Dale Groetsema
BBQ List
11/18/02

Always looking for an edge in competitions, I bought some of that Maple Canadian Lump and Charcoal.  Tried it last night on a brisket.  Started my WSM with a full ring of lump and 12 hot charcoal briquettes.  Used water tonight instead of sand.  At 1am, I had to refill the ring with lump as the temps dropped below 190 regardless what I did with the vents.  I planned on getting up at 6am to check the fire but slept in til 8am.  Went out to find 1/2 inch of snow and temp below 100 degrees on the smoker.  Opened up the WSM and nearly a third of the lump was unburned and all was cold.  Restarted the fire and took off the brisket at 1pm.
 
Prime Grade Brisket was 10 lbs before trimming-maybe 1/2 pound of excess fat cap was all I had to remove.  Total elapsed time was 19 hours, but probably had only 15-16 hours with heat.  I think I will go back to domestic lump from now on.   Brisket turned out excellent, although the tenderness was a little less than desired, so I put it  in a covered pan in my oven at 325 for 60 minutes.  That did the trick (does that mean I used foil?)  
 
Recipe as follows:
mustard paint
1/2 cup yellow mustard
2 TBL bacon drippings
2 TBL Habanaro sauce
 
Rub
4 TBL Kosher Salt
2 TBL Cracked Black Tellicherry Pepper
1 TBL (each) Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Cumin, dried Arbor Chili seeds, Chili Powder, Celery Seed (ground)
 
Baste (about every 4 hours)
4 cups beef  broth
1/2 lb bacon
1 cup bitter orange
 
Boil until bacon fat is rendered and keep warm
 
 
Dale Groetsema
dalegro@earthlink.net

