Pork Brisket

[fifi]

Okee Dokee... I am in West Houston driving to my office the other day and there is this sign out on Hwy 6 at Bellaire that lists the current specials at the big Fiesta there. (Beautiful store by the way.) They have "Pork Brisket" on the sign, for $1.49 a pound I think. I remember the question coming up on another thread some time ago asking if such a thing exists. Well, apparantly it does. Has anyone ever gotten one of these? What do you do with it?

[winesonoma]

To quote Merle Ellis from his book Cutting up in the Kitchen "Spare Ribs are the bones removed from that portion of the pig's side and belly which correspond to the Plate and Brisket of the Beef. What remains after the Spare Ribs are removed is the "Side Pork" which is usually sold cured, either as Bacon or Salt Pork."

[fifi]

So... This is a slab of pork fat? (Not necessarily a bad thing.)

[winesonoma]

This link explains it. http://www.ribman.com/abtribs.html

[theabroma]

Yum yum pork brisket. If you want to smoke/bbq it -massage it with your favorite rub, let it sit for a couple of hours in a cool place, then put it on the smoker or grill. In the case of the grill, stay with it because it takes a while to cook, but you can dry it out.

But an alternative is to brine it over night with a slash of good quality liquid smoke in the brown sugar brine, dry it, wrap it in foil, and toss it in a 500F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Then drop the heat to about 225F and cook it for 4-6 hours, or until very tender. Remove it, open the foil, let it cool a bit, and then pull it for sandwiches. You'll eat most of it before you even get the bread out.

You can also season it, brown it all over in a bit of fat, and then braise it. Applejack, apples, shallots, garlic, and a bit of gingeroot is one good combo.

It's satisfying like beef brisket, but unlike beef brisket manages to be not so rich and heavy.

Theabroma

[fifi]

Thanks for the help. I am going to pick up a couple of butts to put in the Weber smoker. If they have these and they look interesting I may add it to the smoker.

[theabroma]

Cannot wait to hear the post mortem. Will cover laptop keypad with plastic to prevent drooling onto keyboard.

Very happy smokin' and grillin'

Theabroma

[fifi]

Went to Fiesta late and got two cryopacks of the pork brisket. When I opened them up, they were not at all what I expected. Each cryopack had four of these things. Think butt ugly ribs! That being said, I am going to have to adjust the plan and treat them like ribs. I don't really care that they are ugly since I am after the pulled meat only. And it will add to the yummy surface bits ratio. At 97 cents per pound, what the hell. Since they won't take as long as butts, I may pick up some chicken thighs to have some smoked chicken for the freezer.

snowangel... I will post pictures over in the cooking thread and put a link here. I think that is only fair since I said I would post over there.

[fifi]

I took one for "the team". Do not bother with pork brisket. Too much "junk" to deal with. I posted the details here.

It was really tasty, though.