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My very unorthodox first brisket

PNWFoodie
PNWFoodie Posts: 1,046
edited May 2014 in EggHead Forum
While waiting to claim my XLBGE at the PNW Eggfest next month, I am learning using training wheels (Kamado Joe Jr.). I've done spatchcocked chicken to great success several times. Grilled salmon with great results. I let the tri-tip get a bit away from me, but it was still very good. Thinking that my mad grill skillz (???) were ready, I decided it was time to take on what seems to be the Holy Grail around here...the brisket. I chose my selection wisely from my local Safeway (it was the only one they had.) I brought it home. I researched. I pondered. I learned who @Travis‌ is. Through much help from the forum, I figured out just what the heck a "Whole flat" meant. I. Was. Ready. I was also a nube, which means it never occurred to me to figure out said brisket was actually way too big for said Joe Jr. A sadness came over me. And then I thought..."What the heck - if this is doomed from the start, why not just play? Experiment. Figure out how many cooks it really does take to get to the center of a Fogo lump." I threw caution to the wind and then closed my ears to the shrill wails of the sirens of the Q. What happened next may mortify you, but I feel a need to confess. So - The brisket wasn't going on the grill lengthwise. I was advised to cut it lengthwise (okay, I was advised NOT to cut it, but it was either cut or go into the oven....and like I said, I'm in training) rather than divide into a thinner and thicker piece for more even cooking. I heeded advice and cut the brisket into four long strips. Which still wouldn't fit lengthwise on my grate. Yeah. So now I decide I am just going to use Travis's method...it's basically a braise, it should be okay. I look for a disposable rectangular aluminum pan to start the marinade. I do not have a rectangular aluminum pan. If I did, it would not fit on my grate. I find a disposable aluminum round cake pan. This will work. (I am troubled by cooking in aluminum and worry about the health ratifications and vow to get some glass/CI pieces to meet my future needs. I am torn. My inner self battles and the culinary side wins. I continue my brisket adventure. The heart wants what the heart wants.) I looked at Travis's marinade....and had nothing that I needed. I poured half a bottle of Sapporo, some Bragg's aminos, and a spoonful of adobo sauce into the cake pan and hoped for the best. I slathered one side of the strips with organic dijon mustard and then coated it with my (also highly inaccurate) version of @Mickey 's coffee rub. I wrapped two strips up snake like in the cake pan and headed out to do an indirect. Just how does one get the platesetter to work on a Joe Jr? I've never tried to use it before. I probably should have. This was not going to work. I turned it upside down. Down side up. Sideways. Yeah, couldn't figure it out. Wow. Finally just put the pan in the egg and kept it at 300 using Fogo. One of the strips came out awesomely tender - BF ate the whole thing standing up in the kitchen. The other one was a bit tougher. Chopped that one into cubes, put it and the rest of the pan sauces in the slow cooker for a few hours, for my totally unorthodox "burnt ends". I know, both treatments are cringe-worthy. But both were totally yummy, too. And liberating. If I can wing everything and break every rule and have it turn out yummy....suddenly grilling recipes are less prison and far more playground. Whoohoo!
XL, JR, and more accessories than anyone would ever need near Olympia, WA
Sandy

Comments

  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
    You win.
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824
    How odd.  But, hey, if it's good, it's good!!


    NOLA
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    That's looks like a Yin Yang Brisky :-)
    Next time if it's to long throw a rib rack under it until it shrinks and then you can remove it. Or a brick wrapped in HDAF would also work. But, hey I like the ingenuity. ;)
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Yep, you are going to fit right in here
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • JohnInCarolina
    JohnInCarolina Posts: 30,867
    Way to go for it - I'm impressed!
    "I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
  • Ktim
    Ktim Posts: 364
    Great story,nice looking cook,way to go!
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,795
    Mickey said:
    Yep, you are going to fit right in here

    +1.

    Cooks like that are liberating.  Some of the best days I've ever had on the grill start with my son and I walking through the store thinking of cooks we've never heard of or read about.... like "let's get a bunch of different meats and try them all caveman-style...".  Some work out better than others, but they are all fun and for the most part edible. 

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX