Brisket. Check.

Dillo Dust. Check.

Oak wood. Check.

Smoker. Check.

Time to wait? Check.

We’ve had a brisket in the deep freeze for some months now, bought with the side of beef we previously ordered. Alas, with the severe drought and fire risk, I’ve not smoked nor grilled anything in a long time. *sigh* But with all the recent rains and greening up, I’m happy to get outside and do some cooking… at least, while there’s the ability to. I reckon this coming summer will be more of the same as last summer, so might as well smoke and grill while I can.

I got some Dillo Dust in a package of stuff I ordered from Larue Tactical. No, you can’t buy it. I’ve tried it on a few things, like a seasoning salt, and I don’t like it — too much sugar. However, as a rub? Potential. It might work, it might not, I don’t know, but I figure why not give it a try. If it sucks that bad, the dog will be very happy for a few days. 🙂

The brisket had been defrosting in the fridge for a couple days, but by Friday evening wasn’t fully defrosted (due to having been foled in half by the butcher). But it was close enough and I couldn’t wait any longer, so I rubbed it down with what was left of the dust (about 3/4 bottle) and put it back in the fridge. So it’s been sitting with the rub on for about 36 hours.

Woke up early this morning, got the smoker fired up. Extra nice too because well… remember all that xeriscaping we had done? There was a bunch of flagstone left over. Couple years ago, we had our friends at Fertile Ground Organic Gardens come and do a bunch of stuff in the backyard, and they used some leftover stone there to make what Wife calls the “Man Meat Pit” — just an area for me to put my grill. Well, it was fine with the little grill, but once I got the offset box smoker, it was too small. We had more stone left over from the front-yard xeriscape, so a few days ago Fertile Ground came back out and used the remaining stone and enlarged the pit area. Very roomy now! Once the cold weather breaks and the rest of the planting gets done, yes I’ll finally post some pictures of the xeriscaping.

As of this writing, the brisket’s been in the smoker about 3 hours. Keeping it around 250-ish degrees, burning nothing but oak logs. It’s sitting naked right now in the smoker, but next time I go check it I’ll be wrapping it up in some foil. If Wife has any apple cider vinegar in the pantry, I’ll probably baste it with that too. Else I’ll use some beer.

Alas, I haven’t drank any beer. Yes, cooking over fire requires a beer, but I’m trying to be a good boy about sucking down useless calories.

All the kiddos have expressed happiness and are looking forward to the brisket. It’s been too long since Dad smoked one.

We’ll see how this turns out. Supper should be good.