One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie Braveheart. In the movie, as William Wallace's father lies on his deathbed he looks at his young son and says, "Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it". What a powerful truth. Unfortunately, at least for myself, I have never fully understand what "freedom" is and what it means to me.
Earlier this week I watched the following video by Adam Baker who writes the blog, Man vs. Debt. I've been following Adam's blog for a while and have been encouraged by his story. Stop here and watch the video before reading on.
Adam's point in the video is very simple yet extremely profound. Each and every one of us has to answer the question. . .
What does FREEDOM mean to you?
. . .for ourselves. We cannot let family, religion, society, culture, media or any one else answer the question for us. Although we can develop our definition in the context of the world around us it ultimately up to each one of us to determine what freedom means.
It is my prayer that 2012 would be a year of freedom for myself, my family and my friends.
Stopped at Aldi on the way home from work to grab something for dinnner. My daughter picked up the Portabella Mushrooms and I suggested we try grilling them. A quick Google search lead to the recipe for Grilled Portabella Melt with Pepper Jack Cheese. Fortunately, I had all the ingredients on hand. Including the Pepper Jack which was a last minute impulse purchase.
Grilled the mushrooms along with some fresh squash ( a gift from the neighbors) and it was a wonderful dinner. Going to have to put this one in the regular recipe rotation.
One of my favorite cooking shows is BBQ University featuring Steve Raichlen. Taped on location at the historic Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia the 39 episode series focuses on the techniques of live fire cooking. It was Steve's recipe for Beer Can Chicken that ignited (pun intended) my desire to do more with a grill than cook hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken breasts. But I didn't just want to grill I wanted to Barbecue.
Last summer I purchased a Brinkman Smoker from Wal-Mart and smoked my very first brisket. It was a commendable attempt. Kinda tough yet edible but I knew I could do better. Thus I began to research the internet for tips and tricks on Smoking/BBQ and was disappointed to find that my smoker wasn't a highly recommended unit. Poor design features made it difficult to control the temperature and handle the fuel among other things. Fortunately, my research led me to a couple websites (Site 1 and Site 2) with recommendations for modifying my smoker to achieve better results.
After purchasing the required parts and modifying my smoker I decided to take on an 8# Pork Shoulder as my first project. It turned out very well if I do say so myself. It wasn't the best pulled pork I ever had but it was pretty darn good for a Rookie Pit Master. Excited to sharpen my culinary skills I decided to try smoking a Brisket, which I've documented here. The accompanying photos show the modifications made to the smoker and the process used for prepping the Brisket, starting the smoker and resting the meat.
The first four photos show the modifications to the smoker: legs moved to the outside, rods/legs added to the fire pan, grate in the bottom of the fire pan and temperature gauge. I need to make the additional modification to the lid of the smoker so I can control the airflow for better temperature control. Despite not having this additional modification I am able to maintain a consistent temp between 200 and 250.
The evening before I smoked the Brisket I trimmed some excess fat from the meat, cut a cross-hatch pattern in the fat cap and rubbed it down with a Basic BBQ Rub. I used the same rub on my Pork Shoulder too, which I coated with a thin layer of yellow mustard prior to applying the rub. I didn't use the mustard on the Brisket although it was an option. Once I had the Brisket coated with the rub I placed it in a large, plastic storage bag and placed it in the refrigerator for the night.
The next morning, two hours prior to cooking time, I removed the Brisket from the fridge and let it warm up a bit on the kitchen counter. I calculated a cooking time of 10 hours so I started prepping the smoker about 5:30 A.M. in order to get the Brisket on by 6:00 so we could eat by 4:00 - 4:30. As you can see I lined my water pan with aluminum foil prior to placing it in the smoker. Next I started a small batch of charcoal in my chimney starter, which is the fastest and easist way to light charcoal. Once my charcoal was started I loaded the fire pan.
In order to maintain a mored controlled burn I placed a small metal can with the bottom cut out in the center of the charcoal pan, which I then surrounded with unlit charcoal. Once the charcoal in my chimney starter was covered with gray ash I dumped the lit coals into the can and carefully removed it with a pair of pliers. This allows the lit coals to slowly ignite the surrounding charcoal for a slower, more even burn. I got this idea from the following YouTube video. In about 30 - 40 minutes the smoker was operating at the desired tempurature.
Throughout the process I made sure to keep my water pan full and at about the halfway point I needed to add more charcoal, which I did by dumping the lit coals into a metal container, adding fresh charcoal to the fire pan and placing the burning coals on top of the unlite fuel. About 8 - 9 hours in I needed to shake some of the ash off the burning coals to allow better airflow to the fire.
At the 9 1/2 hours mark I checked the internal tempurature of the meat which had reached the appropriate 190 degrees. I removed the Brisket, wrapped it in foil and placed it in a cooler lined with towels so that it could rest for thirty minutes to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.
I am happy to report that the Brisket turned out to be moist, flavorful and tender. As I perfect my technique one of these days I'll be an Veteran Pit Master.
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