16 Apr 2000 
Reply: BBQ@netrelief.com
From: dgaulden@caverns.net (Gaulden, Danny)

CHOPPED BEEF 

Gang,
There seems to be a lot of interest and argument over marinaded in sauce
chopped beef sandwiches.  To start things off, I will correct the
inaccurate statements and procedures to make this style of bbq....yes I
said bbq.  
Sorry, Fergy, your memory is failing you on the ratio of sauce vs. meat.  

One pound of chopped beef will make at least 1-3/4 lbs. of sauced chopped
beef, if not more.  In other words, take one pound of chopped meat, and add
3/4 pounds of sauce to it for a starter.  I will get into more detailed
later.  From this point on, I will refer to marinaded in sauce chopped
beef, as simply chopped beef.   
We do not use "old briskets" for our chopped.  It is a popular seller, and  
we sell enough of it that we are chopping briskets throughout the day.  

However, Fergy is correct in that I told him that some folks do pull and 
chop the old meat.  These are usually joints with slow sales, or they keep 
too many briskets in the warming pan at one time.   

As to Judge Dave's response on the subject, I'm a bit surprised that he
states that if one doesn't care about his customers, and is only out to
make money, then serve chopped beef.  Nothing could be farther from the
truth in our restaurant.  Chopped beef is only as good as the cook behind
it, and trust me, I have eaten some really bad chopped beef sandwiches as
well as some great ones.  As a matter of fact, I have eaten more bad ones
than good ones.   We are now selling about 80 lbs. a day in chopped beef.
Somebody must like it a whole lot. Making a great chopped beef is not an
easy feat.  As a matter of fact, it is harder than cooking a great brisket,
which in it's own right is not an easy chore for the average back-yard
Q'er, nor a lot of folks in the Q business.  Why?  Because you must cook
the brisket to perfection, then go through several more steps to make it
into a good chopped beef, vs. just slicing it and putting it on the table.  

HERE'S HOW to make great chopped beef that your mother would be proud of.  
I sometimes question myself for giving away all my secrets, as I have
done for years to the Thead list,  this one, and private e-mails, but  the
reason I do it is my love for great bbq and wanting everyone that loves to
bbq to know how to do it properly.   And I want all of you to know how to
do it without going through all I had to go through to master it.  
What a pity...there was no Internet or anyone to call on when I was
screwing up
brisket, ribs, turkeys, and God knows what all, while I was steadily 
learning from the school of hard knocks.   My first love is cooking great
Q, and feeding my hungry lot of customers the best meal they will eat all
day.  Not money.  If you treat your customers right, the  money will follow.
Don't worry about it.   Anyway, here we go.

Chopped Beef
1.  Cook brisket to fork tender doneness.  
2.  A 100% wood fire is preferred, but if you use gas, keep the smoke going.
3.  After cooked, wrap brisket in clear wrap, etc., and let cool in fridge
for 
     several hours until fat is firm and cold.  
     This is necessary for the next step to be user friendly.  
4.  Cut brisket into three sections, separating the flat from the point and
      the skirt under the flat.
5.  Remove all fat from each section...beef fat in chopped beef is not
desired...
     has a terrible taste.  This is one mistake lots of people make when
preparing      chopped beef...they leave too much fat.
6.  Place brisket sections back into smoker and re smoke for about 1 hour
      at 225-250 with good smoke flow.  Simply reheat till very warm.
7.  Remove brisket pieces from smoker and chop into medium fine
     pieces...brisket must be chopped fairly small.   Not to mush, but on
the small      
     side. This helps the marination process work more proficiently.   
     A food processer works good for this.
8.  Pour WARM sauce over WARM brisket.  Start out with 1 lb. of chopped
      brisket to 3/4 lb. of sauce. 
9.  Place in fridge and let marinate for at least 4 to 5 hours.  Meat will
      draw sauce into it and become drier.  This is what it's suppose to do.
      Don't worry.
10. Heat chopped beef in microwave or double boiler and stir often.  
      After hot, if chopped has soaked up too much of the sauce, add more.  
      Don't heat in just a pot.  Burning will occur, unless your are
keeping on 
      top of it and stirring often.       
11. Chopped beef should be very moist, not dry, nor soupy.  This is the
      secret...the "just right" amount of sauce to meat ratio.  Practice
makes perfect.              Dry chopped beef is as bad, or worse, than
soupy.
12. Sprinkle a little "Wild Willys Number One" rub into the chopped and mix
will.  
13. Serve on a nice soft bun and enjoy.  For the best flavor, wrap sandwich
       in clear wrap and let rest about 5 minutes before serving.  This
lets the 
      chopped beef  "steep" into the bun and makes a big difference in
flavor 
      of the finished product.

Sauce for chopped meat:

A THICK sauce does not make a good chopped beef sandwich.  It will not
penetrate and soak into the meat nearly as well as a thin sauce. This is
another common mistake people make when making chopped beef.  
The secret is that your sauce needs to have a fair amount of acidity and
sweetness to it, plus a little bit of a spicy bite.  Most sauces with high
acidity are thin.
The acid and the sweet are made to go together, and with chopped beef.  

If you are using a store bought sauce, or your own, just make sure it is
thin...almost as thin as water, when making chopped.  If you like it
thicker for serving at the table, thats fine.  Just make sure you thin some
of it out for making your chopped beef.

Do not put liquid smoke in you sauce you are using for your chopped.  
It will take away from the wonderful natural smoked flavor your have worked
so
hard to create.  A properly prepared chopped beef sandwich taste great with
the right sauce in it.           

After heating chopped, if it is too thin, simply add a little more dry
chopped brisket to it.  Always reserve  some for this purpose.  
If chopped is too dry, just add a little more sauce a bit at a time.   
Have a few slices of sweet onions and sour pickles to go on sandwiches, 
for those that want it.  Very tasty. 

Hope this post helps all of you that like chopped beef, make some of the
best you've ever eaten.  
   Danny
www.dannysbbq.com

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