Finding My Meat

Brisket that is.

I've smoked it, braised it, roasted it and above all consumed it. But that's the easy part. My challenge is almost always finding it.

Brisket, in case you haven't had the pleasure of ripping into a Texas BBQ plate or a Jewish mother's kitchen, is a cut of meat comes from the lower area of the front chest. It is high on connective tissue which must be rendered down properly to avoid over chewiness. If you're still a little confused see Alton Brown's Brisket episode .  So my dilemma is not cooking but where can I find a good flat (or first) cut piece of meat that won't break the bank but also is fresh and ready to throw into the oven?

One year when I set out on this adventure, I thought I had nabbed a great cut. It was big enough for everybody coming over for dinner the next night (and then some). It was super affordable and even came wrapped in a special container. However when I looked at it at home I realized I had made a rookie mistake. I picked up a Corned Beef. It's not that I was way off, in fact a corned beef is actually a brisket cut but it's brined in salt and spices and ready to cook down and serve with cabbage and soda bread. However it doesn't go as great with kuguel and tzimis.

Other times I came back with one that was too small or too large or not enough fat or in one case one that had been expired. Yikes.

So enter yesterday's venture out to find the meat of my dreams. Specifically, I'm looking for a 4-5 lb cut that I can split in half. One half is going to be smoked tomorrow in my new smoker (see the previous post on my smoking brisket) and the other half is already in the oven on a slow and deliberate braising. As much as I love the later of these methods, this meal is not for me. The "jewish" brisket as I call it is one destined for Thane and Helen. They are spending a lot of time visiting their newborn son in the NICU and could really use something that isn't fast food.

But I digress from my meat purchasing adventure. Yesterday I weighed through the crowds at my local Costco, weaving around aimlessly wondering wagon pushers, dodging stop and go traffic around the free samples (seriously folks..it's just crab dip....act like you've been here before!) all to make it to the meat freezer with all it's exotic cuts and glowing red goodness. When I got there I didn't see any brisket. There were some very large vacuum bags that read brisket on the label but were clearly not the cut I seek. It turns out these were Round Tip Roasts mislabeled. So still no brisket, what to do? Seek out the meat cutter himself. If there is a brisket hiding in the store, he would find it. No dice. Except he said I could get some in the Kosher section. Great...except....well the wonderful world of Kosher makes you closer to G-d and probably a better person overall but in the world of brisket it means paying $12/lb. By comparison, regular brisket goes for about $4/lb. See the difference?

Well now I'm out of luck, except at that very moment, the Meat Department Manager drifted by. My savior! Dan, the manager, told me a new shipment would come in tomorrow morning and I should come by after 10am to have my choice. The next day (today) I strolled back in.  It was less crowded but still full of people who given the opportunity would run over me with their carts and leave my lifeless carcass rotting in the middle of the aisle if a sale on toilet paper was announced over the PA.
I made my way to the back and found my coveted brisket. Not only that they had just the size I was looking for, 4.51 lbs.

So at the time of this post, half is in my oven for our friends and the other half is marinating in my rub of spices and spicy mustard prior to inhaling the smoke of alderwood for 3-4 hours tomorrow. To quote Hilshire Farms, "Go Meat!"

My Niece is a Germ Carrier

This is not to mention that she’s also very dainty and lady like (first time ever) when it came time to eat her first birthday cake. Instead of pulling a “Me” and smashing her head right into the cake (Mom, you can attest to this one!), she took small handfuls and “sampled” the icing. Alton Brown

would be proud to see that even at one-year old she’s mastered the “cake as an icing delivery system” concept.

We had a great time in the ATL this weekend and Bloggerman even got his first experience running the world famous “Peachtree Road Race.” This 10k runs through downtown Atlanta and as Mrs. Bloggerman said, “If it wasn’t for the start and the finish the race would have been great.” Note to the Atlanta Track Club: Either give everybody a timing chip or don’t time anybody. I thought it took a lot of nerve for the organizers of this 57,000+ runner race to announce the “winners” before our wave of runners made it to the starting line. I would point out that while it’s not likely, somebody from the later groups could have placed or even won the race (net time). But as the locals say you run it for the T-shirt. Well the T-shirt was the worst choice of the 5 designs voted on. Never fear though…Bloggerman is resourceful and it only took a few minutes after crossing the finish line that I was able to swap shirts with a volunteer. Their “race team” shirts were more along the lines of what I thought the race shirt should look like. Special thanks go out to the in-laws for housing/feeding us this weekend, to the Boigs for watching the Mookster and an extra special thanks to the folks at Moe’s at Terminal C of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport for staying open long enough for us to grab a quick snack before our flight out late Saturday. They know that the way to my stomach is through my mouth. Yeah...you heard me!

Speaking of Food….My Knish is soggy. Truth be told make it a combo. For those of you who want closure from the Wendy’s fiasco of last week…you can now rest easy. The district manager at DaveCo Restaurants wrote me a personal letter to apologize for my experience at the drive thru and to “make it right” he sent me two coupons, each good for a combo meal. I’ll forget for the record that this whole thing started out because I didn’t want the combo when I ordered and say that I appreciate not only their quick response but that they genuinely seem to want to keep me as a customer. I’ll be back but next time I’ll go up to the counter to order

Let Them Eat Cake!

Cake? The people I elected to represent me at the state level are debating cake. No, I am NOT kidding. They are really debating the merits of Cake. Smith Island Cake to be exact, and whether or not it should be the “State Dessert.” So lets take a moment and think about this. It would appear that if they have time to debate such a “sweet” topic that they have already introduced (and passed on to the Governor’s desk) legislation to deal with crime, schools, healthcare, the environment, public safety, the mortgage crisis, emergency management, immigration, help for small business, roads and transportation, and any other bit of state business that is more important that completing legislation that will signal the state’s sweet tooth.

By the way, during this same session , they were not yet able to pass a ban on using your cell phone while driving. One representative from a rural part of the state tried to argue that his constituents would have to pull over on the side of a road without a shoulder to make a phone call…evidently he missed the 4 million stores and websites selling headsets for as low as $5. So he thinks you can afford a $200 cell phone but can’t shell out another few bucks for a headset or speaker. I think he’s had too much Smith Island Cake.

Speaking of the aforementioned cake, what is it? I had never heard of it until a few days ago when I first heard of the deep philosophical debate happening deep in the bowls of the Maryland State House. Smith Island Cake is not much more then its name signifies. It is a chocolate layer cake, first baked on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It consists of anywhere between 6-12 razor-thin layers of yellow cake frosted with chocolate goodness. It serves, as the great AB often reminds us, as a true “icing delivery system.”

But even with all it’s deliciousness put aside, does it deserve the moniker as the “State Dessert of Maryland”? I don’t know. I guess it’s better then a crab-sicle but what else is out there. I think that a landmark decision like picking the state dessert is not one that should be taken lightly and thrown in to the mix during the end of a legislative session. It needs to be properly feted out and there needs to be a statewide taste test to make sure the will and voice of the people is heard. I would recommend you start at an address up in Gaithersburg. Just a thought, not a sermon.

Alton, Where Have You Gone? Roger, What Have You Done?

I have good news to report to you today. The hero of multi-tasking kitchen utensils everywhere has signed a new three-year deal starting this year. I can’t tell you how happy I am that the great guru of gastronomics will be coming back to do more Good Eats, which bumped Emeril from the coveted 8pm weekday time slot, as well as ICA (Iron Chef America) and even a new show, Feasting on Waves (still waiting on a description for this show)

I’m also psyched to hear that he’s releasing a book version of his Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run show. For those of you out there looking to pre-order, check out Amazon. I’ll let you know as soon as he posts book signing tour dates for your city.

On to Mr. Clemens. In case you didn’t catch the interview on 60 Minutes last night I’ve found it on CBSsports.com. As you can see Clemens is not only sweating like a fat man in a very hot sauna (did you see him go to the water bottle twice??) but couldn’t give a straight answer if he tried. When asked if he would take a lie detector test to clear his name, he said “…well I don’t know if they work but if they do then maybe.” That sure sounds like he’s doing EVERYTHING possible to clear his name.

I was disappointed with Mike Wallace’s questions though. He is a personal friend of Clemens and I think it showed in several spaces. For example Wallace didn’t ask Clemens about the 2000 World Series incident in which he threw a broken bat at Mike Piazza’s head, claiming that he “thought it was the ball.” Sound like ‘roid rage? Yep.

Also of note, Clemens did beat his accuser, Brian McNamee to the court room, suing the trainer for defamation of character. This is the same charge that McNamee said he was going to sue Clemens for based on the content of last night’s interview.

As for me, I’m washing my hands of all of this. As far as I’m concerned, he used steroids, HGH and the like. He’s lying about it, and he should not be voted into the Hall of Fame.