Barbecue Beef Brisket at Home

My husband's family has worked out a system to share the hosting duties for holidays and other family get-togethers. As part of that, we have agreed to host the summer get-together and hope for a nice day so that we can enjoy the deck and the kids can play out in the yard and a water balloon fight or two.

Usually, everyone brings a dish or two so that the hostess doesn't have to cook everything, but as we live the farthest away, the others sometimes opt to come over the day before and stay in a hotel. That makes traveling with food a bit more difficult, so I offered to make all the food for the meal to make things easier on them.

Now, to make things easier on myself, I opted to make a dish that needed to be cooked earlier in the week, and then could simply be reheated the day of the party.

I found a lovely beef brisket at our local Sam's Club. The meat man hesitantly warned the Foodie daughter and me that there was a fair amount of fat on a brisket, as apparently he has found that women tend to fear fatty meats. We just looked at one another and said, "flavor!" Not to worry, dear readers, the fat was removed after cooking, but it did its job of basting the meat as it slow-cooked for ten long hours.

I also pulled a cup of homemade beef consomme out of the freezer and my own blend of Memphis BBQ Rub from the spice rack for this first step in making Barbecue Beef Brisket.

Memphis BBQ Rub

1/4 cup paprika

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 to 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper (the more, the hotter the rub)

Two days before the party I got started. I generously coated both sides of the brisket and placed the meat, fat side up, in a slow cooker.

The beef consomme was added and this slow cooked for eight to ten hours.


About half way through, I turned the meat over and allowed it to continue to cook. When it easily tore, I knew it was ready. I took the brisket out, covered it with foil and allowed it to rest and cool for a bit before continuing.

Look at this gorgeous juice. I was not going to let this go to waste. After straining the fat off, I would use the remaining juice for the barbecue sauce for the brisket.

After the meat had cooled enough that I could easily handle it, I pulled it before cutting the long strands into bite-size pieces with my kitchen shears.

The pulled beef had been separated from the fat and was ready for the sauce. That would have to wait for the next day, however as I was quite tired.

I started off with the usual players for the Whiskey Run BBQ Sauce and added that to the meat stock and juices that were happily simmering away on the stove. Since I changed out the recipe, it was necessary to adjust the other ingredients also.* For instance, the balance of sweetness was thrown off, so more brown sugar was needed. In addition, something was missing, a certain umami, and I found that a splash or two of soy sauce rectified that issue. Finally happy with the sauce, I could turn off the heat and let the sauce cool before adding some to the beef in the fridge and bottling the rest.

*As this sauce reduces by about half as it cooks, it is important to wait until the end before tasting and adjusting to taste.

Finally the sauce and the meat meet and can heat in the slow cooker the day of the party.

As I had indicated earlier, the Foodie daughter and I had decided to make things easy on ourselves by making some things ahead and by purchasing some items at the store.

Our favorite deli mustard potato salad and cole slaw were nice sides for the barbecue and required little effort on our part.

Don't you wish you were here?

Really, don't you? This barbecue beef brisket was very good and it got rave reviews.

Fresh fruit from the produce department of the grocery store complemented the delicious homemade brownies that the Foodie daughter made and the Honey Vanilla Pound Cake that I made.

All in all, it was a beautiful and enjoyable day. Hopefully the food was just as good.

I Need Chocolate!

I'm blaming Food Network for this little affliction. Them and their week-long Chocolate-laden programming. No matter. I know just how to fix things.

Once again I am turning to my interpretation of Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies. I call these my Brazen Brownies.

Here I have unsalted butter, left-over coffee, kosher salt, sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder, semi-sweet chocolate chips, large eggs, all-purpose flour and some flour for coating some of the chocolate chips..

First the butter and most of the chocolate chips are melted together in the microwave.

The eggs, sugar, vanilla and coffee are blended together.

The chocolate mixture is ready to be added...



In with the egg mixture. Remember, the chocolate cannot be too hot or the eggs will cook.

Just think, we are half-way there.

Now the flour, baking powder and salt get mixed into the batter. Do not over-mix this. The flour should just be incorporated into the chocolate mix.

The remaining flour is mixed with the remaining chocolate chips. This will keep the chips from sinking to the bottom of the batter.

Finally the chips are gently mixed into the batter.

The brownie mixture is poured into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch baking dish. This then goes into a preheated 350 degree oven. The timer is set for 15 minutes. At that point, I take the pan out and sharply rap it on the oven rack to let the excess air out of the batter. The brownies go back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

Now, this is very important. DO NOT over-bake the brownies. They will NOT be set and you can not use a toothpick to check for doneness. Just take them out any way. Trust me on this.

The brownies are done (but not set) and are put out to cool before being placed in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning these beauties are ready to be eaten. These are dense, rich, fudgey brownies. There is nothing shy about these babies. They just scream, "I am chocolate, hear me roar!"

I think my chocolate craving has been fixed.

Chocolate Therapy

My poor daughter was craving popcorn, but after having her wisdom teeth out last week, that option was out of the question. She decided that she would make brownies instead.

I was allowed to document the process, as long as I helped out as needed and stayed out of the way when requested. I could do that.

First she set out the ingredients for the Chewy Cocoa Brownies: all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, unsalted butter, eggs, water, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and salt.

The dry ingredients were placed in a bowl and set aside.

Then the butter was melted and the sugar was added.

The eggs were added, one at a time before being mixed in.

Then the vanilla extract was incorporated into the butter mixture.

Finally the dry ingredients were slowly mixed in to form the batter.

Not too easy to do with only two hands.

What? I was busy with the camera.

Finally the batter was poured into a greased baking dish.

The brownies were ready to go into the oven to bake.

The daughter decided that large brownies were necessary for her continued good health.

Homemade brownies, fresh out of the oven. The dear girl didn't even wait for them to cool before eating one.

Well, another crisis was averted in the Foodies' household. And you even got another brownie recipe out of it. It's all good.

Turkey Day Preparations

Each year we travel to Ohio to celebrate Thanksgiving with my husband's family. As such, I need only prepare a few dishes, rather than an entire feast.

Ah, it is a beautiful, cold morning.

Time to get busy. Last evening I played sous chef for my daughter, who made Outrageous Brownies. This morning it was time to cut them and put them in a container for traveling.

Then it's on to the Broccoli, Bacon and Dried Cranberry Salad. I clean and chop broccoli, celery and red onion. Cooked bacon is chopped and added to the salad. Dried cranberries are tossed in. Mayonnaise, white vinegar and sugar are mixed to taste. The dressing is stirred into the salad. Two dishes down.

Being such a nice mom, I chopped some green onion and beef for my daughter, who will later be making the cheese ball.

After making the cheese ball, she worked on breakfast for tomorrow. The dear daughter made a double batch of pie dough and rolled it out. A bit of milk is spread out and sugar and cinnamon are generously sprinkled on top. She then carefully rolled the dough up along one long side before cutting the roll into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces. The rolls were placed, cut side up, in a greased baking dish and baked at 375 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes. These rolls will never really brown, so watch carefully and pull them out of the oven when the dough has cooked through.

And here are the cinnamon rolls as well as our three dishes that will travel with us tomorrow.

And now, on to dinner. I still have a few pomegranate arils left over from earlier this month and decided that I would used these in a vinaigrette for my salad. Here I have black pepper, salt, white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and the pomegranate arils.

First I push the arils through a sieve to extract the juice. The remaining pulp and seeds are discarded.

I then whisk in the olive oil and season with a bit of black pepper and salt. A splash of white wine vinegar is added to the mix.




After tasting, I decide to add a bit of honey.

Very nice. And this is just enough for one salad. My family is so relieved.

Well, dinner is finished, the kitchen has been cleaned and we are ready for our trip tomorrow.






And now I wish you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Turkey Day!