Brisket that's worth the time and effort

For years, I used a brisket recipe handed down by my former father-in-law. All you had to do was sprinkle the brisket with Lawry's Seasoned Salt and garlic salt, top it with sliced onion and bell pepper and douse it with some liquid smoke. Cover the whole thing in foil and cook in the oven for several hours on low heat. A half hour before it's done, remove the foil, slather on some Woody's Cook-in' Sauce and cook for another 30 minutes. It took about 10 minutes of prep time, then you let it cook all day, and voila, you had a pretty decent brisket.

I traded potential taste for ease of preparation, but deep down in my heart, I knew I was taking the easy way out.

The fact of the matter is that great brisket takes time and careful nurturing. You don't cook it in an oven, and you don't use liquid smoke to impart a true smoky flavor. That can only be achieved by wood and charcoal.

So, when Bon Appétit published the Southwestern Barbecued Brisket with Ancho Chile Sauce recipe a few years ago, it caught my eye, and I decided to quit being so lazy and put in the work it takes to make a great brisket.

Oh man, was it worth it!

The recipe listed below is simple in its preparation, but plan to spend all day nursing this baby to fruition. As I've said before, I abhor gas grills. Charcoal is the thing for me, and that means it's more difficult to maintain a constant 250 degree incubator. You have to cook the meat slowly to break down the naturally tough brisket and give it plenty of time to absorb the smoky goodness of the hickory chips.

The ancho chile powder used in the rub and sauce isn't easy to find (at least in Amarillo), but try to avoid substituting just plain old chile powder. Ancho chile powder is made from poblanos, and it has a smoky flavor quite different from your typical chile powder.

While I've added the preparation information for the sauce, I prefer my brisket with only the rub. It really doesn't need any sauce to enhance it; however, barbecue is admittedly a matter of personal taste, so if you have to have sauce, this is a good one. I have to add the disclaimer, though. The only time I made the sauce, I didn't have ancho chile powder. Like I said, it's hard to find it in Amarillo, but the last time I was in Houston, I picked up some at Whole Foods.

I know that you're thinking that you don't have time to spend all day babysitting the grill just to make a brisket, but I promise that you won't be sorry. Find a day when you're planning on staying home anyway, maybe doing some chores around the house. All you need to do is check the grill about every 15 minutes or so to ensure that the temperature is staying close to 250.

Once you've tasted your efforts, don't be surprised if you start thinking about buying one of those trailerable barbecue rigs and hitting the road for one of Texas' many barbecue cook-offs.

Southwestern Barbecued Brisket with Ancho Chile Sauce
Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ancho chile powder*
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 5-to 5 1/2-pound flat-cut (also called first-cut) brisket with 1/4- to 1/2-inch layer of fat on 1 side
• 4 cups hickory or oak wood chips, soaked in water 1 hour
• 4 disposable 6 x 3 3/4 x 2-inch mini aluminum loaf pans (for wood chips, if using gas grill)
• 2 11 3/4 x 8 1/2x1 1/4-inch disposable aluminum pans (for brisket)
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil
• Ancho Chile Sauce

Preparation

Mix first 7 ingredients in small bowl. Rub spice blend over brisket. Wrap brisket in plastic; refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

For charcoal grill:
Remove top rack from barbecue. Prepare barbecue (low heat). Light briquettes in chimney; pour onto 1 side of lower grill rack (you'll need to light more briquettes in chimney to replenish 2 or 3 more times during grilling). Drain 2 cups wood chips. Scatter 2 cups wood chips over coals. Return grill rack to barbecue. Heat barbecue to 300°F.

For gas grill:
Remove top rack from barbecue. Prepare barbecue (low heat). If using 2-burner grill, light 1 burner. If using 3-burner grill, do not light center burner. Drain 2 cups wood chips. Stack 2 mini loaf pans (one inside the other); fill with 1 cup wood chips. Stack remaining loaf pans; fill with 1 cup wood chips. Place pans over flame (if using 3-burner grill, place both pans on 1 lit side). Return rack to barbecue. Heat barbecue to 300°F. (If temperature rises too high on 3-burner grill, turn off burner without chips.)

Unwrap brisket and arrange fat side up in 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/4-inch aluminum pan; place pan over unlit part of barbecue. Cover barbecue. Cook brisket until instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 160°F, adjusting vents or adding more charcoal as needed (if using charcoal grill) or adjusting gas levels (if using gas grill) to maintain temperature inside barbecue grill at 250°F, about 31/2 hours. Baste brisket occasionally with pan juices and add more drained wood chips as needed.

Remove pan with brisket. Discard pan and juices. Wrap brisket tightly in 2 wide sheets of heavy-duty foil. Place in clean 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/4-inch aluminum pan. Return to grill over unlit side, maintaining temperature inside grill at 250°F, until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of center of brisket registers 190°F, about 1 1/2 hours longer. Transfer brisket in pan to rimmed baking sheet. Let rest at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.

Carefully unwrap brisket, saving any juices in foil. Transfer juices to small pitcher. Place brisket on work surface. Thinly slice brisket across grain; transfer to platter. Brush brisket with some of juices. Serve with any remaining juices and Ancho Chile Sauce.

* Available in the spice section of many supermarkets and at Latin markets.

Ancho Chile Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 dried ancho chile, stemmed, seeded, coarsely torn*
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon (packed) dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Preparation

Place chile in medium bowl. Pour enough boiling water over to cover; let soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid.

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste; stir 2 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add wine and softened chile; simmer 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons reserved chile soaking liquid, ketchup, and all remaining ingredients. Simmer 3 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree sauce in blender, adding more reserved soaking liquid by tablespoonfuls if too thick. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

* Available at many supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Latin markets.

A good reason to cook

I love to cook, but only because I can more or less do it when I want to.

We're not one of those families that sits down to a family dinner every night. In fact, we forage more often than we cook. With all my travel and our busy schedules, preparing meals is a heck of a lot of work, and sometimes I just don't have the energy. Jami's already told you she doesn't like to cook, so if we're cooking, it falls on me (she handles cleanup duty, which, given the way I cook, is much more work than the actual preparation of the meal.)

One nice thing about this blog, though, is it gives me another reason to cook.

We were exhausted after our Saturday supper club party (more on that in an upcoming post). We didn't stop partying until about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, which is very late for us, so I was surprised I still felt like cooking on Sunday.

The menu: Goat Cheese Salad With Pancetta, Dried Cherry and Port Dressing, Honey-Marinated Pork With Gremolata and Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges With Smoked Chile Cream.



The recipes, all from Bon Appétit (epicurious.com), are included below, but here's a quick summary.

Honey-Marinated Pork With Gremolata: There are a lot of mediocre pork tenderloin recipes out there, and this one fits right into that category. I was optimistic about the honey marinade. Pork tenderloin can sometimes come across as too salty, and I was hoping the honey would offset the natural saltiness, but it actually imparted very little flavor to the pork, and the resulting pan sauces were uninspiring. Jami concurred. She admits she's not a big fan of pork tenderloin anyway, and this recipe didn't do anything to change her opinion. Life's too short to make mediocre recipes, so this one goes in the hopper.

Goat Cheese Salad With Pancetta, Dried Cherry and Port Dressing: This recipe seemed to have a lot of promise, and I thought for sure it would be brimming with flavor. Instead, it was a lot of work with very little payoff. The dressing includes 5 ounces of pancetta, which is enough for a sandwich. It was way too much for the amount of dressing produced. Same with the amount of shallots. If you want to try this one, cut back on the shallots by half and only use about 2 ounces of pancetta. Instead of mixed greens, I used baby spinach because Jami loves it, but ultimately, this recipe was too much work for the reward.

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges With Smoked Chile Cream: The one bright spot of the meal was the roasted sweet potatoes. I'm not a huge sweet potato fan, but I'm finding that roasting is my preparation method of choice for vegetables. Toss the veggies with a little olive oil, kosher salt and pepper, and throw it in a hot oven, and most likely, the results are going to be good (if you haven't tried that with asparagus, you're really missing out). Sweet potatoes are perfect for roasting. The tart lime juice in the Smoked Chile Cream offers an excellent contrast to the sweetness of the potatoes. If you're worried that 2 teaspoons of Chipotle hot pepper sauce will make the cream too hot, don't. The sour cream softens it so that there is only a hint of heat. My personal Scoville scale, Jami, didn't think it was hot, so that should be all the proof you need. One final note on this keeper of a recipe - those sweet potato wedges make great leftovers, whether heated up or cold.

Here are recipes if you want to try them.

Goat Cheese Salad With Pancetta,
Dried Cherry and Port Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup tawny Port

• 5 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 1 5.5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), cut into 1/2-inch-thick slice

• 1 5-ounce bag mixed salad greens
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation

Combine cherries and Port in heavy small saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat; let stand until cherries swell, about 15 minutes. Sauté pancetta in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Add shallots and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add oil

, then vinegar and sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in cherry mixture. Season with salt and pepper. (Dressing can be made 2 hours ahead. Set aside in skillet at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place goat cheese slices on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until warm, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine salad greens and pine nuts in bowl. Rewarm dressing and pour over salad; toss to blend. Top with warm goat cheese and serve.

Honey-Marinated Pork with Gremolata

Ingredients

• 2 12-to 14-ounce pork tenderloins, trimmed
• 1/3 cup honey
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 teaspoon (or more) fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage

Preparation

Place pork in 11 x 7 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk honey, garlic, and orange juice in small bowl. Pour over pork; turn to coat. Sprinkle pork with 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Transfer pork to plate; reserve marinade. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork to skillet. Brown on all sides, turning often, about 4 minutes. Transfer to oven; cook until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150°F, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to cutting board; let rest 5 minutes. Reserve skillet.

Pour reserved marinade into same skillet; add wine. Boil gently until reduced to 1/2 cup, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Mix orange peel, thyme, rosemary, and sage in small bowl for gremolata. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; transfer to platter. Pour sauce over pork. Sprinkle with gremolata and serve.

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
With Smoked Chile Cream

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion tops (dark green parts), divided
• 2 teaspoons chipotle hot pepper sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 3 pounds medium red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), scrubbed, cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide wedges with skin
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Preparation

Whisk sour cream, 1 tablespoon green onion tops, chipotle hot sauce, and lime juice in small bowl. Cover and chill. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Combine sweet potato wedges, oil, and cumin in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Arrange potato wedges, cut side down, on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Roast until tender and browned in spots, about 20 minutes, reversing pans halfway through roasting. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 425°F oven until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place potato wedges on large platter. Drizzle smoked chile cream over. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons green onion tops and serve.

Sunday night at Jami and Dorsey's

Dorsey prepared Penne Alla Vodka, served with a romaine lettuce salad and Italian Country bread on Sunday.

Yummmmy! It's a recipe worth repeating for company. Dorsey thinks it could have used more salt and pepper, plus more sauce. I, on the other hand, thought the amount of sauce was perfect. Not too soupy, nor too thick. Dorsey says creamier would have been better; in other words, process the tomatoes longer.

Dorsey has a theory about our taste styles: If he can taste the Hot Spicy, then it's probably too hot for me.

So true. He tasted it. I thought it was hot. My mouth is still on fire. Nothing that a little rum can't fix, though. (Being married to Dorsey has radically changed how I approach food ... that's all I'm saying.) The recipe calls for crushed hot red pepper without giving an amount. Dorsey used about a teaspoon, but you can adjust depending on your tastes.

Try it! We think you might like it!

I drizzled some chocolate and topped it with
peanut butter and chocolate chips.

For dessert, we had Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie. This is a really good dessert. It's not too rich nor too heavy, although Dorsey said that the peanut butter flavor wasn't as intense as he would have liked it to be. The texture is reallly nice. The soft mousse is balanced by the firmer chocolate layer and graham-cracker crust beneath. The chocolate and peanut-butter chips on top, plus the chocolate drizzle, provide bursts of flavor to what is a surprisingly mild dessert.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a glass pie plate, so he made it in a spring-form pan, and the graham cracker crust didn't come up the sides of the pan as the recipe called for, but that didn't detract from the taste at all.

It's an easy dessert to make, and it presents well.



Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie (epicurious.com)

yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

active time: 35 minutes

total time: 2 hours

For a pretty presentation, drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Ingredients

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 7 whole graham crackers, coarsely broken
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons sugar, divided

• 1 1/3 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 ounces)
• 2/3 cup plus 1 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

• 6 ounces (1 cup) peanut butter chips
• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned style or freshly ground)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish with nonstick spray. Blend graham crackers, melted butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar in processor until moist clumps form. Press crumb mixture over bottom and up sides of prepared pie dish. Bake crust until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine chocolate chips, 2/3 cup cream, corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium heat until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Whisk until melted and smooth. Spread chocolate mixture over bottom of crust. Freeze 10 minutes.

Microwave peanut butter chips and 3/4 cup cream in large microwave-safe bowl on medium heat at 15-second intervals just until chips soften, stirring often. Whisk in peanut butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool to barely lukewarm. Beat remaining 1 cup cream and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until very thick but not yet holding peaks; fold into peanut butter mixture in 3 additions. Spoon mousse over chocolate layer. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

What we thought:

Main Course: Penne alla Vodka (epicurious.com)

yield: Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• Salt
• One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with their liquid
• 1 pound penne
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• Crushed hot red pepper
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

Preparation

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

Served with Organic Italian Country Bread and a Romaine salad with Blue Cheese dressing.