image

 

   


Weekly Recipes




The cooler weather is here and the weather is spectacular for outdoor cooking! Now, is the time to maximize your grill and savor the flavor.


Best Prices ... Best Selection

Your Barbecue Super Store
  Judging Classes

So, you may be thinking about becoming a barbecue judge ... or perhaps you just want to know what it is that the judges are looking for (and tasting) when judging great barbecue. Who are the table captains? And what do they do? Who officiates the contests? Overcooked? Under cooked? Too Salty? Too flat tasting? Mushy? Tough? and many more.


Check out the 2013 Judging Classes and find one near you!
 

Featured BBQ'n
Video




Continued from Page 3

This bit of chicanery is now euphemized among its practitioners as ‘steeping.' Maybe they should call it ‘Texas tea" and bring out the doilies and crumpets! To the experienced taster, braised brisket has the same texture as pot roast and loses much of its natural flavor. I find nothing wrong, however, with a back yard barbecuer wrapping his completely cooked brisket in aluminum foil to hold it until serving time.

After about 8 hours, check the internal temperature of the briskets with a bimetal thermometer. Most beef is edible after 125 degrees - for a fine steak - but the troublesome brisket needs to get as close to 185 degrees and you can stand. At that temperature, most of the interspersed fat has melted and mellowed the surrounding tissue into a reasonable facsimile of tenderness. Paul Kirk, Baron of Barbeque, teaches grilling around the country side. He says that he tests for tenderness by inserting his thermometer probe laterally into the brisket. If it enters and exits easily, he considers it ready to remove.

The Finale

Even after the extra effort in selection, the trimming and seasoning and the long term cooking process, the brisket demands still more than any rational fare for the grill. It still must be sliced in a particularly peculiar fashion in order to be rendered edible.

I am no slouch with a blade, but when I watched Texas native, Charlie McMurrey, Jr., dissect a brisket at a cook-off in Cookesville, TN, I recognized immediately that I was in the presence of a master brisketeer.

First, he removes the fat from the top side - that is the side that was on top during cooking. Then, starting on the flat end of the opposite side, he starts through that layer of meat, continuing slicing toward the nose end until reaching the internal layer of fat. He removes the fat separating the two layers of meat, separates and sets the top meat layer aside. The grain in this layer runs differently from the bottom layer and brisket needs to be cut across the grain to be chewable. It is instructive, at this point, to look closely at the directions of the grain.

He continues trimming and scraping away the fat. Then he places the top layer on the bottom - with the grain of both aligned. He is able, then, to slice both layers thinly across the grain. Brisket begins to dry quickly, so have everything else ready to serve.

A finishing sauce is optional. A simple one for a starting place is: 1Qt. Catsup, 6 oz prepared mustard, 3 T. Apple cider vinegar, 1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce, 3 T. Brown sugar, juice of 1 lemon, ½ lb butter, ½ t. Salt, ½ t. Black pepper, 1/4 t. Ground cloves. Simmer until well blended.

Serve with ice cold Lone Star or a hefty Burgundy.

The absolute treasure of this whole exercise is that, once you have done it, you have nothing left to prove and you never have to cook a brisket on the grill again! On, now, to the good and tender stuff! Hmm.... Rib roasts, sirloin roasts, pork loins...!!!

The Great American Barbecue & Grilling Manual
Smoky Has A New Book
The Great American Barbecue & Grilling Manual
416 pages of great information and wonderful recipes.
@ The Barbecue Store
Enjoy.

© 1998 by Smoky Hale Smoky
C. Clark Hale
8168 Hwy 98 E.
McComb, MS 39648

Hammock
Smoky's 5th basic position for really great barbecue'n.


'According to Smoky' is © by C. Clark Hale
who is solely responsible for its content. Comments
should be addresses to cchale@bellsouth.net

The Barbecue Store

Bulk Wood Chips
Here's a great money saving idea.  Wood chips and chunks never go bad. So why not order them in money saving bulk boxes?  Simply keep them in a dry area and use as needed!

Click & Order Your Bulk Chips & Chunks TODAY 


Bad Weather? Too hot or cold? Know what your bbq pit is doing with these Wireless Thermometers
Bad Weather?  Too hot or cold? Know what your bbq pit is doing with these Wireless Thermometers


There's not a better BBQ glove. Stylish Suade, lined and double protected from the elements.

There's not a better BBQ glove. Stylish Suade, lined and double protected from the elements.
FlameX Leather Gloves

Get all of Smoky Hale's wisdom and become the best cook around. Learn to do it right!

Get all of Smoky Hale's wisdom and become the best cook around. Learn to do it right!


When cold, romance or just having to burn something, our designer firepits will do it all. Get free shipping on SoJoe FirePits today
When cold, romance or just having to burn something, our designer firepits will do it all.  Get free shipping on SoJoe FirePits today

Visit The Barbecue Store Today!Visit The Barbecue Store Today!
Visit The Barbecue Store Today!

FREE WINE @ The Barbecue Store
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

 

Smoke 'n Fire EnquirerSubscribe now to The Smoke 'N Fire Enquirer, the Internet's most popular backyard grilling and barbecuing on-line tutorial and we'll send you FREE recipes, techniques and tips for preparing the finest outdoor meals. FREE!  See a Sample Newsletter
Names are really important because we give FREE STUFF away in our newsletters!

Barbecue'n Guy!

See Our Privacy
Policy Here

See our Top Ten Sellers!

Follow barbecuennow on Twitter

Join Us On Facebook


Smoke 'n Fire Enquirer
Free Smoke 'n Fire Enquirer
Email *

FirstName

LastName

* Required Field

Since February, 1996

image