Sunday, July 03, 2005
I've Never Been Fond of Texas, But Their Cooking, That's Another Story...
Vittles:
We'd done a brisket before, but that had been oven roasted with onion gravy. Tasty? Yes. But not exactly the ultimate in briskets. This time I wanted to slow cook the thing on the grille with plenty of smoke. Everett's came through for us with an 8+ pound brisket (which included the point end), so with a fistful of hickory chips and grille mop in hand, I started early. The recipe said it would take about six hours to cook, but this was a bigger cut of meat than called for. I tried to keep the fire in the right zone, splitting the coals, adding a few every hour, and periodically raising and lowering the grates. I knew that if it cooked too fast, we'd end up with tough meat. Unfortunately, four hours into it, I was worried at how dark the exterior was already. I took a temperature, and it was done. Damn. It's at least two hours before enough people are here to eat. What's plan B?
Slicing the meat and throwing it in the slow cooker with the pan juices and the rest of the mop sauce, I hoped for the best. And it was! While it was a little tough coming off of the fire, simmering for the next two hours helped it to start falling apart. There were still chewy parts, but there were also parts that just fell apart on the fork. The spice mixture was just right, a little bit of heat, but not enough to break a sweat. Between that and the tanginess of the juice, I was happy.
The beans were beans. I sometimes get frustrated at spending so much time cooking something like that, only to find that Bush's would have been just as acceptable. (Some people really enjoyed them, and I did too. It's just I don't know if people would have known the difference had I just opened a can.)
Before dinner, we were embroiled in the Great Husk Grilling Debate. (Is it better to grille the corn in the husk or out?) I've grilled corn in the husks any number of times, and it's always come out all right. But fighting with the silks at the table is always a hassle, and it's never been as good as the first time I had grilled corn in college. (I ran around like an idiot extolling it's greatness.) I decided to try it out of the husks. Now in all fairness, when it's grilled in the husks, you can't brush the garlic butter on it, so it's not exactly comparing apples to apples (or corn to corn as the case may be). But given the ability to do more interesting things with it, and the fact that the fire cooked kernels were freakin' tasty, I don't think I'll be fire steaming in the husks anymore.
As we were trying to finish the soup, Robin kept insisting it needed something. She and BY kept debating what was missing, and tried adding a couple of things. I agreed that it wasn't nearly as complex as I'd have liked, but I was also getting a little worn out and just wanted to eat. As it hit the table, I remembered that we were going to garnish with a dolop of sour cream. That's what was missing. I tried it with and without, and that little splooge of sour cream made all the difference in the world. Who figured I'd eat a soup made almost entirely out of peppers and onions, but there I was.
Cream cheese makes brownies better. So does ice cream. Enough said.
- Texas-style smoked brisket
- Grilled corn on the cob
- BBQ baked beans
- Roasted red pepper soup
- Cream cheese marbled brownies with vanilla ice cream
We'd done a brisket before, but that had been oven roasted with onion gravy. Tasty? Yes. But not exactly the ultimate in briskets. This time I wanted to slow cook the thing on the grille with plenty of smoke. Everett's came through for us with an 8+ pound brisket (which included the point end), so with a fistful of hickory chips and grille mop in hand, I started early. The recipe said it would take about six hours to cook, but this was a bigger cut of meat than called for. I tried to keep the fire in the right zone, splitting the coals, adding a few every hour, and periodically raising and lowering the grates. I knew that if it cooked too fast, we'd end up with tough meat. Unfortunately, four hours into it, I was worried at how dark the exterior was already. I took a temperature, and it was done. Damn. It's at least two hours before enough people are here to eat. What's plan B?
Slicing the meat and throwing it in the slow cooker with the pan juices and the rest of the mop sauce, I hoped for the best. And it was! While it was a little tough coming off of the fire, simmering for the next two hours helped it to start falling apart. There were still chewy parts, but there were also parts that just fell apart on the fork. The spice mixture was just right, a little bit of heat, but not enough to break a sweat. Between that and the tanginess of the juice, I was happy.
The beans were beans. I sometimes get frustrated at spending so much time cooking something like that, only to find that Bush's would have been just as acceptable. (Some people really enjoyed them, and I did too. It's just I don't know if people would have known the difference had I just opened a can.)
Before dinner, we were embroiled in the Great Husk Grilling Debate. (Is it better to grille the corn in the husk or out?) I've grilled corn in the husks any number of times, and it's always come out all right. But fighting with the silks at the table is always a hassle, and it's never been as good as the first time I had grilled corn in college. (I ran around like an idiot extolling it's greatness.) I decided to try it out of the husks. Now in all fairness, when it's grilled in the husks, you can't brush the garlic butter on it, so it's not exactly comparing apples to apples (or corn to corn as the case may be). But given the ability to do more interesting things with it, and the fact that the fire cooked kernels were freakin' tasty, I don't think I'll be fire steaming in the husks anymore.
As we were trying to finish the soup, Robin kept insisting it needed something. She and BY kept debating what was missing, and tried adding a couple of things. I agreed that it wasn't nearly as complex as I'd have liked, but I was also getting a little worn out and just wanted to eat. As it hit the table, I remembered that we were going to garnish with a dolop of sour cream. That's what was missing. I tried it with and without, and that little splooge of sour cream made all the difference in the world. Who figured I'd eat a soup made almost entirely out of peppers and onions, but there I was.
Cream cheese makes brownies better. So does ice cream. Enough said.
