Clod... It's What's for Dinner!

Every year I do this cookout for some friends at work-- kind of an everyone bring a dish(all of them were delicious too) and I will make some Que thing. First time was yard bird, then I did some brisket, and last year fresh hams. What to do this year. Ah.... mmm.... let's do Clod! I like clod. The wife likes clod. Plus, everyone gets curious about what exactly a Texas Clod is—makes for some excitement.

In Kentucky, in years past at least, the problem has been getting a clod. The first time I asked for one they brought me out a 3.5 # chuck roast and it went something like this.

Me: "uh... no... I want the whole thing."

Him: "Man, those things are huge!"

Me: "Yes!! That's what I want."

Him: "let me trim one down."

Me: "no!!!!"

You can see how that went.

This time, same guy, I said I need a whole chuck and he brought me a 22# and a 27# chuck-- he is improving. Since I only had 10 adults and 4 kids I thought the 22# one would be just fine. So I brought it home and gave it a little rub. It smoked for about 17 hours and rested for about 6.

If you haven't had the pleasure of a nice clod; get one soon!!

Beef Ribs

This turned out to be a quest... apparently beef ribs are hard to find. :) I found them. Then I thought "You haven't ever cooked beef ribs before!" I think I can do better, but like I have often said... Barbecue is like sex... even the worst you have ever had is still pretty good. :)

Unlike pork ribs which are "king" in this area at least, beef ribs are rare. They come in different cuts, like pork, but one has little control on the product. The 2 racks I got were split in half and had several shiners. Shiners being where the meat was removed all the way to the bone. This means less meat on the ribs-- obviously.

In my opinion good beef needs little more than salt and pepper. I used a beef rub that was 3 parts paprika, 2 parts salt, 2 parts pepper, and cayenne to taste. Very tasty as it just accented the beef.

I decided to cook them as if my smoker was an ugly drum smoker. This would mean that I would run the smoker without a water pan and elevate the cooking grate as far from the coals as possible. This would still allow for the dripping to fall onto the coals and add to the flavor profile as they vaporized.

I mopped them hourly for 3 hours with a mix of beer, coffee, Worcestershire, beef broth, hot sauce, and apple juice. Then I foiled the ribs, gave them a good mop of the juice and put them back on for another 2 hours. I put them in a cooler at this point as we had a long way to go for dinner, but they went back on for an hour to finish. While they were off I did some smoked sausage as I have become somewhat addicted to smoked sausage and rat cheese ever since I went to the Rendezvous. :)

The missus made broccoli slaw and twice baked potatoes as well as some fantastic strawberry shortcake. Sorry... I couldn't put the bowl down long enough to take a photo.

I think the way to go is to cut your own. That way you get several nice rib eyes and a meaty rack of ribs. More to come... stayed tuned for the standing rib roast project. :)

The love of my life had one of those special birthdays and I wanted to have a surprise party for her.  It worked and I didn’t have time to take the usual food porn shots, but that really wasn’t what this was about.

 In this case, the cookout was merely a nice backdrop for a small family reunion, a birthday, and good friends being the best they can be.  2 Sisters and 1 brother are separated by geographical challenges and this was a good reason to come together and share their lives for an afternoon.  We added in a half dozen or so friends, the best friends anyone could ask for, and before we knew it there was a small crowd.  The weather is always a challenge this time of year and, fortunately, Mother Nature was in full cooperation mode yesterday.  It was as if she knew this was a special day for us.  Rain clouds moved around us all day and the sun shone brightly on the afternoon.  While we were putting together a little barbecue buffet I listened to the friends and family share tales of this and that.  I can’t put into words what that did for me and I could tell from my wife’s response that her feelings were 10 fold.  Y’all were great!!  She loved seeing you on her special day.

 I know it can be hard for some to understand and I, like others, enjoy good barbecue, but this is why I enjoy making barbecue.  It brings us together.  We take a few hours out of our busy lives and just tell tales and share with our friends and families.  And it doesn’t have to be brisket that took days to make... grill some hot dogs and folks will do the same thing; kick thier shoes off and sit a spell!  It’s a wonderful thing—barbecue.  In this case the birthday was sufficient, but give my philosophy a whirl some Saturday, you might be surprised if you let the Que work its Juju. J

 In the end it was a great day, maybe the best day ever... My wife’s family made it in from out of town, her best friend strung up decorations all over the house, my best friends showed up to do several menial tasks and make some killer deviled eggs, I stashed food in their fridge too, I was able to cook all day in our kitchen while she was at work and not have the wife know I did such a thing (that’s pretty amazing since I clean like $#!+), and we surprised her!  It was great... I wish you could have been there!  Some of you should have been there... 

 

Here are a few pieces of food porn... just so y'all don’t think I am slipping.  :)

March Madness Brisket

Since this is all new at the moment I have decided to add a few things I have done in the past.  This is the last brisket I did for a cookout we had at work.  I did 2 packers and they turned out mighty tasty.  The proceeds from this cookout went to charity so we all had some good food and did some good things too.  More to come...