Well, I just ranted a bit on another thread about beef prices in Texas, which is literally a crying shame. But the Independence Day of our country deserves a little splurging, IMHO. I took off yesterday (Friday) and was doing honey-dos, etc., and never got around to throwing this up, errr putting this up, errrr posting this. I am basically trying keep my posting skills alive (and smoking skills too), since I have taken a few posting sabbaticals over the last year or so.
Anyway, enough yapping. I was looking to do some brisket, because, well it's brisket dammit. Nuttin better, 'cept maybe a good crawfish boil. Sorry, I am a part cajun Louisiana native. But I digress.
One of the things I like about our wonderful HEB grocery stores in TX is that I can get brisket whole, trimmed, flats, points and every which-a-way in between. So I found the perfect half brisket. Just did not want to do a whole packer, as is my preference. But I wanted a good hunk, preferably mostly point, and I scored. Way more than I wanted to pay, but I already yapped about that enough.
Since I got caught up doing some work stuff and what not on Wednesday, I did not do my typical smoke while you sleep method. So, I got up Thursday, loaded up the 18" PBC, which cooks on the fast side, with some charcoal and some healthy chunks of mesquite, cause I was feeling frisky for this brisky (lame, I know).
I have been using a nice hand held Bernzomatic touch for getting the coals started. Fast and easy and I can light as much or a little as I want, depending on how long or hot of a burn I need. Love this thing:
Got her ready and have used this rub a couple of times. Despite the gimmicky appearance and marketing ploy, it is excellent for many things. FYI- Alex Bregman is the 3rd Baseman for the Astros. It's a play on his name, obviously.
On to the PBC she went, with a flap/hunk that needed trimming. I placed that directly over the lit portion of the coals to get it nice, smokey and barky. More on that later.
No internal therm. Done this too many times. Just check in on it after a few hours and grope it a bit and check the color. Pulled it about an our and a half after this pic. I pulled the chunk off about 30 mins or so after.
Wrapping in some foil. Been out of butcher paper, but I use foil sometimes even when I have butcher paper. Wrapped into a nice cocoon and back on the PBC for a few more hours.
Pulled and murdered/buthered it a bit.
Separated it somewhat between point and flat. But really cut it so I could make the cuts across the grain.
The barky-bark was very nice. Breggy Bomb make a good tasting bark.
Plated with typical TX accoutrements: onions and pickles. No jalapeños, unfortunately. Forgot those. And if you recall the hunk I sliced off and pulled prior to the brisket being done, it was chopped and put into the beans.
We stayed up late watching a Netflix multi-episode thingy and of course in order to maintain my playing weight, this was a 2 am late nite snack. Texas Cheese Steak. Sautéed onions and red bell peppers (green BPs were out of stock for some strange reason), shredded Mexican blend cheese, on a nice cheddar-jalapeno sub roll. Used the ole burrito wrapping technique for eating it so I wouldn't 1-make a mess, 2-not miss a single morsel of goodness.
Gonna go get that stent now. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I did.
Anyway, enough yapping. I was looking to do some brisket, because, well it's brisket dammit. Nuttin better, 'cept maybe a good crawfish boil. Sorry, I am a part cajun Louisiana native. But I digress.
One of the things I like about our wonderful HEB grocery stores in TX is that I can get brisket whole, trimmed, flats, points and every which-a-way in between. So I found the perfect half brisket. Just did not want to do a whole packer, as is my preference. But I wanted a good hunk, preferably mostly point, and I scored. Way more than I wanted to pay, but I already yapped about that enough.
Since I got caught up doing some work stuff and what not on Wednesday, I did not do my typical smoke while you sleep method. So, I got up Thursday, loaded up the 18" PBC, which cooks on the fast side, with some charcoal and some healthy chunks of mesquite, cause I was feeling frisky for this brisky (lame, I know).
I have been using a nice hand held Bernzomatic touch for getting the coals started. Fast and easy and I can light as much or a little as I want, depending on how long or hot of a burn I need. Love this thing:
Got her ready and have used this rub a couple of times. Despite the gimmicky appearance and marketing ploy, it is excellent for many things. FYI- Alex Bregman is the 3rd Baseman for the Astros. It's a play on his name, obviously.
On to the PBC she went, with a flap/hunk that needed trimming. I placed that directly over the lit portion of the coals to get it nice, smokey and barky. More on that later.
No internal therm. Done this too many times. Just check in on it after a few hours and grope it a bit and check the color. Pulled it about an our and a half after this pic. I pulled the chunk off about 30 mins or so after.
Wrapping in some foil. Been out of butcher paper, but I use foil sometimes even when I have butcher paper. Wrapped into a nice cocoon and back on the PBC for a few more hours.
Pulled and murdered/buthered it a bit.
Separated it somewhat between point and flat. But really cut it so I could make the cuts across the grain.
The barky-bark was very nice. Breggy Bomb make a good tasting bark.
Plated with typical TX accoutrements: onions and pickles. No jalapeños, unfortunately. Forgot those. And if you recall the hunk I sliced off and pulled prior to the brisket being done, it was chopped and put into the beans.
We stayed up late watching a Netflix multi-episode thingy and of course in order to maintain my playing weight, this was a 2 am late nite snack. Texas Cheese Steak. Sautéed onions and red bell peppers (green BPs were out of stock for some strange reason), shredded Mexican blend cheese, on a nice cheddar-jalapeno sub roll. Used the ole burrito wrapping technique for eating it so I wouldn't 1-make a mess, 2-not miss a single morsel of goodness.
Gonna go get that stent now. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I did.
