Smoked Barbecue Brisket – Texas Style

Bringing flavor, pizazz and panache to cooking

When you think of Texas cooking, you think of barbecue and that usually means brisket. Here is a great recipe for brisket that is full of flavor and nice and moist because it is marinated, rubbed, basted and smoked low and slow. You can serve it with your favorite barbecue sauce, potato salad or coleslaw, and baked beans and you’ve got a great weekend meal with lots of leftovers. This brisket freezes beautifully, so enjoy!

Brisket:

8-10 lbs Beef Brisket (Vacuum Packed)

Brisket Prep: Cut a hole in the top of the vacuum pack and drain out the blood. Don’t take the brisket out of the wrapper.

Marinade and Basting Sauce:

3 cups Red Wine

1 cup Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

2 tsp Onion Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

3 tsp Salt

3 Tbsp Grey Poupon Mustard

2 Tbsp Horseradish

3 Tbsp Lime Juice

2 tsp ground Cayenne Pepper

In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients until well blended.

Using a funnel, pour in the marinade, working it around until all of the brisket is covered. You should still have about 1/2 the marinade left, so put it in a zip-lock baggie and refrigerate it to  use as a basting sauce when you smoke the brisket. Patch the hole in the wrapper with duct tape. Marinate in the refrigerator for up to 2 days – overnight as a minimum.

Remove the brisket from the bag, pat dry. Determine the direction of the grain and slice a piece across the grain. This will help you later when it comes time to slice and serve – it’s more difficult to tell later when the brisket is cooked.

Rub:

2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper

1 Tbsp Dried Oregano

1 Tbsp Celery Salt

1 tsp Garlic Salt

1 tsp Seasoning Salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. If you fix brisket often, triple or quadruple the recipe and keep the rest in a zip lock bag for future briskets.

Coat brisket generously with the rub.

Allow the brisket to come to room temperature before putting in the smoker. Place the brisket in a low oven (200 degrees F) while you get the smoker going. Fire up the smoker according to the manufacture’s instructions. Bring it up to 225 degrees F. Use hickory, pecan or mesquite logs or chips that have been soaked in water for the smoke. Place brisket in smoker at the level of the thermometer over indirect heat – be sure there is not direct heat hitting the brisket.

For the first 2 or 3, hours it is best to keep the heat between 190 to 220 degrees. It can gradually get hotter up to a max of 250, but lower for longer is always better. It will take approximately 8-10 hours.

Turn, rotate, and baste every hour with the leftover marinade. Add wood to smoker every 30 minutes (as required) to keep the heat at a constant temperature.

Check the internal temperature, at the thickest part of the brisket after about 8 hours.

When brisket has an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. it’s done. If you go much beyond that, the brisket will shred rather than slice. Remove and wrap in aluminum foil. Let rest for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Slice the point off the brisket. There is a natural division of fat between the point and the flat to slice along. Working with the flat, slice ¼-inch slices across the grain starting at the starter slice you made before smoking. Determine the direction of the grain on the point, and slice across the grain just as before.

Melissa’s AWESOME Tortilla Soup

This is a recipe my daughter Melissa sent me. I can attest that is really is good. I’ve copied most of the verbiage the way she sent it to me, so it is a fun recipe to follow.

 

This is just a vague recipe not to be followed to the letter but it is AWESOME and doesn’t smell like camels…

1 large Yellow Onion (finely chop ½ and keep other ½ in semi big chunks)

3 cloves Garlic (minced)

1 quart of chicken broth (I use Pacific Organic Free Range Chicken Broth low sodium)

Chicken pieces (no bones, cut into bite size chunks)

Sriracha Sauce (Rooster sauce) (or not)

Cilantro (either fresh or dried) as much as you want for flavor

Chopped Carrots & Celery (if you want some texture)

Lime Juice

Water

Picante Sauce (Pace works or if you can use some pico de gallo)

Additives on the side:

Crunchy Tortilla strips (chips work too)

Sliced Avocado

Oaxaca Cheese

Melissa A. Pape

What you gonna wanna do:

Get you a big soup pot, use a lil olive oil to fry up the garlic, ½ of your onion(finely chopped), and a few dashes of Rooster sauce. Get those kind of yellow and see through then add your chicken bits. Let them get cooked about half way.

Add your broth. Let it cook for a lil bit then add the carrots, celery, cilantro, rest of the onion, lime juice, and picante sauce (or pico). Bring it to a boil, then simmer for about 45 min or until your chicken is cooked and your carrots are done.

When you’re ready to serve:

Whip out a bowl. Smash your tortilla chips/strips a little in the bottom of the bowl. Add the soup. Throw a glob of cheese on the top and add your cool avocado slices.

VOILA! YUMMY TORTILLA SOUP!

Bloody Mary Steaks

I found this recipe years ago in Food and Wine Magazine and it has been a staple since then. We’ve used this numerous times for family gatherings and when we’ve had friends over.I really like using Boneless Rib Eyes for this because the marbling adds to the flavor. Ask the butcher at the grocery to cut the steaks about 1 1/2 inches thick because they’re hard to find that thick in the grocery case. The butter makes them so very rich in flavor and adds just a little more flavor to these wonderful steaks.

2 cups Tomato Juice

¼ cup Pepper-Flavored Vodka

2 Tbsp fresh Lime Juice

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tbsp Horseradish

1 tsp Tabasco

½ tsp Celery Salt

½ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper

Four 6-ounce steaks cut about 1½ inches thick

Olive oil

Salt

Tomato-Horseradish Butter, softened – Recipe follows below

In a glass baking dish, combine the tomato juice, vodka, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, hot sauce, celery salt and pepper. Add the steaks and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 ½ hours, turning occasionally. Remove steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling.

Light the grill and lightly brush the grate with oil. Drain the steaks and pat dry; brush or spray with olive oil. Season the steaks generously with salt and grill over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes for medium rare.

Tomato-Horseradish Butter:

4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Sun-Dried Tomato packed in oil, drained and minced

1 Garlic clove, minced

1½ tsp Horseradish

1 tsp fresh Lime Juice

¼ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper

¼ tsp coarse Salt

Combine all ingredients in a mini food processor and pulse until smooth. Scrap the butter onto a piece of plastic wrap and roll into a 2-inch cylinder; twist ends tightly to seal. Refrigerate the flavored butter until firm, about 30 minutes.

Place a dollop of Tomato-Horseradish Butter on each steak and serve.

NOTE: The butter can be made up to 3 days ahead of time. Let soften before using.