Crack a beer, this is a longer post.
I was visiting friends in Montana and picked up a big 16 pound brisket at Walmart for an incredibly cheap price. I will be making corned beef from the flat but I wanted to do something different with the point. A great foodie on twitter, Deb Cage, posted a recipe for Santa Fe Tacos that I had been wanting to try so why not use the point in Tacos. I decided to do the point with Carne Asada seasonings as burnt ends and use that as the filling for tacos.
I started by trimming the brisket and separating the flat. There was an incredible amount of fat on the brisket. I guess that is why it was so cheap. I have been spoiled by the briskets my brother has been bringing me from Love's Meats in Vegreville. They are all nicely fat marbled and well trimmed.
I set the flat aside to go into a corned beef brine (another post).
I mixed 15 ml (1 tbsp) each of orange juice, lime juice and lemon juice with 50 ml (1/4 cup) of soy sauce. I mixed in 5 ml (1tsp) taco spice and 5 ml (1 tsp) chili powder.
I injected the point with that mixture every inch or so. Set the remaining marinade aside.
I sprinkled the point with salt, onion powder, garlic powder and chili powder.
I put the point in a 250 F pellet smoker and cooked to an internal temperature of 140 F. This took about 3 hours.
I dropped the point into the roasting pan and added the reserved marinade and 250 ml (1 cup) beef stock. I covered it with foil and continued cooking to an internal temperature of 200 F.
I took the point out and poured the liquid off. I defatted the liquid. I measured 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the liquid and added 125 ml (1/2 cup) taco sauce and 15 ml (1 tablespoon) lime juice.
I cut the point into a bit smaller cubes than normal and poured the tacos sauce/juice mixture over them.
I cooked at 250 F for 45 minutes. I turned the cubes and cooked for 45 minutes longer.
I made the tacos during the last 40 minutes. Here is the recipe that Deb posted.
I cut the dough into 16 pieces as I wanted thinner smaller tacos.
Pictures weren't taken after this as I was in the midst of plating and serving a dinner party but here is a taco I put together for lunch the next day. spread taco sauce on the taco, sprinkled with lettuce mix and chopped tomatoes and then layered the burnt ends on top. The taco was big and strong enough to fold well.
The Verdict
These were great. They had the nice spicy, citrus tang of carne asada and the great texture of burnt ends. The tacos are more like flat bread than tacos but have a great texture and made a good base that stood up to being folded into tacos.
Everyone had a couple of tacos but couldn't stop eating the burnt ends on their own.
The following picture was taken by my buddy. It proves that Canadians shovel snow to smoke.
Disco
I was visiting friends in Montana and picked up a big 16 pound brisket at Walmart for an incredibly cheap price. I will be making corned beef from the flat but I wanted to do something different with the point. A great foodie on twitter, Deb Cage, posted a recipe for Santa Fe Tacos that I had been wanting to try so why not use the point in Tacos. I decided to do the point with Carne Asada seasonings as burnt ends and use that as the filling for tacos.
I started by trimming the brisket and separating the flat. There was an incredible amount of fat on the brisket. I guess that is why it was so cheap. I have been spoiled by the briskets my brother has been bringing me from Love's Meats in Vegreville. They are all nicely fat marbled and well trimmed.
I set the flat aside to go into a corned beef brine (another post).
I mixed 15 ml (1 tbsp) each of orange juice, lime juice and lemon juice with 50 ml (1/4 cup) of soy sauce. I mixed in 5 ml (1tsp) taco spice and 5 ml (1 tsp) chili powder.
I injected the point with that mixture every inch or so. Set the remaining marinade aside.
I sprinkled the point with salt, onion powder, garlic powder and chili powder.
I put the point in a 250 F pellet smoker and cooked to an internal temperature of 140 F. This took about 3 hours.
I dropped the point into the roasting pan and added the reserved marinade and 250 ml (1 cup) beef stock. I covered it with foil and continued cooking to an internal temperature of 200 F.
I took the point out and poured the liquid off. I defatted the liquid. I measured 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the liquid and added 125 ml (1/2 cup) taco sauce and 15 ml (1 tablespoon) lime juice.
I cut the point into a bit smaller cubes than normal and poured the tacos sauce/juice mixture over them.
I cooked at 250 F for 45 minutes. I turned the cubes and cooked for 45 minutes longer.
I made the tacos during the last 40 minutes. Here is the recipe that Deb posted.
I cut the dough into 16 pieces as I wanted thinner smaller tacos.
Pictures weren't taken after this as I was in the midst of plating and serving a dinner party but here is a taco I put together for lunch the next day. spread taco sauce on the taco, sprinkled with lettuce mix and chopped tomatoes and then layered the burnt ends on top. The taco was big and strong enough to fold well.
The Verdict
These were great. They had the nice spicy, citrus tang of carne asada and the great texture of burnt ends. The tacos are more like flat bread than tacos but have a great texture and made a good base that stood up to being folded into tacos.
Everyone had a couple of tacos but couldn't stop eating the burnt ends on their own.
The following picture was taken by my buddy. It proves that Canadians shovel snow to smoke.
Disco
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