On the Moor

We have a great love for cooking here  on the Moor. This weekend we tried something we’ve wanted to do for years! We home-smoked a brisket.

Wow.

There really is no comparison to smoking one’s own brisket at home. We began with a dry rub  of our favorite combination of bbq spices: cracked black and white peppers, a pinch of cayenne and 2 dried ancho chiles. We added a pinch or two of cocoa,freshly ground coffee (ground fine),cinnamon,salt,garlic and onion powders. The peppers added a bright spicyness,the coffee,cocoa and cinnamon added a deep note in the background. The garlic, and onion powders kept the savory aspect to the forefront.

We’ve found that charcoal grilling adds a depth to grilling that we really love in general. A superior charcoal to use if you love charcoal grilling is lump hardwood charcoal. The irregular shapes of this charcoal make it pleasingly rustic, and the varied surface area helps the charcoal to burn better we think.

We also smoked with wood chunks. You can get chips or chunks for smoking. We prefer chunks because they burn hotter and longer. And ohhhh the smell they give off is wonderful.

Back to the brisket:

We trimmed the fat, and applied the dry rub, then got it in the smoker.  Halfway through, we began an occasional wet mop of apple juice,water,honey, brown sugar,whiskey,apple cider vinegar(just a touch to balance the sweetness).

7 hours later we had the BEST, and I mean the BEST brisket we’ve ever had. It had so much flavor that complimented the beef flavor so well-you just cannot get anything like home smoked meat anywhere- sweet,peppery,savory, super tender,just right!

Today for lunch we had smoked brisket quesadillas using our smoked meat perfection and a combination of smoked swiss and mozzerella provolone blend. oh ya.

Then for dinner we pulled out all the stops. We made homemade coleslaw, and cut/fried our own french fries. Hey, you do those things when you have such a wonderfully tasty brisket coming to dinner

Add a little Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and it was such a treat!

Home smoking was well worth it, and so worth sharing. Would you like a slice?

Hallo its Beasley here. This week it was my turn to go on the weekly shopping trip. I really look forward to it, being a traveling bear of sorts. I just love to get out and about, and jumped at the chance to tag along. In our state, there aren’t any laws  regarding bears and seatbelts, so my perch of choice is the dash.

We went to our local thrift store to get some materials on this trip, among other stops.

I’m waiting here for my door to open. Look at the road sludge on the windows! We had quite the snowstorm, and it left its sludgy mark on everything in town.

We didn’t take our camera inside, as there was work to do, hence the lack of pictures. We were pressed for time too, as we usually are. Shopping day is the day we hit town and try to get all the things done in one day, and it can be pretty busy most times. We found some really cool stuff though! Lots of materials for some new friends!

 I stayed in the van while everyone went into the last stop to ahem…guard the Amazingly Beautiful Can of the Best Chips in the World. Somebear needs to be on guard against possible chip thieves. Hey. They’re out there. I should know.um…because I’ve seen them (I must confess there is only one letter separating seen from been….)

I promise I didn’t take it :0) I was a good bear, so I got my very own chip as we all munched and headed home for the evening.

Excuse me…I need a moment of privacy to enjoy this tasty treat :0)

Talk to you soon!

Beasley on the Moor