July 4th Smoke Fest

Over the weekend, I was up in Oklahoma away from any of my beloved Texas BBQ joints, so I decided to get to smoking on my own. The menu included St. Louis ribs, a whole brisket, thick cut pork chops and a tube steak combo of garlic pork sausage and polish sausage (not pictured). Everything was smoked over charcoal briquettes (packing for a weekend away with a two month old can make you grab the wrong bag as I would have preferred to use lump hardwood charcoal) and the smoke was provided by hickory chunks.

Ribs were rubbed with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic salt and brown sugar. It was smoked for 2-1/2 hours while resting for 1/2 hour.






I'm hungry all over again.


Pork chops were seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper and smoked for 2 hours.


Ribs, garlic sausage and pork chops came from Central Market in Dallas, the polish sausage (admittedly pre-smoked) was from Rudolph's in Dallas, and the brisket was from my new favorite butcher shop in Dallas called VonGeertsem Butcher Shoppe. The storefront is tiny with only one reserved parking space, but the knowledge that Greg Geerts is willing to share with you is alone worth the stop. He described the location of the deckle (a thick vein of fat between the point and the flat) and explained how he cut it out. We talked raw meat for a good fifteen minutes, and I was not once bored. I won't be going anywhere else for whole briskets at this point.

The brisket was seasoned with kosher salt and pepper.


Part of the point was separated from the whole so it fit in the smoker.


It was smoked for 10 hours.


Then it rested, wrapped in foil, for an hour.




The verdict...well I could have done better. The ribs were nearly perfect with a black crust, smokiness through the meat, and well rendered fat. The pork chops were still moist, well seasoned and deeply smoky. The sausage needed more time on the smoker to develop a more smoky flavor, but the garlic flavor was prominent. A deep crust enveloped the brisket, yet only a meager smoke line laid underneath. The smokiness permeated the meat, but any slices heavy on crust made it evident that the meat had been over salted. The brisket moisture varied by the cut. The flat was a bit dry, while the well rendered fat in the point created a perfect level of moisture. If I were a BBQ joint, I'd give myself...

Rating ****