Recipe Tryouts begin!

[cjsmith]

1. BBQ Beef Brisket

This recipe is handicapped by being the first thing CJ has ever ever done in a slow cooker. It is also the first time I have knowingly seen a chunk of stuff called "brisket". It is also the first time I have ever purchased barbecue sauce. It's all new to me. :-)

Turns out my local Safeway doesn't have just a hunk of beef brisket. It has corned beef kits. Oh well -- I got an extra spice packet for my money.

My brisket weighed 2.62 pounds, and with the size of this crock pot I'm glad I didn't get anything bigger! I took one look at that squooshy piece of meat and I said I'm going to slice it later, when it's all cooked and tender and falling apart. I hope that doesn't totally hose the recipe, Gary. If it comes out mediocre that's what I'll blame it on. I had to squish it into the pot. One corner is kind of poking up.

It's all covered in thick dark barbecue sauce. I'm using Stubb's hickory smoke barbecue sauce. It smells scrumptious just out of the bottle.

I'll let you know how it comes out in a day or so!

Comments

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Um. CJ?

There's a difference between a brisket and a corned beef brisket. The main difference is a bunch of chemicals that I would have thought would not go with BBQ sauce. I hope it turned out okay. Oh and make sure to slice it against the grain.

BTW Safeway will carry just plain brisket during the summer as it a prime chunk of meat for the smoker. And sometimes they do carry it the rest of the year, but you have to ask.

Now I'm going to go pull my corned beef out of the freezer, guess what I want for dinner tommorrow! (Which I do in fact do in the crock pot. All I do is dump in the brisket, the packet of seasonings and a bottle of dark beer. After 6 hours I dump in a bunch of carrots and cook for another 2-3 hrs. I serve with mashed potato on the side. Good stuff!)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Well, that's the only brisket they had. Are you saying the "bunch of chemicals" were already in the meat when I pulled it out of the package? 'Cause the spices were in a separate little envelope.

Worst case, I wasted a bunch of money pouring perfectly good bbq sauce over perfectly good but unsuitable meat.

[mountainkitten.livejournal.com]

yeah.... it'll still be okay... just not the same as what the author of the recipe was pointing you too.

I sometimes cook a whole chicken in my crock pot... put lemon pepper on it... and put in it until its done. (about 6 hours usually) its fall apart tender at this point. yum! don't over cook it though... cause it becomes rubber. LOL

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

We'll see what it turns out like!! :-) This whole place smells like bbq beef now.

You're so corny!

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Sorry that I wasn't more clear. I'm not a fan of corned beef. But then again, I've never had it with BBQ sauce! Hope it actually turns out.

Regular brisket isn't squooshy, and it's pretty easy to slice. My concern is getting it cooked all the way through. Also, it's easier for me to sneak a piece before dinner. ;-)

Re: You're so corny!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, not your fault. I was looking for plain old raw beef brisket in the beef section. That's what I would have purchased had it been there. I had given up, and one of the employees pointed me to the packages of "corned beef brisket" in the "we added all the spices so it's ready to cook" section, and I simply didn't know it was any different.

The ENTIRE HOUSE SMELLS. The air return for the heating happens to be just outside the kichen. :-)

Maybe I'll pull it out now, slice it in the middle, and decide how much longer it needs to go.

Re: You're so smelly!

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Um, is the smell a good thing or a bad thing?

Re: You're so smelly!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Good for me, bad for Rob!

I opened it up and declared it "done" -- the stuff was practically falling apart as I tried to get it out of the pot. I sniffed the meat where it split. Y'know, I think I'm not a great fan of corned beef either. I'll try it with a lot of that sauce all over it.

Re: You're so smelly!

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Even with "good" brisket, the BBQ smell will be there, so maybe that's a dish to try while Rob is away.

Re: You're so smelly!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the majority of the smell was BBQ. He says it's "not too awful" -- me, I enjoy it! :-)

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the meat is permeated with the chemicals (nitrates and nitrites, that's what gives most corned beef (and ham btw) its particular flavor.) There's no real way to leach them out from what I understand. The N&N's (as I call 'em) is what keeps the meat that funky shade of pink that makes the meat look raw even if its fully cooked.

It might not be unsuitable. I was thinking about it. And I decided that since ham tastes good with BBQ sauce, that brisket might turn out pretty good. I'm actually really curious now to see if it worked.

I know that if you go to armadillo willy's and order the brisket its been completely chopped up (post cooking) and they add enough sauce to hold it together on a toasted bun. (This is an example of Texas style brisket. Can you tell I'm a huge fan of BBQ? Joe's aim when we go to a new city is find the best Buffalo wings, mine? Best BBQ)

Let us know what happened!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

nitrates and nitrites

Ahhhhh. OK, I'll know for next time.

But crap, how do I know it's done if it's pink??

So far what's happened is THE ENTIRE HOUSE SMELLS of BBQ. I dreamed about food last night. (And alarm systems, but that's another story. Post later.)

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

For future reference? You can tell it's done by its internal temperature. A fast read meat thermometer is a good thing to have.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should have made it clear that you test the temperature before you declare it cooked and take it out of the crockpot/oven/pan/etc. Most thermometers come with lists of temperatures for various cuts of meat and poultry.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I need to get me one of those. I knew doneness could be determined that way (though I'd have to look in Joy or on the web for the right number to look for) -- I just need to get the tool. I never thought I'd need one. Heh, silly me!

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Do you like cookbooks CJ.If so I really reccommed Fannie Farmers (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679450815/qid=1133669381/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7608236-5165709?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) Its a really good reference work to look up how long things should be cooked. And its just an all around good book for "basic" cooking.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OK, that's recommendation number two for Fannie Farmer! I don't have that one. I have Joy of Cooking, and that's the only basics book I've got.

Fannie goes on my wish list!

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

But crap, how do I know it's done if it's pink??

When you bite into a chunk & its not like chewing shoe leather!


Its almost impossible to overcook brisket in the crock pot. I usually cook it for at least 6 hrs, & even after 10, its still good!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I cooked it for nearly 12! (Mostly on low.) One edge was pretty crunchy, but that's because the whole chunk didn't really fit in the bottom of my pot and a corner poked up. By morning it was no longer submerged in the sauce. That corner got sacrificed to the food gods. :-) The rest of it is definitely the consistency of, well, meat!

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

i'm a longtime veg-head, so i can't help you with the meat part of this, but i wanted to give you a vote for the BBQ sauce. i'm pretty sure Stubbs is the stuff my brother raves about. This is my brother, Mr I Don't Like Anything On My Meat Except Maybe Ketchup.

I hope it came out OK, and this doesn't stop you from forging ahead into the Wonderful World of Crock-Pottery.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo yay! Glad I at least didn't pick crappy sauce. :-)

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

well, BBQ sauce is definitely a matter of taste. i like mine really sweet, with very little if any of the peppery bite. some people like it really hot and smokey. and there's mustard and honey and goddess knows else.

what prompted you to pick this particular sauce? have you tasted it sans meat?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Never tasted it before; it just looked like a biggish jar sitting there on the shelf. I knew I needed a lot of it if I was going to cover a big chunk of meat in a crock pot.

Stubb's has several varieties. The one I picked out for the beef was smokey. I have some of their "original" waiting for oh, I don't know what, a couple chicken breasts or something. (Too bad I just made rosemary lemon chicken out of all the chicken I bought last night!)

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed this post and the resulting comments tremendously. And that is in no way meant to make fun of you, because I would have probably done the same things. It was just sort of hysterical to see everybody start commenting "Uh, CJ, ...." :) Anyway, I never did see the results anywhere in the comments, so I hope it turned out edible and you have fun with the experience!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it had comedy value! Sometimes I think that's my biggest contribution in life. :-)

The results were posted later.