BBQ Brisket and Ribs? Joe makes it easy!

I know a lot of you wish you could make really tender and juicy BBQ Brisket. And how about fall off the bone tender BBQ ribs? Wouldn't you just love to be able to serve those to your family and friends? Perhaps you have a grill or even a smoker out on your patio.... and have tried but things just keep coming out dry and tough.... even burnt. Ol' Joe is about to make serving perfect Brisket and Ribs so easy you won't believe it.

If you choose to use your smoker the secret is to keep the temperature low. You want the meat as far away from the heat source as possible and you want the temperature to stay between 180 and 200 at the very most. Use your favorite rub.... insert the meat and just walk away. 6 to 8 hours later (depending upon how hot you let things get) your meat will be done.

If you choose to use a grill (not my favorite choice for this) follow the same rules. Keep the meat away from the heat. (flame on the right side of the grill.... meat on the left) A lot of liquid will cook out of a brisket so be prepared for that. Just that liquid cooking out of the brisket is the main reason I prefer a smoker for this task. Ribs..... they can be done on a grill. I like to use the little rack normally used for keeping things warm rather than putting them directly on the grill.

With either of the above there is a lot of preparation and tending necessary. Unless you do this very frequently and have a "feel" for how things are going the odds are in favor of a less than stellar result. So how can you cook a brisket or a rack of ribs and know for certain that things will turn out well? Abandon everything you think you know about BBQ and pay close attention. I'm about to give up the secret of a juicy brisket and fall off the bone tender ribs.

PICK YOUR CUT OF MEAT
Head on down to your local mega-mart and ease on into the meat department. Sooner or later you'll find the briskets. Look for something in the 8 to 12 pound range. This is a good size for the average family of four.... or a couple that doesn't mind tasty leftovers. These will have a fair amount of fat on them so the final cooking weight will be a pound or two less than the purchase weight. Ribs are much easier. You really only have to choose between beef or pork. There are spare ribs and short ribs. Spare ribs generally have less meat since they are the larger ribs from higher up on the rib cage. Short ribs are just that.... the shorter end of the ribs.... less bone and more meat. Some ribs even come already cut down to single ribs and packaged about 6 to a pack. These are fine too. Just buy enough to do the job.

PREPARATION

Not much prep is required for the ribs beyond a quick rinse under cold water. The Brisket is another story. Briskets generally have a good amount of fat on them. You don't want to remove all the fat but you do what to get rid of at least 90% of it. This requires a very sharp knife and a large cutting board. As in the article on knives take care and cut away from your body. Trim the fat away until you have between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch of fat left. You can trim it all off if you want to but it's a bother. Besides the fat helps keep the meat moist during the cooking process.

RUB

Next step is to apply a good rub to the meat. Search your Mega-Mart spice section and you should be able to find two or three products that suit the bill. They will clearly state RUB on the label and may state that this rub is for brisket.... or chicken.... or something. You can also make your own but this is not an exact science and is fairly subjective.

I start off is about 1/2 cup of Kosher or sea salt and 1/2 cup of raw brown sugar crystals. (they usually come in a box and often take some serious searching to find) If you can't locate the raw sugar just use 1/2 cup of packed dark brown sugar. Also if you choose not to use Kosher or Sea salt reduce the salt by 1/2. To that add equal parts of ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and hickory smoke powder. (If you can find it. If not we can add liquid smoke later) If you want to make the flavor a bit more exotic you can add a little bit of cinnamon, some ground cumin, (go easy on that) oregano, MSG and some nutmeg. Those last items are optional and there is no exact measure..... it's something you will have to experiment with and get a feel for over time.

Take the cut of meat and massage a good quantity of the rub into the meat. Use more than you think you really need because this stuff works it's way into the meat and the flavor tends to become less pronounced during the cooking process. Coat all sides and then let the meat rest for about 15 minutes.

COOKING

While you are trolling your local Mega-Mart locate the cooking bags. These come in several sizes and you'll want the size normally used for cooking turkey. There are generally two to three bags in a box as well as zip ties. Line a LARGE sheet pan with foil. DO NOT skip this step as I have discovered not lining the pan can ruin the finish. (Learn from my experience here)

Position the bag on the sheet pan and (with some help) insert the meat into the cooking bag fat side up. IF you could not locate hickory smoke powder this is a good time to add some liquid smoke to the bag. This stuff can pack a punch so go easy until you get a feel for how much to use. I'd go with about a tablespoon full on my first attempt then adjust from there using this as a base point.

Set your oven to 200 degrees... NO HIGHER than that! It seems low but trust me... it's enough. I normally do all my preparations late at night and slide the meat into the oven between midnight and one in the morning. Hit the sack and don't give it another thought until about 10 hours later. Yeah... 10 hours. What produces the result is low heat and long cooking time.

FINISHING UP

10 hours later turn off the oven, remove the pan and let it rest on top of the stove for a good half hour. After it's cooled open the bag and carefully pour off the liquid into a medium sized sauce pan. (LOTS of great flavors in this stuff so don't waste it!) Let the meat continue to rest while you tend to these juices. After several minutes the fat will come to the surface. Use what ever method you prefer to remove the majority of it. A baster works.... so does a large shallow spoon. Don't worry if you don't get it all.... that's okay... do what you can.

Put the pan on the stove and start raising the temperature over medium heat. Meanwhile mix about 1/4 cup of cornstarch with just enough cold water to make a liquid. Once the sauce is at a low boil slowly add the cornstarch while stirring constantly. Cornstarch will not thicken unless it is boiling so this is critical. Also a sauce made with cornstarch gets thicker as it cools so after your sauce has boiled gently while stirring for about 3 minutes... turn off the heat and let cool for about a half hour.

While the sauce is cooling you can warm up some baked beans..... or dish out some potato salad or what ever else you wish. Remove the brisket/ribs from the bag and place on your cutting board. Using a very sharp knife slice the brisket into 1/8 in thick slices. IF it seems to be tearing turn the meat 90 degrees and try again. With ribs just use either a chef's knife or a small cleaver to separate the ribs into serving size. Place on the plate and spoon some of your sauce over it.

You can also use regular BBQ sauce on your meat..... or... while you're making your own sauce... simply add about a half a cup of your favorite bottled sauce to it.

If you like chopped BBQ sandwiches..... before you put things away use a fork and shred some of the brisket off and place it into a container. Add either your sauce or the bottled stuff to that and mix well. Heat in a microwave and serve on a bun anytime.

Another favorite of ours is to keep sliced brisket in a container. Heat these in a microwave also and place on top of a nice dinner salad to make a complete meal.

Okay gang.... the secret is officially out now! Feel free to write and let others know how your experience went and offer hints or tips you discovered.

Be sharp! (or... let's talk knifes)

Okay gang... I managed to overlook the most important item you'll need for cooking... other than perhaps food. The Knife! Off to the left you'll see a typical knife... except yours probably doesn't have all those lines and numbers. That's okay.... all they really do it make it harder to use and store anyway so you're lucky. Since those are there on this one... let's use them to get acquainted with the different parts.

#1 is the blade but you probably knew that.
#2 is the handle and again I suspect you knew that. So from here on out it ought to be a learning experience!

#3 is called the spine. Depending upon the purpose of the knife this can range from very thin to nearly a quarter of an inch thick. The knife will taper from here to the next number.

#4 is the edge.... the place where most of the work gets done. Depending upon the grade of the knife, the material of construction and the purpose.... this can be either a rather straight taper or it can gradually taper to near the edge then take on increasingly steeper angles (usually no more than three) until it comes to a point... or edge.

#5 is the heel of the blade... usually the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the length of the blade.

#6 is the tip and this is usually about the last inch of the blade farthest away from the handle and eventually meeting up with the spine to form....

#7 the point! Some folks call this the tip. Call it what ever you wish.

#8 is the bolster. Technically this part is neither blade nor tang but rather a transition between the two. It adds stability to the knife.

#9 is called the finger guard and is generally built into the bolster.

#10 is the tang of the knife and it's always hidden inside the handle material. Typically on a chef's knife this part is at least 1/8 of an inch thick. the handle material covers this and that material can range from bone to man made substances to wood. On a quality knife the handle material will be attached to the tang with 3 large rivets.

#11 is called the butt... and I have no idea why.


Okay... so much for anatomy class. What we have now is a bewildering array of knives to choose from. This is one area where I recommend that you don't skimp. As the old saying goes you don't get cut by a sharp knife... only a dull one. Why? Dull ones require more effort to use and increased effort leads to accidents.

What you'll want to buy is a very high grade of stainless steel for the majority of your knives. This material has a high carbon content and is typically heated to about 2000 degrees then forged into the approximate shape. After forging it is ground, heat treated, polished and sharpened to a fine edge. A good blade will hold it's edge well and require little effort to keep sharp.

A second type of knife is a stamped blade rather than forged. Here the knife starts as a roll of steel which moves through a stamping press. As the press cycles it stamps out blade blanks. These are then hardened, quenched, tempered ground and polished to form the blade. These can range from really cheap to pretty well done high grade products. Typically your very thin flexible knives will be made this way. A salmon knife for example. (Although it will work on more than salmon)

The last material is fairly new and still somewhat expensive. Ceramic. These blades are made from an industrial grade of zirconium oxide which is heated to very high temperatures until it can be molded into shape. Once sharpened these blades can hold an edge for many many years... which is a good thing... because they are much harder than 99% of the tools typically used to sharpen a knife! It takes a professional using diamond abrasives to sharpen a ceramic knife. On the plus side this blade will never rust... or react with anything! Impervious to even acid it may be the wave of the future.

As far as types of knives go there are a total of 13 different standard types made expressly for kitchen use. These range from cleavers (the largest and heaviest) down to paring (about a 3 inch blade) which is the most commonly used knife. In between those two extremes are boning knives, steak knives, carving (slicing) knives, bread knives, utility knives, tomato/bagel knives, salmon slicer, ham slicer, oriental cleaver and the fish fillet knife.

Yeah.... I know... all you snooty types out there are yelling.... what about the cheese knife? Well I consider those to be kitchen gadgets and not a true knife. Best cheese cutter? Piano wire. Just remember to put it back in the piano when you're done.

And now.... a word about safety! The safest knife you can use us a very sharp one. The sharper the cutting edge the less effort it takes to do the work. Less effort means less frustration and far fewer accidents. When exerting force with the edge always direct that force away from your body and all it's parts. Look and think before you start cutting and slicing. Do you have your fingers... or someone else's in the path of the blade? Is anything other than what you intend to cut in the way? Knives have one purpose in life and that is to separate things.... be that your favorite brisket or a head of lettuce. If a finger or arm or anything else gets in the way... the edge does not care. Nothing ruins a good dinner presentation faster than a severed finger.

Buy the best knives you can afford because they can be a lifetime investment if you choose correctly. The best knives will not rust or tarnish and can hold an edge for up to a year with moderate use. Between real sharpenings the edge can be dressed with a sharpening steel in a few seconds. Don't drop knives in the same general drawer everything else goes in either. Try to keep them separate. If you don't have a wooden storage rack take some heavy weight paper and make a protective sleeve for the blade. This not only prevents nicks on the edge but also cuts on your fingers. A sharp well constructed knife makes preparing meals so much easier. Invest in quality and enjoy that investment for generations.