The Grand Porch Party is an annual Uptown Waterloo Neighbourhood tradition of music being played on front porches throughout the neighbourhood. The Schumachers have always provided their front porch for a band, and their barbecue for a feast to share with friends afterwards. The only difference this year is evidenced by the umbrellas. Not to worry thought, the day was warm, with lots of fun and great music. We were host to The Short Films . They are fun and intelligent - and you can catch them every Thursday night in downtown Kitchener at IMBIBE, where they host an evening of art and music. Check them out!
We were
looking for a new technique to prepare our brisket for Sunday evening and came
across a recipe in Smoke & Spice(Jamison, 2003) for Deli-Cured Brisket. It
calls for an initial step of brining the brisket over night. When you know that
you are going to prepare a brisket on the smoker, you generally have a few
planning days to work with. We did not. So, we brined the brisket all Saturday
afternoon, prepared a modified rub, then put it on the smoker at 10 pm. This gave
us the flexibility of 18 hours to cook the brisket over a very low flame. The
result was a spicy, smoky brisket, that was still juicy and tender. It was an
absolute winner and we will definitely prepare it this way again.
Of course we
use the Broil King Keg to smoke our brisket, and we are 100% confident in it's ability
to maintain a constant cooking temperature of 200-225°F, when the vents are set
just barely at 2.This is critical when trusting your 12 pound brisket to a full night on the smoker!
Brine and
Barbecue Brisket
Serves
15-20.
Brisket:
11-12 pound trimmed beef brisket
Brine:
½ cup kosher salt
6 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup Montreal Steak Spice
Rub:
½ cup yellow mustard
1 cup Montreal Steak Spice
1-2 cups Maple wood chips, soaked for
at least an hour
Give yourself 6-12 hours of brining
time. Prepare the brine by combining the brine ingredients in an extra large
roast pan with 2 litres of water. The pan has to be large enough to accommodate
the brisket. Place the brisket in the pan, submerged in the brine and
refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Prepare the smoker for barbecuing
overnight, by filling it with 6 inches of lump hardwood charcoal and bring it
to a consistent temperature of 225°F. Fill the diffuser pan with water.
Remove the brisket from the brine, lay
it on a large cutting board, pat it dry and rub it all over with the yellow
mustard. Rub with Montreal Smoke Spice and allow to sit for 45 minutes, while
it comes to room temperature.
Place ½ cup of soaked wood chips around
the edges of the charcoal. Transfer the brisket to the smoker and monitor the
temperature for an hour, to satisfy yourself that the smoker is cooking at 225°F.
At this point we went to bed. 10
hours later, we checked the smoker and it was still cooking at 220°C. The
internal temperature of the brisket was 130°F. We knew that we still had 7
hours of cooking time to work with, so decided to restock the smoker with
charcoal. We carefully removed the brisket, wrapped it in foil and placed it in
a large cooler, with a few towels on top. This allowed the meat to continue
slowly cooking while we attended to the charcoal. We restocked the charcoal,
refilled the diffuser with water, then set the vents back to 2, in order to get
the temperature of the smoker back up to 225°F.
We removed the brisket from the foil
and placed it back on the smoker and let it cook slowly for 4 more hours.
Checking the internal temperature of the meat again, we found it to be
proceeding nicely at 170°F. At this point, we removed it from the smoker,
wrapped it in foil and let it cook slowly for 2 more hours. When the internal
temperature was 190°F, we removed it from the smoker, and placed it back in the
cooler, still wrapped in foil, with a few towels on top for an hour, allowing
the meat to rest. 
Take this time to set up the buffet
table and when you are ready to eat, remove it from the cooler, set it on a
large cutting board and slice thinly across the grain. There will be no leftovers –
Guaranteed!!!!
We prepared a number of salads in advance, wanting to keep the party as simple as possible. Along with the traditional potato salad to go with the brisket, we prepared asparagus served with a lemon/tarragon vinagrette, we decided to prepare a cool rice noodle salad, for the vegetarians in the group.
Mango/Pepper Rice Noodle Salad with Fresh Herbs and Spicy Chili Vinaigrette
1 pkg rice vermicelli noodles
Vinaigrette:
½ cup canola oil
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp srirachi sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
3 ataulfo mangoes, julienned
1 red pepper, julienned
3 mini cucumbers, julienned
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup broccoli flowerettes, blanched
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Prepare vinaigrette by combining all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. This can be done a day ahead, stored in glass jar and set aside.
To prepare salad:Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add rice vermicelli noodles and cook for 5 minutes, until tender to the bite. During the last minute, add the broccoli flowerettes to blanch. Drain and rinse under cold running water for 3 minutes, to rapidly cool the noodles and broccoli down. Toss noodles and broccoli with half of the vinaigrette. Place in a large bowl and refrigerate.
Cut the mango, cucumber and peppers into julienne slices, and chop the red onion and fresh herbs. Add all of these to the prepared noodles and toss with remaining vinaigrette and salt&pepper. Serve. Can be topped with toasted sesame seeds or chopped peanuts if allergies allow. We suggest leaving nuts and seeds to the side and letting guests add the garnish themselves, if they choose.
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| Slicing against the grain |
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| Gathering of old friends and family! |
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| The feast!! |
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