I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I called my father-in-law to wish him a Happy Father’s Day, and called my step-son Joe – this is his fourth Father’s Day with his Dad.  Tony loved grey goose, and while Joe has tried in the past to do a grey goose on the rocks in honor of his Dad on Father’s Day, we both can’t stand it – so strong!  So he bought Miller High Life, which was Tony’s favorite beer.  I wish I were kidding.  We could go into a bar with 100 beers on tap, and he would still order a Miller product!

In 2014 when Tony was in and out of the hospital, it was so weird but whenever we got home, even though his interest in food (the taste and smell) would put him off, he’d ask for an out of character dish.  One time he said “can you make me a baby octopus salad?”   And wouldn’t you know my local grocery store had baby octopus for $2.99 a pound? You can check out that recipe here if you are brave.  

It was at that time that our local hospital thought all of his medical problems were due to his liver.  Even sick, he never failed to make me laugh out loud – case in point, this text from him five years ago today:

Another time he wanted brisket.  Huh.  I’d never cooked brisket at home, and let’s just say my grilling skills have improved immensely since then.  We had filed for disability since Tony wasn’t able to work, I was working two jobs, and the previous night made $100, and Tony requested brisket.  The only place that I could find it was at a butcher shop and it cost $60.  And I didn’t do a very good job at cooking it, so never tried it again.

Until this last trip to Kansas City thanks to Certified Angus Beef ® brand that I decided to give it another go.  It also helped that Debbie from Blythe Family Farms gave me a mason jar of her signature BBQ rub, which you can find on her blog here.

While brisket is a very economical cut of beef, at roughly $3 a pound, it’s nearly impossible to find a small cut of beef – but that’s totally okay with me.  I bought the whole brisket, meaning it had both the flat and the point – I was making beef burnt ends with the point and sliced brisket with the flat.  It does require a bit of work to cut the point in half, trim the fat, etc., but even after I trimmed I had 13 pounds of beef for $48.  We couldn’t go to The Texan, which is a local BBQ place, we would have spent $52 on four brisket dinners, that would only be 8 ounces of beef per plate.  I’ll have beef all week!

brisket

I trimmed the beef, seasoned with salt, pepper, and Debbie’s dry rub.  The key to smoking brisket is low and slow, so while it took a bit of babysitting to make sure my Weber grill wasn’t too hot or too cold it was totally worth it.

I cooked the beef on indirect heat, keeping the coals right around 220 degrees.  I did this in my simple Weber kettle grill, which cost me $99 at an end of summer sale a few years ago.  After four hours, I pulled the point meat  off, chopped it into bite size chunks, tossed with BBQ sauce and put it in a sheet pan and placed it back on the grill until the flat part hit 220 degrees.  I did have to toss the burnt ends about every 10 minutes so they didn’t get too burnt.

My Weber has a temperature gauge, but invest in a meat thermometer, because that will ensure you have perfectly cooked beef every single time.

Here is how the beef looked after four hours:

And here is how the point looked after four hours when I cut it into bite sized pieces:

After another three hours on the grill:

 

Me

Meat candy!  It wasn’t as tender as I had in K.C., but for my first attempt it was really good.

Jacob’s grandpa was over and he did the honors of slicing up the flat:

I used apple chips to smoke – just added about 1/2 a cup throughout the cooking process – I got a nice smoke ring!

I know if my husband were alive he would have given this beef two giant thumbs up.  Just sorry I couldn’t make him this when he was alive!

And turns out I’ll have leftovers for days.  Jacob’s grandpa used to be a butcher, and has a meat slicer – we are going to slice the leftovers into thin slices for sandwiches, and I’ll probably freeze some too.

For breakfast yesterday I made an egg, brisket and cheese panini – I could taste the smokiness from the grill #love:

My goal for my weigh in this week was to just maintain – I didn’t have a whole lot of control over what I ate while in K.C., but I reigned it in when I got back and was happy that I was exactly the same from the week before!  Even after eating my weight in beef 😀

And thank you to Hannah who posted this on her Instagram page – I love you to the moon and back!

Happy Monday friends!  Question of the day – have you ever made brisket at home?  And more importantly, what do you make with the leftovers?!  

Make it a great day!

And thank you Certified Angus Beef ® brand for inspiring me to tackle this cut of beef at home – it certainly won’t be the last!