But then, what doesn't make me mad?
Sometimes when something works the way it's supposed to work, it just pisses me off. Like when the Yankees win. Or like when I discovered that pellet smokers - Smith & Wesson, I'm looking your direction - make excellent smoked meat. Gadgets make me mad. Barbecue takes fire and Beavis and Butthead were right: fire is fun. If you don't get to play with fire, what's the point in barbecuing? The point is the food, stupid, and the Smith & Wesson makes great barbecue. It made me mad when I discovered how great it is. But I'm over that, and that's not what I'm whining about tonight. Tonight, I'm whining about excellent brisket.
Saturday morning, I mentioned the three briskets - big flats, about 8 pounds each, give or take. Here's what I did with them:
I prepped them Friday night. I needed to wet 'em before rubbing, so I threw on just a tad (one tad = 1 T, give or take) of worcestershire sauce on each, rubbed it in some, then I had some crushed garlic in the fridge I'm trying to use up, so I tossed it on. Not quite a tad, since you asked. I then rubbed with the OLD Gremlin Grill rub. We don't use this in competition anymore:
1 Cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Cup paprika
½ Cup ground black pepper
½ Cup kosher salt
8 tablespoons garlic powder
4 tablespoons dry mustard
4 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon pepper sauce (more to taste)
Plus, I added, oh, I don't remember how much cayenne (less than a tad), and I probably tossed in some MSG, just to be a bastard (probably slightly more than a metric ton).
So, the rain stopped Saturday, I started cooking. Used the Brinkman because our Smith & Wesson is small, plus I felt like playing with fire. Also, I had nothing to do all day but watch the race, pour some concrete for a thingie I was making (more on this later), make Bass and Guinness fight in me belly, and cook the briskets. So, I started the fire. I used Kingsford (Yes, lump coal fans, I use charcoal. Why? Just to piss you off), oak and cherry. Then I did this:
"Smoke for at least 8-10 hours at 225 until the internal temp is in the 165-170 degree range. After the internal temp is 165+ degrees, put the brisket in foil and cook at 300 degrees until the internal temp reaches 205 degrees. When that's done, put it away in an insulated environment, still wrapped in foil, for several hours to allow it to still cook until I ready to serve."
I used Blues Hog sauce, and only let the internal temp reach 195 before I pulled them and put them in my insulated food bag thingie. And 195 scared the heck out of me. Seemed too hot. Well, it wasn't.
The briskets are for our friends at Jay Robinson Racing - the #49 Advil and the #28 Speedzone Energy Drink Fords running the Busch race at Kansas this weekend, and when I sliced those briskets, they were freakin' wonderful. And I don't like brisket at all. The method - times and temps, that is - came from a now retired (I think) KCBS barbecue team called Top Secret, and a guy named Mike Scrutchfield. He used to win a lot. Now I might know why. It doesn't matter now why I didn't want that method to work.Same reason I don't want the Yankees to win, I suppose. But it worked. It worked good. Dammit.