Tacos

Hamburgers

I can easily say I may have eaten the best burger of my life last night. Seriously. And lucky for me, we have 68 lbs of ground beef in our possession.

These are the only part of our year in steer that is not wrapped in double paper hand crafted goodness. But no matter. I simply dusted lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper to begin our journey to scrumptious-ness.

just salt and pepper

and open flame...

It was an evening to celebrate our dear friend Corinne Lamata's birthday. And we did! Chips and dips, champagne, good wine, pasta AND potato salad, big juicy burgers...all ending with a homemade pound cake slice topped with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberry heaven!

burger bar

Corinne!

Heaven.

Brisket

Whelp, for meal number two, we had a smoked brisket. Wow. It was fracking delicious.

I have been to Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City, and it was an amazing meat fest, with rolls of paper towels on the tables and slabs of ribs, brisket and hot links to consume. Oh, and fries. The dry rub I put on this brisket was from a recipe belonging to this KC institution.

After having the brisket in the rub overnight, we put it in a cooler, loaded up the dog and the kid and drove to Davis, CA to visit some dear friends of ours, Vicki and Steve. Sharing meat is part of our plan with the year of steer, and it kicked off with these fine folks.

Steve manning the BBQ

We smoked the brisket in a charcoal grill, with water soaked apple wood chunks, for about 6 hours. After several beers' worth of conversation on the back patio in the lovely afternoon sun, we decided to bring it inside to finish it off in the oven. My thought is that we did not keep the temperature up and steady enough throughout the day. But no matter, we double wrapped it in foil and placed it in a 225 degree oven for another hour. After which, it rested on the counter while jalapeno bacon cornbread was whipped up and baked to sit alongside Texas caviar (yummy bean salad) for our supper.

Brisket at rest

Once the cornbread was out of the oven and the lovey wine was uncorked, we sliced up the best brisket ever and had ourselves a fabulous Saturday summer meal!

It was delicious and amazing and I will provide the recipe for you here down below. Next up....hamburgers to celebrate a birthday!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons Spanish paprika
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon celery salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon pepper
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (5 to 8 pound) beef brisket (flat cut)
• 4 cups oak or hickory wood chips, soaked in water for 30 minutes, drained
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 1/2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce, for serving

Directions

Special equipment: spray bottle for apple juice 

Combine all the spices in a bowl, mix well. Pat the spice rub onto the meat, making sure to heavily season the entire surface area of the brisket. Cover or wrap the brisket and place in fridge overnight.  Bring to room temperature while getting the smoker or charcoal grill fired up. Do not leave at room temperature for longer than 1 hour. 

The grill is ready when the charcoal has burned to a white ash. If using a grill instead of a smoker, arrange the coals on 1 side of the grill, leaving an area large enough for the brisket to cook indirectly with no coals directly underneath the meat. 

When the grill has reached 200 to 225 degrees F, scatter 1/4 of the wood chips over the coals, close the grate, put the brisket on the grill and close the lid.

Maintain a 200 to 225 degree F cooking temperature inside the grill, adding coals every 2 hours or as necessary. Add wood chips and spray the brisket with apple juice every time you add new coals. Try not to lift the lid of the grill at any other time. 

When the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 165 to 170 degrees F on an instant read meat thermometer (after about 4 to 5 hours), remove it from the grill and double wrap in aluminum foil to keep the juices from leaking out. Return the brisket to the grill (or smoker) The brisket is finished cooking when it is very tender and reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F, about another 1 to 2 hours. Let rest for 45 minutes, then unwrap and slice. Serve with BBQ sauce on the side.

T-bones

Whelp, we started with t-bones. They are probably my second favorite cut, but they sounded so delicious when I was unloading everything into the freezer.

I want to make sure that you all know the first most amazing thing about this year of steer, and that is this: each one of these cuts is wrapped by hand (double paper and then a separating sheet)! The ground beef, I think, is this only part of the 311lbs that went into packaging not lovingly hand crafted (photos to follow when I cook with some).

These puppies were *big*. I only put some soy sauce on them and then let them stay out at room temperature for an hour before grilling. No pepper. No salt. Just Soy. Side dish prep involved zucchini obtained at the farmer's market today in a little olive oil on the grill.

I only use gas grills for smoking. All else goes on coals. I stopped using mesquite because the little flecks of red-hot-dead-tree hit the deck and made black marks. So, Kingsford briquettes are better for the value of the house. I cracked a beer, Lagunitas Czech Style Pilsner, and stood on the deck in the early evening sun to bring these steaks to tasty life after death.

And, boy! What a taste sensation! Amazing beefiness and so clean tasting; nothing heavy here. A wonderful start to a year long relationship that is destined to bring many happy meals.

Steer Diary,
Today we picked up 311 lbs of you from Bud's Custom Meats, although you had been born and raised on Mack Macgruder's ranch up in the Potter Valley, in Mendocino County.

sign out front

We were a little stressed about the drive up and back to fetch you; we don't have a freezer in our car. But, you made it safe and sound. Solid as a rock.

six banana boxes total

We put you to deep sleep in our garage freezer and will enjoy your first offerings tomorrow night when we grill two big, juicy T-bones for our Sunday supper.

fully loaded