesquite wood chips. As any texas man knows you don't smoke with anything other than mesquite.


Instant Read Meat Thermometer.


The key to smoking meat is time and temperature using indirect heat. If the heat is direct you'll have a charred piece of grizzle.

You want to create a space for your meat. And a space for your charcoal. This is where the aluminum foil tray comes into play. Put it in your grill to one side. This is your meat area. You'll then have a smaller space on the side where you can put your charcoal. You'll want to put your meat as far away from the flame as possible.



Fill your aluminum tray with two inches of water or beef stock. Light your charcoal, if you have a charcoal chimney works great for this. You want about 10 coals to start with. Let the charcoal burn until there's no black left. Then spread it on the side, next to the foil tray.

On other trick here, is positioning the grill right. Leave the opening, below the handle, on top of the coals. That way, when you have to add a coal or two later you'll have space.

Put the top on the grill. And put your thermomentor in the vent.



Now comes the tricky part. You want a temperature between about 215 and 240 degrees F. Adjust the top vent and the bottom vent to get the right heat. Open them up to get more heat, close them off to cool off your grill. Chances are, you'll be hot when you first put the top on the grill. As your charcoal is still pretty hot. Close the vents and smother the fire a little if need be. If it's really cool you might open the top completely. throw on a couple coals and let the fire really get going.

Once you get your heat right, it's time to put on the brisket. First, open the top and drop on some mesquite chips and a couple coals. Then place your meat as far away from the fire as possible. FAT SIDE UP. This is very important. The fat actually bastes the meat. It melts and keeps the brisket moist. So double check and make sure your fat side is up.

Put the top back on and watch the temp.

Brisket is actually a tough piece of meat. It takes a long slow cook and then suddenly you get a tender piece of meat that tastes like its from heavenly cows. The goal is to get the meat up to a minimum of 185 degrees and a max of 200 degrees. This takes about an hour and 15 mins per pound. Give or take. It's never the same.

Once your brisket is on, check on it every half hour or so. Make sure your temperature is good. Every hour or so drop a couple pieces of charcoal and a wood chip on the coals. And that's it.

Check the temperature of your meat after a couple hours. And then hourly after that. You'll hit 140-150 degrees and it will stick. For some reason the temp plateaus there for a couple hours. Just keep your temperature constant.

You can also mop your bbq with beer, coffee, stock, or bbq sauce. I wouldn't recommend bbq sauce early on, it jsut tends to burn. I wait until the last hour before i put any bbq sauce on. But, you don't have to do that at all.

That's it. Once you get it up to 190 or so, you can take the top off the bbq pit and let the meat rest for about 30 mins. This makes it even more tender. Honestly, i've never had a chance to do that. You can also put it in the oven for the last part. Smoke it for at least a couple of hours, then throw it in the oven. That perfectly acceptable as well, as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror afterwards.

Cucumber, Tomato, Feta and Watermelon Summer Salad

This crazy combination by Deb from Smitten Kitchen is SO good that I cannot say enough about it. I am not going to reproduce it here, as Deb's pictures and explanations are beautiful. Just trust me, if you like watermelon and salad, you should make this!

Smitten Kitchen's Cucumber, Tomato, Feta and Watermelon Summer Salad

PS This article goes over the difference between an English and a regular American cucumber, and I have to say that it was totally worth it to find the English variety. It was not bitter, very crunchy and the seeds were nominal. Win!

Shepherd's Pie + Rhubarb Crumble

Made a shepherd's pie today, based off of a Moosewood recipe, and then as I seemed in an English mood, I made a rhubarb crumble for dessert!

For the rhubarb crumble, you can simply halve Nigella Lawson's.

The Moosewood recipe for shepherd's pie has three parts: a tofu saute, a mushroom gravy and a mashed potato topping. Tonight, I wanted a more traditional pie so I used the Moosewood recipe as a base but substituted lean, organic beef for tofu, added carrots and celery, and beef broth to the gravy. It turned out pretty well :) if I do say so myself.

Ingredients for the saute:
vegetable or olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef
2 carrots, peeled
2 celery stalks
1 white onion
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp ground coriander
S&P
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Ingredients for mashed potato topping:
4 large potatoes
3 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
salt to taste

Ingredients for the mushroom gravy:
4 oz sliced mushrooms, the regular kind you get in the grocery store
6 oz baby bella sliced mushrooms
3 tbsp tamari soy sauce
pinch of ground black pepper
1 cup beef stock
2 cups water
2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

While putting this together today, I made the potatoes and the saute at the same time, followed up by the gravy. If you have help in the kitchen and enough burners you can probably accomplish it all simultaneously and save yourself some time!

First, the saute. Chop your onion, carrots and celery finely. Heat some oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add in your chopped vegetables, along with the thyme, coriander and pepper; stor well. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add in the minced beef, and break up into the smallest pieces possible. Stir the saute occasionally, and keep cooking until the beef isn't pink. About 10 mins after you add the beef, add in the walnuts. Add S&P. Once your meat is cooked, put evenly in glass casserole dish and set aside. Keep your pan handy and don't clean it out.

Start your potatoes. Peel thoroughly and chop into roughly 6 pieces each. Add to salted water and bring to a boil. Boil gently until potatoes are soft enough to put a fork in (15-20 minutes). Drain the soft potatoes and put back in the pan. Off the heat, mash the potatoes adding in the milk and butter. Taste and add extra milk and salt as needed. Set mashed potatoes aside.

Now it's time for the gravy (the best part!). In the meat saute pan add some oil and heat on medium. Add in your mushrooms, tamari soy sauce and pepper. Stir and saute mushrooms until they're tender. Add in beef broth, water and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the water/cornstarch mixture and cook at a low boil until the mixture is thick.

Putting it all together: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Ladle mushroom gravy over your beef saute. Top with the mashed potatoes and dot those with butter. Once oven has heated to temp, put the casserole dish on a baking pan and place on a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are golden.

Serve and enjoy, but leave room for dessert!

In honor of Spring...MARGARITAS!

Mik and I have discovered the perfect marg. recipe and we had to share. This is soo much better then any mix you can make. Now that the weather is warmer, sitting out on the porch with one of these is just heaven!

3 limes, the juicier the better
1:1 simple syrup (recipe below)
100% agave tequila, golden
Triple Sec
3 ice cubes/drink

To serve 2, here's all you'll need to do:

Pre-chill 2 high ball classes. (I stuck ours in the freezer for 5-10 mins.) Juice your limes and put the rinds in your glasses. Add ice, and then split your lime juice between your glasses. Next, add one shot of the Tequila, 1/4 shot glass of triple sec, and simple syrup to taste (I added about 1/2 shot glass). Then stir and enjoy! Do it this evening - you'll thank me!

Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Put sugar and water in a saucepan. On low, let sugar dissolve in water. Once you can't see any crystals, bring to a boil for 1 minute. Let cool to room temperature.

Dinner Avec Nicole

Hello everyone! Tonight I had dinner with the ever lovely Nicole, my counterpart in our neighboring Habitat office. (Also the person who gave me the "Won't Kill Kelsey Chili" recipe.) She introduced me to two awesome recipes which I had to share.

FIrst up, an awesome variant on the Thai soup I usually make (Thai Soup a la Nicky):

THAI TOMATO SOUP

(Serves 8)


1 OZ OLIVE OIL

1 SHALLOT, MINCED

2 CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED

3 OZ WHITE WINE 

32 OZ VEGETABLE STOCK

2, 14 OZ CANS TOMATO SAUCE

1 CAN COCONUT MILK (NICOLE USE LIGHT)

8 OZ HEAVY CREAM (NICOLE USES FAT FREE HALF & HALF)

SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

FRESH CILANTRO



SAUTÉ SHALLOT AND GARLIC IN OLIVE OIL OVER MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL SOFT, 2-3 MINUTES. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SCORCH. ADD WHITE WINE AND STIR. ADD STOCK, TOMATO SAUCE AND COCONUT MILK. BRING TO A BOIL. LOWER HEAT TO A SIMMER. ADD CREAM, SALT AND PEPPER. SIMMER FOR 15-30 MINUTES. GARNISH WITH FRESH CHOPPED CILANTRO.


Chicken Avocado Salad
4 servings

You can poach or sauté chicken breasts especially for this delicious main-course salad, but it's a great way to use leftover chicken. (You can also use leftover turkey, roast pork, or veal.)
Shred the chicken (or other meat) rather than cutting it with a knife, it looks nicer, and the meat will absorb the dressing better.

1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp Tabasco sauce
3 tbsp safflower or corn oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 scallions, cleaned and minced fine (about ½ cup)
2 cooked chicken breasts (8 ounces; see Note)
1 small ripe avocado (about 7 ounces)
12 leaves lettuce or other greens

Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, Tabasco, oil sugar, salt and Worcestershire in a large bowl, and blend thoroughly. Stir in the scallions.
Shred the chicken by pulling the meat apart along the grain, forming narrow strips. Add them to the dressing and toss well.

Make an incision around the widest portion of the avocado, cutting through to the pit, and twist the ends in opposite directions until the halves separate. Remove the pit. Using a sharp knife, slice through the flesh clear to the skin every ½ inch one way and then the other, creating a checkerboard pattern in both halves. Then, using a spoon, scoop out the pre-cut cubes of avocado and add them to the bowl. Toss gently with the chicken and dressing.
Arrange the salad on the lettuce leaves and serve.

Note: If the chicken has been refrigerated heat it in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to take the chill off.

Nicole and I enjoyed this meal with Yellow Tail Chardonnay :) Totally recommend!

Chicken Fried Steak

For you non-Texans Chicken Fried Steak isn't chicken. It technically should be Steak fried like chicken. It actually derives from German settlers in Texas. They had trouble finding Veil for Schnitzel so they used cube steak instead.

And it's one of my favorite foods from Texas, that you never find once you travel North. So it's something I wanted to learn to make. I got this recipe out of Grady Spears - A Cowboy in the Kitchen. One of my favorite books.

Flour Spice
1 1/2 C Flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
4 TB paprika

Batter
2 eggs
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Shiner Bock Beer
2 Cups Peanut Oil
4 Tenderized round steaks (about 1/2 lb. each)

Make sure your steaks are tenderized and pounded flat. I've used a tenderizer and cast iron to beat the steaks down until they're very thin.

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a bowl big enough for the steaks. In another bowl whisk the eggs. Add the buttermilk and beer.

HERE'S THE KEY. Dredge your steaks in the flour mixture and then let them sit for at least ten mins. Doing this removes the moisture and makes sure your batter will stick to the steaks.

In a heavy skillet heat your Peanut Oil (you can substitute veg oil here, Peanut Oil is good b/c it has a high smoking point). It needs to be 350 degrees. Honestly, I just look for shimmering on the top of the oil and drip a little water or batter to see if it sizzles. Then adjust the heat from there. Usually I have to lower the heat after one or two steaks.

Take your steaks, knock off any excess flour. Then re-dredge them in the flour mixture trying to coat them evenly. Shake off the excess again. Dip the meat into the batter. Let the excess drip off and finally put it back in the flour mixture one last time. Evenly coating the batter so it is dry on the outside.

Drop your steaks in carefully into the oil. Cook it about 5 minutes on one side. Turn it over, careful not to break your batter. And cook it another 5 minutes or so. You want a nice golden brown color. Drain the cooked steak on a paper towel. And you can hold it in the oven at 250 degrees to keep it warm while the others cook.

You can use the pan to make cream gravy as well. Drain your oil until there's a 3-4 tablespoons left in your skillet. Take 3-4 tablespoons of the flour you used to dredge your steaks. And whisk it together. Once its mixed slowly add milk or cream. Until you get a cream color. Keep stirring at low heat, being sure to get the bottom of the pan mixed into the gravy. Season with salt and a lot of pepper. And stir for 5-10 minutes until it's thick.

Banh Mi - Vietnamese Sandwich

I had a Vietnamese Sandwich the other day and was blown away. It was spicy and had a crazy combination of flavors and a ton of vegetables and weirdly served on a french baguette, which kind of blew my mind. East meets West.

And we got a Daikon Radishes in our veggie share, I had absolutely no idea what to do with them. Until I remembered they were on my Banh Mi Sandwich.

So I got online and found this site, it takes you through how to make them, and they're really, really, really good.

Battle of the Banh Mi

It takes a little planning to do, because you actually pickle the carrots and radishes. Which takes a couple days. It's actually pretty easy and very worth it in the end.

Pickling Carrots and Daikon



















Ingredients:
1/2 lb. carrots
1/2 lb. daikon radish
3 cups warm water
3 Tablespoons distilled or rice vinegar
2-3 tablespoons sugar, depending on how sweet you want your pickles
2 tablespoons salt


Cut your carrots and Radishes into matchsticks.
Put everything in a sealed container.
Put it in the fridge for 3 days.
Done.

Making the Sandwich


Ingredients:
For the meat
1 pound of pork chops, shoulder or loin.
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 table spoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons of finely chopped shallots or onion
1/4 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil

For the sandwich
1 Cucumber
Cilantro
Mayo
French Baguette
Chili Garlic Sauce

Slice the pork as thinly as you can. Put it in and let it marinade in the garlic, fish sauce, sugar, onion, vegetable oil, and sesame seed oil. Add some black pepper too. Give it an hour or two. I tried the same marinade with chicken as well. It was good, but pork tastes better.

Heat up a pan. Get it nice and hot. Lay in your pork. I like to pour the marinade over it as well. You can if you'd like. Cook until cooked.

Then make your sandwich.

Chop the cucumber in thin slices. Chop the cilantro.



Set out your baguette. Spread on some Mayo. Put a little Chili Garlic Sauce. Line the sandwich with the pickeled radishes and carrots, the cilantro, and the cucumbers. Add the meat. Salt.



Eat it and enjoy the irony of a Vietnamese Sandwich on French (who were in Vietnam before us) bread.