Sous-Vide-Que

 I didn't make up this term. It really is a thing. I figured it would be fun to try. I really like BBQ, especially the king if Texas BBQ, brisket. I am used to starting briskets late at night, leaving them in the smoker for 12-15 hours depending on size, thickness, etc. I am able to keep te smoking going because I use a Primo, the US brand of kamado style "grill". So proper BBQ pitmasters will look down their noses at a charcoal based, wood enhanced smoking apparatus, I can produce pretty decent BBQ quite consistently - without having yet another piece of equipment.

But I digree.

The Sous-Vide-Que technique changes the norms considerably. First off, the initial cooking is done low and slow sous-vide in a water bath.

And after a prodigious amount of time in the circulator, it is chilled (in my case for almost a week still in its bag, in the fridge) and then smoked at 275f until the internal temperature is about 150f.

There some surprising bonuses - the liquid remaining in the bag (and there is a lot of it), becomes some of the meatiest beef stock. So a basis for pho perhaps. The process in the circulator is entirely hands off. The ping pong balls here are in place to slow evaporation.

However, even though 150f was recommended to me, I would do it very differently next time. As we can see in the finished product,

 the fat seam is not fully rendeerd. Cleary 150f was too low a temperature. Next time I will multi-temp the circulator. 115 for the first 12 hours and 165 for the remaining 12 hours. Shorter time, higher temperature. The lower temperature is the tenderizing temperature; the higher temperature is the "cooking" temperature.

The other downside for me is that I can't do a whole brisket. So I have to do it it in 2 passes. First the flat and then the point. Surprisingly the flat came out better - but that was, I suspect, because it has less fat in seams inside, so didn't need as much rendering.

Is this recognisable as Texas BBQ? No, not really. Is it good? Yes, but could be a lot better.

Ingredients

1 Whole beef brisket, divided into the point and flat

1 tsp kosher alt per pound of meat

3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper per pound of meat

Method - Part 1, Sous Vide

Season the meat liberally, all over with the salt and pepper. Place the point in a vacuum bag, and the flat in another. Leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably longer.

Set up the circulator at 150f and immerse one of the bags. Note, if you have a big enough container and a powerful enough circulator, you *might* be able to do both at the same time. If not, do them one afer the other, spaced 36 hours apart.

Put some kind of anti-evaporation device on top of the water, and cook for 36 hours at 150f. When done, remove the bag from the circulator, and chill fairly rapidly. If you are going to smoke it immediately, chill in an ice water bath. It needs to go into the smoker cold, otherwise it will dry out.

Method - Part 2, Smoking

Set up your smoker to cook at 275f. Make sure that you have plenty of white smoke coming off it. Meanwhile, slit the bag and collect any meat juices - there will be a lot. Reserve these for pho, a pan sauce or something. Don't throw them out. There is masses of flavor.

Put the meat into the smoker and smoke until the internal temperature is 145 or so. I had been advised not to let the meat temperature rise above the temperature of the circulator. I am not convinced by that advice.

Spicy BBQ Sauce

The only reason that this recipe is interesting is because the standard recipe (from seriouseats.com) that I intended to follow required Worcestershire sauce, and I didn't have any. So I had to improvise. And it came out surprisingly well! Of course, what normal person would have mango chutney, but no Worcestershire sauce?

Ingredients

2T Mango chutney - use mostly the liquid - the fruit is too pulpy

4T Fish sauce (I use Red Boat)

4T Dark soy sauce

1/2 t Toasted Sesame Oil

1/2 t Ghost pepper vodka (can substitute Tabasco or other pepper sauce, US srirarcha, etc. in appropriate quantities)

2 Cups Tomato Ketchup

2T Prepared yellow mustard

1/4 Cup firmly packed brown sugar

2T Molasses

1/4 Cup Cider vinegar

1T Smoked Paprika

1/2 T Garlic Powder

1/2 T Onion Powder

1/2 T Black pepper - ground finely

1t Cumin - ground finely

Method

Make up the fake Worcestershire sauce by combing the chutney, fish sauce, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and hot sauce. 

Combine the made up Worcestershire sauce with all the other ingredients in a non reactive pan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring often. Simmer/low boil for 15 minutes to allow to reduce and thicken. Stir almost continuously to prevent the sugars from sticking and burning.

Fish out any pulp from the mango chutney (if some had accidentally found their way into the sauce.

Allow to cool, and refrigerate. According the the Serious Eats web site, this should keep for a long time.

This sauce is very intensely flavored, so if using it on delicate meat (aka a pork loin), be sparing.

Barbecued Pork ...

My objective here was not to attempt to make pulled pork, I wanted something that was sliceable, tender, delicious, cheap and not require any sauce whatsoever. I am not a fan of BBQ sauces.

I had bought some pork shoulder at $1.99/lb from my local supermarket. It was from the blade end - still had the blade bone in it. I decided to practice the boning skills that I had learned at the hands of Chefs Christof Syre and Frederic Angevin at the 4 Seasons here in the Dallas area.

The Rub 

2T Very coarse sea salt

1T whole white peppercorns

2t whole coriander seeds

1 star anise - broken

2t whole all spice berries 

1t whole cloves

2t whole cumin

2t cardomom - whole, but just keep the seeds

2t smoked paprika finely ground

1t cayenne pepper finely ground

1t onion powder

2t garlic powder

2t dry ginger

1t dry mustard powder (Colemans)

4T kosher salt

2t white sugar

The Rest

2 pork shoulders - each weighing around 9 pounds

Soaking water

Jack Daniels oak barrel wood chips (about 1 lb)

Lump charcoal (unmeasured.)

Method

You will want to start this about 24 hours before you plan to eat!

In this case I boned and rolled one of the shoulders and left the other intact. This was an experiment to see if there was any benefit. The boned/rolled version was slightly spicier in flavor, but the whole one looked better. In future I will leave them whole. There was another slight concern - I wasn't sure they would fit in the egg if I left them both whole. I think they would have, but it would have been tight.

The reason there are 2 kinds of salt in the rub are because the very coarse sea salt helps the spice grinder to grind up the hard spices like the cloves, star anise, coriander, etc.

Place the sea salt and the whole spices in the spice grinder (an old coffee grinder in my case) and grind finely. Mix together this ground mixture with the spices that are already ground and the kosher salt.

For the shoulder that is boned, I butterflied it. Pat the surfaces of both pork shoulders dry, and rub all surfaces with the spice rub. Roll up the boned/butterflied shoulder and tie tightly with butchers twine.

Wrap each shoulder tightly in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours. 

Soak the wood ships in water for at least 12 hours also.

About 12 hours before you intend to serve, set up the smoker (in my case with the big green egg, I built a charcoal fire about 2 inches above the higher vents) and light the charcoal. Once it is properly lit, scatter the soaked wood chips over the charcoal, put the plate setter feet up, an aluminum drip pan 2/3 filled with water in the plate setter and then the grill bars on top of that. Close the lid and allow the temperature to come up to around 250F. When the thermometer registers 250, put the meat on the bars. Close the lid, watch the temperature so that it stabilizes at 250, adjusting top and bottom vents as necessary.

The first batch of charcoal held temperature for about 5 hours.

At 5 hours, I added more coals and let it cook for another 5 hours - all at 250F.

The internal temperature of the meat was 165 at that point. 

Take the meat off the grill, tent with foil and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. Being a barbecued piece of meat, it is best served warm, and not grill temperature.

Superbowl beans

Our good friends Rick and Claudia always do a terrific superbowl party. They asked us to bring something - either bbq beans or a green bean casserole. I am not about to do a green bean casserole, so bbq beans it was. Mind you, I had never made any of those before either. However, I had heard that if you want to cook 'em a long time it must be in a slightly acid environment (think molasses, vinegar, brown sugar, etc.). The ingredients are a bit imprecise, but I hope this conveys the gist.
Ingredients
2 lbs pinto beans
Cold water to cover the beans by 2 inches
2T vegetable oil
2 yellow onions diced
2 red peppers diced
1 lb salt pork, gently rendered, fat discarded
3T Paprika
1T Chili powder
1 small can tomato paste
3 Ancho peppers
3 Dried Cayenne peppers
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 quart (32 Oz - US quart, not Imperial quart) chicken stock
12 oz brisket bbq trimmings
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 cups boiling water
6 slices smoky bacon, chopped into small strips and fried until crispy, discard the fat
1 red onion minced finely

Method
Pick over the beans making sure there are no small stones or other bad things. Put them in a large bowl and cover with the cold water and leave to soak over night.

The next morning, heat the oil in a frying pan and gently saute the onion and red pepper until soft. Add the paprika and chili powder. Continue to saute for another couple of minutes.

Put the onions and peppers into the bottom of a slow cooker. Add the beans and the rendered salt pork. Fry the tomato paste in the same pan that you cooked the onions/peppers in until it turns a light brown colour. Warm the molasses, and mix with 1/2 the chicken stock and the first addition of cider vinegar. Use this mixture to deglaze the pan with the tomato paste, whisking to incorporate. Add this liquid + the dried peppers to the crockpot. Also add the bbq trimmings and the rest of the stock.

Turn the slow cooker on to the longest (in my case 10 hours) cook time. Check about 1/2 way through, and if the beans are a bit dry looking, make up a mixture of water, cider venegar and dark brown sugar. Stir that in to the mixture and check for the amount of liquid. It should not cover the beans, but should be clearly visible without moving the beans around.

After 10 hours, turn off the slow cooker and leave overnight. It will slowly come to room temp. 5 hours before serving, turn the slow cooker on again at the same setting as before. As the mixture is heating, add the finely diced red onion (raw) and the crispy bacon. Stir well to combine.

When the beans are hot again, they are ready to serve. Note you can add some salt/pepper to taste if you like, but I found the salt pork added just what was needed.

If I were making this again, I would add the beef trimmings in the second (warming) phase. They had given up too much of their flavor adding them so early.

As I said at the beginning, the proportions are just rough estimates. Your mileage may vary. Just remember to keep them with enough liquid, and to make sure there is enough acid to prevent the beans from going mushy.

These proved to be very popular indeed, and accompanied the meats, salads and other goodies that Rick and Claudia served.