Doug Seward

I can confirm a special surprise this year with a slightly differnt menu. Hope you guys will enjoy it. -Doug

Charles, That is a Jaccard Meat tenderizer. It has 48 narrow chisel ground blades to perforate the meat which allows marinade to penetrate. :-)

Obligatory pic of brisket prep. https://www.flickr.com/gp/smokehappens/71S636 This is the point end of a 19 pound brisket, definitely the thickest I have ever seen. More to come. -Doug

Very much looking forward to attending again. Thanks so much for hosting my favorite event. See you all in 4 weeks. -Doug

The bread pudding just went into the oven. Unfortunately, I misplaced the recipe so it will be a bit of a "historical recreation". Does anyone remember what I put into it last time? My only clear memory was of a big fireball and singed eyebrows... :-) Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. -Doug

So I never did circle back with the pics of Burnt Ends scraps I dumped on my neighbors last Sunday. Briskets are wrapped and frozen, securely stored at an undisclosed location until the grand event. 13 days and counting down. Very much looking to seeing everyone. Hoping it warms up a bit. Cheers. -Doug

Took longer than expected, but the meat is finally nestled snugly in the pit under a warm blanket of sweet cherry and pecan smoke. Had to improvise emergency repairs on the pit as the mount point for the fan rusted away. Some 2" Kaowool, a piece of stainless pipe and duct tape got me operational. Not pretty, but it should get me through the cook. On the pit and ready to sleep through this bitingly cold night (it's 20F now and still dropping). Charcoal reload between 12:30 and 1, then I should be able to get 5 hours or so of sleep.

You guys know what this means :-) 50 pounds of brisked trimmed down to 37 pounds ready for prep. Sorry, no post prep pics. Briskets are injected and have been marinading for past 12 hours. They will be ready to go on the pit in about 9 more hours. Anyone my area tomorrow is welcome to a taste before I cool, wrap and freeze. More pics to come. -Doug

@Kerry - Nah. It was magnetic You can't fool the magnet. ;-)

With Bells On.

Can't make beans without a little bacon for flavor.... 13 pounds pre-reduction weight. 3.3 pounds post-reduction. I am factoring in estimated shrinkage of 10 percent. Alan, Sorry to hear that. We will be thinking of you. -Doug

Briskets came off the fire at around 3PM. The smoke ring is a bit pale, to my disappointment. I was tempted to feed them to the neighbor's Mastiff 'Gus', but changing the menu to burgers might get me in trouble. They went straight into the oven for a sub-critical anneal to 140F. 3.5 hours at 15F per hour cooling rate did the trick. After that, a forced air quench to ambient and then into the cold locker. Hope Gus is not roaming around in the back yard. :-)

The went into the pit last night around 8PM. All rubbed and ready to go.

So it begins...

Hold on guys.... Let us just consider the possibilities. I am trying to talk my neighbor into coming to F&B or loaning me his Pit. This Pit: This opens up a bunch of menu options... Like this: I have not sold him on it yet, but I can honestly say I have done some of my best work using this pit every October for the past 11 years. Great tools are not necessary for great results... but they sure help. ;-) -Doug

I'll be there. Currently considering menu options ☺ <ducks>

Looking forward to it. -Doug

I have several of Butch Harner's kitchen knives in Carpenter's CTS-XHP and I am very happy with them. Excellent edge retention and fairly easy to sharpen on a belt grinder. -Doug

WOW!

Just finishing up the Carrot Cake before loading up. I am running low on the "flavoring" whiskey for the frosting. Unfortunately, it is unlikely I'll every run across another bottle of it. :-( Fantastic while it lasted. :-) -Doug

Nope, just ran the colors to a chestnut brown. ;-)

I'll be there late Thursday afternoon. Justin, I PM'd you my cell #. The preparations continue. Spent the afternoon heat treating a little bacon. :-)

Kerry, I have cooked with Humphrey charcoal and it is fine. About half of charcoal I used in this cook was that brand. I also use Frontier from BJs at $20 for 34 pounds. I have a favor to ask of you and the charcoal choppers. If you guys could put aside the really big chunks for me to use on brisket cooks, it would be very much appreciated. I can bring a trash can of the "small pieces" which I have accumulated that are too small for me to cook with but work for the smelt. The really large chunks (fist size or bigger) really help on the overnight phase of the BBQ cooks. I would be grateful. -Doug

Scott, I use Omega's OMEGACLAD XL. If you call them to order (their sales engineers are great), you can have them bend a 90 in the probe to offset the connector from the "danger zone" above the salt. Here is a link to more info: http://www.omega.com/temperature/pdf/kmqxl_nmqxl.pdf -Doug