Norm Matthews

The name of the recipe is "Garlic & Ginger Soy Caramelized Steak. I only said Malaysian because the cook who posted the recipe was from Malaysia. The steak itself may not be specific to Malaysian. It may have been presumptuous of me to think it was.

When I ask the kids for ideas for dinner, I always get nothing but if I give them a choice, they pick something. I gave them the choice of Seafood Enchilada Casserole, Cuban Sandwich or a Malaysian flavored steaks. They both chose the steak. It was supposed to be with rice but I wanted potatoes since we had rice a couple days ago.

The two I did recently were not refrigerated with a rub or brine. The only rub I used on both were salt and pepper and I did this within an hour of putting in the smoker. I liked this "Texas" style (Franklin) so well, i am tempted to never use a Southern style rub or sauce on them ever again. I find that they are the most tender and juicy at 204 at the point. I think this is a very good target for brisket. I generally wrap them at 175 or so. I have used foil for wrapping but next time, I am tempted to try parchment instead. I spritzed the first one with a mix of apple juice and vinegar. I forgot to spray the second one and I think the first one had a better crust than the second one because of that.

What kind of smoker do you have? The last brisket I smoked was also prime and it also came from Costco. We still have enough left for 3 or 4 sandwiches. If you click on the link at the bottom of my post here, it will take you to a log I kept during the last two briskets I smoked in my horizontal-off set smoker using charcoal and wood. One was on May 20, the other on July 31st. Other things you can do with brisket (usually just the flat and with the fat all trimmed off) is to braise it, corn it, and/or make pastrami. I've braised it with beer in the past.

No pictures but dinner tonight is going to be enchiladas made with leftover smoked beef brisket.

I made another brisket based on things mentioned in Franklin's book and videos. Cassie said it was the best one yet. Last time I used choice brisket, this time I used prime. This time, like Franklin, I had a temperature probe at brisket level and a little in front of it. I used mostly wood for this smoke, last time I used charcoal for heat and a little wood for smoke. It was a lot more labor intensive because a lot more fluctuation can take place in front of the brisket than behind it, but I was surprised how much less fuel I needed when burning wood instead of charcoal. I think this brisket was the same size or smaller but it took a little longer. I don't think I will ever put southern rubs or any sauce on brisket ever again. You have to look for whole briskets around here. Most places sell only flats with the fat trimmed off, but the book is right about the point: It is so much more flavorful because it is fattier. In between the two briskets, I had some burnt ends from Fiorella's. I so much prefer Franklin style point as it came out of my smoker.

I cut and served the brisket today. Cassie made a pasta salad and birthday cupcakes. I also made a green salad and roasted broccoli.

Thank you Shelby. We are going to have it for dinner today.

My son's birthday is tomorrow. His wife has invited some people over. I don't know what all she has planned but I spent all day with this brisket. It's USDA Prime and should go with anything she has planned. If it doesn't, well it will be good for several days to come. I won't slice it until ready to serve, whenever that may be.

Yesterday we had Korean style pork along with rice, store bought kimchi and a salad. [ URL=http://s262.photobucket.com/user/matthewsno/media/DSCN2774_zpstk0rnvng.jpg.html]

About 30 years ago when I was still married and we had a Korean restaurant we bought kimchi that was made by a company in Chicago. Last week I got a smaller jar of kimchi at a large Asian market and it was still made by the same company in Chicago. Back then my wife asked me to make some kimchi jars. During a few months period, I made around 20 out of stoneware in1 to 3 gallons in sizes. They all ended up in the hands of Koreans in the community. Even years later, I'd come across them on someone's back porch but if I recall correctly, they were nearly always used for keeping a red pepper seasoning paste. Pretty soon after that, Kimchi jars imported from Korea became available. Whenever I saw someone making kimchi at their home, it went into glass jars, then in the refrigerator, not outside or in one of those kimchi jars.

Dinner tonight is adobo chicken with grilled corn. Rice also but not pictured.

slkinsey, I have no first-hand knowledge, but have heard BGE's can maintain low heat for a really long time with a very small amount of fuel. I think they can do this especially well when equipped with PID control. rotus I have really enjoyed the Franklin PBS series. I think I have watched them all more than once. Thanks for posting the links. I also enjoyed the book. I expected it to have a lot of recipes with a little content about BBQ. Instead it was almost all talk with very few recipes. It gave me a lot to think about and challenged some things I had thought were truths. In the one about competitions, I enjoyed John Marcus comments, especially concerning KCBS when he said "I 've vever been in a car wreck, but that doesn't mean I want to do it" and "I never worry about overcooking ribs when I have people over because they don't think like BBQ judges." PS "one bite" isn't a standard, artificial or otherwise. It is something that judges should learn to do because they will have so many entries to taste. They might get jaded or sated if they eat too much. People who enter such contests are well advised to think judges will evaluate their entire effort in each category based on just one bite.

It is possible that KCBS would disqualify the Harvard if it does not fall into their permitted list of accepted cooking media, but from what I've read about it, it sounds like it would be OK. It's correct that there is only one entry fee price. It isn't prorated by the number of categories you enter. http://www.kcbs.us/pdf/2015_rules.pdf 2015 Rules and regulations, #6 describes the types of cookers admitted. The Harvard may be permitted if does not use gas or electric sources for the actual cooking.

Information from http://kcbs.us/pdf/YourFirstCookoff.pdf Under heading What To Do Before Your First Competition Paragraph 4 "Consider entering only one or two categories at your first cookoff. You won't be in the running for Grand Champion and Reserve Champion this way, but you will be able to relax and focus on the one or two categories you've chosen..."

It is true for KCBS contests. MBN is for pork so they would not be able to enter beef brisket since it does not fall into the official meat categories of those contests unless the contest sponsor had it as an additional category. I don't know if MBN allows additional categories but KCBS does. Memphis in May does have an Everything But (pork) category or did the last time I checked.

A contestant may enter only one or two categories. There are 4 categories that they must enter only if they want to be considered for Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion.

I think it's a cultural thing. While store bought might not be as good (or might be the same) I am not a fan of it. It's kind of bland to me, but not muddy. I mean I'll eat it but I'd much rather have a French onion soup made with fresh meaty ox tail bones.

I had forgotten about this. I should add that my son's mom came here for his wedding in November and I gave her some of the soup. She said it was good. Getting her to say that about anything is something to remember. Some of the bones I used-and possibly contributing to the flavor- were oxtail bones that I first used to make Western style soup, then used them again with other beef bones to make the Korean style soup.

I think the fans are for heat control rather than circulation. The shape of the Harvard is a venturi which will increase any natural draft. I was thinking about ceramic fiber being used inside a more durable coating. Alfred is top notch in the ceramics field. As for kiln designs, I think horizontal smokers, whether the designers realized it or not, have a functional draw a lot like 5th century to present day China, Korean and Japanese anagama kilns. That principle is so old because it works well.

The article covers the technical research they did on models based on the BGE. I wonder if they looked at other types of smokers already on the market? Their price point target isn't really all that competitive unless they have come up with a significant innovation. They seem to be aware of the technology used on other smokers. The settled on ceramic. Is it because it has superior insulating properties over a drum barrel? I wonder if they or anyone has ever thought about lighter and more efficient insulation like Kaowool as part of the wall? I'd really be impressed if they had some innovation that no one else had used before. Is the shape in itself an improvement? I am really interested in hearing more about their design and results.

If it has an app, I wonder if it activates an automatic feed. It seem pretty obvious that it is PID controlled and ceramic. It uses wood chips and charcoal. It all seems like it is designed more for ease of operation than for outstanding results. All that has already been done and apparently done well. But that is just an old man's opinion, stuck in his old fashioned ways perhaps.

I spent quite a while typing my thoughts but then Dave W posted first and when I checked to see what he said, I found he said it much more succinctly but a little more pessimistically than I and then I accidentally did something and lost everything I'd typed.

I don't usually have anything worth mentioning or photographing for lunch but yesterday I made some chili dog chili and had it with a bratwurst, onion and cheese.

Our dinner tonight was Jerk Shrimp, mango salsa, Spanish rice and beets cooked with Mangue, brown sugar and corn starch.