Pacific Smoke Signals - Brisket, Fatties, and Wings [all-day affair w/ Pr0N]

Managed to sneak one photo as Mrs. Shadow was about to blitz the Jerk sauce:


Grilled up the wings (over my quickly disintegrating grill) and chucked 'em in the bowl with the sauce.



On to the brisket (flat)!

It came out pretty darned well, I must say. Was it perfect? No!


I'm terrible at slicing brisket... don't have one of those nice long fancy knives. Trying to stick to about "pencil thick."


Apologies for the blur - One-handed action (What!? - a la Jason TQ) shot here. Thankfully very most and tender.


OK. That's it for tonight. We're both full of Jamaican Jerk wings and a bit of Oakridge Black Ops Brisket Flat... and a bit of those fatties.

I'll harass you all by restarting the thread mid-week as I start working the pot-o-chili side of things. I sure appreciate the thoughts and ideas... PLEASE keep 'em coming.

Kind regards,
Shadow

wbzipf said:

Looks really good! Would love to hear about your planned chili rececipe.

Click to expand...

smoke ninja said:

Looks good. Can't wait to see t the chili

Click to expand...

Thank you both. Mildly concerned about the chili cook-off. Lots of folks on the road. Heard scuttlebutt of postponement, etc. *sigh* We'll see how it irons out.

No matter what, I'm cooking chili this week! Never had brisket and/or sausage fatty in my chili, but I'll bet it's tasty.

Thread Revival / Update! - Chili in progress

OK, so it took until Friday (and an unexpected day off from work) for me to get to making this batch of chili.

Also, unfortunately, due to an incredibly busy couple of weeks, the chili cook-off has been postponed until the fall. Boo.

BREAK BREAK

I decided to use a combination of recipes (as I often do).
- Campus' Big Boy Brisket Chili
- mrmarkfr's competition chili
- My own dear Mom's secret Crawford Chili recipe

Thanks to a couple of you out there who graciously let me read through your own award winning chili recipes in my research! You gave me some great ideas.

I chopped up about 1 1/2 lbs of the brisket I smoked last weekend:


I also decided to use BOTH the Montezuma Chipotle and the Santa Fe rubbed nekkid fatties from last weekend:


I pulled together all sorts of spices from the normal assortment you'd expect:
Cumin, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Cayenne, Oregano, Bay Leaves...

Then, after I discovered that I couldn't really get the whole chilies that I wanted (mentioned a few posts above) for grinding into a powder, I found ancho chili and chipotle chili powders in the spice aisle. I decided to use those two in equal ratio in place of the generic "chili powder."



Several recipes and discussions here on the forums mentioned splitting the spices into 3 portions for inclusion at three distinct points in the cook. This is the first time that I've tried this method... but the theory makes sense to me. We'll see how it turns out.



Instead of starting with the meat (as I would, if the meat was uncooked), I started with the onions, tomatoes, sauce, and the first batch of spices. I let this bubble and simmer for about 10-15 minutes before adding beans. I'd considered going with a beanless chili, but I thought it could use some texture differences and some additional veg. I went with some great northern beans and black beans - why not!? I wanted something different than the standard pintos and kidneys.

I let this go for about another 15 minutes before adding the second "dump" of the spices... this one with the bay leaves. Then, I added the MEAT!




After the meat went in for about 10 minutes, I started to mess with the consistency a bit. I know it'll thicken some more as I let it slowly cook and mingle. Therefore, I added some more diced tomatoes, a small can of sauce, and a little water (that I expect will evaporate out).



It's not exactly pretty to look at, but the smells from the kitchen are pretty intoxicating.

I've been stirring it occasionally and taking a taste here and there. It's not done yet, but we're headed in the direction I was hoping for.

More to come.

We finally couldn't take it any longer.

About 1745, momma asked when the fark we were eating dinner so that we could finally tuck into this chili. I added the final 1/3 of the spices and let it ride for the next 20-25 minutes.

Served up with some sour cream, grated extra sharp cheddar cheese, and some jalapeños for the chili-head (me)... we hit it.



I'd never had chili with brisket... much less, brisket AND fatty! If you make your own version, be sure to leave just a bit of fat on the brisket... it's already tender from the smoking but why not have each bite perfectly tender!?

I think I'll add a few extra beans next time... not much, but maybe 1 more can. The rub has generally stuck with the brisket / fatty, making those bites even more interesting and flavorful.

The ancho and chipotle make the flavor rather dark and savoury, but with a nice heat that starts slow and holds steady.

Rather torqued that the chili cook-off was postponed. I think this had a good chance of taking the prize.

Anywho... as you folks gave me the ideas, I'll share the recipe.

Wicken Yanks' Brisket & Fatty Chili
- 1.5lbs smoked brisket - cubed at 1/2inch
- 2 smoked fatties - chopped - total of approx 20oz
○ 1 Montezuma Chipotle Rub Fatty
○ 1 Santa Fe Fatty
- 1.5 large onion - chopped
- 1 (28oz) can of diced tomatoes + 1 (14.5oz) can of diced tomatoes
- 1 (14.5ox) can tomato sauce + 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
- 14.5 oz Great Northern Beans with juices
- 14.5oz Black Beans -rinsed
- 6 tablespoons Chili powder (split as below)
3 Tbsp Ancho Chili Powder
3 Tbsp Chipotle Chili Powder
- 3 teaspoons Ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon Onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon Oregano
- 2 bay leaves (whole - to remove later)