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]

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!