The Day the Brisket Came to Stay

Readers of this blog may recall that my husband and I used a hard suitcase to bring back barbeque beef brisket from our last trip to Texas.  Well, no more, my friends!

As an early birthday present, my husband gave me a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker and we used it this weekend to smoke an incredibly delicious beef brisket.  Of course, the lack of a smoker was not the only reason we smuggled Texas style barbeque in a meatcase.  We also had not yet found a decent supply of large briskets at a reasonable price.  After some diligent research, my husband found a local supplier and MeatFest 2 was born.  We invited some friends over to try our first homemade smoked brisket.

We started the fire at 6 am on Saturday morning in preparation for an almost 10 hour smoke.  A liberal sprinkling on both sides of kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, and garlic powder was all the meat required.

It was placed on the grill of the smoker, fat side up, covered, and left alone with the smoke to work its flavorful magic.

Once the meat was done, it was so tender it was hard to remove from the grill.  The smell was so wonderful.  Words cannot do it justice.

I immediately regretted inviting others to share it.  I wanted the brisket all to myself.

As you can imagine, there were no leftovers at all.  Nary a crumble of beef was left on the platter after our feast...

I'm almost sad that there is no brisket left.  I can't wait to smoke another just for the two of us...We have ambitious plans for future smoked briskets.

Suitcase Meat

On our trip to Texas in April, my husband and I decided to bring back some of the foodstuffs that we can't get here in DC.  The most important item for us was barbeque beef brisket.  Not only can we not get large beef briskets at good prices, but we also don't have a smoker.  We had a craving as we had not had good barbeque since our wedding in October, and our friends were clamoring for us to bring some barbeque back.

So, on the first day of our trip, we purchased a 12 pound beef brisket at HEB.  My dad seasoned it and smoked it for several hours over mesquite wood.

Then, we wrapped the cooked brisket carefully and placed it in the freezer it for the remainder of our trip.  The next step was insuring safe passage and TSA allowance.  After several hours of research and a call to the airline, we decided that we would wrap the brisket in plastic, pad it with styrofoam, and pack it in a hard-sided suitcase.  With a trip to Goodwill, we scored a large American Tourister suitcase for 9 bucks.

We made sure it was frozen solid before packing and well insulated and padded for travel.  I was a nervous wreck for the entire trip home.  We decided to check the hard-sided meat suitcase.  I was sure that TSA was going to have a problem with this large mass of aluminum foil and plastic wrap, and our brisket was going to be confiscated.  We didn't get called back from the gate, so once we boarded the plane I focused my anxiety on the thoughts that the meat suitcase wasn't going to make the connecting flight and our plans for a barbeque feast would be crushed.

Well, I'm thrilled to report that the brisket made it safe and sound.  With all the insulation, it stayed frozen through our extended trip to our great relief.  We popped it in our freezer and began planning the special feast in which we would share the brisket with our friends.

We hosted a small dinner for a few friends this weekend to serve the special suitcase meat.  I'd never frozen barbeque before, so I wasn't quite sure how to reheat it.  We knew we would use the oven to warm it, but we wanted to be careful not to dry out the meat.  It was fully cooked, we just wanted it warm for serving.  After a bit of debate, we landed on a strategy.

We defrosted the large brisket for two days in the refrigerator.  About two hours before we wanted to eat, we unwrapped the brisket and put in a roasting pan.

It smelled absolutely wonderful with spice and mesquite smoke, and I had dogs pacing at my feet as I unwrapped it.  I combined two cups of beef broth with some of the secret spices I would have put on a brisket to barbeque, and poured it over the meat and let it pool in the bottom of the roasting pan.

Then, I covered it with foil, making sure that it was tightly covering the ends so that they would not dry out too much.  I put it in a 225 degree F oven for almost two hours.  When it was warm enough for us, my husband carved the meat and my brother started grabbing before I could take a picture.  They didn't give me a chance to take a composed picture, but I think it looks darn good.  And, it was very tasty. 

Mmmmm.....