Divisional Playoff Throwdown SHOWOFF and VOTING Thread

Bump.

I did a combination of brisket burnt ends (in a combined KC - New England style, as detailed below) and brisket Mac and cheese.  Because what could possibly be more Patriotic than brisket mac and cheese, my friends?  The answer is, apparently, nothing.

I smoked the brisket on Saturday.  Prime packer out of Costco:



The brisket was split into two. The flat was pulled much like you would do with pulled pork.  Unconventional, I know, but that’s just the way I roll.  The point was cubed up to make brisket burnt ends.  This all went down late Saturday night in anticipation of what was to be an epic Sunday meal.

The burnt ends were the appetizers for dinner.  Rather than the usual approach of butter, sugar, and bbq sauce, I swapped in Worcestershire sauce (Worcester being in MA) for the NE tie in.  I melted butter and honey with the sauce to cover the cubed point, along with some Rosemary sprigs:



These were pretty awesome.  Compared to the usual burnt ends, these had a ton of beefy flavor to them, probably from the Worcestershire.  The honey helped them carmelize very nicely as well:





As I wrote above, these were just the appetizers.  The main dish was a brisket mac and cheese casserole that had... seven layers.  This was a riff off a recipe I’d seen on Man Fire Food.  Is there a better show than that?  No there is not.

First layer was a penne in a cheesy bechamel sauce:



The bechamel cheese sauce was spiced up with this hot sauce that has truffle oil blended in:



Find this, buy this.  It’s unreal.  The second layer was a three cheese blend - swiss, monterey jack, and white cheddar:




Then came the pulled brisket for the third layer, which was lightly sauced with a mix of Franklin’s bbq sauce and Bone Sucking sauce:



Then came a fourth layer of blue cheese, because... why not?



Then another coating of penne with the bechamel sauce:



And a sixth layer of the three cheese blend:



Then I brushed on a mix of truffle oil and dark sesame oil:



Finally the last and seventh layer, a mix of blue cheese and panko bread crumbs:



This was smoked in the BGE at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then finished under the broiler in the oven to crisp up the top:




Plated and served with broccolini and a zucchini/summer squash salad:





The brisket mac and cheese is ridiculous.  I will definitely be making this again. The truffle really comes through.  You’d think it would be way too rich but the flavors all come together incredibly well.  It might need to be a thread all by itself.