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temple brisket competition success

mad max beyond eggdome
mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
well, it was a brisket competition like none any of you have probably ever been to. ..our temple's first brisket and kugel competition. .. . 25 folks lined up side by side at tables with serving dishes full of brisket. . .most of the competitors were older jewish women who were more 'cutthroat' than anybody you'd come up against at a kcbs competition. . .preening over their potroasted briskets like mother lions over their cubs. . . .they were primed and ready, game faces on.. .two ladies to my left in particular shooting daggers at me for giving a taste to a friend before the official kick off time (the one lady ran over to me and said "did you give that lady a taste?. ..was she a judge?. ..can you do that?" and i said "gee, i was just giving a little nibble to a friend". .man, if looks could kill. ..sydney almost peed herself laughing at the whole thing. . .and the old lady to my right, with brisket that looked like it had cooked in sauce for about a week, took one whif of mine and just skulked for about an hour. ..when somoe guy came over to the table and said "hey, i hear there's a realy good one over here at this table, is it yours?" she just kinda looked sullen, pointed my way and said "i think that's the one you want to taste". ..[p]so, when the final tally was made (and this was no kcbs judging i'll tell you, they had three categories , innovative, taste and appearance (which went to a lady with sabbath candles, and wine glasses, etc.). . . and with judges ranging in age from about 8 to 80 . .the first award called out "most innovative brisket". ..your's truly's name was called out. ...now i'm not quite sure what entailed winning this category, but i'm sure it had something to do with the fact that mine was the only one cooked outdoors in bge. . .and while most of the time it cooked in a pot (1 hour smoking at 250 on the grid, one hour at 350 in the pot of wine with onion soup mix uncovered and 2 more hours covered tightly with aluminum foil), the smoke smell was unmistakable in a room full of straight pot roasted briskets. .. .and to seal it with my 'neighbors', mine was all gone (two 7 pound flats, thinly sliced, which was about twice as much as anybody else made) well before theirs. .. .btw, best taste award went to a friend of mine (a little younger than me) who did a potroasted brisket, but along with the wine he added ketchup and brown sugar, so his had a nice little bbq sauce taste to it. . .very good flavor and deserving of his award. . .oh, and my prize. ..a "wild turkey bourbon" bbq apron, and some tools. ..[p]on a side note. ..the celebrity host was mark silverstein from foodtv's "best of" show . . what a GREAT guy. ..very personable, willing to yap with you, etc. . .he went all out to add some fun to the evening and he did.. . .no snobbery from this guy. ..and when all else was done, i asked him if he'd ever been to (or even heard of) an eggfest, since they do a lot of festivals on the show. .. after i did my usual enthusiastic explanation of what this phenomenon was all about, he said he was interested, and i got his email to send him more info. ..so maybe we will get them to put an eggfest on 'best off' . .. that would be very cool . .stay tuned on that one ....[p]finally, a plug for dizzy cow lick. ..while not rubbed in the normal style, i did 'season' my brisket with cowlick. .. mad for a nice peppery addition to the saltiness of the onion soup mix and wine. . .it really tasted good, and i got tremendous number of compliments from tasters young and old. ..

Comments

  • jaymer
    jaymer Posts: 49
    mad max beyond eggdome,
    great job maxter - sounds like a lot of fun, esp. seeing them skulk at ya :)
    all my life I've usually done a brisket in a oven bag overnight in the oven, with some veggies thrown in. was ok for what we'd use it for the next day, but nowhere near a proper smoked meat.[p]am trying to figure out that recipe... so its:
    1 hour smoked on the egg at 250
    then into the oven (uncovered) for 1 hour in a pot of wine (kind?) and onion soup mix - it is totally covered in the liquid? did you put both briskets on top of each other in the same pot?
    then 2 more hours tightly foiled in the oven (at 350?)
    ?[p]is it even worth rubbing the meat before the smoking? or does it all wash off in the wine mix and you season it later? or mix the Rub in with the soup mix?[p]sounds delicous and congrats!

  • Spring Chicken
    Spring Chicken Posts: 10,255
    mad max beyond eggdome,
    Good going Max. Great story. Thanks for sharing.[p]Spring Chicken
    Spring Texas USA

  • mollyshark
    mollyshark Posts: 1,519
    mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Mazel Tov, Max! I understand fully how a regular BBQ cookoff is NOTHING next to the yentas. It's hard to judge an Egg brisket against a million pot roasts. So innovative is a good category.[p]I've found what you say is true, particularly with old ladies. The sweet wins it. Apparently as we age, our sense of taste diminishes. The last tastebud to die off is the ones that detect sweetness. I think bitter is right before that. Does account for the little old lady and her chocolates though.[p]mShark
  • jaymer,
    thanks .. .to be specific, [p]night before i coated the brisket liberally with white sugar, wrapped and put in the fridge over night. ..in the morning i seasoned it with the cowlick (like i would with salt and pepper, rather than a total rubbing) ...egg was set up indirect grid over inverted plate setter at 250 with a small chunk of hickory. . .brisket went on the grid for one hour to get some smoke .. .then i opened the vents to let the egg come up to 350 degrees, put brisket in pot with red wine (any hearty burgundy is a good choice) about 2/3 coverage, and sprinkle one pack of lipton's onion soup mix on top of the meat (one pack per brisket). ..put the pot back on the egg for one hour (the wine and meat will continue to absorb some smoke). ..then add the baby carrots and pearl onions and a little more wine to replace what has evaporated. ...seal really tight with the aluminum foil and leave in the 350 degree egg for two more hours. . .pull it out, thin slice the meat, and serve it in the juices and veggies. . .. yummy. ..

  • MollyShark,
    thanks, yep there were a lot of unhappy looking old sourpusses i'll tell you. ... 'youth' (and by youth i'm talking folks under 50) took all the awards on the kugel side of the room as well (and i ate one made with crushed pineapple and apricot nector that was to die for - i'll send you the recipe if you want). ..

  • Spring Chicken,
    thanks. .i'll tell you, you'd never see a competition like this one down your way.. .it was pretty interesting. . ..

  • mollyshark
    mollyshark Posts: 1,519
    mad max beyond eggdome,[p]That's a yes on the kugel! Tis the season, doncha know.[p]mShark (who is totally meshuga today because her hedgehog is sick)
  • WooDoggies
    WooDoggies Posts: 2,390
    mad max,[p]Great story.... I can't imagine many things more intimidating than a bunch of old cooks staring you down.
    Nice win dude![p]john

  • Car Wash Mike
    Car Wash Mike Posts: 11,244
    mad max beyond eggdome,
    Was that a contest or battle ground? I'd look out next year for a rolling pin upside the head. [p]Congrats sounds like a lot of fun.[p]Mike

  • Marvin
    Marvin Posts: 515
    mad max beyond eggdome,
    Congratulations, Max. Nice to see a guy beat the yentas. Have you considered doing one next year pure Texas style, i.e. lo-n-slo, smoked, without a braising step? Everytime I do something like that for folks, who only know braising and pot stews, they're amazed at how much more flavor and equal tenderness can be acheived in the Egg.

  • mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Dude, what a cool story. Finally, a contest got it right and sent you home with the goods. I'm thinking this could be a Mad Max year with follow up wins on the real bq circuit this year. [p]Congrats... you innovator, you.
  • Marvin,
    thanks!! . . .you know, nature boy was really pressing me last week to do exactly that, but i wasn't bold enough.. . he said the exact same thing about doing texas brisket for his jewish friends and how much they like it. ... but i was nervous about straying too far from the traditional... and even with only a couple of hours of smoke, people were coming and saying "wow, i can really smell the smoke" whereas i couldn't smell it all (too many hours with my head in the egg has dulled my sense of smell in that regard). . .i will consider it next year. ..

  • WooDoggies,
    oh no, try a bunch of old cooks that all remind you of mom or grandma!! . aahhhhh[p]
    btw: i did try calling you in the second half yesterday but you weren't pickin up on the cell phone. .. sorry about NC . ...

  • Car Wash Mike,
    LOL ....yep, i think if they could have hit me with ladle or spoon they would have. .. tough bunch i'll tell you. .. .i'd rather face 300 pound guys on the kcbs circuit anytimie to a 100 pound 70 year old jewish grandma. ..yowza!!

  • aka Mr. Earl ,
    thanks.... too bad almost nothing i did yesterday translates to the bbq circuit ..but at least lets hope i got some good karma going. . ..

  • mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Bill Murray covered this in Caddyshack. Remember, "So I've got that going for me - which is nice."?[p]BTW, what are your plans for the BBQ circuit - or can you talk about that here..?[p]also, my schedule is starting to look good for that thing the Virginian wants to do in April...
  • aka Mr. Earl ,
    LOL . .not sure of my schedule yet. . .i need to send all the dates off to my sis-in-law and see when she is available to help out. .. my priorities are waldorf and new holland, secondary is salisbury and bel air, and then spawn would like to judge westminster. . .[p]so we'll see . ..i should know soon though. .. [p]thx