Brisket

I bought a smoker from Wal-Mart last year and I am so glad I did. I love to smoke ribs and brisket. I decided last weekend to smoke some brisket. Smoking is definitely a weekend activity because you need to be around the whole day. It also needs to be started fairly early because you need at least a good eight hours. You want to start out with some wood chips and soak them for a couple of hours in water. Then I put them at the bottom of my roasting pan. Next, I put the smaller pan on top of the wood chips and fill it with water and apple cider vinegar.The brisket had been rubbed the night before with a dry rub. I make the dry rub myself out of brown sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic and onion powder. I rub it on the brisket or ribs, put it in a plastic bag and refrigerate it overnight. The grate goes on top of the water and vinegar pan and meat goes on the grate. I put the brisket in fatty side up so that the fat soaks into the meat. If you put the fat side down, the fat will just drip into your pan and not do anyone any good. Embrace the fat! Fat is your friend! Fat is unfortunately what gives a lot of food its flavor.I brush the meat with barbaque sauce, turn the smoker on low and let it do it's thing. I have to periodically add water and vinegar. You can also add herbs to your water to infuse the meat with more flavor. I will occasionally use rosemary in the water.The smoke starts to come out of the top and every time you step outside, you are reminded by the smell that supper tonight will be wonderful!Don't let the weather keep you off your deck! Even though the thermometer said almost 20 below, the wind chill that day made it feel more like 40 below. You struggle on because you are a Minnesotan and no amount of cold is going to keep you from doing what you love! Here I am in the smoker's lounge.

Doesn't that look yummy? Happy smoking and I don't mean the cigarette kind!