The Experiment

Last fall I bought a gas grill, I wanted to get it before another Chicago winter set in.  Kris, the kiddos and I packed up one afternoon to head across what seemed like a never ending trek of suburbs surrounded by corn fields to pick up the grill she found for me on craigslist.  I wanted it for the ease of cooking out in the winter, because I miss cooking out and the charcoal grill... well it isn't so much fun to light in a blizzard even if there isn't a blizzard it is hard to light in the dark, you know after the 3:45 sunset.  I do have to say that I was a little nervous about a couple of things.

1. Would I be able to get the same depth of flavor from propane as I did charcoal or charwood?

2. Would I be able to slow cook anything?

The answers are"pretty much" and "YES!"  I found that the flavors I get are just fine, maybe a little bit is lost from not cooking over actual burning wood but I think I have the ability to make up for that by seasoning and cooking food well.  As for slow cooking I was very happy!  this weekend I made a smoked beef brisket.  I started by going out a buying a "smoker box" which is a metal box with holes in it.  Imagine how much fun Mr. Man had while I was looking at metal boxes for all of 25 minutes.  Anyway I picked the $15.00 model  to put in my grill that I wouldn't pay more than $30.00 for.  Really this stuff all makes sense in my head, but looks funny written down.

I was lucky to find 2 pound Brisket at my normal store it had about a 1/4 inch thick layer of fat on it, you want about that much... if you can't find one with that you can add a few strips of bacon to the top,  yeah Bryan is back on the health food kick.  I did the simplest of rubs on the meat just Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder and set it on the counter to temper for about half an hour.  While that was waiting I soaked cheery wood chips in water and Tequila for the same time. While those were resting and soaking I made my mop sauce, the ingredients

1/2 cup Tequila

1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce

1 TBS Stone Ground Mustard

Juice from one Lime

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Put the Brisket into a shallow pan (I used a disposable pie tin, because throwing that away is so much easier than washing it).  Fill the smoker box with wet wood chips and put under the grate on low heat.  Set the meat in your pan on top of the grate so it only gets indirect heat..  You want to spent about 3 hours cooking this 2 pounds of meat, cooked too quickly and brisket is UN-Chewable!  So give it time.  Every half hour go out and spread some of your Mop Sauce on top, after a while use mop sauce and pan drippings.

You can only tell if it is done by poking it

If it feels like you are trying to poke a hole in a monster truck tire with a fork,  it is going to take a while.

If it feels like you are trying to poke through the steaks that you ate in college, you are getting there

If the meet feels like it is about to fall apart on your fork... done!

You probability want some BBQ sauce for this you can use your favorite from the store, if you are feeling all fancy try this one:

1 cup Ketchup

1 Heavy TBS of Molasses

1/4  cup Bourbon

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Heat over medium stirring occasionally until sauce starts to thicken, maybe 20 minutes or so.  you do have three hours so unless you are catching up on your soap you have the time.  In the picture I am serving with my Grandma's baked beans, (I came across a family cookbook a couple of weeks ago).

So how was it, well I am happy and sad to say it was wonderful, smokey and subtle with a depth that I didn't expect.  Happy because it worked so well, sad... well I really did like the old kettle grill but maybe it is time for the rusty old guy to go...

There it is, my new toy "smoker box" seems like

a fancy way to say metal box to me but it worked!

Smoked Brisket

July forth was just around the corner and I wanted to come up with a menu that accomplished a couple of things I wanted to cook something outside, it was a perfect cookout holiday and I didn't mind spending a few hours doing it. We were all going to be home from the time that the parade ended until the fireworks began. Slow cooking something on the grill was perfect.

I had never smoked a brisket before, I have made them a few times in the winter when slow cooking is great inside but on the grill in early July isn't something that I have ever done. I had to find a Brisket that was usable for my family, we were all a lttle tired and there was no way to have guests. I wanted about 2 1/2 pounds of Brisket with about 1/4 inch of fat on the top. You need enough fat to keep the meat moist plus the pan drippings make a great addition to the meat and the sauce later. Because I went to the grocery store after work on July 3rd (at about 8:00pm) I had to take what I could get. What I found was 3 pounds of meat with a very thin fat cap. Because of the way my luck runs sometimes the brisket I wanted was the only one in the case without a price. I had to call a store manager to figure out the price for me. Later I thought about how much he must love me, the annoying guy that needs a particular cut of meat at 8:20 the day before a holiday. Anyway he did take care of me and I picked up some bay scallops while I was there, they turned out well. I decided to do a spice rub similar to what I did on the smoked ribs a few weeks ago, since the meat would cook for a much longer time and absorb more of the flavor from the smoke I simplified it a bit, this one had:

2 tsp Kosher Salt

2 tsp Chili Powder

2 tsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

1 tsp Cumin

That couldn't have been easier... I mixed the spices together before we went to the parade the next morning (about 7:00 am) and wrapped the brisket in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to rest for a few hours. To prepare I wrapped a shallow pan with foil (I am still cleaning up the pan that I used as a drip pan for the ribs) then took the brisket out of the wrap and set a couple of slices of bacon on top... I wanted to make up for the small amount of fat on the meat its self. About noon I lit the grill and got it ready to smoke, spread the coals to the sides and put about a cup of wet wood chips on each side, I used cherry smoking chips for this. When it was going I pored about 1/2 a bottle of beer into the pan for added moisture. I closed the lid and checked it every hour after that.

As I checked it every 45 minutes to hour I checked the heat of the closed grill and tried to keep it the temperature of an oven, maybe 325. I basted the meat with the drippings to make sure that it stayed moist. I also added about 8-10 coals to each side of the grill and maybe a cup of wet woodchips. and once I added some more beer to the tray. A little after 5 it was done, yes a little more than 5 hours of cooking time, that time would vary depending on heat of the grill and the size of the meat. I just knew this was perfectly done, but could also tell when the meat was tender when I poked it with a fork.

After it came off the grill I set the meat to rest for about 20 minutes and pored the silky pan drippings into a bowl with some commercial bbq sauce to make that beautiful sauce that you see above. We served this with a little pasta salad and some slaw.