Woke up around 4:30 AM.

Lit the charcoal. It’s makes it easy to get started.

Took the briskets out of the fridge. These are from the calf we recently bought. I thought about only doing one, but like all cuts from a calf, they’re smaller than you’re used to. If I’m going to run this much fire, might as well do them both. They’ve been sitting in the fridge for about 24 hours with dry rubs. Didn’t feel like putting my own rubs together, so I’m trying two commercial seasonings/rubs. One is rubbed with Good Shit. The other with McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning. They might turn out awesome. They might suck. Either way it just means one must make more brisket in the future. Either way it’s a fun experiment. I am expecting the Good Shit to turn out pretty nice. No idea how the Grill Mates will turn out given how salty it is.

Around 5:20 or so the charcoal was ashy. Threw a few good-sized chunks of mesquite wood on as well as a nice oak log. I’ll be working to keep the temp in the 200 to 250 degree range all day. I’ll use mesquite and oak for the first couple hours, then oak only the rest of the day. I really like the flavor mesquite imparts into beef, but I also found if that’s all you use for long smokes like this it can be overpowering or even too much and get bitter. Oak works great for long smokes.

After another 20 minutes or so to stabilize the temps and ensure the wood caught, put on the briskets. I’ll check every hour or so. After the first few hours, I’ll wrap them loosely in foil. I usually don’t do that, but given how small these guys are compared to regular brisket as well as how tender the meat is from the get go, something tells me that’s a wise thing to do. The plan is to smoke them 10-12 hours.

Poured myself a Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. Never tried it before. May not try it again. It’s a good ale in and of itself, but I’m so damn tired of everyone trying to make the most bitter, most hoppy beer. I had no idea when I saw the bottle in the store… that’ll learn me. Tho while at the store I also picked up some Brooklyn Lager. Never had that either, but it’s been on my radar so I figured why not try it.

Once everyone else in the house is awake, I have salsa to make.

We received about a pound of tomatillos in our CSA box this week. Wife found a simple roasted tomatillo & garlic salsa recipe online, so I’ll give that a try. We also had peppers and tomatoes and other goodies in the box, so I’ll also throw together a basic tomato salsa. Just tomatoes, a couple serranos (those were the peppers in the box), onion, garlic, cilantro, some lime juice, salt. Whirr it in the blender to smooth it out but still be somewhat chunky. No idea of the proportions… just going to wing it. 🙂

Should be a good day.