You don't need no teef to eat this beef!

The man at Fallon Hills Ranch has been trying hard to sell us a brisket at the farmers market every Sunday. A whole brisket is quite a commitment, but a few weeks ago, he had half-briskets and we decided to go for it. Alex did a bunch of research on traditional Texan barbecue and then spent a day while he worked from home making this incredible BBQ brisket!

It began with a dry rub the night before:

The Rub

2 Tbsp Roasted Ground Cumin

1 Tbsp Spanish Sweet Paprika

1 Tbsp California Paprika

1 Tbsp Hungarian Sweet Paprika

1 Roasted Dry Ancho Pepper (stem and seeds removed)

1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 tsp Mace

1 Tbsp Alaea Hawaiian Salt

1 Tbsp Salish Smoked Salt

2 Tbsp Black Pepper

Grind everything above in a coffee grinder without cleaning any residual coffee grounds out of the grinder! Then add a whole bulb of chopped garlic to the ground spice mix and rub it in to the meat. The rubbed meat sat in the fridge for 11 hours, and then moved to the counter to warm up to room temperature for about 2 hours. Sear the meat in a cast iron pan with a sliced onion. Remove the meat from the pan when it's good and brown and place it fat-side-down in a tagine (or dutch oven). Let the onions caramelize in the cast iron pan and then add the sauce mixture below. Cook the sauce for about five minutes and then pour it over the seared brisket.

The Sauce

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 Cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/4 Cup Black Coffee
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Molasses
1/2 Cup Water
1 Shot Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Cup Rub (see above)

Cook the brisket for 6 hours in a 250F oven. Take the brisket out of the sauce to let it rest while you make the rest of the sauce. Use an immersion blender (or a normal blender) to blend the sauce with 2 large tomatoes, about a teaspoon of fresh ginger, juice from half a lemon, and a tablespoon of yellow mustard seeds. Then cook the sauce on the stove for about an hour until it's thick. Pour the sauce over the brisket and it's ready to eat!

I whipped up some cornbread and a slaw out the veggies we had in the fridge - carrots and poblano peppers. I grated the carrots and peppers, chopped some cilantro, and mixed it all up with  big splash of apple cider vinegar, a few scoops of mayonnaise, and a dash of cumin, paprika, and salt.

Alex made Black & Tans by mixing 1:1 Peregrin Pilsner and Sierra Nevada Porter.  Supposedly you can get the porter to float on top of the pilsner if you pour it over the back of a spoon into the glass... we didn't have much luck with this, perhaps the density of the beers we used was not right. Either way, it was darn tasty!

 When all was said and done we had a fabulous BBQ dinner!

And Alex even paired the meal with some music from Reverend Payton's Big Damn Band:

Proper Pasta

Throughout my culinary education one thing was continuously beaten into my head: Always cook pasta in a liberal amount of salted water! The water to pasta ratio should be as high as possible. Though recently cooking with my step-mom (who has an Italian heritage) shattered this pasta cooking concept. She cooked her pasta in as little liquid as possible, and not just water, she uses stock! It's so simple, and so brilliant. The pasta takes on the flavor of the stock, turning it into a meal of it's own, and not just another starchy vehicle for other foods. Also, I haven't observed any adverse effects of cooking pasta in a minimal amount of liquid -I've actually been trying to cook pasta in exactly enough liquid, so there's hardly any left in the pan by the time it's done cooking. When I saw my step-mom do this for the first time, I mentioned it must be her Italian heritage, because it's an Italian tradition (in some regions, at least), to cook pasta in a minimal amount of water and use the water as the base for the pasta sauce. My step-mom had never heard of this, so it's clearly just in her blood to do awesome things with pasta. And now, a picture of pasta in stock!:

One happy girl and her sauerkraut!

I'm on a sauerkraut kick again. I couldn't wait to get home this evening so I could have my daily bowl of cabbage and microbes! Perhaps I'm just connecting with my German roots, but sauerkraut sure is tasty and makes me feel great! On a trip to Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh over the holidays my dinner came with the most amazing hot sauerkraut I think I've ever had. It was milder, sweeter perhaps, and served hot made it oh-so-comforting. A few days ago I stopped by the German delicatessen near my work and was blown away by their sauerkraut collection. They have sauerkraut made with red or green cabbage, sauerkraut juice, and a wide variety of brands of regional flavors of plain 'ole traditional sauerkraut. I noticed the Bavarian style is made with white wine in addition to the usual cast of characters and bought it. It's my favorite. The sweetness from the wine adds a wonderful level of complexity and distracts from the possible bacterial harshness. According to Wikipedia, sauerkraut has high levels of vitamin C, lactobaccili, and other vital nutrients. It's credited as being the antidote to almost any ailment, prevents cancer, and may even be an aphrodisiac! Woohoo! In conclusion, I would like to extend a special thanks to Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Leuconostoc, and Lactobacillus for making sauerkraut possible!