Brisket Camp in NOLA!!!

SGH

@tarheelmatt‌
Brother Tar just so you will know. I have a standing rule that I enforce. Before I allow a man to shake my hand he must first prove himself worthy by performing one very small and simple task. He must consume at least 48 ounces of beef before I shake his hand. Brother Tar this is a test I think you will pass with flying colors my friend

TigerTony

This gathering had a fine collection of characters. Very entertaining to watch and listen to them mingle and  talk. Lots of accents that my local N.O. ears aren't used to hearing. But for the most part I could understand what they were trying to say.

My biggest impression from the party is --- man these guys can drink, cook and eat. 

Drink - Cook - and Eat < yes in that order.

I did learn by watching CenTex  live and in action prep,  trim and rub his brisket. Smothering it with more rub then I would have ever thought was necessary. I'm also going to buy a roll of butcher paper to wrap my brisket in instead of aluminum foil.

I learned from Nolaegghead that even if you get caught up in having fun and forget about your brisket and run it's internal temp 40 degrees over the target temp, that it still comes out awesome.

The single best bite of the entire event has to be....SGH's... stuffed pork with cream cheese and jalapenos. Wrapped in eatable netting.

Brisket I have to give the nod to Cen-Tex.

Nola's buddy made some bad-a$$ turkey, andouille gumbo.  wow!

Jack the bartender made awesome margaritas. Seriously best ever!

Pigpen and the Pork chops band was really great. Their cover of ZZ-Top Waitin' for the bus and Jesus just left Chicago was so good. 

It was so much fun putting faces to the handles on the forum. It will change the way I read these threads and posts.

Piney you're the best, I ate that tomato last night when I got home, delicious, Thanks!

Was a good fun time.

Lets make it happen again.

 

henapple

I learned that you can't put too much rub on and even add more during the cook if spots look then.

Centex said his favorite mix is

Table salt
Paprika
Brazilian black peppercorns
Crushed pecan shells
A dash of joint compound

I'm trying it today.

XC242

Take a look at everything the modern brisket pit master needs to practice his craft: brisket, rub, big knife, cutting board, aluminum pans, IPhone, Copenhagen, Thermapen, wrenches, ash tool, wire brush, stop watch, torch igniter,,, everything but a cold PBR... Bravo!!! =D>

SGH

@TigerTony‌
Thank you brother Tiger. I put a lot of effort into my pork. It's sort of my pride and joy. It was a honor to meet you and I'm glad you enjoyed the quadruple pork.

SGH

@XC242‌
The Copenhagen is a must. I'm glad that you caught that!!

golfandgrill

What was the stuffed chicken? I'd love to try that!

henapple

I'll say brother @SGH‌. ...that is the sharpest knife I've ever seen. Maybe next year you should have a knife sharpening camp. Damn thing cut while I was looking at it.

Austin Egghead

SGH that pork looked so good and i was emailed later how tasty it was.  Is there an ingrediant list?  Love tenderloin.

Speaking of tenderloin we were planning on contributing two beef tenderloins and beef shanks for the cook.  

We cooked two of the filets last night and topped them with the seasoned smoked marrow.  Our contribution even though we couldn't be there.

StillSmoken

@SGH‌ will you write up a play by play on that stuffed chicken when time permits. I'd like to give it a try.

lkapigian

Thanks guys for making my weekend, you are family and I appreciate you

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Biggest takeaway for me was how fun fellow eggheads are to hang out with. The Briskets were marginal due to fast and hot nature if the cooks. As many if you have figured out, there was not a ton of teaching going on here. A few questions were answered and I'm sure a few tips picked up buy people watching but it was a blast. I'll do them overnight next time. Also, SGH can sling the food! That guy was an animal. Cooked all day non stop. His vertical rig was amazing and made me mad jealous.

Really, really fun and big props to NOLA for putting this together. Hope this one has legs and becomes an annual event.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The stuffed chickens and pork loins were off the freaking chain. Best things off the smokers all day for sure. If you haven't had chicken skin slow fried in Wagyu brisket drippings, sorry for you.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Licking Our wounds at the airport. Had an awesome time but you can slip in to "NOLA mode" very quickly around here. Is it noon yet?

hapster

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Licking Our wounds at the airport. Had an awesome time but you can slip in to "NOLA mode" very quickly around here. Is it noon yet?

What exactly is NOLA mode? Happy Hours that start around 10am?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

hapster said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Licking Our wounds at the airport. Had an awesome time but you can slip in to "NOLA mode" very quickly around here. Is it noon yet?

What exactly is NOLA mode? Happy Hours that start around 10am?

Yes. And staying up until 3 the night before. Ya know, stuff like that. We were actually pretty good last night but got off to a rough start yesterday. Powered through it all with the help of copious amounts of meat and the best margaritas I think I've ever had.

DMW

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

If you haven't had chicken skin slow fried in Wagyu brisket drippings, sorry for you.

No F'n way. That sounds like something that belongs on a hooty tooty fancy menu. No way I'm missing the next event. I'll volunteer to stay up overnight and tend the overnight cooking duties.

SGH

Unit 1 off line and loaded. It's officially over my friends. See y'all next year.

SGH

@DMW‌
I hope you are there brother. Now that I have plenty of time to prepare, I plan on doing 4 whole hogs next year. On the mini

lousubcap

Okay, when you have the spectators down-go ahead and give us a kick! 
>-

Sounds like a winner all the way around!

SGH

@henapple‌
Brother Apple next year we won't be so pressed for time. There was a lot I would like to have demonstrated that I just didn't have time to do. I'm going to bring my Baldor hollow grinding machine and show how I sharpen the big breakers. A lot of folks questioned me about the edge I run on these knives. Will gladly demo how I do it. It reached a point just to keep up with the demand, all the final briskets were ran in excess of 400 degrees on Unit 1. For being cooked at such extreme temps I was pleased with them. Final consumption weight was 210 pounds of brisket, 65 pounds of pork and 23 pounds of chicken. Someone must have enjoyed it. It's all gone. Heading east my friends.

U_tarded

We had a blast, wished we could have hung longer but the 5am wake up comes too quick. Thanks for all the hospitality from everyone there!

lakewade

Awesome time. Thanks to everyone, especially Nola! Will post more photos when we get home and sober up.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

lakewade said:

Awesome time. Thanks to everyone, especially Nola! Will post more photos when we get home and sober up.

so a couple of weeks then?

lkapigian

=D>

lousubcap

@SGH-being a numbers junkie, with 298 Lbs of meat (not counting the gumbo and other goodies) about how many starving folks did you feed?  (Please subtract the quantity you inhaled from the summary )

SGH

@henapple‌
PM me your address. I going to stuff some of those chickens for you and brother Hotch. As soon as they freeze solid I will ship them to y'all with step by step instructions included on how to stuff, prep and cook. My wife says a special thanks for the PBR.

SGH

@lousubcap‌
There were so many walk ins from off the street and adjoining bars I really couldn't say with accuracy. I myself hand cut meat for over 200 women and 2 or 3 men. But the numbers feed was much higher than that. Much higher.

PNWFoodie

To say I am incredibly jealous would be like saying the universe is kinda big. I'm glad you all had a good time. And I hate you.

lousubcap

@SGH-your priorities were definitely in the right place.  And full props for the herculean effort to crank it all out. 

Now if @nolaegghead advertises this (should it go again) next year-then I'm guessing that the meat load from this cook will be a drop in the bucket.  Standing in line will likely be the norm.  What a great event-and thanks for the play-by-play.