Big Bad Beef Brisket

A few weeks ago we planned for Byrd's sister's family to come stay with us for a weekend.  We had a couple things planned for Saturday, one including me smoking my first good sized (7lbs.) brisket.  I haven't done one this large and was quite worried about serving a large lump of dried out beef, which has happened before when attempting the brisket.  So all last week I read blog after blog trying to find the perfect method/rub/all the help I could get.  I settled on a recipe from amazingribs.com. There is a lot more on the site than just good rib recipes. Like I said I read everything I could find.  This sounded the least complicated.  I started by reproducing the Big Bad Beef Rub Recipe.  I rubbed down the brisket on Friday night and let it sit in the fridge over night.  Here it is Saturday morning while getting to room temp.  

I set up the BGE for an indirect cook at 220 degrees.  I mixed in applewood chips for smoke.  I realize that hickory goes better with beef, but I realized Saturday morning that what I thought was a bag of hickory chips was actually apple.  Oh well.  I put the brisket on at 10 am.  We (Byrd, Baby Byrd, SIL, BIL, Emma (niece), and MIL) went to the Kickn Chickn wing festival around 11.  This is the first time I have left the BGE alone to  do its job with out me constantly staring at the temp gauge.  We came home a few hours later to find it exactly where it was when I left it.  The meat temperature was sitting at 143. I started to worry it wasn't going to be done in time for dinner.   To take my mind off of it, we watched Alabama get beat by South Carolina, still can't believe that happened, but as an Auburn fan, lets just say when my thermometer went off at 6:30 to say the brisket was at 170 degrees I was happy.  I double wrapped the brisket in foil and poured in about a cup of some left over vinegar based BBQ sauces from the fridge.  I put it back on the BGE and let it continue to cook until it reached 185 internal.  This happened right when as planned.  This never happens.  But the stars were aligned Saturday for me.  Alabama lost, Auburn won, and this is what the brisket looked like after slicing.  

Great smoke ring and very moist. While cutting this with an electric knife juice flew up an hit me in my left eye.   It burned like hell, but I got over it after I tasted a piece.

Paired with some great roasted corn salad, deviled eggs, squash casserole and what my BIL calls sexy sauce, which somehow didn't make the picture, sorry J.

It was delicious.  The Rub was slightly spicy, which I love.  I am glad I doubled the recipe so I have some ready for the next beef cook.  I am sure it won't turn out this good next time, but I am glad it did yesterday.  

Korean Steak with Kimchi Fried Rice

Wow it has been a long time since I have had the time to sit down and do this.  Well here we go.... Quick update:  Baby Bird is now 4 months old and growing like a weed, Bird is more beautiful than ever, Restaurant is getting busier and taking up more of my time, oh yeah and we decided to move with all of this going on.  Once again I am not sure what we were thinking, but we have been in the house for about 2 weeks and here is the first long cook I have done in a long time.  I got lucky after reading this one in the most recent Food Network Magazine, my parents were in town and stopped by to see Baby Bird so I took the baby free time to prep.  Free time doesn't come often around here these days.

I started by making the kimchi.  I have seen this made on tv, but have never had it.  It sounded spicy and delicious.  I have also never tried Fish Sauce, which smelled like old rotten fish, but I pushed on.  After making this it didn't smell great, but it did smell great after a night in the fridge.

I then made the marinade for the steaks.  Any marinade that involves thick sliced bacon has to be delicious.  The recipe in the magazine is for skirt steak, but we had 2 filets in the freezer so that is what I used for the main protein.  Here we have 2 filets and 1 large white onion (quartered)  covered in bacon, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds, Coke, dark brown sugar, and garlic.  The recipe calls for 6-8 slices of bacon, but really who would just use 6 when given the option to use 8. No brainer for me.

When you remove the steak and onion you are left with 8 thick slices of marinated bacon to start your fried rice.  You see why I made this now.  Dice the bacon, cook until almost done, then add in the drained kimchi from above, saving the liquid.  When the kimchi is brown add in your cooked rice, toasted sesame oil, and reserved kimchi liquid.  Stir fry.  I have never stir fried before, but basically cook real hot constantly moving everything around, while pressing everything down.  I am really over simplifying a century old cooking style.  

I grilled the onion and banana peppers in a grill pan like suggested, then cooked the steaks to medium rare.  

All together now.

All in all this was worth all the time it took to prepare.  I learned that kimchi is delicious (although it doesn't sound like it), I can fry rice, and Korean flavors are awesome.  Another great recipe from the Food Network Magazine.  I also learned that I remember how to log into blogspot.  It has been to long.