Christmas Dinner

Jstas

Smoking now. Will finish in the oven on Christmas Day since I won't have 5 hours to babysit it on Christmas. Would cook it tomorrow but biblical rains are predicted. It'd be hard to keep temperature in the smoker in that weather.

I'd almost prefer snow and 20 degree weather to downpours.

Jstas

Oh, it's about 20 pounds of brisket.

tonyb

Looks delicious....what rub do you use or is it homemade ? Hope you have a lot of folks coming over, that's a lot of Brisket.

Jstas

On the brisket, I use this as a rub:

http://www.mccormick.com/Grill-Mates/Flavors/Seasoning-Blends/Grill-Mates-Brown-Sugar-Bourbon-Seasoning

It's a hell of alot easier than making my own and since it uses extracts and none of the liquid stuff, it doesn't scald or burn. Just renders down in to the fat.

It's sweet and a teensy bit peppery. The bourbon gives it a slight sourness too. Compliments the brisket well. This is how I did it for the PF and there was maybe a half pound left of about 16 pounds of brisket.


If I'm doing pork or chicken, I use this:

http://www.mccormick.com/Grill-Mates/Flavors/Seasoning-Blends/Grill-Mates-Barbecue-Seasoning

That's pretty much your standard KC style BBQ sauce ingredients list but none of the high fructose corn syrup that tends to burn. The smoky flavor they talk about is quite mild so I can use whatever woods I want and get the profile I want out of it. Also, when this renders down with all the fat, it makes a KILLER sauce!


For woods, I'm using lump charcoal with a mix of mesquite (for it's pepperyness), hickory and Pecan. Hickory has a heavy smoke flavor that can get overpowering. Pecan has the same profile just a bunch less strong so it's good to finish with. Comes out very well balanced.

On beef ribs, I'll use cherry wood in the water bath.

On pork I'll use any kind of fruit wood with a healthy dose of hickory. Favorites so far are pear, peach and peach wood soaked in Jack Daniels.


Poultry or fish is hickory/pecan. It's always delicate so you don't want anything too fancy or it ends up tasting like ash.


I keep the smoker between 250 and 350 for the brisket 'cause that builds that beautiful bark even if it's at the expense of the ends drying out. Totally worth it!

polk500

Looks fantastic and the recipe sounds mouth watering, and I agree it's hard to keep the temperature up with rain cooling things down, had the same problem last spring when I was trying to slow cook a prime rib but looks like you got an handle on it.
Enjoy your Christmas feast.

Cheers
Roger

ZLTFUL

Doing a 7lb beef tenderloin and a 9lb prime rib myself.

Will use Smokey D's competition rub (http://www.smokeydsbbq.com/ Been friends with Darren and Sherry for years and it's hard to go wrong with the folks who continue to bring home Grand Champion trophies hehe) for both but more sparingly on the prime rib.

I only smoke with cherry. Just my preference and I have enough of it to last me forever.

I also believe in heavy smoke for the first ~30 minutes as after that, it is useless and just wastes wood. I use a propane smoker as I don't have to babysit it as much.

I will run the smoker at 220-230 until the prime rib has an internal temp of 140 and pull it off and into the oven in a pan on a rack above an au jus bath at the lowest temp setting (175). It will then get pulled out and rested for a bit before slicing and serving.

The tenderloin comes off at 130, gets rested as well but then is sliced and finished on the grill for 2 minutes per side on a high grill flame. This finishes it up at a nice medium rare-medium.

Prime Rib and Beef Tenderloin have become something of a family tradition since I hosted our first Christmas dinner at our place.

My uncle will also smoke a whole salmon. Not in the traditional American style but Scottish style. He has peat blocks imported and uses a large rack smoker with almost no heat. The result is more like an extra moist smoked salmon jerky.

tonyb

Thanks John, sounds fantastic. Have to keep your wood choices in mind.

Man you guys, Briskets, Tenderloins, Prime rib....with the price of good meat these days, I hope your guests appreciate your efforts.

ken brydson

tonyb wrote: »

Have to keep your wood choices in mind.

Careful....

strider

Looking good, John. Did a stuffed pork loin last week for our annual Christmas party, nothing too crazy. Homemade jerk marinade and hickory, I agree that the hickory can be a bit much.

tonyb

ken brydson wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

Have to keep your wood choices in mind.

Careful....

LOL....yeah man, that didn't sound right huh ? Glad to see your minds in the gutter, along side mine.

marvda1

doing four slabs of ribs and letting some smoke hit a spiral ham. might get a chicken as i've seen some injection i want to try.

chumlie

11 lb rib roast & crab stuffed mushrooms tomorrow,

hochpt21

Jstas wrote: »

Smoking now. Will finish in the oven on Christmas Day since I won't have 5 hours to babysit it on Christmas. Would cook it tomorrow but biblical rains are predicted. It'd be hard to keep temperature in the smoker in that weather.

I'd almost prefer snow and 20 degree weather to downpours.

That picture is awesome!

payneinthe

This makes me want to make my Santa Maria tri-tip, but the wife has 16 gallons of pozole on the stove and 40 lbs of masa in the fridge, so I guess I'll wait :-)

Libertyc

Looks exactly like Polkfest 2014 at Johns house.

polrbehr

Libertyc wrote: »

Looks exactly like Polkfest 2014 at Johns house.

Indeed it does! Only difference being there aren't three or four people hovering around the smoker looking to steal whatever they can...

not ME, of course, but I heard there were several....

FWIW, I have since tried a couple of the methods of smoking employed by John, and they absolutely do work. So if you want to try your hand at some real BBQ, might as well listen to the guy who's been there done that.

Merry Christmas to ALL!!

gudnoyez

Man that looks awesome Jstas there should be a lot of full bellies at your place. I marinated a venison roast in Caribbean jerk overnight putting it on the smoker in a bit, wrapped up some acorn squash and sweet potatoes in tin foil to put above it will be having wild rice, and beer battered crappie filets collard greens corn bread mashed taters green bean casserole the kids are bringing pumpkin pie and my favorite key lime pie, I should be passed out from all that food early this evening.

Thanks for sharing ( picture wise ) Merry Christmas!

Erik Tracy

Got a very expensive 4 bone standing rib roast all seasoned up and ready for the oven.

Traditional sides of mashed potatoes, gravy from the pan drippings, rolls, oven roasted brussel sprouts, and the boys mandated cornbread stuffing.

Can't wait for the house to fill up with that heavenly aroma!

Jstas

It was the same brisket I made for PF. This is the 4th time I've done it and this time it came out like buttah!

I was actually nervous that it was going to be tough and chewy but, there's none left. Whatever wasn't had at dinner went home with people. I think I had 3 slices and went back for 2nds and they were already divvying it up in sammich baggies.

mhardy6647

Have to try our hands at a brisket some day; looks great!

FWIW...


Whole family (including the grand-dog, Sulley) were here for dinner yesterday.

Prime Rib (from the Hanover Coop; excellent meats)
(gravy by our son-in-law)
Yorkshire pudding (nom)
home-grown squash (in a casserole format)
quinoa with leeks and crimini mushrooms (home-grown leeks, too; sounds goofy but it is superb)
"cabbage salad" (Mrs. H family's recipe; essentially cole slaw)
-- accompanied by a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile followed by a 2010 Malbec from Argentina

Dessert was a peanut butter cheesecake made by our son

serious nommage overall.

schwarcw

Man those briskets have my mouth watering! Nice work John!