We’re coming up on another holiday weekend - at least here in The States. For those of you elsewhere, it may be just another weekend. But here, it’s the last excuse for a barbeque before we just keep doing the same thing but call it a tailgate instead. Even if it’s not actually from a tailgate or at a sporting event, or … you get my point.
But because it’s the last excuse for a barbecue, and because it’s mildly safe to get together with friends as long as we’re outside I thought “you know what? I’ll smoke a brisket and we can have a big Labor Day barbecue and we can hang out int eh yard and play games and drink beer” only instead of that I’ll be driving 12 hours to help celebrate a almost-family event.
So, I made that whole barbeque – minus the yard and friends and beer – to share with all of you instead. Also, I’m gonna have left over brisket on everything for weeks. Brisket nachos, brisket hash, brisket brisket with a side of brisket. I’m literally snacking on brisket right now as I write this with smokey smelling slightly greasy fingers. And of course, the best part of any barbecue tradition is sides – so I got a little weird with those as well.
There are lots of opinions about barbecue, and different styles and techniques and what is and is not “real” (side eye at you, state that we shall no name here) and everyone gets all cranky and orthodox about it.
Just ignore them and enjoy some smoked meat, the enforced laziness of waiting for it to slow cook. Stand around with friend and family and a cold beverage and enjoy that anticipation.
Grilled Sweet Corn with Pimento Cheese
I don’t remember the first time I had pimento cheese, but if I had to guess it was probably around 1993 – on a family vacation to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. My Aunt, Uncle, and cousin lived in North Carolina – and as we were vacationing in South Carolina where they had also lived, made sure we had the option to try some of the local specialties. To me it was just tasty sort of runny cheese dip.
At least that’s how I remember it. Like any other 30 year old memory, it’s gotten a little fuzzy around the edges. Fast forward 20 years to when I was living in Chapel Hill and became a firm devotee of the stuff. I mean, what’s not to love about a mixture of cheese and mayonnaise?
Fast forward another ten years and my junk-food corrupted brain was thinking about Korean Corn Cheese and says to itself “you know, we should put pimento cheese on the corn.” And we did. And it was good. Kinda weird, kinda odd, but really, really delicious.
4 ears sweet corn
1 tbsp kosher salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp Pimento Cheese Topping (below)
Shuck the corn. I like to leave the husk as both a handle for grilling and because … well, it looks cool
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Add the salt, and the butter to the water.
Add the corn –leaving the husk out of or above the water if you’ve chosen to leave it on.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Remove from the water and allow to cool to room temperature.
Preheat your grill to a high temperature.
Quickly grill the corn – again leaving the husks out of the flame.
Cook until the corn is warmed through and slightly charred.
Smear each ear with the pimento cheese topping while still very hot.
Serve immediately.
Pimento Cheese Topping
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
2 tbsp softened cream cheese
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp canned diced pimentos
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp granulated sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature.
Combine the cream cheese, the mayonnaise, and the cheddar in a large bowl and use a spatula to combine until an integrated mixture has formed.
In a small bowl, Add the sugar to the chili garlic sauce and stir to dissolve.
Add the sugar/chili mixture and the melted butter to the cheese mixture and stir until well combined.
Fold in the pimentos, taste, and season as desired with additional salt and pepper.
Baked White Beans
From the number of baked bean and baked bean adjacent bean recipes I’ve included in this newsletter, you’d think I’d falled deep down the brief, weird, and now oft overlooked pandemic era bean hole. Remember that moment back in 2020 where you couldn’t find beans because suddenly everyone stuck at home was making every imaginable bean dish? I honestly never decided whether that was panic about supply, the fact that really everyone loves beans, or you know … if you’re not going into the office the … um … side effects of a bean heavy diet are less threating. At least to others.
The thing is, I was like this way before the pandemic. I’ve always loved baked beans. In my immediate post college years, a can of baked beans and a sliced up grocery store brand hotdog felt like a gourmet feast (disclaimer – I will still happily eat this today or any day.) As I got to be a better cook, I started making baked beans from scratch – using dried beans for more control over the flavor and texture.
But those were always tomato based. I’d make white bean dishes with Italian or French flavor profiles … so I thought why not make tomato-free white American style baked beans. They’re not better. They’re not worse. They’re just different.
And a lot less likely to stain your shirt.
1 cup dry navy beans
4 cups chicken stock
1 large onion
2 pieces smokey thick cut bacon
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 large jalapeno pepper
salt and pepper to taste
The night before cooking, soak the beans in 4 cups of cool water with a pinch of salt.
Soak overnight.
Peel, trim, and dice the onion.
Remove the stem and seeds, and dice the jalapeno.
Cut the bacon into thin strips and add to a thick bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Once some of the fat has rendered, but before the bacon begins to brown, add the onion.
Cook until the onion is translucent, but not browned.
Drain the beans, and add to the pot along with the thyme, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce.
Bring to a low simmer and cook until the beans are tender.
Beef Fat Crisped Garlic and Sage Marble Potatoes
Fried sage leaves are awesome. They’re flavorful, they’re crisp, and if I’m honest, the best thing about them is they just look so darned cool. Jewel like and bright green and so different than almost any other garnish I can think of.
They also go great with fried potatoes.
That’s it. That’s the whole description. Delicious fried potatoes with pretty, tasty sage leaves.
1 lb small multi-colored marble potatoes
4 tbsp rendered beef fat (brisket trim or store bought)
4 cloves garlic
4-6 large fresh sage leaves
salt & pepper to taste
Peel, trim, and mince the garlic cloves.
Wash, trim (remove any eyes, stems, etc.) the potatoes.
Cut the potatoes in half.
Salt the potatoes generously.
Add the beef fat to a lidded fry pan and heat until it’s fully melted, and shimmers slightly.
Add the whole sage leaves and fry, turning occasionally, until they’re crisp and a deep jade color. Remove the sage leaves and drain them on a paper towel.
Add the potatoes to the pan, toss well, reduce the heat to low, and cover tightly.
Cook until the potatoes are very tender – usually about 20 minutes.
Remove the lid, arrange the potatoes in the pan so that the cut side is down.
Increase the heat to medium.
Cook until the potatoes are crisp and brown.
Add the garlic to the pan, toss well, and cook 1-2 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with the fried sage leaves.
Slow Smoked BBQ Brisket with Smoked Vegetable BBQ Sauce
There’s nothing special about this brisket recipe. The sauce is a little fun, but in the end it’s just a way to get a nice barbecues sauce. The fact that there’s nothing special about this recipe is a good thing. There’s something to be said for a little simplicity, a little but of “well, this is how I’ve always done it.”
That’s probably not a good outlook for you know, managing a large company, or avoiding getting hit by falling objects, but when it comes to making brisket, it works pretty well.
A note. This requires a smoker. It doesn’t require a super-expensive-automatic-feeder-burns-those-little-things-that-look-like-guinea-pig-food smokers you see at the big box store or on your brother-in-law’s Facebook page. It doesn’t have to come with a branded camo hat and a canvas vest. It just needs something that’ll maintain a constant low temperature and put some smoke on it. That can be everything from a run-of-the-mill gas grill with a smoker box to what I use – a cheap electric vertical smoker. I bought it to smoke sausages and think I paid about $150.
One other note, the BBQ sauce below really does require a good blender. You could probably make a decently smooth product with a food processor, but there would be a lot of straining and re-processing involved.
1 large piece brisket, deckle fat removed
1 recipe Brisket Rub (below)
1 recipe smoked Vegetable BBQ Sauce (below)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp yellow mustard
Foil or uncoated butcher paper for wrapping (opt)
Trim the brisket, leaving about ¼ inch fat.
Whisk together the Worcestershire sauce, the sugar, and the mustard.
Brush the brisket with the sauce/sugar/mustard mixture.
Generously coat the brisket with rub.
Set up your smoker.
Smoke the brisket at 200°F-225°F until the internal temperature reaches 195°F - depending on the size and thickness of the meat, this may take as little as 4hrs, or up to 8-10 hrs.
You can choose, as I often do but didn’t this time, to wrap the meat in foil or uncoated butcher paper after the temp reaches the so-called “stall.” Long story short, there will be a long pause in temperature rising at around 170°F – wrapping helps speed up the cook though that phase, but may effect the texture of the meat and especially the bark – the dark crusty flavorful mess that forms on the outside of a slowly smoked meat. I’ve tried both – I like both. Feel free to go either way.
Allow to cool somewhat before slicing.
Serve with smoked vegetable BBQ Sauce.
Brisket Rub
3 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp American Style Chili Powder
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp yellow mustard seed
2 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp red chili flake
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp rubbed sage
Place all ingredients in the container of a spice mixer or the bowl of a mortar and pestle and process until a very fine powder forms.
Smoked Vegetable BBQ Sauce
1 large onion
4 large very ripe tomatoes
1 stalk celery
1 red bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
2 granny smith apples
¼ cup raisins (no, really, trust me)
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 allspice berries
2 whole cloves
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp black peppercorns
Soak the raisins in warm water. Or bourbon. Why not.
Peel, trim, and quarter the onion.
Quarter the tomatoes.
Trim the celery, removing the stem end.
Peel the garlic.
Core and quarter the red pepper.
Peel the apples, remove the stems, and quarter them – leaving the core intact (feel free to discard the seeds – they’re easy to pop out with the point of a knife.)
Arrange the Onions, tomatoes, celery, garlic, and apples on a sheet pan (one that will fil in your smoked) lined with foil.
Smoke at ~200°F for 1 hour. The goal here is to apply smoke, not to cook – so temp is not as much of an issue as smoke time.
Remove from the smoker and allow to cool somewhat.
Transfer the smoked vegetables, along with the rest of the ingredients, to the container of a high-speed blender.
Process until very smooth.
Pour the puree into a thick bottomed pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Cook for 1 hour.
Strain through a fine strainer, using a spatula to press the mixture through, and discarding any remaining solids.
Return to the heat and
Cook until thickened to your preference – I like to shoot for the texture of commercial American style ketchup.
Black Plum Biscuit Cobbler with No-Churn Sour Cream Ice Cream
I’m continuing my “this is a desert from and for a guy who doesn’t make deserts” thing this week. But it’s also a good desert for this meal and that’s true in two ways. First, cobbler – being a modest sort of construction – goes great with barbeque. Like the smoked meat, it’s a little bit of a fix it and forget it sort of thing. Secondly, it’s stone fruit season – or at least the trailing end of it – and that means I can get plums to make it. In fact, plumb cobbler is one of the only ways I really enjoy plums – so more the better.
I’ve also included a recipe for no-churn sour cream ice cream as a topping. I’ve included recipes for ice creams before – but those assume you have or have access to an ice cream freezer. This one assumes you have access to a can opener and a freezer. No-churn ice creams rely on high sugar content and fat to keep from freezing hard. Sometimes that can be a bit much – but the sour cream here tempers that sweetness and makes this a great topping for the sort of sweet/sour/bitter of the late summer plums in the cobbler.
Topping
1 ½ cups AP flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp very cold unsalted butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup whole milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Add the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder to a large bowl.
Whisk to combine.
Cut the cold butter into thin slices.
Using your fingers, or a pastry tool, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a fine crumb.
Add the milk, and vanilla, and mix just until combined.
Filling
6 black plumbs
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp AP flour
¼ tsp ground cardamom
Wash the plumbs, making sure to remove any super evil infernal awful produce stickers.
Remove the pits and cut the plums into 8ths.
Add the plumbs, flour, sugar, and cardamom to a bowl and toss to coat the plumbs well.
Preheat your oven to 375°F.
To assemble, grease a baking dish – or multiple ramekins or gratin pans – with butter.
Spoon the plum mixture into the pan.
Spoon the topping batter over the top.
Bake at 375°F until the topping is well browned and the filling is bubbling.
Serve with No-Churn Sour Cream Ice Cream.
No Churn Sour Cream Ice Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
Pour the whipping cream into a clean, chilled bowl.
Whisk until stiff peaks form
In another clean bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the sweetened condensed milk.
Carefully fold the condensed milk/sour cream mixture into the whipped cream
Transfer into a tightly lidded container just large enough to hold the contents (try to minimize airspace on top) and freeze for at least 4 hours, and up to over night before serving.