Helloroad: Brisket Texas Style

Rick's Dinner Plate First Serving

Beef Brisket is the National Dish of the Republic of Texas. A whole beef Brisket is a huge clod of cow that comes off the pit almost black, looking more like a meteorite than a meal.

It is not burnt, and beneath the crust is tender, juicy, smoky meat. It is definitely the National Food of Texas. Like a Clint Eastwood cowboy, brisket is unforgiving. Cook it right and it is tender, juicy and flavorful. Cook it wrong and it is like a wranglers leather chaps.

Brisket looks and tastes great

For you easterners Brisket meat is from the chest area of the steer between the forelegs. There are two per animal. These boneless pectoral muscles get a lot of work, so there isn’t much fat marbling within the muscle and there’s a lot of connective tissue in and around the muscle fibers. That is why it is so tough. To make it the tenderest meat you have ever have eaten Brisket needs to be cooked slowly.

Here at Cottonwood Les the owner and cook, places a special brisket seasoning rub, on the meat, the night before and lets it marinate all night long. About 3AM in the morning, the Brisket is placed on a real Texas Smoker for about 2 hours, with the draft set to really smoke the meat. Pecan, Hickory and some Mesquite wood is mixed in exact proportions (according to Les) so the smoke flavor is perfect. About 2 hours later which is 5AM the fire is cranked up to about 250 degrees. For the next 12 hours the meat is slow cooked.

Take a look at the pictures and you will see how well it came out. Absolutely delicious. I only have one picture of the brisket leaving the smoker, but there was over 25 lbs of Brisket being cooked. I was just slow with the camera when it came time to put it on the table.

Just a note about Texas Smokers. There are good ones and bad ones. The good ones are constructed of very thick metal. This construction keeps the temperature constant and less adjustment of fire is needed. These units are about 3 times the cost of the consumer grade units. If it is heavy, black and the door weighs more than your first born you are seeing a real Texas Smoker. FYI the good ones are in the neighborhood of a 1000 dollars. Notice that Les's smoker looks old, dirty and maybe a little rusty. It may be old, it may be dirty on the outside but in Texas they call this a SEASONED smoker. It takes a lot of cooking to make a smoker really good. If you can find a seasoned smoker it will probably cost you more than a new one. Texans charge for their labor of love.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Nancy and I sure did enjoy the meal. All the RVers brought side dishes, which included, Beans, Carrots, Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, Green Salad, Asparagus Salad and of course all the deserts you would ever need. Prior to the meal all kinds of snacks.

One of the RVers attending was Mark, a Soldier who will soon deploy overseas. See his picture on our Trip Journal site.

Thanks for riding along and have a great week

There are several pictures below and about 20 additional pictures on our trip journal.

http://MyTripJournal.Com/HelloRoadWinter2011

Thanks again for viewing the blog and have a great week

Rick, Nancy, Bandit and Belle