It’s that time again. Every year, our friends host a party with live music, good bbq and better friends. (or good friends and better bbq?). MrsForensicBBQ and I did our usual camp/hike beforehand and then headed on over to the annual SMOKEfest.
Go ahead and check out our previous smokefest posts: Smokefest 2021 and Smokefest 2020. I’ve been designated the beef product for the last couple years – and this year was no different. The problem has always been for us is finding the product en route to the “remote” location in which the event is held. While we’re replaying last year’s cook (Brisket and Candy Bacon) – it was good then, it was good now.
I’ll just go ahead and repost the recipes from before (above for the unenthused). But as I frequently say, come along for the ride – it’s worth your time.
The Prelude
Like so many of us, we’ve had to cut back on vacations, save some days off and money… make the most of what we got. We love us some rural areas and outdoors, so we set up shop in a campground and spent our days relaxing by the fire, hiking the State park, and visiting the small towns along the way. Go back last week and you’ll see how I prepared for my campground meals – Campfire Breakfast Burritos – I rocked them most every morning.
It was nice getting away for a bit, leaving work behind and just soaking up the nature that we’re gifted. Until it wasn’t.
MrsForensicBBQ planned this State park hike, said it was like 8.5 miles round trip. I’ve been doing a little bit of walking/running as of late (thanks bacon/meat diet) so I was ready. What I wasn’t ready for was the deer fly swarm that accompanied our hike the entire way. And the flooded trail that extended our venture to a total of 13 miles. If you know me personally, I got some serious sensitive skin and these bastards fought hard. We were both pissed at the end of it – tried it again the next day on a lake hike.. these bugs were relentless. Tried they may, couldn’t ruin the vacation with my wife.
We found a safe haven about halfway through, and took in the scenery. This particular day was a Wednesday – our lakeshore hike was on a Thursday – and I still had no idea what I was going to smoke for Saturday with a firm 4pm dinner time. I didn’t let it bother me too much until we started the drive on Friday and I knew I needed to game plan.
Thursday night, I’m back at the campfire – thinking what I’m going to do. I went in with three ideas: Brisket, Prime Rib, and Beef Ribs. Had side recipes ready for horseradish sauce and red potatoes.. but it was really all what the shops had available. Last year, I spent some crazy money at a local butcher grabbing a monster brisket.. this year, we went to a bigger city and poked around.
It was going to be brisket again. It’s a BBQ staple – you have to have brisket on the table. Our good buddy Pup suffered an injury, so he couldn’t provide the chicken (and mac and cheese!!) this year – so I thought about filling that void.. but nah, beef was the task I was given, beef was the product I was going to provide.
The Prep Table
We arrived early evening on Friday and the party was already going. Our good friends over at BLACK SHEEP BBQ had their trailer smoker and canopy front and center – always a welcoming sight. Sure, I was rolling up with the RecTeq Trailblazer – tiny little pellet pooper vs. the impressive stick smoker. But I was going to have the all-nighter. (MrsForensicBBQ slept in the tent, I slept a total of 1hr in my truck)
Anyway, I undressed this beauty and got to trimming. The most frequent question I get when trimming a brisket is: “When do you know when to stop?”. The best answer I can provide is “When it’s too soft to keep going”. You’ll always find some fat that’ll burn up, something that’s a little too uneven in comparison – at some point you have to call it.
I tried to do my best in taking pictures, but I didn’t do a great job. Last year, I did a hand-ground Red Kampot Peppercorn & Salt blend for my brisket, this year – I went with our “Meaty Bits Beef Rub”. It’s the SPOG (Salt, Pepper, Onion, Garlic and “then some”) blend that I find fits MY palate the best, so that’s what I brought. And remember, I didn’t know what I was doing until the day before. I needed a more/less all-purpose to fit my plans.
What I did know I was going to provide was my Candy Bacon. The beautiful blend of syrup, Fine Swine Pork Rub, Brown Sugar and of course, bacon. I knew we were going to knock this out. This year, I went with a “bourbon barrel” maple syrup. (Spoiler: It did not disappoint).
The game plan was to smoke the brisket, pull it off a few hours before the 4pm deadline. Within those “few” hours, I was going to cook up the bacon (which takes 2-ish hours) and be able to provide our friends with the bacon appetizer and the brisket dinner. Let’s see how we did.
The Process
Trimmed and seasoned brisket, fat cap down, thrown on the smoker with the lean-side away from the vent. That’s my style, that’s what works for me. I’ll admit the picture looks a light on the pepper, but as one of my new friends said later on “I got a little bit of spicy, what’s on it?” It’s 95% SPOG, and a little bit of 5% extra. She must’ve gotten a hit of that extra.
Put this beauty to rest around 8pm or so at 225F. Was going to let it ride until the stall and wrap her up. One of my continual complaints with my RecTeq.. and years later it’s still not corrected – I’m EXACTLY 10F degrees off. I have two Thermapens and have done rigorous testing. Not a huge deal because i KNOW it’s 10 degrees off, but still.
The late night crew turned in around 1-2am, sipped their last beers and headed to sleep. I still had some Thermacell anti-mosquito mat to use so I cracked another beer and monitored some temperature. She started to do the temperature dip sometime around 2am and I did the best I could with a picture in the darkness of night. The amazing stars couldn’t provide enough light for the picture. Take some time in these tough times to find a place and look up and enjoy the ride we’re all on.
After the 2am wrap, I went to my truck and tried to grab some sleep. I think I’ve mentioned this before – my prior line of work (firefighter) doesn’t allow me to sleep with an active fire. I got a grand total of approximately 1 hour of sleep. MrsForensicBBQ took every pillow, sheet, and blanket with her to the tent, so I layered some towels to try to keep warm. It worked for that hour.
Morning arrived, and so did the Black Sheep BBQ guys – arrived to start their pork butts & ribs (and Brisket breakfast burritos!). After a few days of those Campfire Breakfast Burritos – it was nice to get a flavor change. Well done guys!
This was our spot.. my little guy firing hard all night and their grandiose set-up. One day, my friends.. we’ll get there. This year was not that year.
The Result
While I don’t remember exactly what time I pulled the brisket off, it was probably around 11a-noon (roughly 4-5 hours before meal time). Left me plenty of time to get that bacon rolling. I joked around – as if the brisket fat wasn’t making enough mess – let’s add some pig fat and sugar and really dirty up this thing. I only took one picture of the bacon – but it’s such a beautiful picture.
You know I try my best when cooking the main event meal. No matter what it is, the Candy Bacon always steals the show. Today was no exception. The way these vultures friends ate it up was impressive ?. Always a pleasure to present a half-pan and get an empty one in return.
For me, it wasn’t about the bacon, however. It was about the brisket.
I took her off the smoker, still wrapped in butcher paper, and put it in a full pan. Double-wrapped her in foil and tucked her away in my travel crate. This was my worry. I’ve always done the towel/cooler wrap in the past. This year I had a full cooler.. and prayed to Aaron Franklin that this would hold just fine.
It held just fine.
There’s something about this point of the cook that’s magical. We’ve hit our target internal temperature, wrapped in the paper. We put her away in the cooler, cambro, crate (in this case) – whatever.. and wait for hours. We don’t know what it looks like. We don’t know damn near anything other than it’s up to temp. We literally put her away, I smoked bacon, and I hope it it looked good. It’s kind of a mindf$*!.
Until we unwrap it. Naturally, everyone crowds around to see the result, when even the cook/chef/smokemaster doesn’t know what it’s going to look like.
We sliced the flat up pretty thin – we had a lot of friends coming today. I spun the point around and sliced her up a little thicker and cubed up the end. For my spectators during the slice, they got the butcher’s pieces and I got the compliments I had hoped for.
I’ll mention – I’ve never received so many questions during a cook as I received today. Everything from the “Why?” and “What?”s that I wasn’t accustomed to, but was so happy to provide answers to. My recent career change went from doing to teaching, so it was a welcoming experience. To my friends – old and new – who received stickers, magnets, and coasters.. thank you so much for allowing me to impart what I know.
The brisket was a hit. As a natural perfectionist, I know I could do better. The lack of an insulated rest period didn’t help the product. Next time, I’ll have a Cambro or similar and do it right (pretty sure I said it last year too). It was still so flavorful.. the crust had that result I wanted. I don’t like an overly salted seasoning. Brisket needs that salty hit, I get it – but I think our Meaty Bits Beef Rub does what it needs.
The full-pan was empty, so I know it accomplished its task. When someone said they took a piece of bread and mopped up the bits to finish her off, I knew it was a success. SMOKEfest has never disappointed, this year was no different.
I’ll finish this off by saying everything I tasted was absolutely great. From what I can recall, my plate had some of Black Sheep BBQ’s pulled pork and ribs, my brisket, jalapeno corn bread, some key lime dessert, pretty sure a salad of some sort. It was a gluttonous meal. This was in addition to Friday night’s wild game sloppy joes, courtesy of the host. Like I said, never a disappointment.
What a disaster this was Sunday morning. We decided to drive on home Saturday evening after the party (I was going on like 42 hours awake with that hour nap, I was a bit tired). I knew this little guy needed a scrub, and that’s what she got. We scraped, we scrubbed – and then we burnt her off at 500F+. I apologize to the neighborhood – we spit some serious burn this day. Sugars and fat doesn’t make for the cleanest smoke, but hopefully when they read the adventure we went on, they understand.
Another Smokefest in the books, my friends. We’ll see what 2023 brings. Hopefully BBQ Santa brings some new ideas, new equipment and new friends – it’s what keeps us going. Sign up for our emails, get these in your inbox as they’re posted. We’ll see you next week!
The Recipe – Candy Bacon
The Candy Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 Lb Bacon Smithfield Cherrywood
- BBQ Rub
- Maple Syrup
- Brown Sugar
Instructions
Marinade (Optional, Preferred)
- Take a long Tupperware container, put bacon strips on bottom. Brush with syrup, sprinkle with a little bit of BBQ rub. Repeat steps, stacking the bacon strips on one another. Put in fridge overnight or until ready to smoke.
Bacon Smoke
- Preheat smoker to 225 with Apple/Cherry wood
- Lay bacon out on frogmats or jerky racks and sprinkle some more BBQ rub and add some brown sugar to each.
- Place into smoker for 1 hour.
- Flip bacon, brush more syrup, add more brown sugar and smoke for another hour.
- Remove from smoker, and eat!
Notes
The Recipe – Brisket
Full Packer Brisket
Ingredients
- 1 Full Packer Brisket Point and Flat
- 1 Cup Texas Rub (50/50 Salt & Pepper) Estimated – enough to coat
Instructions
- Trim all the hard fat off the "top" of the brisket. There will be a layer of fat on the "bottom" – trim that to about 1/8" of an inch or so. Everything else, get rid of that hard fat, trim off the soft stuff on the surface. Rip a significant cut off the side and remove the processor's edge. Round everything off to prevent edges from burning.
- Evenly coat the brisket with the 50/50 blend. No binder necessary.
- Preheat Smoker to 225 (Mesquite Wood) and probe where point meets the flat. Cook until the stall (160-170 degrees).
- Remove from smoker, wrap in butcher paper – re-probe, and cook until over 200 degrees.
- Once over 200, use your instant read thermometer and check around the point/flat for an even temp.
- Remove from smoker, keep wrapped. Place in full-pan, seal with aluminum foil, wrap in a towel and place into insulated container (cooler, cambro)
- REST PERIOD IS IMPORTANT. I'd say at least 3 hours. Remove and slice. Start at flat, slice 1/2" slices until you reach the fatty "point". Rotate 90 degrees, slice remaining meat in half. Slice 3/4" inch slices until you get to the "burnt ends".
- I cube up the ends, but if you want to go full Kansas City, put the cubes in the tray with some extra fat (butter), bbq sauce, rub and make those traditional Burnt Ends!
Great post. Thanks. I passed it along to the Black Sheep BBQ boyzzz …