Monday, October 22, 2012

The brisket and the egg

Ok, this was to be the acid test. Can the big green egg (and this operator) turn out an edible brisket? You know the one that has great bark, is meltingly tender, tremendous flavor and doesn't need sauce.
The bottom line is yes! And really without any great difficulty. I used my standard technique of rubbing the dry rub on, wrapping the meat in cling wrap and refrigerating for at least 8 hours.  As always, the rub was going to be critical. None of the kinds of floral/aromatic notes that I use on pork. Just some bold spicing, but nothing too fiery.

Ingredients

2T coarse sea salt
2T black pepper corns
2t coriander seed
1t cumin seed
8 cardomom seed pods - seeds only
1 ancho chile, seeds removed
2T Smoked paprika
1T sweet paprika
2t cayenne powder
1t powdered ginger
1T garlic powder
1T onion powder
1/4 cup jaggery (Indian crystallized sugar cane) - can use light brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt (Morton's)
12 lbs brisket - with fat cap on

Method

Grind the first 6 ingredients to make a fine powder. The coarse salt helps grind the coriander finely. Mix in the remaining rub ingredients. Pat the brisket dry, and rub the spice mixture into it thoroughly. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours - or overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking to come up to room temperature. Smoke (over oak wood) for at least 11 hours at 225F. Longer would be OK too.
Remove from smoker, allow to rest for about 10 minutes. Slice thinly and serve.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Chris, what cut of brisket did you use? I assume that it is a whole brisket with the flat and the point. I am in the mood to do brisket but the only beef I have done on the egg is steak.

Chris Bird said...

Don, ridiculous as it might seem, I just saw this. I am so sorry.

Yes the whole brisket, but I do cut the flat off. Cut it in half lengthwise and then tie the two halves together with twine. That way the flat becomes the same height as the point. Also this way it fits in my egg!