Pretty Awesome Brisket Dry Rub

I’ve been hitting the briskets pretty hard these days.

Life has been good and brisket makes me happy.

There hasn’t been anything remarkable about the cooks.  I have been smoking them up on my kettle and pulling them off the pit when they are probe tender.

Man I love burnt ends!

I have been playing around with a few commercial brisket rubs and think I have settled on Plowboy’s Bovine Bold.

A Pretty Nice Brisket Rub!

This stuff has won some awards on the competition circuit and is widely acknowledged as one of the best commercial brisket rubs available.

Now that I have my dry rub and general technique dialed in I am going to try playing with some brisket injections and see if I can get this thing to the next level.

I hope all of you cool cats out there are living large and having a great time on your pits!

Peace.

Craycort Grates: Steak Two Ways

Steak is a glorious thing.

It makes me happy that I am living in such circumstances that choosing between a Ribeye and a Porterhouse is a dilemma.

I went with the Porterhouse.

Steaks have been flying off the grill recently as a way of breaking in a set of Craycort cast iron grill grates.

The Craycort cast iron grate is a nice addition to my Weber kettle.  I truly believe these grates will last a lifetime.

The Craycort grate does a nice job of providing grill marks.  It’s strange though…most of the grill marks get “washed out” when I finish the steaks by moving them to the cool side of the grill for the last few minutes of cooking.

That picture makes me happy.

One of the nice parts about the Craycort grates is that they are modular and have different insets available.  One available insert is a cast iron griddle.

I have been using lump charcoal and getting the griddle pretty toasty.

This griddle can do some searing.

When you are working with cast iron this hot you have to work quick.  Two and a half minutes and then flip.

Baste with some melted butter, wait another two and a half minutes and the steak is done.

The seared crust gives a flavor profile that is very different (in a good way!) from a traditional grilled steak.

So which way is the best way to grill a Porterhouse steak?

I asked an impartial taste tester to give me his professional opinion.

He never really gave me a definitive answer but we had a great time experimenting together.

Other inserts available for the grate are a solid cast iron wok and a perforated cast iron vegetable wok.

Fun stuff!

Peace.

 

Yardbird on the Grill

I’ve been experimenting with different versions of grilled spatchcock chicken.

Writing about spatchcock chicken makes me happy because it always reminds me of my buddy, Spatch.

I start with a chimney of lit charcoal spread evenly across the bottom grate.

Place the chicken bone side down over the coals.  I prepped this chicken with an injection of apple juice, salt, sugar and hot sauce.

Close the lid and let the Weber work its magic.

After about 45 minutes the bird will be mighty pretty.

Flip the bird over to crisp up the skin a little.

There is some charring on the bottom of the bird but the rib cage pretty much protects all the meat.

Yep..this bird turned out just fine.

If you are looking for more chicken ideas check out these grilled chicken fajitas from The Mountain Kitchen!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Peace.

Chicken Thighs: Buttermilk Brined and Cedar Planked

The weather is perfect for grilling.  That makes me very happy.

After I read some great recipes from Mr Dodd few days ago I knew I had to fire up my Weber kettle and put something fun on the grill.

I started with some chicken thighs that were marinated overnight in 3 cups of buttermilk mixed with 1/3 cup of Texas Pete hot sauce.

The thighs were rinsed then dusted with a standard bbq rub.  Decided to cook them over direct heat ( single layer of fully lit charcoal) on a cedar plank that had been soaked in water for about an hour.

After about 45 minutes the thighs had taken on a kiss of smoke and were ready for some sauce.

Painted them with some Sweet Baby Ray.

Then let them cook for another 15 minutes while the sauce set.

When the thighs hit 180F they got pulled from the kettle.

Yeah..these were real nice 🙂

The skin wasn’t as tender as I wanted.  Next time I do these I will scrape the fat off the back of the skin and do that whole “bite through tender” thing.

If you are looking for some other ideas of grilling up some chicken thighs then check out these recipes from the Patrons of the Pit.

Peace.

Slow N Sear Brisket on a Weber Kettle

I like brisket.

I like new toys.

I like smoking briskets on a Weber kettle with new toys.

I’ve been looking at those Prime Grade packer briskets at Costco for months and finally broke down and brought one home.

At 12 pounds the brisket was a little on the small side.  That’s okay…it was just the right size to fit on a Weber kettle.

I don’t usually smoke briskets on a kettle but I have been playing around with a new grill accessory called the Slow N Sear.

The Slow N Sear is a large charcoal holder with a built in water reservoir.  The setup makes smoking low and slow with a humid environment real simple.  It also helps shield large cuts like brisket from direct heat from a charcoal bed.

You can see the water reservoir in the bottom left of the picture above.  That’s the brisket after four hours.

After six hours the brisket was looking magical.

I wrapped this beauty if foil and stuck it back on the kettle.

The brisket stayed on until it hit 204F in the point.

Let it rest for a while.

Separate the point from the flat.

Slice the flat and cube the point.

I am a point man.  I let the amateurs eat the flat.

Yeah..I’ll take the Point all day long.  It makes me happy.

This was a fun little cook and the Slow N Sear worked great for me.  (FYI…here is a full length Slow N Sear Review I wrote for my grill parts site.)

Hope all of you cool cats are safe and warm.

Peace.