Successful First Brisket

Brisket is something I have been wanting to do, but have been fearful of it. I am afraid of ruining such an expensive cut of beef. Is ruined some ribs once and that was only a $20 mistake. Brisket is at least double that price. Now that I have the 18.5" smoker, I decided I now have enough space to try my hand at making a brisket. I had made a small flat, but it didn't come out as well as I had hoped. I was ready to try again. We were out running errands on Saturday afternoon.  We happened to be by Caputo's. I ran in there to see if they had any decent looking briskets. Going through the ones in the cooler, I found one that was mis-priced. All of the other ones were marked at $8.99/lb, but this one was $5.99/lb. That was my sign to buy it and go for it.

Not wanting to mess it up, I did some research on the Internet. It turns out everyone 

does brisket their own way. Before I confused myself, I stopped researching and made a last minute decision to jump right in and do an overnight brisket.  I took what I had read and did my own thing. I first injected the brisket with beef broth and then rubbed it down with some home made rub. I used the same rub that I use on everything else I make. LOL! 

I was able to get it on the smoker around 11:20 PM. Once I was able to keep the smoker temp pretty steady, I decided to go to bed. That was around 12:30. Around 3:45 AM, Ella had came and woke us up because she heard a weird noise. I assured her it was our hedgehog April running on her wheel. Since I was already up, I went down and checked on the brisket. The smoker temp had dropped to 180, and the brisket's internal temp was 150. I opened up the air vents to get some more Oxygen flowing to raise the temperature in the smoker, Once it hit 220, I went back to bed. I woke up again around 7:45 to find the smoker temp had dropped to 180 again and the brisket temp was 154. It was obvious the brisket had hit the stall. By this time, the brisket had been on the smoker for about 8 hours and 25 minutes. I checked the fuel and it was a little low.  I added more charcoal and brought the smoker temp up to about 250 to make up some time. The brisket temp started to rise. It hit 175 and stalled again. I decided to go ahead and wrap it in foil to power past this stall. It wasn't long before the internal temp started to rise. After 13 hours on the smoker, the brisket hit 203 and it was finally time to pull it off. At this point, even though the internal temp hit its target, it does not mean it was done just yet.  I checked the brisket for tenderness and it was definitely tender. 

I wrapped it in more foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes before slicing. 

The brisket cut like butter and was fork tender. It was delicious! I have to pat myself on the back for getting over my fear of ruining brisket and actually making a decent one. Thanks for looking!!!

Chuck AKA Crabby

Armadillo Eggs

Every year we celebrate Christmas with my in laws on Christmas Eve and every year for dinner we have a bunch of appetizers. This year I decided to make a grilled appetizer. I looked through pages and pages of recipes until I finally found the one I wanted to make.  Armadillo eggs!!! I immediately ran to the store to buy the ingredients. 

I sautéed the shallots in butter and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I then mixed the shallots with the cream cheese and finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

I then halved and seeded the jalapeños and stuffed them with the cheese and shallot mixture. 

I then took the bulk Italian sausage, flattened it out like a burger patty and wrapped the stuffed jalapeños in the sausage. Then I seasoned them with some of my Crabby's Pork Rub.

I set up the grill for indirect grilling. I put aluminum foil on the charcoal grate on the opposite side and added a chunk of cherry wood. 

After about 20 minutes, I turned them and let them cook for another 10 minutes. 

I pulled them off and brought them in the house to let them rest. 

I was running low on sausage so I wasn't putting as much sausage around the stuffed jalapeños towards the end. While cooking, the sausage shrank a little and the cream cheese leaked out making a small mess. Thank goodness I put the foil down on the charcoal grate! I thought they came out really good. Next time I will make sure to use more sausage around the jalapeños. 

Thanks for looking!!!

Chuck

Jambalaya Round 2

A few weeks ago I had decided to try my hand at making jambalaya. When I decide to make something, I research what I want to make and come up with my own recipe. The more I thought about how to make it I wondered how it would come out if I did it on the grill. All in all the taste was there, but I had cooked it with the rice and the rice came out really mushy. Fast forward to round 2 which I made today. I made a few changes to how I made it. Below are my list of ingredients.  The measurements are approximate.

1 lb grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts with Cajun seasoning
13 oz andouille sausage

1 onion

2 bell peppers

4 stalks of celery chopped

4 cloves of minced garlic

28 oz can of original Rotel tomatoes with green chilies

15 oz can of tomato sauce

3 cups of Chicken broth

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp onion powder

2 bay leaves

4 servings of white rice

After prepping all of the ingredients, I started by grilling the chicken and andouille sausage. 

 

Once done, I brought them inside to cool off. I then put the grilling wok on the grill to preheat it. I started off by adding some vegetable oil and then the bell peppers. 

 

I let them cook for about 5 minutes. I then added the sweet onions, celery, garlic and the dry ingredients. I let them cook for about 5-7 minutes. 

 

 

Once the veggies started getting soft, I added the Rotel tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chicken broth. I brought the mixture to a boil, added the 2 bay leaves, the grilled chicken and andouille sausage. I let it simmer on the grill for 25 minutes. 

 

 

 

 

While the mixture was simmering on the grill, I made white rice. Here is the finished product:

 

All in all this jambalaya was A LOT better than the first time I made it. I am very happy with the changes I made. I hope you try out this recipe and like it too. Thanks for reading!

Chuck