It's been a while since I've posted on here, but with what I made for Memorial Day I can't help but to post about it. I made a Texas style smoked brisket, which smoked for 5.5 hours, but I started preparing it 24 hours before it was eaten. This is the first time I've smoked a brisket and only the second time I smoked anything. I used my mother in law's Big Green Egg as the smoker. The recipe that I followed said that you have to add new coals every hour, but i didn't have to do that, and I'm thinking its because of the BGE. So that definitely made it easier.
To go along with the brisket I also made some fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade. I've made fresh squeezed lemonade before but this is the first time I added the strawberries. And let me tell you something, it was awesome. I don't know if I technically liquefied the strawberries the right way because they we more smoothie-ish, but it was still really good.
Texas Style Smoked Brisket (adapted from The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen)
Ingredients:
- Beef brisket, 5 - 6 lbs (the largest one I could find at Costco was 4.5 lbs so i got that one)
- Hickory wood chips
- 1 tbsp coarse salt
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
Directions:
- The night before, mix all of the spices together and then rub into the meat. Rub the meat real good... Then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. The reason you do this the night before is so the spices can melt into the meat and the flavor penetrates it as opposed to just having it on the top.
- Just before you start up the grill, put the wood chips in a bowl and cover with water so the wood doesn't just catch up in flames, and instead it will smoke its flavors right into the meat.
- Put the meat in a metal tin. I didn't have one so I made one with two sheets of heavy duty tin foil. I crinkled up the corners so none of the precious juices could leave.
- Start up the grill for indirect heating. I used the Big Green Egg which has an indirect heating stone, this pretty much covers the coals, so the flame doesn't get to the meat and instead the smoke just goes around it. You want the temperature of the grill to be around 220 - 250 degrees Fahrenheit, but when I did it, it was a lot hotter, but cooled down when I put the indirect heating stone in.
- When the grill is ready for the indirect heating stone, throw 2 handfuls of wood chips over the coals and then put on the stone and then the meat in the tin.
- The bulk of the work is done. Now its just maintenance once an hour. For the first three hours you put another handful of wood chips on. Once you start seeing juices in the tin, use a spoon or baster and baste the meat with those juices.
- The meat is going to cook for about 5 hours. I let it get to an internal temperature of 180 before I took it off.
- Let it rest for 15 mins. (I only let it rest for 10 minutes because I was so excited to eat it but don't tell anyone)
- Slice and serve with the juices that came out of the meat.
Fresh Squeezed Strawberry Lemonade
I kind of winged this recipe so im not going to able to give you real quantities...
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 sack of lemons
- 15 strawberries
- extra water.
Directions:
- First make a simple syrup by mixing 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave it for 10 seconds at a time, mixing in between each session until the sugar is fully dissolved. Then let the mixture cool.
- Juice all of the lemons into a blender and then put the strawberries into the blender. Liquify it until its a liquid, or as close as you can get it.
- This is where I just winged it, add some of the simple syrup and a bunch of water until you get it to taste how you like it. I used about a quarter to a third of the simple syrup and a bunch of water. Just figure it out yourself.
- Once it tastes good chill it in the fridge or with ice.
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