Brisket leftovers - Z-Man sammiches

The main reason we cook brisket is to make Z-Man's, a sammich from Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City. Pictures speak for themselves, tasty! Brisket, BBQ sauce, Provolone cheese (though we used Havarti this time) and onion rings all on a thick soft bun.

The Great Brisket Project 2008 Part II

Ah, it was a good one. Tracy claimed it was the best one yet. Here it is on the grill after about 4 hours:



Getting ready to pull it off, fork tender! It was on for about 8 hours, I used a remote digital thermometer until it got to about 188 degrees, fire was in the 250-300 degrees for most of the time.

It sat wrapped in foil for about 30 minutes before I cut it up. It was super moist and literally fell apart:

Here's dinner, plain and simple brisket, no sauce, and my favorite cheesy hash brown potatoes, thanks to my honey.

I chopped up the leftovers with a cleaver, mixed in all the fatty goodness with the crust & spices. Mmmmmmmm

Brisket.... Fire stated 7AM!

Using charcoal of course, adding some hickory (thanks Paul) and apple wood (thanks Pa).

The Great Brisket Project 2008 Part I

So it's been awhile since I made a nice falling apart brisket, and despite the crappy cool rainy weather, Memorial Day weekend is a good time. I bought a nine pound chunk (smallest they had) and have cut off about 4 pounds to make fresh ground beef, something Butchy told me about and another project for another day.... maybe tomorrow? I spiced up the bad boy, and have used "the tool" to tenderize it a bit. Spice rubs this time are a combo of KC Cowtown's "The Squeal" rub (kinda sweet, brown sugar a high ingredient; Thanks Joan!) and a semi local (Washington state) Johnny's Seasoning Salt (salty, peppery, garlicky). It'll sit until Sunday morning in the fridge, I hope to get it on bright and early before 8AM to give it a full 10 hours or more. Wish me luck.

Where's Hef?

Ah spaghetti!! One of my favorite dishes, especially with homemade sauce with fresh basil and good sausage. Eating this tasty batch, something caught my eye. See it?

Look closer!

A BUNNY!!! I got me a little Playboy bunny in my sauce. Golly Gee!!

Need inspiration!

I've failed lately on experimenting. You haven't seen my talk about deep frying a turkey, cause both were disappointing. Sure sure, they pulled pork a week ago was yummy, but since then, the best thing I've had has been Tracy's Scalloped potatoes on Easter Sunday. Mmmmm. The ham was good, but it was as expected and certainly not a challenge. Last night's experiment all sounded good, turned out not-great. I had onions, garlic, capers, broth, wine and more in a large glass dish, and had chicken drumsticks dipped in milk & egg and coated with a flour & rosemary potato chip batter. Baked it, it kinda looked good. Turned out? Boring. Messy and boring, those two together made for disappointment, and it was a LOT of work.

Some friends of ours cooked a beef tenderloin for dinner Saturday night, tasty tasty, and has me in the mood for more beef. I'm in the need to be inspired. Help me!

Look at my garden grow!

Wow! Just three weeks from the last pic/post, and I wish I had taken daily pictures! Just wow has this thing grown. We've picked basil more than once, dill and the cilantro is like a tree cause we made guacamole TWICE! It's already extended as tall as it will get, and I'm absolutely unsure of what to do with the mint. Tea anyone?