hooklineandskillet

So after going ‘low and slow’ with the pulled pork the other weekend I figured would take it the other direction and go ‘Hot and Fast’ with some pizza.  We picked up a pizza stone at Home Depot and got 3 balls of dough on the way back.  I personally don’t like messing with dough.  I pick it up from a pizza parlor, not a super market, and it is always perfectly ready to go.  We had some left over sausage, added arugula, mushrooms, shallots, mozzarella, and ricotta.  The first pie was actually delicious but the bottom was scorched.  I had the grill up to about 600-700 degrees.  The next pie was slightly better.  I added more cornmeal to the base before I put the pie down on the stone.  The cornmeal would burn instead of the actual crust but it was still a little to crispy.  For the third pie, I took the stone off the grill, let the grill heat up and the stone cool down.  This pie ended up being the best of the lot.  It was a white pie with shallots and arugula.  Going foward i would use a “heat deflector” on the grill and make the pie on the pizza stone.  Then put the entire stone with constructed pizza on top above the heat deflector.  I believe this would result in a crispy bottom and a well cooked crust.

Pulled Pork on the Kamado Joe – 5-31-14

This weekend I attempted my first low and slow cook on the Kamado Joe. I cooked two 6 lbs pork shoulders that I picked up from the local stop and shop. I trimmed the skin off saturday morning, covered it in yellow deli mustard, and packed on some 344 rub. The kamado joe fired up pretty quickly. I started with traditional charcoal bricks in a chimney, dumped them into to grill once they were all burning good and poured some lump hardwood charcoal on top. Next time i will most likely use all lump charcoal. The brickets leave a much thinker ash behind and on the longer cooks this restricts the airflow. The pork got put on at 11am. I had them stood upright on a aluminum pan. I was extremely impressed with the steady temperature the Joe was able to maintain. It was also remarkable how long the charcoal lasted. The temperature bounced between 200-300 degrees pretty steadily. While i was out for lunch the guys back at the house said the temp went down to 200, they let it be and it eventually climbed back up to 275. i left the top vents open 50% and the bottom vent open 10-15%. that seemed to be fine. I added 2 handfuls of charcoal halfway through the 8 hour cook and i probably could have gotten away with less. the grill stayed hot for a few hours after we took the pork off. My only criticism for the Joe vs the Lang is that it was next to impossible to prevent the direct high heat coming off the coals from singeing the bottom of the pork but. It wasn’t took much of an issue but it is very different than working with an offset smoker. I also felt that too often i was really choking the fire to get the temp down. when the coals get choked they put out a sootier smoke. It did not affect the flavor of the food but it was something i was conscious of. The pulled pork tasted incredible. I didn’t mix in any sauce, just some of the drippings. It was served with my vinegar 344 sauce which was a perfect compliment. 8 hours was probably the minimum time this amount of meat needed to be cooked. It was A LOT of meat. the chamber was pretty much filled with pork. also the temperature was on the lower end of the smoking range for the first 4 hours. I wrapped the meat for the last hour and a half, i probably could have wrapped it earlier.

I read the below post on this blog.  It was incredibly informative and I have no problem completely ripping it off.  See below.  I have order a Prime IMPS #123 Brisket for this weekend.  I plan on getting a good cook in on Saturday.  It has been a while since I really nailed a brisket.  The last one at the summer BBQ came out incredibly dry.  Oak, Apple, & Hickory was delivered on Saturday and we should have all the pieces in place to execute.

Choosing The Proper BBQ Brisket Grade

Without question, the consensus on what grade of brisket to choose for competition is that choice grade should be your baseline. Meaning, anything below choice (select, for example) should be avoided. The reasoning here is that choice grade brisket and above will give you the marbling (fat content) required to keep your brisket moist.

I know that many of the BBQ cooks competing down here in either FBA or KCBS events use either highly marbled choice or Certified Angus Beef briskets (CAB). If you don’t have a quality meat market in your area, Restaurant Depot carries CAB briskets.  You need a membership to shop there, but you can get one of those free if you’re a KCBS member.

A few folks competing here take it one step further and go “botique” with their brisket purchases.  One popular source for “next level” briskets is Snake River Ranch. These briskets are certified as American Wagyu beef and though expensive, they’re prized among BBQ competitors who require the highest quality product.  These briskets run around $85-$90 a piece, and shipping from Snake River Ranch is extra. If you’re interested in using these briskets, see if you can find someone in your area with a restaurant or connections to ordering these from other purveyors to try and get your shipping costs down.

BBQ Brisket Selection 101 From The Texas Pros

Texas BBQ Bonanza – Franklin BBQ

 

Daniel Vaughn, BBQ Editor over at Texas Monthly posted a great article last year called “BBQ Anatomy 101: Know Your Brisket.” For those of you who don’t know Daniel, he’s pretty much the authority on Texas BBQ and is a go to resource for knowing how it should be done and who’s doing it right.

In his article, Daniel does a great job of breaking down the basics of Texas brisket as follows:

If you’re eating brisket in Texas, chances are that your favorite pitmaster is ordering Item No. 120: a beef brisket, deckle-off, boneless. The number corresponds to the cut of meat defined by the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, or IMPS. No. 120 is “boneless,” meaning that ribs one through four have been removed (Item No. 118 is just “Beef Brisket” and the bones remain intact), and the “deckle,” or the hard fat between the rib cage and the pectoralis profundus muscle, also known as the brisket flat, has been removed. Even hardcore meat geeks may sometimes mistakenly refer to the brisket point (pectoralis superficialis) as the deckle, but that’s not what IMPS cut description means here.

Beginner competition BBQ cooks should take note when Daniel shares that buying whole brisket packer cuts (with the point and the flat normally sold in cryovac bags) is the most cost effective way to go. Some butchers will trim your brisket to specifications.

Full Packer CAB Brisket

However, as Malcom Reed shows in the rather aggressive beef brisket trimming video below, you can really maximize the flavoring in terms of where the rub makes its way into the beef by doing this yourself.

Where this article really shines is with the “investigative reporting” he does regarding the brisket sourcing choices of some of the most well-regarded Texas Pitmasters. In the post Daniel covers the following Texas BBQ stalwarts:

• Pecan Lodge – Dallas, TX
• Big Boys Bar-B-Que – Sweetwater, TX
• John Mueller Meat Co. – Austin, TX
• Miller’s Smokehouse – Belton, TX
• La Barbecue – Austin, TX
• Franklin Barbecue – Austin, TX

Some of these restaurants use select brisket (which was a surprise to me) while others go for only prime grades of beef — when they can get it / afford it. The work put into this article is awesome, as the information Daniel shares here really helps to define some of the nuts and bolts behind these great BBQ joints. It’s a great article, so be sure to head over there, give it a read, and share it with your BBQ friends.

Videos On How To Select A Good Quality Beef Brisket

Some say pictures are worth a thousand words. In the case of trying to share how you can select a good quality brisket, I think videos do a bang up job. Check these out.

Beef Carcass Retail Fabrication Video

I came across this super informative video over at the Virtual Bullet site. It’s more than one hour long, and you’ll want to skip to about the 12:15 minute mark to see the brisket portion. However, if you’re like me… you’ll likely get caught up watching most of this primer from the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Aaron Franklin BBQ Brisket Selection, Prep, and Cooking Tips

This video is awesome. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin, TX (referenced above) does a cooking demo a lot like what you may have seen with Alton Brown’s Good Eats series. Sure, there are fewer “props,” but Aaron has a Made for Video approach to sharing what he knows about BBQ that it hard to deny. In this video, Franklin shares information about the  anatomy of a brisket, how to select a brisket, and how to prepare a “secret brisket rub.” You definitely want to watch this.

Of course you want to see what Aaron does with this brisket on the smoker, so here’s that video. I also put a video of his below that provides a great primer on what kinds of wood to use for smoking BBQ brisket.

How To Cook A Competition BBQ Brisket

Once again, I’m going to turn to Malcom Reed for the first How to Cook Competition Brisket video. He’s cooking on a Yoder Pellet Smoker in this video, which makes for a nice comparison with what you saw Aaron Franklin doing with his offset smoker above. Pay attention to what Malcom says about being careful not to leave injection marks in your brisket, as they’ll stain and show up in your finished product in some cases. Great information here on cubing up the point for burnt ends here as well.

Malcom Reed Competition Brisket Cook and Burnt Ends Video

After months of back and forth I have finally placed an order for some Hickory and Apple.  For a ‘shake down’ we did cooked up some ribs for Easter dinner.  We had them on for 3hrs at around 250 then finished them in the oven.  The actual wood order is not arriving until the first weekend in May.  It is outlined below.  I will be out there the following weekend for mother’s day and hopefully we cook up something spectacular.  Being that I am in a cast, maybe I’ll do a 16 hour brisket….

Wood Order:

http://bbqbeat.com/winning-bbq-brisket-cut-cook/

Reference guide for Woods used to Smoke Food

ACACIA – these trees are in the same family as mesquite. When burned in a smoker, acacia has a flavor similar to mesquite but not quite as heavy. Is a very hot burning wood.

ALDER – Very delicate with a hint of sweetness. Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds.

ALMOND – A sweet smoke flavor, light ash. Good with all meats.

APPLE – Very mild with a subtle fruity flavor, slightly sweet. Good with poultry (turns skin dark brown) and pork.

ASH – Fast burner, light but distinctive flavor. Good with fish and red meats.

BIRCH – Medium-hard wood with a flavor similar to maple. Good with pork and poultry.

CHERRY – Mild and fruity. Good with poultry, pork and beef. Some List members say the cherry wood is the best wood for smoking. Wood from chokecherry trees may produce a bitter flavor.

COTTONWOOD – It is a softer wood than alder and very subtle in flavor. Use it for fuel but use some chunks of other woods (hickory, oak, pecan) for more flavor. Don’t use green cottonwood for smoking.

CRABAPPLE – Similar to apple wood.

GRAPEVINES – Tart. Provides a lot of smoke. Rich and fruity. Good with poultry, red meats, game and lamb.

HICKORY – Most commonly used wood for smoking–the King of smoking woods. Sweet to strong, heavy bacon flavor. Good with pork, ham and beef.

LILAC – Very light, subtle with a hint of floral. Good with seafood and lamb.

MAPLE – Smoky, mellow and slightly sweet. Good with pork, poultry, cheese, and small game birds.

MESQUITE – Strong earthy flavor. Good with beef, fish, chicken, and game. One of the hottest burning woods.

MULBERRY – The smell is sweet and reminds one of apple.

OAK – Heavy smoke flavor–the Queen of smoking wood. RED OAK is good on ribs, WHITE OAK makes the best coals for longer burning. All oak varieties reported as suitable for smoking. Good with red meat, pork, fish and heavy game.

ORANGE, LEMON and GRAPEFRUIT – Produces a nice mild smoky flavor. Excellent with beef, pork, fish and poultry.

PEAR – A nice subtle smoke flavor. Much like apple. Excellent with chicken and pork.

PECAN – Sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory. Tasty with a subtle character. Good with poultry, beef, pork and cheese. Pecan is an all-around superior smoking wood.

SWEET FRUIT WOODS – APRICOT, PLUM, PEACH, NECTARINE – Great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish. The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.

WALNUT – ENGLISH and BLACK – Very heavy smoke flavor, usually mixed with lighter woods like almond, pear or apple. Can be bitter if used alone. Good with red meats and game.

Other internet sources report that wood from the following trees is suitable for smoking: AVOCADO, BAY, CARROTWOOD, KIAWE, MADRONE, MANZANITA, GUAVA, OLIVE, BEECH, BUTTERNUT, FIG, GUM, CHESTNUT, HACKBERRY, PIMIENTO, PERSIMMON, and WILLOW. The ornamental varieties of fruit trees (i.e. pear, cherry, apple, etc.) are also suitable for smoking.

Types of wood that is unsuitable or even poisonous when used for grilling. Don’t use any wood from conifer trees, such as PINE, FIR, SPRUCE, REDWOOD, CEDAR, CYPRESS, etc.