FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BURNT ENDS SMOKEY BRISKET JACK DANIELS BARBECUE COWBOY BAKED BEANS

20 Jun 2023

BURNT ENDS SMOKEY BRISKET JACK DANIELS BARBECUE COWBOY BAKED BEANS

BIG GREEN EGG COOKING

Barbecue by Miss Kristi-Lou

8 HOUR SLOW SMOKED BRISKET

Set your smoker indirect heat at 120 C / 250 F.

I used organic charcoal and hickory wood chunks.

Jack Daniels Smokey Barbecue Cowboy Baked Beans

For 10 years now I’ve been confidently cooking with wood fire pits and my wood fired oven, I know my woods and temperatures and how to use direct and indirect heat and air flow to control the cook, but now I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone to learn low and slow smoking over wood and coals in a big green egg barbecue smoker.

I already know PATIENCE and TLC is the key to slow barbecue smoking, take care of your fire and air flow, air = heat, take care with your sop, sauce, rub and meat and then the barbecue will take care of itself.

A good practice when cooking on a new barbecue smoker is to fire her up and just play with that fire, do not be tempted to cook the first few times, learn how your smoker works, how much coal and wood chunks are needed in a single load up for a 8-12 hr cook at 120 C and a 3-4 hr cook at 150 C, learn how to use the draft vents to control the temperature inside the smoker, learn the pit falls of stopping the fire going out and how to fluctuate the temperature and to stabilise the temperature. Most of all enjoy your cooking.

The Big Green Egg

BRISKET

Ingredients

1 x 4 kg brisket fat cap intact

Trim off any sinew and silver skin

Injection Marinade

500ml Knorr beef jelly stock

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp fine ground black pepper

1 tbsp fine salt

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar

Warm all ingredients in a saucepan to melt the sugar into the stock, leave to cool before injecting your brisket.

For the Texas Crutch

1 large roll of tin foil

1 500ml bottle pale ale

200ml Knorr beef jelly stock

BRISKET RUB

3 tbsp sea salt flakes

3 tbsp fresh course ground black pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp chipotle powder

3 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried chipotle chilli flakes

Combine all the ingredients together.

Place the brisket on your chopping board or baking tray and rub the spice mix all over.

Now your ready to smoke. Add the wood chunks and place your brisket into your smoker, close the lid and maintain that 120 C / 250 F temperature for 4 hours at this point check the temperature with a digital probe, you are aiming for 66 C / 150 F. This is more likely to be around the 6 hrs cooking time, but you don’t want to go over this temp unwrapped.

When your brisket is reading 66 C / 150 F then your ready for the Texas Crutch! This is a debatable option on should you or should you not! I do.

Take three one and a half meter lengths of foil, place two on top of each other and along the long edge fold over together a few times to join making one large sheet, open out flat and lay the third length in the center of the big sheet, place the brisket in the center and bring up the sides and ends creating a bowl, add half the beer and beef stock, wrap up, roll and scrunch the top of the foil so it is completely sealed. Place back in your smoker and cook for a further 2 hrs, the beer stock will keep the brisket juicy until you reach that fork tender cook.

At this point unwrap the brisket reserving all the cooking juices in to a saucepan for your barbecue sauce. Then wrap the brisket back up in the foil and cover with a tea towel, leave to rest for 1 hour on the side. When ready to serve un-wrap and leave to dry the bark for 10 minutes before serving. Slice against the grain.

BRISKET COWBOY BAKED BEANS

Texas Style Barbecue Sauce

1 cup Heinz tomato ketchup

2/3 cup molasses brown sugar

3 glugs old Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp chipotle powder

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

(reserved brisket juices)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and gently simmer until thick.

Cowboy Beans

2 cans Heinz or bush baked beans

100g diced pancetta

100g dark brown sugar

1 cup of your homemade barbecue sauce (above)

2 cups of your diced brisket and some burnt ends

75 ml Jack daniels

Fresh ground black pepper

Pan sear the pancetta until just crispy, add to a deep saucepan along with the rest of the ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer cook until piping hot, serve with a spoon!

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.