From my oven wafts the mouth-watering aroma of a tender (hopefully), juicy, flavorful (again, hopefully) Cajun dry-rubbed beef brisket. Last night, after I arrived home from work around 9:30pm, I carefully trimmed the 4lb brisket I had cut to order at PigglyWiggly. Walmart only had 15lb uncut briskets, and I am sooooo not ready to play butcher myself, so I opted to drive down the road to PigglyWiggly where the meat department manager had no problem cutting me a great brisket. Back to last night, I trimmed the brisket of the visible fat (which wasn't mentioned in a few recipes I was looking at but was mentioned in others, *shrug* I may learn from experience that this trimming is either necessary or unnecessary.) I bought Weber grill's N'rleans seasoning, and generously dry rubbed this perfect-looking brisket. I bagged that puppy in a sturdy gallon ziploc and went to bed thinking about how great this is going to turn out! When my darling hubby left for work this morning at just shy of 7am, I popped out of bed ready to "do this thang". I unbagged my meat, set it in my already-lined-with-aluminum-foil roasting pan, and pushed that gem into a 350 degree oven, uncovered. I let it roast this way for a whole hour before taking it out, bathing in the heavenly aroma of spicy roasting beef, adding 1 and 1/2 cups of beef broth and an added 1/2 cup of water. I covered the whole shebang tightly with foil and reduced the oven temp to 300 degrees. Checking my recipe, yes, 3 more hours of slow braising before I can pull that glorious hunk of beef out of the oven, let it rest for 15 mins, then slice. We are in hour 2 of the 3, so I decided to just jot this down.
I've taken on a lot of southern traditional foods in my few years here in Georgia. My home-cooked greens were an absolutely inedible disaster... (I can still taste that horrible bitterness). But in drastic contrast I can make one mean Pecan Pie that will make you think your momma never had a clue about southern cooking! On the Pecan note, I still need to figure out how to make some perfect pralines... suggestions/recipes are welcome.
Back to the brisket, I can't help but think that cooking this brisket is giving me a comparison to life. That ol' saying, "Slow and steady wins the race". Coming into this in a wild and spicy whirlwind I must still have patience (Every recipe cautions 'no peeking', which I'm notorious for doing. Damn my lack of patience!!! My history in rice-cooking yields many a burnt-bottom-pot) If there is no patience, the end result is a dry, tough, inedible disaster. The few times in my life when I have been completely impatient (who am I kidding? I lack all forms of patience... just now that I have a lil' baby am I starting to show patience!) I have had disasterous results. My husband can testify to that. This brisket is not only a right-of-passage for me, but it is a reminder to slow down and enjoy!
So I challenge you to find something yet un-mastered in your life and to go ahead and master it! You may just surprise yourself, and learn more about yourself along the way. I am going to enjoy my brisket and tweak my Master recipe as needed... though from the aroma, it won't take much tweaking. Mmmmmm.
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