Perfect, Bad, & Horrible
Perfect, Bad, & Horrible
I promised a client smoked turkey for one of their meals this week, and I figured while I had the smoker going I'd experiment with a couple of other things I've been wanting to try: brisket and beans.
The turkey breast came out perfect. Moist and packed with smoke flavor. Everything a smoked turkey should be -- and best of all, the client only got half of it, the other half was for me.
The beans and brisket? Not so good.
I bought a six pound brisket and cut it in half. (I froze half.) Then I applied a steak rub I'd made up a few weeks ago, wrapped it tightly in plastic, and let it sit in the fridge for about 12 hours. Note: the brisket had a good thick layer of fat on top that I left in place.
Once the brisket was prepped, I dumped a pound of pinto beans in a bowl and covered
I fired up the Brinkman water smoker at noon, then I pulled out the brisket to let it warm up. I drained and rinsed the beans and put them into a cheap aluminum baking pan. The I added seasonings (cumin, salt, ground chipotle, black pepper, a few sprigs of thyme, and a couple of bay leaves), water to cover to about an inch, and a couple of strips of smoked bacon. Finally I liberally dusted the turkey with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.
By this time the fire was ready. So I added water to the bowl, placed a rack over it, and set the pan of beans, loosely covered with aluminum foil, on the lower rack. I arranged the brisket and turkey breast on the upper rack, set the lid in place, and tossed some soaked hickory chunks into the fire pan.
I smoked everything for six hours, checking the temp occasionally.
As I said, the turkey was perfect. The brisket was dry and tough. The beans didn't seem to have cooked at all -- horrible.
In Tennessee barbeque means pork and I've smoked lots of different cuts of pork over the years with great success, as well as turkey, and whole salmon. I don't know why the brisket turned out so poorly. Judging from the turkey, I don't think the smoker was too hot. And I left plenty of fat in place. But the brisket was bad. Edible, but only just. I'm thinking I may grind it up and do something with it.
The beans were even more of a disaster. When I pulled them out of the smoker and tried a bite they were as hard as could be. I thought perhaps the temp directly over the water pa may have been too low. So I moved them into the oven and gave them another three hours at 350F -- and they were still as hard. The only explanation I can think of is the beans were old -- ancient even -- but I'd just bought them so if they were old they'd been aging somewhere else.
At any rate, if anyone has any thoughts on the brisket and beans, let me know. In the meantime, I may have to smoke a pork shoulder this weekend to restore my self-confidence.
I promised a client smoked turkey for one of their meals this week, and I figured while I had the smoker going I'd experiment with a couple of other things I've been wanting to try: brisket and beans.
The turkey breast came out perfect. Moist and packed with smoke flavor. Everything a smoked turkey should be -- and best of all, the client only got half of it, the other half was for me.
The beans and brisket? Not so good.
I bought a six pound brisket and cut it in half. (I froze half.) Then I applied a steak rub I'd made up a few weeks ago, wrapped it tightly in plastic, and let it sit in the fridge for about 12 hours. Note: the brisket had a good thick layer of fat on top that I left in place.
Once the brisket was prepped, I dumped a pound of pinto beans in a bowl and covered
I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian. ~ Unknown
with water. I knew the smoker wouldn't get above about 250F and although I was planning a long cooking period for the beans, I decided to give them a head start by smoking them overnight.I fired up the Brinkman water smoker at noon, then I pulled out the brisket to let it warm up. I drained and rinsed the beans and put them into a cheap aluminum baking pan. The I added seasonings (cumin, salt, ground chipotle, black pepper, a few sprigs of thyme, and a couple of bay leaves), water to cover to about an inch, and a couple of strips of smoked bacon. Finally I liberally dusted the turkey with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.
By this time the fire was ready. So I added water to the bowl, placed a rack over it, and set the pan of beans, loosely covered with aluminum foil, on the lower rack. I arranged the brisket and turkey breast on the upper rack, set the lid in place, and tossed some soaked hickory chunks into the fire pan.
I smoked everything for six hours, checking the temp occasionally.
As I said, the turkey was perfect. The brisket was dry and tough. The beans didn't seem to have cooked at all -- horrible.
In Tennessee barbeque means pork and I've smoked lots of different cuts of pork over the years with great success, as well as turkey, and whole salmon. I don't know why the brisket turned out so poorly. Judging from the turkey, I don't think the smoker was too hot. And I left plenty of fat in place. But the brisket was bad. Edible, but only just. I'm thinking I may grind it up and do something with it.
The beans were even more of a disaster. When I pulled them out of the smoker and tried a bite they were as hard as could be. I thought perhaps the temp directly over the water pa may have been too low. So I moved them into the oven and gave them another three hours at 350F -- and they were still as hard. The only explanation I can think of is the beans were old -- ancient even -- but I'd just bought them so if they were old they'd been aging somewhere else.
At any rate, if anyone has any thoughts on the brisket and beans, let me know. In the meantime, I may have to smoke a pork shoulder this weekend to restore my self-confidence.
23 Comments:
Part of the bean problem could have been the salt you added to the "cooking liquor" Salt kind of prevents beans from softening up ... for the exact explanation best to refer to Harold McGee. Question - what about smoking the beans and then using them to cook with?
Amanda,
It wasn't the salt. Russ Parson's debunked that idea through a series of experiments with cooking beans (for his take see How to Read a French Fry pg 158-159) and in fact McGee suggests salting as means a means of softening beans (see On Food and Cooking pg 489). Acid, on the other hand does toughen beans, but I was careful to avoid adding anything acidic.
Well, three comments, actually:
1) Wow, you use your Brinkman at the townhouse complex and the neighbors don't a) mind, or b) beg for samples?
2) We've smoked beans in our Brinkman, but only after giving them a serious head start on the stovetop.
3) Here's a fun article about BBQ brisket that won't answer your questions but, hey...
CC,
CC,
I only have one neightbor who knows I'm the source of the smoke -- and he hasn't asked for a sample yet. (I suspect he's a yankee.)
As for the beans, any thoughts on why starting them on the stove would make a difference?
That's not a bad looking sauce Spieler's offering. I definitely prefer molasses to brown sugar for sweetening.
Kevin..I've taken a couple of cracks at brisket and haven't got it quite right yet but I'm getting there...some thoughts: 1 - supermarket "brisket" cuts won't do...they trim away way too much fat (even though yours had a 'good layer of fat' I suspect it had been trimmed)...go to a butcher and tell him or her you want ALL the fat... a whole brisket is the best way to go, though you need a lot of friends to help with the eating...2 - lower and slower...under 200º for at least 12 - 14 hours...is the way to go...3 - no rubs, sauces, etc....just the smoke...serve it with sauce if you must, but a bbq brisket is best with nothing added prior to serving, IMHO...4 - for some reason I have the idea that water smoking is not the method for brisket...I use it for turkeys (and have perfected that) though...I'll do some research on that and get back to you...
don't give up on brisket...when done to perfection it's heavenly...
best, Stephen
oops...didn't mean to be leaving an anonymous comment (7/19, 6:11:35) - just forgot to fill in the ID fields that blogger doesn't fill in for you the way a lot of other blog services do...
best, Stephen
Stephen,
I may try the brisket again, but 1) the brisket I bought had an inch of fat on it and a whole brisket is out of the question unless I wanted to give it away, 2) lower and slower is doable, 3)I can skip the rub, but I don't see how it would affect the cooking characteristics, and 4)the Brinkman's all I got and all I'm likely to have.
I wish I could offer advice, but I've only got sympathy. DucCat picked up some buffalo brisket a couple of months ago (with fat, since its so lean anyway), and we came out with the same, dry, inedible piece of really-expensive-organic-happy-buffalo meat that I've ever tasted.
S'kat,
Well, you and I both know that pork is really the only proper BBQ meat.
Oh, the beans on the stovetop? We cooked them almost to tenderness, as if all the cooking was being done indoors, and then just finished them for an hour in the smoke.
CC,
Thanks.
I don't know about brisket. But just in case your neighbors ever do complain about the smoker, I have identified (after 8 tries!!) a slow cooker recipe that really does taste like smoked pulled pork barbecue. Yes, I know a slow cooker is not so cool, but I've had to learn to use one here in my apartment in Germany. So far, the only recipes that taste 'real', if you know what I mean, are this one and a sausage and mushroom dressing I concocted at Thanksgiving. I found the barbecue recipe on someone's blog page, can't remember where, but I am very grateful! Try the rub on the brisket. Some recipes for oven cooked brisket or pulled meat recommend keeping the meat wrapped in foil the entire cooking time. Maybe you could smoke for a while in foil until moisture is absorbed into meat, then unwrap for the rest of the time?
If you're still sufferiing your heat wave, I've found another great solution to the hot weather that we still have in Germany. I watered my windowboxes with my gorgeous hanging petunias (I LOVE Bavaria when everyone has the window boxes full and colorful) and accidentally soaked one sneaker and sock. Bliss for an hour! I now wear my socks around the house and every hour or so go in the shower stall and wet them down with really cold water. If your feet and head are cool, you can fake the rest of your body out for a short period of time.
(If you have a favorite homemade barbecue sauce, please let me know. That's the one thing I haven't been able to duplicate yet. Of course, my favorite sauce came from a small smoker joint in the back of a country grocery store next to my grandmother's house in Georgia, and he doesn't bottle and sell it. I've tried eight recipes and still looking.)
Germans have quiet time on Sundays - no washing cars, mowing grass - so I normally putter around the house and try new recipes between getting ready for the work week. I've really enjoyed yours, most of the ingredients are available locally. Thanks so much for updating often, I check your page almost every day. Good luck with the next brisket!
Blasphemous" NC Barbecue (a.k.a. Crock-Pot Piggy)
Time: 8 hours + overnight, largely unattended
Rub:
4 tablespoons paprika
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons ground coriander (or any coriander-containing premade rub that doesn't have a lot of salt)
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
½ tablespoon Cinnamon
½ tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
(makes close to enough for 2 roasts, store in a Ziploc sandwich baggie)
1 pork butt roast, 5 to 6 pounds
1 ½ cups apple cider (unfiltered)
1 small lemon, juiced ( ½ -3/4 cup of juice)
Barbecue sauce (sometimes called Dip):
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (may substitute cayenne, but as written is damn near close to Bullock’s sauce)
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste.
Whisk ingredients together in a bowl. Drizzle into meat.
Covered, leftover sauce will keep about 2 months.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients together in bowl, using a fork to break down hunks of brown sugar. Put Boston butt roast in crock pot, apply spice rub to pork butt with your hands, covering meat entirely one side at a time, turning roast until entirely coated, wiping any spilled rub up from the bottom of the pot and using it to coat subsequent sides of the roast. Roast should end up fat side UP.
2. Add Cider and Lemon Juice to crock pot, being careful not to wash spice rub off of the top of the roast.
3. Cover with lid and cook on high 4 hours. Turn meat. Cook 4 more hours. Turn meat again (if possible) and turn power to low. Leave crockpot on over night.
4. Let cook on low 10-12 hours (including overnight) (meat is done by this time, but the longer it sits, the more fat is melted (improves texture)). Turn off crock pot, and let meat sit, covered, about 45 minutes because otherwise it is TOO HOT to handle.
5. Pour meat and liquid into a LARGE bowl with a colander to separate meat from juice. Be sure to remove the bone(s) at this time.
6. Dump meat and fat bits from colander into another LARGE bowl. “Pull” the meat (shred between 2 large forks) until in bite size shreds.
7. Make up barbecue sauce. Mix in with meat, serve or let stand in refrigerator. Tastes even better later !
Yield: 10 to 12 servings, if you’re lucky.
Oops, forgot to add my one addition to the recipe. When I pour in the apple cider and juice of one lemon, I mix them in a measuring cup first and add 1/4 to 1/3 a bottle of liquid smoke.
Oda Mae,
Thanks so much for the long post and recipes. Unfortunately I don't have a slow cooker. I had one for years but only used it a couple of times and so I gave it away.
As for sauce, I lean more toward a Memphis style than North Carolina (although I like the vinegary sauces). My standard recipe is here. I'll give your sauce a try.
For some reason, I can't get to the recipe, I just get the Post a Comment page. And I didn't use that sauce recipe, so can't vouch for it. However, my sister came to visit bearing gifts - lots of canned goods from the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, including a pretty good "Sweet with a Bite" barbecue sauce. I'm down to the last couple of tablespoons.
Oda Mae,
I've emailed you the link. And this one should work:
http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2006/02/pork-ribs.html
This is a bit tardy, but it may help with the brisket
Trim the brisket to about a 1/4" of fat on top. Trim the middle piece of fat out also.
Sprinkle that Creole seasoning liberally on the brisket. Refrigerate for several hours.
10 to 12 hours before you want to start the smoking make a wallpaper consistency paste of dijon mustard and apple juice. Spread on the brisket, refrigerate.
Bring brisket up to room temperature before adding to the smoker.
Try to get the temperature of your smoker down to 225º.
Brisket goes on the smoker fat side up.
smoke until it reaches 150º internally.
Wrap in heavy aluminum foil basting with the residual marinade and continue cooking until temp. comes to 170.
The sauce will be faboo from the brisket, and nothing else will be needed.
Hugh in Texas.
Hugh,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a shot next time I try a briskit.
DO NOT cut out the middle fat from the brisket!!!!!
I've been cooking brisket for years and should know how being from Texas--it's bred in us.
First off, it's very difficult to get a quality cooking from anything other than a smoker. A wood smoker.
You need to take the brisket, fat side up and really rub that guy good the night before and let him sit in the fridge.
Then, get yourself up in the morning and get your smoker ready--use a separate hot box and keep the wood chunks (hickory or mesquite) separate from the cooking area. Get the grill up to 225 and keep it there.
You will have also want to have your brisket sitting out during this time to "warm up".
Get the brisket on the grill once the temp is right. Fat side up.
For the first 2.5 hours, do not touch it. You're going to cook it a total of 1.5 hour per pound. If you temp gets too high, you need take care of that IMMEDIATELY.
After 2.5 hours, mop it with a good brisket mop. Then do so every hour after that.
Turn it (not over, just direction wise) about half way through so the fire is cooking the opposite end that it started on.
After it's cooked for its time, you have two choices--take it up to 185 if you want sliced brisket. Take it up to 195 if you want brisket sandwiches. The higher temp breaks apart the fibers inside the brisket.
Remove it from the grill and wrap it in foil for 30 minutes. DO NOT TOUCH IT.
After that, bring it out and slice it against the grain, the point should be the most tender and the most appropriate for "sandwiches" if that's what some want.
Brisket is an art and I had to cook about ten before I got it perfectly right. There simply is no right way to cook a brisket without a smoker/separate firebox if you want to truly bbq it the way it was meant to be.
Anon,
I did all that.
First, the Brinkman with a water pan has a real hard time keeping temp above 225. The water in the pan starts boiling at 212, making if truely difficult to maintain a constant temp. insteadof using staight water, soak your chips for half to an hour in your liquid of choice. use the chips for the "moisture" not water. A brisket will take about 6-9 hours. Try rubbing it down with a mixture of cider vinegar and yellow mustard first, then apply your rub. The vinegar will help keep the meat moist while holding on to your rub, makes a better "bark". I never turn or flip the brisket. From what it sounds like, you are using a brisket flatthat has been trimmed up a little. I never leave more than a 1/4 of fat on my brisket. But, ALWAYS put the fatty side up. As the fat renders it will drip thru the meat helping to retain moisture. Get an accurate thermometer, check it multiple times to make sure it is accurate. You can email me at Bacnar@yahoo.com
Butch,
Thanks for the suggestions. The truth is I'm just not that impressed with barbequed beef (although my father smoked some shortribs last weekend that were good). But I was in Houston a couple of years ago and had brisket at several joints (I have a friend in Houston who knows her BBQ) and it ranged from good to good. But I think "good" is faint praise for barbeque which, as a friend in Alabama noted,should be so wonderful "You want to rub it in your hair when you can't manage another bite."
I have to agree PORK IS GOD SENT but brisket done right is awesome as well. I live in Oregon, and have traveled all over the country tasting BBQ, and the regional thing is true. Each region has its own likes and dislikes.
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