Brisket Day At Casa Bianca (Heavy Q-View)

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tx smoker

Legendary Pitmaster
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Apr 14, 2013
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Lago Vista, Texas
For those of you not in the know, Bianca is the executive chef around here. She is a perfectionist and makes sure every meal meets her standards. She's also pictured in my avatar and her physique is indicative of her propensity for good food. She looks like a 55 gallon drum on short, stubby little legs. So this is an 18 pound CPB full packer. As soon as I took it out of the cryovac I could tell it was the most unusual brisket I'd ever seen. It was super lean with little or no fat. You can see where I sliced about 1/8" of the cap off and hit the meat. I came away with only a few ounces of fat after trimming. I'm going with it though.

The goods
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Seasoned with my beef rub on Friday,wrapped, and into the fridge overnight
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Ready to go on the smoker early Saturday morning
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A bit later I made a batch of potato salad. This has always been a fan favorite
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Smoker is running about 300. At the 8 hour mark I pulled it and was probing almost tender. Took the drippings from the pan I put under the brisket and made a gravy with them, beef broth, beef bouillon, black pepper, garlic, and bourbon. Brisket into a baking dish, gravy on top, covered with foil, then back on the smoker. Dropped temp to 225 at this point and ran for three more hours, then into a cooler.
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Got the appetizers ready. Two pics. Friends brought the veggie plate
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Time for the cornbread. This is a cheesy bacon and jalapeno version that I thought would be fun to try
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Cornbread on the grill and looking pretty darned good
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Brisket out of the cooler after a 2 hour rest.
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Cross section shot. You can see there is virtually no fat at all. Glad I covered this one and "steamed" it for a while. The grain of the meat is also very tight...almost like an eye of round but it is juicy.
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Brisket sliced
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Cornbread all done
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Dinner spread
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My plate...finally
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A beautiful Texas Hill Country sunset
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Dessert: turtles (??) and lemon cookies made by Jodi. The cookies were made with fresh lemon she and Pete grew on their own lemon tree
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Although the brisket was very lean, it was super flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth tender. I had my concerns but they were unfounded. The tater salad is always a hit...this time even more so because I had some bacon left from making the cornbread so put that into the taters. We went through a whole jar of pickles I made using the recipe by SmokinAl SmokinAl Those things are amazing!! I bet I've made 30 jars of them in the past couple months. I've also thrown out every jar we had that said "Vlasic" on it since starting to make these. I did have a bottle of Jeff's sauce out but nobody touched it. No reflection on the sauce as it's REALLY good but everybody chose to use the grave made from the brisket drippings for their sauce. As good as everything was, the cornbread was the star of the meal. Absolutely fantastic!! People were almost fighting over the past piece. That is a recipe I got from a forum member a while back that was fantastic all by itself but the addition of the cheese, bacon, and jalapenos set it way over the top. Being that it's so easy to make it will be done on a very regular basis around here from now on.

Well, I'm done burning up bandwidth on this one. See y'all next time out and thanks for dropping in.

Robert
 
I have a couple of sous chefs much like your Bianca. They are sure to guard that no dropped food lays on the floor/ground for any length of time., Your plate looks excellent.
Jim
 
Great looking meal Robert! Brisket looks awesome! Gravy of course is always good...you finally found a potato i don't put gravy on! But sure do like potato salad.

Nice job
Ryan
 
Super lean brisket indeed. Doesn't look like that mattered one bit you knocked it out of the park. Nice job bud
 
Damn man. You had me at brisket until I saw the "Brisket Gravy" then it went to a whole different level...

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That all looks fantastic. Love the CI corn bread. I am sure your guests were more than pleased. BIG LIKE!!
 
Darn fine looking plate Robert! That corn bread looks awesome! Great job on the brisket....if i would have cooked one that lean it would have been beef jerky!! Lol! Yours looks to be juicy as ever.
 
Great looking meal. I too love Potato salad. The Crew are Mac Salad people, so we make both...JJ
 
Man that looks like a great meal, I like the idea of the gravy before wrap, will give it a go next time. One thing I have never tried is corn bread, I have the same Lodge CI, would you mind posting the recipe?
 
Looks delicious and perfectly cooked Robert! I would have been worried cooking one that lean too, but you put your skills to work and it shows. Looks nice and juicy too. That cornbread is awesome, I can see why that was the star of the meal. Great work as usual. Big like!
 
Fabamundo Robert!!! that brisket and fix'ins look perfect.

Point for sure
Chris
 
Perfect brisket and gravy, beautiful cornbread for mop up duty, and homemade tater salad take this one right out of the park Robert, nice piece of work, Like! RAY
 
I have a couple of sous chefs much like your Bianca. They are sure to guard that no dropped food lays on the floor/ground for any length of time., Your plate looks excellent.
Jim
"I have a couple of sous chefs much like your Bianca."
I didn't know there were so many Indian chiefs willing to work as live in's....sweet!!!:emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::emoji_joy::emoji_thumbsup:
 
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