Super Brisket Poppers part 2

We enjoyed our brisket poppers on Sunday so much we decided to go for it again tonight.  However we changed up the recipe a bit.  First, I fried up the bacon in a pan and took the bacon out to drain.  Next I added a little butter to the bacon grease and stirred in half an onion to caramelize.  When the onions were good and greasy, I turned off the burner and added the chopped brisket to warm it up.

While the onions were cooking we sliced and seeded a few of those great big 3-4 inch jalapenos.
We added the mixture to the jalapeno shells as seen at the top photo.  Then added a thin layer of refried beans to keep the mixture in place, and added shredded cheese across the top.

Finally, we added the fried bacon on the top and had a mighty feast.  The crispy fresh jalapenos added a nice bite that was missing when we baked them on Sunday.  I think we like both methods, almost equally.  The big advantage is by not melting the cheese on a pan in the oven, you only have the bacon pan to clean up.  Slightly less messy, but just as yummy.

A great way to enjoy some overcooked brisket.

Super Brisket Poppers

Since our recent smoke produced some overcooked brisket we decided to turn part of it into jalapeno poppers.  My Mrs rounded up some huge jalapenos, up to 4 inches long.  We sliced and seeded each pepper, then added some finely chopped onions.  On top of the onions we put a thin layer of refried beans.  The beans provide a slightly sticky substrate so the chopped onions and crumbled brisket don't fall out when you eat them.  The brisket came next, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and thick sliced bacon over all.  We cut the bacon to size using kitchen shears rather than wrapping it.  We've found that to be the easiest method.

We covered them with an upturned cake pan (to keep bacon from spattering in the oven) and baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

We enjoyed them so much we plan to have them again this week!

Home smoke 6/22/18

Brisket and chicken were on sale this week and Mrs O. has been itching to do some smoking.  Today we scratched her itch.  We had a little 8 pound choice brisket which I trimmed down, coated with North Main All N 1 seasoning, wrapped in plastic, and put in the fridge over night.  My Mrs put it on the smoker at 8:30 am and kept the smoke going all day.  We pulled it off about 4 pm, wrapped in foil, and put it in the oven at 250 degrees for 2 more hours.  Usually, we have to cut briskets in half to fit in our little bullet smoker, however this one just fit on the rack with only a little trimming. 

 

Meanwhile her 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts had been soaking in her secret marinade.  When the brisket came off the smoker, the chicks went on for two hours.  A coating of BBQ sauce followed, then another 20 minutes on the smoker. 

Everything came out to rest about 6:30 pm.  Here's the brisket when we unwrapped it about 8:30 pm. 

It was a bit crispy around the edges and a bit overdone in the middle.  However that's not a bad thing as we plan on doing a bunch of jalapeno poppers with the brisket on Sunday. 

The chicken came out awesome with good smoke flavor and very tender and juicy.  The only change I think we'll make next time is maybe do the sauce coating a bit earlier so it will caramelize better.  The chicken and brisket made for a yummy dinner and we'll have leftovers for the next week or so along with the aforementioned poppers.

Smoked Fort Worth NEW BBQ FEST October 13th

http://www.smokedbbqfest.com/

The folks who have brought us Smoked Dallas for the last 4 years just announced the first Smoked Fort Worth will be happening October 13th in the Fort Worth Stockyards.  Yummy!

No details yet, just the announcement, but we want to be there!  We already have our VIP tix for Smoked Dallas.  5 for 5, baby!

Birthright BBQ Festival, Dallas, 6/17/18

http://birthrightbbqfest.com/

This was a fun little festival in a small Dallas park surrounded by green space with historic old buildings collected from around North Texas.  There were only a handful of pitmasters and restaurants in attendance, but the food was uniformly excellent and plentiful.  Four Corners Brewing provided cool refreshments to beat the heat and humidity.

The Mrs and I arrived about 20 minutes before opening and joined the line already formed outside the gates.  The gates opened right on time, at 1 pm, and we were off to find some smoked meats.

Our first stop was at Feges BBQ for some cabrito tacos.  Next up was Buxton Hall, who cooked up a couple of North Carolina style whole hogs.

Next up was Cattleack BBQ for some of their excellent brisket along with some beans and potato salad.  They included a nice slice of moist and lean brisket and my Mrs got some nice burnt ends.  She shared.  Misty and Todd knocked it out of the park, like they always do.  We went back for seconds, later.

 

 

Next up we decided to get in the long line to visit Aaron Franklin.  Aaron had joined forces with Leroy and Lewis BBQ to cook a half steer, cowboy style, for the event.  A trench full of hot coals, cinder blocks, and a metal grate were all they needed to make some fine BBQ.  As usual, Aaron Franklin created a very long line.  He visited with every patron and took photos with most of the folks at the festival, including Mrs O.

Our final BBQ stop was with Smokey John's for some of their tasty sausage.  They had actually hung their sausages in an old smokehouse at the park and smoked them right there on site.  They were delicious and we actually made a couple of return visits to their booth. 

We spent the rest of the evening drinking cold Four Corners beer, wandering around the grounds, and visiting with friends. This event sold out so I expect to be back again next year for more good BBQ in this lovely setting.