Community Table: Nick's Barbecue Brisket

I have never seen a man seem so perfectly in his element than my husband, Nick, grilling barbecue brisket.   Maybe grilling is the wrong word.  It is an all day barbecue, with a beer in hand.  Over the years I will admit that I have monopolized the kitchen. But on brisket day I surrender my kitchen haven and, unless specifically called upon, my nosy interjections, to Nick and his process.  If you are a regular reader of this blog, I have given you glimpses of this succulent meat, but not until now have I been able to give up the recipe.   It is only after 4, nay 5 attempts at perfection that I am allowed to document it.  Sometimes Nick's complaint is a less than perfect texture, but searching for the perfect balance of spices has also taken some time.  Nick resembles some sort of mad scientist or potion maker mixing and measuring condiments and spices.  Then it is a 6-8 hour process  of slow cooking this meat on the grill, frequently checking that the temperature doesn't get too high.  It's like Atlas holding up the sun and drinking beer with his other hand.

It all starts with a good cut of meat.  This one is from Brooklyn Kitchen.

Here you need to trim the layer of fat around your brisket until it is about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch thick.

Nick's Slow Cooked Barbecue Brisket

• a 3 to 4 pound beef brisket
• canola oil
• apple juice

For the Dry Rub:

• 1/8 cup garlic salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon chicory coffee (like Cafe Du Monde brand)

For the Wet Rub:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon ground mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Worcester Sauce

For the Wrapping Mixture:

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter 

*The technique for this brisket is adapted from Adam Perry Lang's book Serious Barbecue.  Adam Perry Lang is owner and chef of Daisy May's BBQ.

1. Mix your seasonings in three separate bowls.  Add you wet rub to the meat and then the dry.  let sit for 1 hour.
2. Preheat your charcoal grill with a packet of hickory wood chips to 275 degrees.
3. Using your hands or a brush, evenly, but lightly coat the brisket with canola oil.  Insert a remote thermometer in the thickest part of the brisket. 
4. Put your brisket on the cooker with the fat side down.  After 2 hours, spray every hour with apple juice.   Cook until the internal temperature reaches about 165 degrees, should take 6 1/2 to 7 hours.
5. Lay out two sheets of aluminum foil (heavy duty is probably best), put you brisket on top, and pour your wrapping mixture over it.  Wrap it up securely and reinsert your thermometer.  Put back on the grill and cook until the internal temperature is 195 degrees.  Should take 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
6. Line a small cooler with an old, clean beach towel for insulation.
7. Remove your brisket form the grill and carefully unwrap over a baking dish or disposable pan, reserving the liquid.
8. Lay out 2 more sheets of aluminum foil and put your brisket on it.  Over a measuring cup, strain the reserved liquid from the baking dish through a fine mesh strainer.  Discard the solids.  Allow the fat to come to the top, pour off and then discard.  Pour the defatted liquid onto the brisket.  Wrap your aluminum foil around your brisket place in a disposable pan or baking dish and transfer to cooler.  Cover with towel, close the lid and let rest for 1 hour.  When the brisket has rested for 30 minutes, increase your cooking temperature to 300 degrees.
9. Place your meat back on the grill for 30 minutes.
10. Cut your meat on a cutting board.  Make sure you cut against the grain.  Lang says to let it rest 10 minutes, but so far we have not been able to show that kind of restraint.

Sunday Night at Home: Reinventing Meat Loaf

How did I arrive at the ripe old age of...however old I am...never to have made a meat loaf.  Really.  Before last night I had never made a meat loaf.  That great staple of American comfort food completely slipped out of the radius of my vision for home dinners.  Maybe I didn't think that meat loaf was very exciting. I now know that I was seriously over looking its potential.  My epiphany is thanks to Allison Ehri Kreitler of  Fine Cooking magazine, who has broken down the process of meat loaf-making to a mix and match formula of ingredients paired with a template of techniques.  And really, like any good cooking, it is all about good ingredients.


That being said, if you are thinking of picking up a package of "pink-on -the-outside-gray-on-the-inside," hormone, antibiotic and corn stuffed beef that you get on a styreofoam tray at the supermarket, I implore you to reconsider.  Every March I tip the scale of balanced nutrition towards more meat laden dishes.  Perhaps it was all that Lenten meat deprivation I had growing up.  ( Just kidding, Mom!) As you can see I didn't exactly opt for a Sunday eggplant roast.   So now, let's talk turkey for a minute.  If you live in or near New York note that Dipaola's Turkey farm in New Jersey is probable the only reason I eat turkey on a day that isn't Thanksgiving.  Did you get that?  Dipaola's Turkey.  It will change the way you think about turkey.  You will find no over stuffed, dry, bleach white turkey breasts here.  For this recipe I chose their sweet fennel, Italian style turkey sausage.

Then there are the flavor boosters, i.e. well chosen aromatics and spices that can really make this dish interesting.  Once you have all those flavors packed a perfectly shaped rectangular brick, you need to hold all those juices in so the meat does not dry out.  Kreitler recommends wrapping it in bacon or glazing it with honey or ketchup.

Turkey and Fennel Sausage Meatloaf


1 red onion chopped fine
1/2 a leek (green parts included) chopped
1 small fennel bulb chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 slices of bread (in this case I used 3 slices of whole grain and one sourdough which just happened to be what I had available)
1 cup of milk
2 lbs. loose ground Dipaola's sweet Italian turkey sausage
1/3 of a cup olives pitted and chopped
1/2 a cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I may have went over.  I am always a little heavy handed when it comes to cheese.)
1/2 a teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 eggs
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt (I used a finely ground sea salt because more often than not that is what I have available.)
1/2  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons honey

1. Heat your olive oil and sautee` your aromatics, meaning your onion, garlic, fennel and leek.  Stir until they sweat, soften and then become translucent.  Transfer to a bowl to cool.
2. In a shallow dish, soak your bread slices in milk, flipping once.  Lightly squeeze out excess milk.  Chop the bread fine and add to the bowl with the cooked aromatics.                                                                  
3. Position your oven rack in the center and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
4. Add meat and eggs to a large bowl and proceed to add all remaining ingredients including bread and sauteed aromatics.
5. Thoroughly mix by kneading the ingredients together with wet hands.  Wet hands will keep the the mixture from sticking to your fingers.
6. Line the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish with parchment paper.  In the center of the parchment you want to mold the meat into a rectangular brick shape approximately 10 inches by 4 inches.
7. Using a basting brush, glazed the meat with honey.
8. Bake until the center reaches 160 degrees.  To check use and instant read thermometer and place in the center of the meat.  should bake approximately 45 to 55 minutes.

The result of this recipe was seriously delicious.  If I were to do it again I think I might swap out half of the turkey sausage misxture for plain ground turkey (from Dipaola's, of course.) to let some of the other flavors shine.  If you try that before I do, let me know how it turns out.

The Classics: Beouf Bourguignon

In art, there are times when you invent and times when you follow a master.  When I have needed inspiration or a technique refresher in painting, I turned to a master painter.  Last night I turned to the master of home cooks to help me in the kitchen, Julia Child.  I am inspired by her patience. Dare I admit that on an off day I have watched that episode where she makes a cheese souflee` three times?  It just goes to show that an attention to detail and technique can result in a baked cream that defies gravity.  But what I admire most about Julia Child was her persistance.  At the start of her culinary endeavor she had very little to no knowledge of cooking.  When first presenting her cookbook series for publication, it was turned down numerous times.  So perhaps I am not the culinary magician that can create a cheese souffle` (or any other souffle` for that matter). But I won't give up on the idea that it will happen someday.  Like perhaps many other things in my life.  Maybe I was just in the mood for a really good beef stew but I think that it is Julia's spirit of persistence I really needed to emulate. Last night I donned Julia's pearls and sense of can-do so as to recreate her Beouf Bourguignon.

The herb and vegetable bouquet

Supper Club: Potluck Bar-B-Que

Who says you can't have a bar-be-que past labor day? May be even a month past labor day.  It seems that most of Nick's favorite foods begin with the word "barbequed."  This summer he bought a new charcoal grill and, with the help of our our friend, Joe, has been exploring smokey, grilled meat as an art form.  It is hard work, let me tell you.

Choosing the meat is the first chore.  I picked up a rack of grass-fed beef ribs from a CSA in Long Island City where the meat is provided by Lewis Waite Farms. http://www.lewiswaitefarm.com/csa.html

Nick and Joe picked up another rack of pork ribs from Topps Supermarket in Williamsburg along with a six pack of Stella.  They start with a homemade rub made by grinding mustard seed, brown sugar, peppercorns and salt in our molcajete. 

Then they slow smoked the meat starting at around noon for  about 4 hours at 200 degrees.  This is a long day of labor that entails checking the meat, talking about the meat, playing music and drinking beer.  That leaves me to come up with some complimentary sides.

Buttermilk Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chives

This is a nice fall variation on our regular mashed potatoes.  Sweet potatoes can be a little intense for a mashed potato dish so I like to mix them with a white or gold potato.  In this case,  I used three small, red russian potatoes to one large sweet potato.  If you have never had or seen a red russian potato it looks like your standard red potato but has golden flesh like a yukon gold.

You want to cook the potatoes until they are soft, not just cooked through.  Then you will get a nice creamy consistency.  Add a pat of butter, salt, pepper, buttermilk and chives, then blend with a hand mixer.

Roasted Eggplant and Yellow Tomatoes

If there is any thing that tastes like the end of summer (although I know it is early fall) it is this dish).  The tomatoes and eggplant paired with basil are bright and fresh tasting.  They pair nicely with the richness of the meat and potatoes.

First I drizzle a little olive oil on the bottom of the a baking dish.  Then I start layering slices of eggplant and tomatoes, giving a little drizzle of olive oil again on top and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Then I top that with basil leaves and sprinkle with parmesan cheese (mozzarella would also work nicely).  Repeat three times lasagna style.  Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

Our friends Kevin and Kate made an incredible bagna cauda.  Bagna cauda is an Italian crudite with a dipping sauce made from garlic, olive oil and anchovy. 

Eggs and veggies for the bagna cauda.

Before the meat was brought out we had to admire the sides.  From top left, buttermilk mashed sweet potatoes,  spicy quinoa salad (made by Joe who is sitting on the left.),  the covered dish is the eggplant and tomatoes, and the bagna cauda is in the saucepan surrounded by goodies to dip in it.

The main course is bought to the table!  

Sometimes eating at home is better than eating out.

Dinner on the Fly: Entertaining on a Weeknight

I would like to feel like my door is always open to the ones I love.  It sounds really simple, doesn't it?  I am making dinner anyway so what's one more (or two or three)?  Sometimes I would even like that dinner to be a little special.

Growing up, even the smallest dinner party was an affair worthy of some serious preparation.  The house was scoured and scrubbed, and food preparations began two days before.  I am not talking about holidays where we hosted thirty relatives.  That was serious.  That might have to be another blog post.  I am talking about smaller dinner parties.  Until the guest (or guests) actually arrived, it seemed like a rather stressful event.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the dinner parties and holidays for that matter.  So I figured out early that if I could make them less of an arduous task then I could probably have them more often.

Sure it's a weeknight. And maybe, just maybe, my apartment isn't perfectly in order.  The floors aren't freshly mopped and the tiles aren't recently scrubbed clean.  That being said, perhaps there also some shortcuts to my gourmet dinner.  This week I did have two friends over for dinner who had not been to my apartment before which means, of course, that they haven't tasted my cooking.  I certainly don't want to disappoint.

It was important to me that I was not busy with food preparations while they were visiting.  As a gracious hostess, I wanted to spend time with my guests.  So I devised a menu where most of the preparations could be done the night before.

Appetizer:  Baked Brie with Fig Jam Wrapped in Puff Pastry

This was all prepared the night before.  So you can pop this in the oven 10 to 20 minutes before your guests arrive.  It will bake about 15 to 20 at 400 degrees.

Sliced apples or pears are a nice pairing with this.

Cut the brie through the center. If you can, use a knife that has a hollow, center blade for cheese.

Add a generous layer of fig jam in the center.

I definitely cheated for this part.  I am hereby apologizing to all the foodie gurus who are reading this but, yes, that is store-bought puff pastry.  If you are a greater home chef than I am you will have your own homemade version in your freezer. So, by all means use that.  I am an imperfect foodie.

Just out of the oven!

Main Course: Coq Au Vin

This is my slow cooker version of the classic. Here you want to do the prep work the night before and then dump your bowl of ingredients in your crock pot before leaving for work.

Start with good quality bacon,

Chop the bacon into pieces and fry it in a skillet with a little butter.  I know, I know... but it probably wouldn't be a french dish if you didn't add butter. (I would say about four thinly sliced bacon strips to a whole chicken.) When the bacon is crispy set aside on a paper towel.  Leave the bacon drippings in the pan.  This is not a light meal after all.

Brown your cut up chicken in the same pan with the bacon fat (make sure you season your chicken with salt and pepper first).  You don't want to cook it through because it is going in the slow cooker.  You just want some good color and to seal in the juices.  Then set the chicken aside, at this point maybe in a large bowl with the bacon. You will end up having all your ingredients in the same bowl. That way you can reach for in the morning when you are ready to put them in the slow cooker.

Now add your aromatics to the same skillet. I used chopped carrots, onion and garlic.  Let that cook until they are soft. Then sprinkle with flour, stir for one more minute.  Add a good red wine and bring to a boil.  I used about three fourths of a bottle of wine.  Once it reaches its boiling point, bring the heat down to a simmer.  How long you want it to simmer depends on how much you want the sauce to reduce.  Essentially, it depends on how thick you want your stew. Then add that to your bowl with the chicken parts and bacon.

Dump your bowl full of cooked ingredients into the crock pot the next morning.  Add chopped button mushrooms, sprigs of thyme and a little extra salt and freshly ground pepper.  Turn your crock pot on low and you're off.

Serve as is or over egg noodles.  I served a very simple salad of pears, red lettuce and almonds, to accompany this dish because it is so rich.

Dessert:  Framboise Lambic Ice Cream Floats

So I learned this cheat trick at a the home of a friend of mine. This dessert is so easy it's pretty self explanatory.  Vanilla ice cream goes in the glass. Pour Framboise Lambic (raspberry, Belgian beer) over it.  Done.  You will be surprised how good this is.

An ice cream float toast to dinners at home with friends!