BeardedBassGuy
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2017
- Location
- Grand Prairie, Tx
Had a pretty big cook yesterday, and everything was mostly successful despite getting some VERY green wood delivered when I was promised seasoned.
The cook was prep and practice for Christmas dinner that I'm taking to my family. I did a brisket to go with leftovers from brisket last week to make chili. Also making the cook were my first ever Pork Belly burnt ends as practice for Christmas dinner as well, and for the "as seen on YouTube" throw down. And the last thing to make the list was some chicken thighs I had sitting in the freezer for a while that needed to be cooked.
I was cooking everything hot and fast over Western Mesquite mini logs. Coals were started with b & b lump. Temps averaged 275 most of the cook but I had some swings from 225-325.
Brisket was a Costco prime ($2.69 lb This week) aggressively trimmed and the point separated from the flat. Point was for snacks after the cook, the flat going with the leftovers from last week into the chili I make next weekend. Seasoned the same as last week : Sucklebusters 1836 rub and worscestershire sauce as a wettener. Ive never done hot and fast brisket before. I also never separate a whole packer as a rule. And I didn't wrap, which was a first as well.
Pork Belly came from Costco too. Cubed up, rubbed with Sucklebusters Hog Waller, and cooked for 2 hours to the right color. Put in a pan with butter, brown sugar, and honey. Covered and back on for 90 minutes. Liquid drained, then lightly sauced with a great local sauce I found at HEB. (It's called Four Escobar's. I highly recommend it for anyone near an HEB. They have a Facebook page that makes mail orders too but it's almost twice as expensive that way.) Covered again, and sauce caramelized for about 15 minutes.
Chicken thighs were a big pack from, you guessed it, Costco. Rubbed with some Piggly Wiggly rub I got in the trade that's going on right now. I then glazed/ sauced with Sticky Fingers Memphis original sauce. Mainly because I had it in the fridge.
Overall it was a decent cook. The flavor of the brisket was spot on, but it's obvious that hot and fast doesn't render the fat nearly as much as low and slow. That's totally ok because it will render down in the chili, so I'm not mad. For those wondering, I pulled at 210/211 after about 6 hours. Probe tender. But it wasn't near as tender or juicy as low and slow.
The pork belly burnt ends were amazing and I was very happy with them.
The chicken was kind of a flop. The meat tasted great, but the skin was rubbery (I was going to torch them but got distracted) and the sauce was a BAD choice. My friend called it "candied chicken" . Much too sweet and the wrong flavor profile for a sauce glaze. We are going to de-bone the chicken and remove the skin and then use the leftovers for different dinners.
The cook was prep and practice for Christmas dinner that I'm taking to my family. I did a brisket to go with leftovers from brisket last week to make chili. Also making the cook were my first ever Pork Belly burnt ends as practice for Christmas dinner as well, and for the "as seen on YouTube" throw down. And the last thing to make the list was some chicken thighs I had sitting in the freezer for a while that needed to be cooked.
I was cooking everything hot and fast over Western Mesquite mini logs. Coals were started with b & b lump. Temps averaged 275 most of the cook but I had some swings from 225-325.
Brisket was a Costco prime ($2.69 lb This week) aggressively trimmed and the point separated from the flat. Point was for snacks after the cook, the flat going with the leftovers from last week into the chili I make next weekend. Seasoned the same as last week : Sucklebusters 1836 rub and worscestershire sauce as a wettener. Ive never done hot and fast brisket before. I also never separate a whole packer as a rule. And I didn't wrap, which was a first as well.
Pork Belly came from Costco too. Cubed up, rubbed with Sucklebusters Hog Waller, and cooked for 2 hours to the right color. Put in a pan with butter, brown sugar, and honey. Covered and back on for 90 minutes. Liquid drained, then lightly sauced with a great local sauce I found at HEB. (It's called Four Escobar's. I highly recommend it for anyone near an HEB. They have a Facebook page that makes mail orders too but it's almost twice as expensive that way.) Covered again, and sauce caramelized for about 15 minutes.
Chicken thighs were a big pack from, you guessed it, Costco. Rubbed with some Piggly Wiggly rub I got in the trade that's going on right now. I then glazed/ sauced with Sticky Fingers Memphis original sauce. Mainly because I had it in the fridge.
Overall it was a decent cook. The flavor of the brisket was spot on, but it's obvious that hot and fast doesn't render the fat nearly as much as low and slow. That's totally ok because it will render down in the chili, so I'm not mad. For those wondering, I pulled at 210/211 after about 6 hours. Probe tender. But it wasn't near as tender or juicy as low and slow.
The pork belly burnt ends were amazing and I was very happy with them.
The chicken was kind of a flop. The meat tasted great, but the skin was rubbery (I was going to torch them but got distracted) and the sauce was a BAD choice. My friend called it "candied chicken" . Much too sweet and the wrong flavor profile for a sauce glaze. We are going to de-bone the chicken and remove the skin and then use the leftovers for different dinners.
