Here’s another installment from Arthur Aguirre.  The guy has some serious BBQ (and photography) skills.  In this post Arthur attacks one of the rising phenomenons of BBQing – The MOINK ball.  Not only does he show you how to do it, but he also explains the origins of the mighty MOINK.  These little nuggets of deliciousness are always a huge hit.  From here, I’ll hand it over to Arthur to show you how they’re done…

If you love Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABT’s), you will love MOINK balls. A simple description of MOINK balls are BBQ bacon wrapped meatballs. Without a doubt these tiny tender treats are the biggest thing to hit the grilling scene since ABT’s. The world wide craze of the MOINK ball is credited to a Larry Gaian author of the BBQ Grail.

***Editor’s Note ~ BBQ Grail is an excellent blog/website very similar to what we do here at GrillinFools.com.  I highly recommend Larry’s site***

Since the MOINK balls introduction into the BBQ world, it has earned positive reviews from people all over the world fortunate enough to taste the mighty morsels of smokiness.

The name MOINK is not an acronym, it is the combination of the two main ingredients: beef and pork. When referencing these ingredients, we know they come respectively from a cow and a pig. Hence, the sounds they make are moo and oink. Therefore, the creation was aptly named MOINK ball.

To understand how the MOINK ball was conceived, we need to understand its purpose. First, it was designed to feed the masses. Second, it utilizes two ingredients used often by families – bacon and frozen meatballs. Third, it must be grilled or smoked outdoors. And finally, MOINK balls are aerodynamically shaped for fast consumption.

End of summary.

So, when the 4^th of July came charging upon us, the parties were a plenty. I made a batch of MOINK balls each for two different parties. Unquestionably, MOINK balls are a tasty and an inexpensive way to impress people.

There are five major items needed for MOINK balls:

1. Pre-made, all-beef meatballs
2. Bacon
3. Rub
4. BBQ sauce
5. Smoke wood

When I made a batch of MOINK balls for the first party, I took a conservative approach. This party always had a ton of food and there are plenty of leftovers. Also, early estimates were close to about 60 people attending the party. With that in mind, I bought just a bag of frozen meatballs because I didn’t want to take leftovers home with me, especially when they sit out too long. When I had an idea on how many MOINK balls I’ll be making, I drew up my game plan.

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen meatballs [approx. 50]
2lb of bacon (2 packages)
John Henry’s Pecan Rub
Blues Hog Tennessee Red Sauce
Hickory wood chunks
Toothpicks

Pre-made, all-beef meatballs are the official meatballs of MOINK balls. BBQ Grail set up guidelines which do not allow fresh meatballs. However, one can definitely make fresh meatballs, just call them meatballs wrapped in bacon. The only exceptions are for international grillers where fresh meatballs are perfectly acceptable.

***Editor’s Note ~ That’s right.  These things are so popular there are purists out there and guidelines that are different for international grillers***

Moving on with our MOINK balls, the first batch is being set up for indirect heat on the grill manufacturer that shall not be named. I’m going with lump charcoal here, so by the time it gets hot enough the MOINK balls will be ready.

First, I have to assemble the meats. The meatballs are thawed but still firm enough to handle without falling apart:

The bacon is a 1lb package of strips, 2 may be needed. Each strip is way too long for one meatball, so cut the bacon in half. It’s easier to cut the bacon when it is semi frozen. The bacon is too much like rubber at room temperature:

I suggest buying the thin cheap bacon rather than the thick cut bacon because it cooks faster and it’s crispier when it’s done.

Use one half piece of bacon and wrap it around the meatball, then stick it with a toothpick to keep it together:

Assembling the bacon and meatballs may take a while. This is a good opportunity to get the kids involved in some BBQ activity:

***Editor’s Note ~ Love the Abita Turbo Dog in the background!!***

Next, I poured the rub all over the meat:

At this point, the grill will be ready to go. I banked the charcoal to one side of the kettle. In addition, I placed the MOINK balls on the grill opposite of the coals so I could indirect grill the MOINKS and keep the temperatures down:

Then, I added some hickory wood chunks. Also, I made sure the lid was placed with the vent over the meat so the smoke would have to travel across the meat before leaving through the vent. I leave the bottom vents open all the way too. The temp range will be somewhere between 350 and 375. Cooking time will be about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

After an hour I check on the MOINK balls:

They look just about done so I brush some BBQ sauce over them. I leave them in a little longer, just enough to crisp up the bacon. As a result, the bacon turned out very dark, almost black:

It isn’t that they are burnt, it’s just the rub and BBQ sauce has lots of sugar in it. It’s almost like bark on a pork shoulder or brisket.

At the time, I thought I really screwed up. I ate a couple of them and they didn’t taste burnt. I put them in a foil pan, brushed more Tennessee Red on them and covered them until they got to the party. Meanwhile, I thought to myself, nobody is going to like these.

So we arrive at the party and I put the MOINK balls on the table and I jump in the pool for a swim. After a while of being in the pool, some brave soul must have tried a MOINK ball because I heard people talking about how others should try these little meatballs. They were a huge hit and the talk of the party. In fact, they were all gone before the main course was served!

The following week, I made a second batch for a family reunion party:

This time, I smoked them for 2 ½ hours at 225 degrees on the smoker with hickory wood:

For me, these were much better than the first batch. Although, the bacon could have been crispier, but I didn’t have time to do it. However, a few people at the reunion who were also at the pool party said they preferred the first batch of MOINK balls.

I used a different rub and sauce for the second batch and I made twice as many for roughly the same amount of people. They too went over really well, but they were not all gone. I love these little succulent samples, I look forward to making more. And so do a bunch of people who loved them at the party.

If you have any questions about the MOINK balls, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email and I will forward it to Arthur.  Although, if he keeps kicking ass like this I might have to give him his own Grillin Fools email address!!

If you are interested in other appetizers and sides click here.

And you can follow the Grillin Fools on our Facebook page and post your own grillin pics just like Arthur did.

No Mexican food this time, but I got a packaged corned beef brisket (in a brine) at the market. I didn’t know what to do with this piece of meat, so I went online to see what I can do. Lo and behold, I was searching GrillinFools.com and came across a few corned beef brisket recipes. I found that Tom, Scott and Greg have cooked up a corned beef for a St. Patty’s Day trifecta earlier this year. As I went through all the recipes, Scott had the most traditional recipe. For me, the traditional recipe is something I always want to try for any first attempt. In the recipe, Scott mentioned that corned beef brisket is not typically smoked and that smoking it is actually pastrami. I got very excited because pastrami is one of my favorite lunch meats. Scott went on to do a modified corned beef. However, I intend to go all the way with the pastrami.

Inside the package, the brisket had a brine solution and a seasoning pack. This was great because most of the work was already done for me. I tossed away the seasoning, who knows what that stuff tastes like.

Notice this isn’t the whole brisket, this is just the point half of it. The other part of the brisket is the flat.  Any of these cuts or the whole brisket can be used in this recipe. As you can see, it has quite a bit of fat on one side, and generally, the other side is well trimmed:

The first task was to use Scott’s method of soaking the brisket.  To leach the salt out submerse it in water.  Change the water one time for every pound of meat plus one change of the water.

Again, you can see how grey the beef looks when it is done soaking:

The second task is to make the pastrami rub. This rub is almost basic.  I say almost because all you really need is black pepper and ground coriander. I found this rub recipe on a website and I simplified it further:

4 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1 Tsp paprika
1 Tsp onion powder
½ Tsp thyme

Mix all the ingredients together and rub it on the brisket:

While the corned beef sits at room temperature, I fire up the grill manufacturer that shall not be named. I fill my smoker accessory with water, charcoal and two types of wood – pecan and cherry:

After about 10 minutes the temperature is in the range I like:

The corned beef brisket is put on the grill and it’s ready to absorb a lot of smoke:

I want to point out that I forgot to put a drip pan underneath the brisket. I didn’t notice this until it was almost done. It was quite messy and the most critical thing was that my bottom air vents were getting clogged. This made air control a little more difficult.

After an hour in the smoke, the soon to be pastrami is cruising along at 230 degrees despite the semi clogged vents:

You can see some spots are starting to blacken a little bit:

At the 2 hour mark, I inserted the digital temp gauge in the pastrami. I want to get the internal temperature up to 160 degrees because I’m going put it in the fridge overnight and serve it for lunch the next day:

After a total time of 5.5 hours, the internal temp hit 160 degrees. The pastrami has a wonderfully exterior dark crust and it smells so good:

I put off temptation to start eating and sealed the pan with a foil sheet:

Into the fridge the pastrami went. My brother and my folks were coming over for a BBQ the next day.  They were getting here early enough for lunch. I was hoping they would get a kick out of having some homemade pastrami. We all love pastrami because we grew up eating pastrami sandwiches at a Southern California chain restaurant called “The Hat”. We’re a long ways from SoCal now, but I’m attempting to create some nostalgia on the grill.

***Editor’s note ~ For those not serving it the next day, let the pastrami rest for a good 15-20 minutes before slicing***

Finally, the next day arrives. One hour before lunch would be served, I fire up the tamale steam pot. About 5 minutes later, I place the pastrami in the steamer. By using the steam pot I am further breaking down the connective tissue in the meat and adding moisture to the cooking process. As a result, the pastrami will be very moist and juicy:

The same result can be achieved in the microwave if you wrap the pastrami in wet paper towels. In addition, this process is great for leftovers.

About 45 minutes in the steam pot on high heat is sufficient. At this point the steam is carrying the aroma throughout my house, it’s amazing!

I started to slice the pastrami into sandwich size portions:

The Hat serves their pastrami in thin slices. Unfortunately, I don’t have a meat slicer or a knife that can get the job done. Instead, I sliced thick chucks because my sandwiches must have lots of meat. In traditional Hat fashion, the sandwich is served on bread with mustard and pickles:

When I asked my Mom if my pastrami reminded her of “The Hat” she said, “Not really”. Oh well, *sigh*, she ate all of her pastrami sandwich…that has to say something:

In my successful attempt at pastrami, I will make a few changes next time:

1) Trim the fat cap to a very thin layer of fat. It didn’t quite melt away as much as I hoped.

2) Put a drip pan under the meat!

3) Try it without the steam (just curious)

4) Stop trying to get my parents approval.

If you have any questions or comments, simply leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll pass it along to Arthur.

Click here for other beef recipes on the grill.

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Tamales, Campfire Fish Tacos, Grilled Guacamole, now carne asada? Is there a pattern here or is it just innate skills at work? No matter, in between all the burgers, pork steaks and rib eyes, I indulge myself (and my wife) with authentic Mexican cuisine on the grill. I was inspired to make my own when I just couldn’t find a place in town that makes good carne asada.

It starts with the steak, most restaurants use thin sliced flank steak. Flank is a good steak, it’s easy to find, but it is a tough piece of meat. The perfect steak for carne asada is skirt steak. This is a tough piece of meat too, but it can become very tender if grilled right. Skirt steak is really difficult to find, it’s not going to be in your typical grocery store unless you live in a Latin community. In fact, I found mine while I was buying ingredients for my tamales at the Mexican grocery store. I just asked for it and the cashier asked me “how much do you need?”  They sold it for $5/lb, while just a couple of days before, my butcher told me he could get me some for $10/lb. I took 2 lbs, but I should have asked for more. The skirt steak looked very fresh and it had a nice marbled appearance.

Because of a few nights of inclement weather, the skirt steak had to sit in the freezer for a week. When it thawed in fridge for a couple of days, it suffered some oxidation and started to turn brown around the edges. I recommend using it immediately since it’s a very thin piece of meat. Just to be sure, it still smelled fresh and the steak didn’t feel tacky, a clear indication of spoiled beef. By the way, look at that marbling!

Feel free to trim off the fat and just to clean it up a little. However, to me, you’re just taking away the flavor.

This would be my first time making carne asada and it won’t be my last because it came out very tasty. I’ll show you how I prepared mine, and then I’ll show you how great they came out on the grill.

I begin with a spicy citrus marinade.

Marinade Ingredients:

4 Oranges
2 Limes
2 Serrano peppers sliced
1 Jalapeno pepper sliced
1 Cup of sliced onions
½ Cup of cilantro
2 TBSP of minced garlic
1 Beer
2 LBs of skirt steak

First, slice the oranges and limes in half:

Here is the juice I squeezed from the fruit, hmmmmm….it doesn’t look like enough. I might have to improvise:

Add the sliced onion and cilantro to the juice:

Add the jalapeños and the serrano peppers to the marinade:

Add the garlic too:

This marinade definitely needs more liquids, but I’m all out of juice.

Beer saves the day. I bypassed the flavor challenged Bud Light for the unfiltered wheat pale ale craft brew. This turned out to be a great marinade:

***Editor’s note ~ This marinade being diluted with beer may have saved the dish.  Too much concentrated citrus will cook meat with the acid from in the juice.  I would not recommend upping the citrus in this and skipping the beer as you may pull well done meat out of the ziplock before it ever hits the grill.***

Pour the marinade and add the skirt steak into a one gallon or bigger storage bag. Take out all the air and seal it tight:

Marinate the steak for a few hours in the fridge. I let mine marinate over night. This is going to have some intense flavor!

The day of the cook, my family and I spent the day in Grafton, IL. We did a bit of trolling around in hot humid conditions. We ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Mississippi Half Step. The fried catfish sandwich is good and enormous there! The day ended after cruising along the sparkling river and riding the ferry back to St. Charles. The ferry ride was a bonus, we had to take the extended route because of the low river. The boys loved it, we all did:

After our day trip across the river, we headed back home and started our evening meal. To grill the carne asada, I prepared the grill manufacturer that shall not be named for direct grilling. I filled my charcoal starter up with charcoal:

Unquestionably, I always opt for the charcoal starter. I never use lighter fluid. My poor wife recently had a company picnic where they had grilled hamburgers. She said her veggie burger was ruined because the cooker used large amounts of lighter fluid. Yes, you really can taste the difference.

Moreover, I used red oak chunks for more flavor. Mesquite wood is also a great substitute:

Around this time I noticed a few drops of rain falling down. Rain doesn’t really bother me, I’m committed to the task at hand. Unless there was lightning or severe thunderstorms, I can work through it. While the coals got hot, I prepared the meat. I pulled out a few items.

Fajita seasoning
Salsa
Corn tortillas
Avocados

The skirt steak is now ready to be rubbed down. It didn’t need it, but I wanted to try out the new fajita seasoning I just bought. If you don’t have a rub, just use salt and pepper to season. When I took out the steak from the marinade, it had a citrus and cilantro aroma scent. It smelled delicious. Next, I laid them flat on the table and applied the rub on the steak to both sides:

When I was done with that, I check on the coals which were glowing orange and the rain was coming down a little harder. So I banked the charcoal to one side and now it’s ready to go:

Hoping for a quick grill, I threw the steaks on. And just when I thought I could finish before it rained harder, I was caught outside in a thunder storm:

I didn’t mind, it was a relief from being out in near 100 degree weather earlier. The coals were so hot, the rain evaporated on the lid of the grill manufacturer that shall not be named. During this time, I was unable to take decent pictures, but here is one after about 5 minutes on one side just before I flipped it:

After a few minutes on the other side, I put them on the opposite end with no coals.  I placed them on piece of foil that was cooking onions. Skirt steak is best cooked well done, it has become a very tender piece of meat:

Just as when the rain was starting to let up, the carne asada was done. Let it rest for a minute:

Carne asada is a versatile dish. It can be served as is, but I felt like making them into tacos this evening. First I cut the steak into thin strips. Conventional wisdom is to slice it against the grain, but I sliced it with the grain. I took one bite and the steak was so tender it tore off easily. Against or with the grain is up to you:

Second, put some carne asada on a couple of heated stacked corn tortillas. Two tortillas give the taco more strength so it doesn’t fall apart during the final step. Third, add some grilled onion, sliced avocado and top it with salsa:

Final step, it’s time to enjoy the best taco I ever had:

I’m definitely doing these again. Next time, I’ll marinade the skirt steak using dried chile’s or make some carne asada fries or make more tacos! So many possibilities…

***Editor’s note ~ Awesome job as usual Arthur.  Keep up the great work.***

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email and I will forward it on to Arthur.

For other beef concoctions on the grill, click here.

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Outside of full on family barbecues where we are feeding the masses all three Grillin Fools don’t get to grill together all that often.  But recently we decided to celebrate our new sponsor, Andria’s Steak Sauce, with the oh so appr0priate prime rib done with an Andria’s flare.  My dad did the grilling and will do the write up.   The guy has prime rib on the grill down to an absolute science.  Follow his advice and you can to…

Here’s a simple, delicious method of preparing Standing Rib Roast on the grill as a tribute to our new sponsor, Andria’s Steak Sauce.  On a recent Saturday evening all three Grillin Fools gathered to do some smokin’ on the water with a great hunk of beef.  This begins with a 6 ½ lb. bone-in Standing Rib Roast allowed to come to room temperature prior to hitting the grill but a little prep work was necessary but not much as you’ll see:

I decided to rub the roast first with roasted garlic.  A few large whole coves are sliced in half sideways then placed on a sheet of aluminum foil:

A bit of olive oil is drizzled into each piece and coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper added:

And some salt:

A pouch is then created with the foil and they garlic is placed into a 400 degree oven for an hour to roast:

The aroma that filled the house during this process was rather pleasing to the nose.  The pouch is removed and the garlic is allowed to cool prior to handling:

Once cooled the garlic is simply rubbed over the entire surface area of the beef.  The garlic is now very soft and actually creates sort of a sweet garlic paste:

Usually I insert slivers of garlic into the upper half of the beef when preparing this dish, as you can see in this other prime rib done on the site, but opted for an alternative method this time out.  A bit of cracked pepper is applied to the beef and we’re ready for the grill:

Normally I French the roast as seen on a previous post but decided to let it be this time around.  That same link above will show you step by step how to French cut a standing rib roast.

The rest of the menu?  Well it’s a guy night since the gals are all together dining somewhere in the city so it’s going to be simple.  Appetizer would be Gulf Shrimp brought back from Skinner’s Seafood on Dauphin Island, Alabama with homemade cocktail sauce.  Then a mixed greens salad was served—I worked hard on this—a couple of varieties of the bagged stuff and some Zia’s Italian Dressing topped with Provel Cheese.  The other side was simply baked Yukon Gold Potatoes.  Of course a bottle or two of red wine would be added to complete the dinner.  The only thing ‘gourmet’ about this meal was going to be the beef as you’ll see.

The old CharBroil was set up for indirect grilling employing the flank method—coals to the left and right with beef in the middle:

Smoking wood chosen was Pecan as I’ve had success with it on beef previously as shown on my Beef Brisket effort:

The beef is prepared and ready for the grill.  I’ll place it on a roast rack initially to permit the smoke flavor to work on the entire surface area.  I hit the rack with vegetable spray prior to grilling for ease of cleanup later:

Here’s a pic thirty minutes into grilling with a brushing of Andria’s:

One hour:

Please note that the Andria’s is a very dark sauce.   The blackness on the above pics is the sauce and not burnt meat.  As you will see soon enough this roast will not go beyond medium rare.

My expected cooking time for a roast this size is approximately 2 hours at 300-325 degrees or until the internal temp of the roast reaches 125-130 which after a good 15-20 minutes or resting should be a wonderful medium rare.  I’ve decided to transfer the roast to a roaster pan and add some leftover red wine blended with Andria’s for the last hour to add moisture to the grilling chamber and to help impart some more flavor as the liquid steams around the meat:

The beef was basted about every 20 minutes with Andria’s Steak Sauce.  A few more charcoal briquettes and smoke wood were added as needed.

Here’s a pic an hour and a half into the process:

A close up from the other side:

Perfect Spring day for grilling—sunny, warm, gentle breeze, flowering trees, and smoke flowing from my grill.  It doesn’t get any better than this:

It’s time to choose a red wine for the occasion.  I selected a HV 2006 Syrah, gifted by day job partner Don H., and it paired nicely with the beef as we discovered later:

Don H. is a supreme griller in his own right—a huge fan of the Big Green Egg—he does some amazing things with grilled vegetables that we may be able to illustrate in a future post for you.

We are now 2 hours in and the roast is removed from the grill and foiled to rest for about 30 minutes:

The juices have settled and it’s time to carve into this bad boy.  First I removed the bones:

Here’s a pic of the roast sliced—medium-rare to rare as expected:

I French-grilled a center slice for me—not sure where that term came from.  I simply brushed it with a bit of Andria’s and slapped it back on the grill on direct fire for just a few seconds on each side:

The red disappeared but the texture and flavor imparted by Andria’s was superb and the slab of prime rib was extremely tender and moist.

Watch for rib-eyes on sale at your local grocer and have them cut a roast for you and give this method a try—the Andria’s really made a difference and you might not want to do any other method in the future.  What a night!  Three Grillin Fools, a big hunk of beef, the magic Andria’s adds, and some great red wine made this an event none of us will soon forget.  At least these three Grillin Fools won’t:

That’s Greg, Scott and Tom from left to right above.

***Editor’s note ~ I agree Dad.  It was a great night.  Some great poker afterward and more red wine from your ample wine rack.  I hope we can do more of these events***

As usual, if you have any questions about this recipe, please email me or simply leave a comment below.

If you are interested in other beef dishes click here to see other picture by picture, step by step instructions on other beef dishes we have done on the site

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In an effort to simplify things as well as help those on a budget I give you Simply Sirloin.  If rib eye isn’t in the budget or you want to serve a crowd steak without breaking the bank then sirloin may be just what you are looking for.  I will turn it over to Dad to show you how he cooked that wonderful piece of meat above…

When the idea of Grillin’ Fools was hatched (we do have an Eggspert involved after all) a good friend advised me to keep it simple.  I’ve tried to follow that sage advice but sometimes we go a little overboard by trying to create something a bit more exotic in our zeal to bring you something different.  Well, it’s back to basics here, just as with the recent smoked turkey breast shown here is …Simply Sirloin.

The Sirloin is a beef steak cut from the lower portion of the ribs continuing off the tenderloin.  It is not a prized cut such as rib-eye, t-bone, filet, or porterhouse and is usually much less expensive.  Prepared and grilled properly, it can be a delicious steak which will serve several people at a much lower cost than those cuts mentioned above.

Sirloin was considered a treat in my youth (a long, long time ago—in a galaxy far, far away) as my parents could not afford steak in their household.  On that rare occasion when sirloin was on sale we were rewarded with this special meal.  Mom would broil the steak in the oven and cook the be-jeebers ( is that a word?) out of it since Dad liked it very well-done.  It was many years later before I ever tasted a good medium-rare cut of beef.  This week I noticed Sirloin on sale at a local market and it jogged the memory a bit and I thought I’ve got to do it as a Grillin’ Fool.

I obtained a 2.25 lb. steak and decided to keep it simple with just a bit of seasoning and a basting of garlic butter.

The ingredients were:

One 2.25 pound Sirloin Steak
Salt & Pepper
½ cup Butter
2 Tsp. Garlic Powder
4 Cloves Garlic (minced)

The butter was melted in a small sauce pan with the garlic powder and minced garlic added:

A word of caution here, watch the heat because if the garlic is overdone it can become bitter.  The mixture was combined over medium to low heat.

The steak was dusted with coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper as shown:

The Brinkman was set up for high heat and the grill grate coated with olive oil and brushed with a grill brush to clean off any debris:

The steak was placed directly over the very hot coals for 5-6 minutes per side:

After the steak is on the grill for 2-3 minutes rotate it 45 degrees and cook the remaining 2-3 minutes:

While searing on one side give an initial coat of the butter-garlic mixture.  When you flip it you get those nice cross hatch grill marks:

Now repeat the grilling and butter basting process on this side.  More cross hatch grill marks:

Then it was moved aside to remain continue to cook/bake while a side dish of skillet-grilled asparagus was prepared.  After the asparagus was grilled the steak was given another small dose of direct heat:

Then it was removed to a cutting board and liberally brushed again with the garlic-butter, loosely covered with a sheet of foil and allowed to rest 4-5 minutes prior to carving and serving:

The Sirloin was sliced into thin strips against the grain and plated.  The desired result was indeed medium-rare as shown:

It looks like the juices are running all over the place in this picture but remember that I braised it with butter before I pulled it off the grill.

***Editor’s note ~ if you are cooking for a group, as this 2.25 pounder could easily serve, and not everyone wants theirs the same way then simply carve the steak into individual portions and cook the steaks for those that want theirs the most done first and the ones that want theirs the rarest last.  Use the thumb test to determine doneness. If this steak is an individual portion to you than you are definitely a kindred spirit to those of the Grillin’ Fools.  Your cardiologist may not like you but we love you***

I was a little disappointed with the texture however, but please realize this isn’t a filet mignon.  The steak was flavorful but slightly chewy.  I believe it would benefit from overnight marinating going forward.  There might be a Simply Sirloin Part 2 with a marinate featuring olive oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce , and tobasco sauce or maybe Andria’s Steak Sauce.  Simply Sirloin Part 3 could simply be marinated in spicy brown mustard for a couple of days as done with a beef brisket previously.  Don’t give up on this cut of meat.  It can be a delicious budget-stretcher in these tough economic times.  If anyone has a great marinade for this cut of beef please send an e-mail to Greg@GrillinFools.com with the details.

If you liked what you read above and would like to see other steaks done by the Grillin Fools click here.

As always, if you have any comments feel free to send Greg an email at the addy above or simply leave a comment down below this post.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

Round three of the Grillin Fools shaking up St. Patty’s Day.  My version can be found here and Dad’s here.  This time it’s a bit more traditional in that the meat is simmered for a while but then it’s put on the grill and slathered in BBQ sauce for a delicious feast.  Tom, the Big Green Eggspert, will take over and show you exactly how he did it…

Ingredients
3 pound corned beef
2 Cups Andreas Steak Sauce
Your favorite BBQ sauce

Place corned beef into a large stockpot and cover with water, add one cup Andreas Steak Sauce
Let soak two hours, then pour off water / Andreas mixture and repeat this process

After second soak, place stockpot with corned beef, water / Andreas mixture and bring to a low simmer.  Let simmer approximately 45 minutes.

While meat is simmering, prepare the grill.

Remove meat from liquid and let it rest for approximately 10 minutes:

Place the cooked corned beef on the grill fat side up:

Close the lid and cook at 250 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours, turning the meat occassionally:

Add the BBQ sauce at the end of the cooking process:

Then place corned beef into an oven-safe dish, pour additional sauce over the meet and cover with foil.  Place this back onto the 250 degree grill for another hour.

Remove the BBQ Corned Beef from the grill and let it rest a few minutes:

Slice very thinly, across the grain:

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or simply leave a comment below.

If you are looking other grilled beef recipes click here and if you are looking for other holiday dishes click here.

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The Grillin Fools tackled this three different ways.  The first was my take on the classic dish which can be found by clicking here. This is the second installment which was done by my father, Greg – Smokin’ on the Water, Thomas.  He took one of our favorite methods for doing pork loin or brisket of inserting slivers of garlic into the meat as well as a fairly standard brisket mop sauce to make the traditional corned beef into something a little unconventional.  His tribute to Raichlen’s grilled cabbage is truly worth reading about.  Click below to see the process as my dad lines out step by step and pic by pic…

Take a peek at this first photo—it’s a crime scene:

So after a couple months of colder than normal winter St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it’s time to get the grill fires going.

***Editor’s note ~ I can’t think of a better time to cook than when it looks like that, but I’m a little twisted!?***

This effort will include a Corned Beef Flat, Cabbage, and ‘b’ size Potatoes all done on the grill.

Corned Beef
One 3 lb. Flat
One Garlic Clove-slivered
Seasoning packet (came with beef)
One cup Beer
One cup White Vinegar

An important ingredient for the celebration is beer—for the griller and guests of course!  I chose Smithwick’s (pronounced Smittix I’m told) Irish Ale:

It was quite tasty and not as heavy as some of the stout varieties.

Smoking wood chosen was Pecan—this has worked well with earlier brisket efforts so I thought I’d give it a go here:

Click here to see more than 50 different things you can use to smoke meats.

I soaked the Corned Beef in warm water for approximately 4 hours, changing water every hour making sure to rinse the meat each time, to remove the salt from the brine. Not leaching the salt out will cause the beef to be practically inedible.

Next I cut slits in the beef with a thin sharp knife and inserted slivers of garlic in each slit:

***Editor’s note ~ The process of leaching the salt out of meat with water will make the meat looked washed out and gray but don’t sweat that.  It will look plenty red when you grill it.  Even more so than if you were to boil it***

I decided to grill the beef in a foil pan and apply a mop sauce every half hour.  The mop sauce consisted of one cup of beer, one cup of white vinegar, and the seasoning packet that arrived with the beef:

No rub applied—I figured we I had enough going on with garlic, mop sauce, and smoke flavor—after all, this is an experiment.

Cabbage
One 3 lb. Head
¼ Stick of Butter
One small Onion diced
4 slices of Bacon diced
Coarse Salt and Pepper

One tbsp. of butter was added to a skillet along with the onion and bacon and simmered till it was just beginning to brown:

That mixture was strained and the onion and bacon added to the core of the cabbage along with the remaining butter which had been cubed:

I then painted the outside of the cabbage with the remaining drippings from the straining:

Potatoes
2 lbs. ‘b’ size Red Potatoes
Olive Oil
Coarse Salt
Black Pepper

The potatoes were quartered and drizzled with olive oil and dusted with salt and pepper:

I had a bit of the drippings left from the butter, bacon, onion mixture so that was added also—no sense wasting pork fat!  This was all placed into aluminum foil and a packet created for the grill:

This will go on the grill during the last 45 minutes to an hour of the anticipated grilling time for the beef and cabbage of 3 hours.

The old Charbroil was set up for indirect grilling with coals on the left and the beef and cabbage on the right.  In retrospect, I probably should’ve used the flank method and placed the beef and cabbage in the center.  Either method will work:

The cabbage on a foil ring and the corned beef in an aluminum pan fat side down:

One hour in and the cabbage in getting rather charred on the outside so at Scott’s urging I foiled it for the remaining cooking time:

It was hard to tell how the brisket was doing—the temps ranged from 275 to 350 and fluctuated a bit with the breeze flowing through the drafty old grill.  More briquettes were added and the lid closed and we’ll check it a bit later.

After an hour and a half I’m getting nervous.  I’m considering foiling the beef for the last hour:

Now 2 hours have passed and I’m foiling the beef and adding the remaining mop sauce and pan juices to the foil tent.  The packet containing the potatoes was added to the grill over direct heat:

The 3 hours are up and we are starving by this time.  We’ve decided to serve sandwich style so I purchased some onion buns at the local grocer, buttered the inside, and toasted them on the grill:

Here is the meat after a rest of about 15 minutes ready to carve:

Carved:

The cabbage was very browned on the outside so I’m thankful that I listened to Scott about foiling it:

I peeled the outer leaves off to make it more presentable but I did not try those outer leaves and probably should have:

And here are the potatoes:

All three plated:

The final result was rather tasty—Mimi enjoyed it so I must be happy too.  She added mustard and horseradish to her bun and I took mine ‘straight’ trying to determine how the flavors came through.

The beef was good but I couldn’t pick up much of the garlic flavor and could’ve added more in hindsight.  The cabbage was done completely through and was quite tender with still a slight bit of chew to it and full of flavor from the smoke wood and the mixture applied.  To test for doneness on the cabbage you can pierce with a wood skewer—if it goes in easily—it’s done.  The potatoes were right on with flavor and doneness after approximately 45 minutes on the grill.  Oh, the beer?  It was a fantastic compliment to the meal. No wine pairing considered—after all—it’s for St. Patrick’s Day!  Have a great holiday everyone!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

With St. Patrick’s day just around the corner and the typical fare of corned beef and cabbage on the menu, the Grillin Fools thought we would do these traditional favorites our way.  My father and cousin, Greg – Smokin on the Water, and Tom – the Big Green Eggspert, will have their own twists on these two items soon so check back.  Dad’s is up on the site and can be found here. Here’s what I did to shake up the typical St. Patty’s Day menu…

First off I started with a 3.5 LB premade corned beef from the grocery store that’s been brined already:

Here is the meat and the seasoning packet:

I did not use that seasoning packet at all in this cookout, but in retrospect I probably should have.  If you want a more traditional corned beef done on the grill, you will want to use that.  I will go into it more at the end on how to use this for a more traditional corned beef.

Normally corned beef is boiled with that seasoning packet and the boiling helps to remove the overpowering salt that has infused into the meat from the brine.  Since I’m not boiling it, I have to leach that salt out of the meat or it will only be useful as a salt lick in a cow pasture.  To leach the salt out submerse it in water:

Change the water one time for every pound of meat plus one change of the water.  So for this one I changed it four times, and probably should’ve done it five times.  When you change the water rinse the meat off.  I put it in water Thursday night and had planned to change it Friday morning but forgot before I went to work.  I changed it Friday night, then again Saturday morning and one more time about two hours later on Saturday morning.

I’ve done some research and some say that you can do the water changes every hour and knock it out all in one day.  I didn’t have that kind of time and did not test that.  If you do it every hour, you may want change the water a couple extra times.

After three changes here’s what it looked like:

The water makes the meat look grayer and drabber but that’s not an issue at all.  Now for the fourth time I soaked it in a marinade that also leached off some of the salt.  For the final soak, I marinaded the meat in something I thought was completely appropriate for this cookout – Murphy’s Irish Stout:

I also added a a couple heaping table spoons of minced garlic and some black and white pepper in a ziplock bag:

That went into the fridge for 3 hours.  When I pulled it out I decided to trim some of the fat off the bottom:

I still left a thin layer of fat but the rest was not needed.

Then I made up a rub:

1/3 cup granulated garlic
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sweet paprika
1 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp of mustard powder
Black and white pepper
But you can use whatever rub you prefer

Notice no salt.  None on the meat or in the rub.  You don’t want to add any more salt to the brined beef:

And now it’s off to the grill for indirect grilling/smoking:

On the right we have apricot wood to flavor the meat:

Now before anyone jumps up and says that smoked corned beef is just pastrami, calm down for a sec.  I’m not smoking this thing all the way through.  I just smoked it for an hour and 15 minutes and then foiled it.  So, I made sort of a tweener between corned beef and pastrami.  Also, you may have noticed something a little odd about the beef:

Yes, there are two probes in that hunk of beef.  The reason for this is I got a new probe thermometer with a remote alarm that lets me know when the proper temp is reached.  I wanted to make sure the thermometer is accurate so I tested against my old one that I tested against a couple other regular oven thermometers:

As you can see the temp’s are off between the two.  My new one on the left is three degrees higher than my old stand by.  If the temp is off by a few degrees, that’s not all bad as long as it’s consistent and it was throughout the process.  It was always 2-3 degrees high.

Back to the grill.  Time to close the lid and check the temp:

And make sure I have good smoke:

I let the brisket smoke for about an hour before I went to work on my cabbage which was 3.25 pounds:

The problem with grilling cabbage is that it’s round.  How do you keep it from rolling around?  A foil ring:

Set the cabbage on the ring to keep it in place:

Now slice around the core at about a 30 degree angle and remove the core:

Then a sprinkle of coarse salt, couple turns of black and white pepper and then slather with minced garlic and about a third of a stick of butter:

Then cover it entirely in foil.  The goal here is to cook the cabbage in the foil and soften it up before we smoke it:

Now back out to the grill.  The corned beef has been smoking for one hour and fifteen minutes:

Here we can see the temps and it’s still two degrees apart but the temps are consistent:

Now it’s time to foil and do some steaming.  What to steam the beef in?  How about some Irish Stout.  Half a can was just about right:

What to do with that other half a beer?  Hmmm?  Easy.  Add it, along with another full can, to your favorite mug:

One hour later the cabbage is pretty soft and I decided to open up the foil and smoke the cabbage:

Then eight ounces of shredded mozzarella:

Then about a half cup of fresh grated picarino romano:

Forty five minutes later the corned beef hit my desired internal temp of 180 degrees so I pulled it off the grill and drained out as much of the fluid as I could:

I let that rest for 15 minutes while I let my cabbage to continue to smoke:

Sliced:

And now onto the cabbage that I pulled off the grill after one hour in the foil and one hour in the smoke:

And here we have it sliced:

Notice the arrows?  Time to move on to what I should’ve done differently.   See how the very heart of the cabbage is yellow while the rest is white?  That’s because what was yellow was still fairly al dente.  The recipe I checked to find cooking times had a two pound cabbage cooked for 60-90 minutes.  I went a full two hours but should’ve gone more like 2.5-3 hours.  The flavor was delicious, but it could’ve cooked longer.  And the head felt very soft before I pulled it from the grill, so keep that in mind.   Just because it feels soft, you may want to leave it on the grill for a bit longer.

Also, the critique my wonderful Mother in Law gave for the beef was that it wasn’t a traditional corned beef. She said it tasted more like beer beef.  I loved it but she was right, it didn’t have the traditional flavor.  If you want that then you may want to use the seasoning packet in the marinade or for an even more traditional meal then use the spice packet in the foil with the beer.

And before you give me grief for kissing up to my MiL for calling her wonderful, on top of all the amazing things she does for my wife and son she is also my main guinea pig in terms of trying new things.  If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have perfected the Apple/Pumpkin ribs.

I mentioned earlier that I should’ve changed the water one more time.  The salt was a little heavy for me, but I don’t put much salt on anything but french fries and use it sparingly in my cooking, except of course the dry marinaded steaks.  My MiL didn’t mind the salt at all, so if you are as sensitive to salt as I am then you may want to add an extra water change.

So, that’s my twist on the typical St. Patty’s day meal.  I hope it inspires you to shake things up a little when you sup on March 17th.

If you like this recipe and are looking for more beef recipes on the grill, click here.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or send me an email.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

A previous post, Beer Butt Chicken Stew, featured the birds smoking on the grill over a pan of vegetables and broth which allowed us to capture all the flavorful drippings from the birds in the stew below.  Now that “comfort food” weather has arrived I thought the same process should be applied to beef chuck roast and all the fixins’.  Click below to see how we did it…

Years ago I prepared just the roast on the grill at the urging of my dear departed father-in-law Russ.  He created a whiskey marinate that gave me heartburn for a couple of days so I needed a different, yet simple, approach for this method.  Here are the ingredients.

2—21/2 lb. beef chuck roasts

5-lbs. red potatoes sliced into equal sized chunks

2-lbs. mini-carrots

1—16 oz. bottle italian dressing

8—stalks celery chopped

1—cup red wine

1—large yellow onion diced

a few pinches of coarse salt

1—large garlic clove

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2-3 cans beef broth

2-3 cups of water

One day prior to grilling the roasts were placed into a plastic container with the Italian Dressing, Red Wine, Salt, and Pepper added:

The roasts were returned to the icebox (I love that term!) to marinate overnight.  Halfway into the marinating time the container was flipped over to insure both sides of the roasts are coated evenly with the mixture.

The next afternoon the veggies were washed and prepared along with the rest of the ingredients:

The old Char-Broil was set up for indirect grilling employing the flank method.  I rearranged a few coals to be underneath the pan to get this mixture bubbling quickly however:

***Editor’s Note ~Notice how there are a few unlit coals placed around the ones that are ashed over?  Adding some extra unlit coals will keep the temps up for a longer period of time and save you one lid opening to add more coals.  The lid is already open right now as the grill is being prepped.  This is particularly important with cold weather grilling as each and every time you open the lid all the heat is wicked away and it takes that much longer to grill because it takes longer for the heat to build back up in the chamber.***

Smoking wood chosen was apple but I also tossed in my last couple of chunks of pecan:

The roasts were removed from the icebox and allowed to come to room temperature before grilling.  Here’s a pic after soaking in the marinade overnight:

Once the coals are ready and properly spread the cooking grate will be left high to first sear the roast to seal the juices inside.  The roasts hit the grate with the excess marinade wiped off but the residual kicks up a bit of smoke:

Here they are turned after 5 minutes on one side:

Now a close up—are we really going after grill marks on a Chuck Roast??

The roasts are seared and it’s time to place the rest of the ingredients into the pan and get them going.  Here is the roasting pan and roast rack needed for the rest of the process:

First, 2 cans of Beef Broth and a cup of water followed by the Carrots, Onion, Celery, Garlic, and finally the Potatoes:

For the first half of the cooking time a roast rack (flipped over it’s a great rib rack too!) is employed to elevate the beef to absorb more of the smoke flavor and permit the juices to drip into the mixture below:

A third can of Beef Broth is added (I bought 4 just in case) plus another cup of water and I now feel comfortable with the fluid mixture:

A couple large chunks of Apple wood are added adjacent to the coals, the thermometer placed (heaven forbid I forget that gizmo!), and the lid closed once the grate containing the coals is dropped to its lowest point.

One hour in and it’s time to reload the coals, stir the veggies, and flip the roasts over—no one-sided grilling here!  I brought out the insulated gloves to temporarily remove the roast rack to achieve easier access to the veggies:

The rack is place back into the pan, charcoal added, and a couple more chunks of wood applied.

Mother Nature is interfering with the process a bit now.  The wind has kicked up and I’ve been the recipient of a few sprinkles of rain:

I’m hoping the wind doesn’t affect the drafty old grill very much.  The fire has been stoked and I really need to see the liquid around the veggies bubbling but it hasn’t happened yet.  I may have added too much liquid but time and taste will tell the story.  This is my first attempt at this recipe and the family that will be arriving for dinner soon will be victims of this experiment.  The GrillinFools will show you our first effort as well as a perfected last effort.  No practice runs to show you success always, just the same thing you would encounter when trying something new on your grill.

I took another peek after another 20 minutes and the broth is bubbling and progress is being made.  I’m debating whether to drop the roasts into the pan for the last half of my estimated cooking time.  After consulting with Mimi the decision is made and the roasts are dropped into the pan mixture after 1.5 hours into the process:

The broth was bubbling gently but kicked up a bit when wood caught fire and shot flames under the pan—a couple of squirts of water cooled the wood down and I think we’re back to normal grilling.  I took the opportunity to give the veggies another stir as some of the potatoes were browning on the edges from the heat and smoke.

Here’s an observation.  I walked around to the front of the house and the aroma of Apple wood smoke seemed to follow.  I’m filling the neighborhood with this wonderful fragrance!  Given the inclement weather I must be the only one grilling today.  I probably should canvass the neighborhood and hand out some GrillinFools biz-cards.

Here’s a pic of a small flock of geese that have wandered in.  I wonder if they were attracted by the aroma.  If it were legal I’d like to have one of them on my grill:

Now it’s drizzling a bit harder so it is a good thing this event requires the lid to the firebox to be closed.  My notepad is now dappled with rain drops.  A GrillinFool is not daunted by this situation.

It has been 45 minutes since the roasts were dropped into the mix and I’m going to turn them over and give the veggies another stir.  The liquid is cooking down so another can of broth is added:

I’m hopeful this effort will be complete in another 45 minutes but perhaps a taste of the veggies is in order.  Scott, The Original Grillin Fool is due to arrive soon so I’ll wait for that moment to taste test.

The roasts are flipped once again and I tasted the potatoes and carrots—I didn’t wait for the OGF—they were just super and full of flavor.  I’m a little concerned about the beef so will allow it to continue to simmer.  The thermometer is only showing 250 but the liquid is bubbling nicely:

Here’s a pic at 2 hours 45 minutes and the beef roasts appear to be done.  Taste test coming up!

Here is the first roast sliced:

The juices and broth mixture is reserved to pour over the beef and vegetables.  The roast is done, tender, and very flavorful.  The great part of this effort is that the veggies picked up that sweet apple wood smoke flavor.  The consensus of the dining guests, including the OGF Scott, was that this effort was a “home run” and worthy of a repeat performance.  What a great dinner!  Grilled comfort food all in one pan with fantastic flavor!  Don’t let Old Man Winter get you down—give this a try and you’ll be rewarded with a tasty meal.  Many grocers feature Chuck Roast in their ads this time of year so you can have an economical meal as well.  Oh, and it goes great with a spicy glass of red:

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or send me an email.

If you liked this recipe you may like other beef recipes we’ve done click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

One of the hardest things to teach people about grilling is dealing with ever changing circumstances that may or may not be out of their control.  Grilling on a muggy summer day is much different than grilling in a blustery Autumn day and certain things should be done to account for the different weather.  Grilling one day with an empty grill and then another with the bottom full of ash and thus a fire much more subdued than the previous cook out can greatly slow down the cooking process.  Cooking chicken over direct heat and trying to keep the flare ups down with a squirt bottle while keeping the heat up in the grill enough to still cook the meat.  There are many times the griller has to overcome some unforeseen problem.

I doubt I will ever be able to document all the obstacles I have ever faced while grilling but this last weekend I had a minor catastrophe that I had to deal with.  I did a Brisket Sunday and made a crucial mistake that could’ve have easily resulted in an epic failure.  Click below to see what I did to screw up and how I responded to that blunder…

Before I get into how this cookout went terribly wrong let’s start from the beginning.  I picked up this 5.5 beauty at a local meat market near my house:

This is a pic of the brisket with the fat cap up.  Someone asked me recently what the difference was.  The above is fat cap up, below is fat cap down:

See the difference?  I noticed a bad spot on the fat side that I removed.  This happens from time to time.  As long as the bad spot is small just trim it out.  This was about the size of a dime and in the fat rather than the meat.  Had it been larger and in the meat I would’ve taken the cut back to the butcher:

You may be wondering what that container is that the meat is in.  It’s advertised as something specifically designed for marinading meat.  The top and bottom of the inside of the container are lined with these little pyramids:

I guess the theory is that the squared inverted dimples would elevate the meat a bit and allow more marinade to touch it.  Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s the perfect size for a brisket that is too big for a gallon ziplock bag.

Now for the prep.  I dusted the outside of the brisket with granulated garlic, black and white pepper:

Now on to the marinade.  Nothing fancy.  Just horseradish mustard:

I slathered it all over the meat on each side – you can see the divot I created carving out that little bad spot:

Closed it off and into the fridge on Friday night.  Next stop, Sunday morning – That’s right, a two day marinade:

Sunday morning I pulled it from the fridge and prepped my rub:

1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp dried mustard
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp smoked salt (regular salt can be used here)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp each of black and white pepper

Here is the brisket in a disposable aluminum pan with the rub.  The dry mop ingredients next to it:

The dry mop ingredients are as follows:

2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp smoked salt (again use what you have here in terms of salt)
1/2 tsp each of black and white pepper:

Mix that together with the wet ingredients:
1 pumpkin beer (insert you fave beer here)
1 cup white vinegar

The primary wood I used here was hickory:

I also used some small apple chunks as well.  The little chunks are better than chips but they don’t last long.  Not a fan so I was just sort of getting rid of them.  If you’re not a fan of hickory or don’t have access to it, check this link for a list of close to 50 different woods and such that you can use to smoke meat.

I set this up for indirect grilling.  I realize that the grill is an offset smoker but I get much more consistent results just using it as a horizontal drum smoker with the indirect cooking method.  With the chimney on the left I put the coals and smoke wood on the right and the meat on the left so the smoke traverses over the meat on its way out of the chamber via the chimney:

And yes, that is a thermometer probe inserted into the thickest part of the brisket.  I have never used this probe in meat before.  I have just used it to check cooking temps in the grills I use.  I wanted to quantify the process a little more so I used the thermometer here.

The grill always runs hot at first because it doesn’t seal very well. So it ran about 300 for the first 90 minutes or so until I could get the temp down. I mopped at 90 minutes at which time the internal temp read about 150:

I mopped it again an hour later. By this time I had gotten the temp to where I wanted it about 225-25o  by reducing the amount of coals on the right.  As you can see a nice crust is forming with the rub:

After 3.5 hours the internal temp was around 180.  This is where it gets sort of interesting. I foiled it. Covered the top of the aluminum tray with two layers of foil to make sure I got a good seal:

I realize that’s not all that interesting, but right after I foiled it I heard my son scream. 17 months old. He had gone up to a card table leaning against the wall that I had out to set up for dinner later and pulled it down on himself. He was OK but it scared the crap out of him. Well I rushed in to make sure he’s OK.  My wife was holding and soothing him.  In a couple of minutes he’s running around again like nothing happened. After that I went downstairs to watch football. And that was my mistake.

About an hour later I went up to check the fire. I go outside and the lid to the grill is still open from when I foiled the meat. When my son screamed I turned immediately and went inside.  I didn’t close the lid on the grill.  My meager fire that was holding the cooking chamber at 225 was just a few tiny bits of coals and the internal temp of the brisket was around 155 (the temp is on the left, the right is the alarm point at which it will start flashing if it goes over that):

I figure that the meat did some steaming in the pan for a while before it cooled down, but I basically stopped cooking for an hour and had a dozen people coming over for some brisket in 4 hours. Many things were going through my head including the words, “epic fail,” and how many pizzas I would need to feed 12.

Rather than give up hope I decided to whatever it was I could to try to salvage this mess.  I had to start up a half a chimney of coals as there was no saving the little fire I had left in the grill. Once I got a nice pile of coals I literally slid the brisket right over the coals. Jump starting brisket like this may not have been a good idea. Brisket is all about low and slow to break down the connective tissue so it will be tender. But I had to do something to other than push dinner back to after 9:00 pm.

I decided I couldn’t do much more so I went back downstairs to watch more football. About 45 minutes later I smelled something burning. The grill was close to a window near to the where I was in the basement. I ran back up, slid it over to the other side and continue to cook it indirect.

That burning smell turned out to be from the thickened juices at the bottom of the pan.  As they steamed out the amount of the juices got less and less. The edges of the little pool of juices in the pan blackened and burned a bit which was much better than the alternative.  And the only reason it was not the meat is I placed the brisket fat cap down. A lot of people put the fat cap up so it will baste the meat but to me that really diminishes the mop sauce which bastes and flavorizes at the same time. That sauce is not penetrating that fat cap but it will penetrate the meat on the other side.  That fat cap insulated the meat from the direct heat when I kick started the cooking process.

90 minutes after kick starting it the internal temp hit 200:

I pulled the foil off – check out the steam action:

I left it on the grill for another 15 or so in the pan. I then took it out of the pan and placed it on a large sheet of foil and wrapped it up:

You can see some of the blackened spots in the aluminum pan that gave off the burnt smell.  I then put it in the microwave to stay warm.  A cooler or an oven works well too:

90 minutes later it was the moment of truth – carving time.  The wine was to drown my sorrows should this thing be like shoe leather.  That is a Zen of Zin Zinfandel from Ravenswood that is really good and around $12:

So how does it look:

I’m not sure if the picture does it justice but it was spectacular. So tender it melted in our mouths. Despite the disaster of that hour off in the middle of the process, the foil really saved my bacon, or in this case my brisket.

The steaming action in the foil seems to accelerate the process of breaking down those connective tissues and keeps it very moist all the while.  And while everyone told me it was really good, the real testament was my 10 year old niece, Katherine, who went back for seconds and thirds.  That and there being just about none left at the end.

A couple of things about slicing brisket – the thinner the better and across the grain.

Now onto the actual meal.  Couple of sammies for me:

And coleslaw is not just for pulled pork.  It’s great on brisket too:

Still some room on that plate.  What about sides?  Fresh green beans, or as my son calls them, mean beans, with plenty of bacon:

And my wife’s cheesy potatoes made in muffin tins:

The recipe for the potatoes is sliced potatoes, layered with colby jack cheese and green onions.  A little salt and pepper and two table spoons of heavy cream per potato muffin.  Then 350 degrees in the oven covered with foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 30 more minutes

Heavy cream and bacon?  Brisket and coleslaw?  Not the healthiest of meals.  But I did have whole grain Sarah Lee buns on hand to lighten the load just a little.  That may not be a lot but hey, pick your battles.  The rest of the week I’ll be watching my portions and my carbs.  But on the weekend I eat like this:

So what’s the lesson here?  Foiling is your friend with brisket.  I plan on doing another one of these again soon to try to perfect the process without the one hour lapse in the middle.  Then again, this turned out so well, maybe I should do it this way again?!?!  Nah…

If you liked this recipe you may want to check out other beef products we have done on the grill by clicking here.

As usual, if you have any questions about the brisket, leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

Here is a link to a discussion of this recipe on the air on the Houston airwaves.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.