Grilling

Smoked Beef Brisket

Ingredients
For the rub
¹⁄₂ cup sugar
¹⁄₂ cup salt
2 tablespoons cumin, ground
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon coriander, ground

1 beef brisket (5 to 6 pounds), with at least ¹⁄₄-inch thick fat layer
Wood chips (I used pecan.)

Instructions
1. Mix all rub ingredients.  Generously rub over brisket, place in a ziptop bag or other sealable container.  Refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours, or even overnight. 

2. Place brisket on aluminum foil pan (or make a pan with a double sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil) and smoke at 200-250*F for 6 to 8 hours or until fork tender.  Baste brisket every 30-45 minutes with juices that have accumulated in the pan. 

3. Remove the brisket pan from the grill and let rest for 15 minutes. Transfer the brisket to a cutting board and thinly slice it across the grain.   

Comments
Since this rub worked so well on short ribs, and since I had leftovers, I went ahead and used it for the brisket.  Wow, was it delicious.  We were all concerned that it would be too dry and had barbeque sauce on the table just in case, but no one touched it.  The meat was extremely flavorful and the smell was just fantastic.  It’s safe to say that we are completely sold on smoked meats now. 

Shown here with Cream Cheese and Chive Mashed Potatoes that I made with garlic chives instead of regular chives.  Yum.

Smoked Short Ribs

Ingredients
For the rub
¹⁄₂ cup sugar
¹⁄₂ cup salt
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon coriander

3-4 pounds short ribs
Wood chips (I used pecan.)

Instructions
1. Mix all rub ingredients.  Generously rub over short ribs and let sit at room temperature for an hour. 

2. Smoke at 300*F for 2 ¹⁄₂ hours or until fork tender.  Shred and serve with barbeque sauce and rolls. 

Comments
This recipe was found at the wonderfully named blog The Food in My Beard.  I was looking for a way to use the short ribs from my pastured cow order and I’ve also been interested in trying out the Big Green Egg as a smoker.  This recipe met both those desires quite well! 

Sadly it’s not very precise, because smoking will depend significantly on your smoking device.  For the BGE this involved getting the coals to the correct temp, adding the soaked wood chips, adding the meat to the grate, closing the lid, and setting a timer.  Very simple. 

The rub and flavor of the meat was simply fantastic.  Sadly, I believe that I neglected to take into account that grass fed cow, being leaner, requires a shorted cooking time and it was a bit overcooked.  We dubbed the results “cow bacon.”  That said, the process was pretty easy, the rub was great, and our next smoking experiment will be a nice beef brisket.  Yum.

Grill Attempt #1

Last week my family finally settled the gas vs. charcoal debate and we got a Big Green Egg grill.  Since I had already planned meals for the end of the week, I had to wait until Sunday to be able to grill anything.  Tonight dinner was grilled burgers and corn but I also grilled eggplant, yellow zucchini, a red bell pepper, and baby portobello mushrooms for use with sandwiches and pizzas later in the week.  

Here is the beautiful egg!  It’s the large size which we felt would be perfect for the three of us plus any guests we might want to feed.  The shelves on either side collapse and lay flat against the grill.  

This shows the coals right after I lit the firestarter thing in the middle.  

Inside the egg.

And once I felt certain that the coals were actually going to catch, the grate went on top of the ceramic ring thing.  

Veggies onto the grate!

The first of the veggies all grilled and pretty.  
And then the corn went on the grill.  Afterward, I grilled fantastic hamburgers and we ate dinner.   

The verdict is that the grill is very easy to use.  It was simple to light and, once lit, it got up to 650*F within 10 minutes.  It’s definitely as speedy as gas grills my parents have owned over the years.  While cooking, it comes back up to temperature quickly after it has been opened.  I’m really looking forward to getting to use this more in the future.  Later on in the week I’ll be grilling pizza which should be a festive experiment.