When the Weather Turns: Winter Cooking Project #5
January 31, 2009
The Tutor: Davo The Organizer: Karrie
The Tutees/Bloggers: Christie, Jen P., Mindy, Amy
Cut of beef: Beef Brisket
Price point: $3.45/pound, approximately 12 pounds
Why Jefe Dave chose it: Superbowl=Chili Bowl
Butchering goal: Breaking down the brisket into chunks for chili
Recipe: Texas Beef Brisket Chili from Bon Appetit's October 2008 issue
This time around, the Cooking Project Team handled brisket for a tasty Texas style chili for Superbowl season. Dave explained that this type of chili would be all meat, no beans. No stinky Superbowl for us!
Amy commented that when she thought of chili, she thought of the chili she had when growing up which was made only with pork and New Mexico red chili. The other kind of chili with beans her family called “chili beans.” This sparked a discussion of the different kinds of chili out there and how chili fans are as serious about chili as barbeque aficionados are about BBQ. In other word, don't mess with Texas!
Jefe Dave explained that brisket is a tougher meat that requires slow cooking. The brisket we cut was about 13 pounds and once cut was split into two sections, the point and flat. Before anybody whacked into the meat, Dave announced, “mise-en-place!” which means everything in its place. Amy thought this was a great phrase and will endeavor to use it whenever she cooks! Therefore Amy and Jen P. got to work dicing a pound of onions. The smell of the onions was so strong, Jen’s eyes were tearing. Mindy offered the handy tip of turning on the stove burner to get rid of the onion fumes.
No longer weepy, Amy and Jen chopped away at the onions, while Dave chopped up some JDY stocked North Country bacon. Once complete, Mindy was the lucky lady selected to trim the fat off the brisket. First, Karrie placed a towel under the chopping board to prevent slippage. Then Mindy started the process of trimming off the fat making sure the knife was cutting away from her. Amy commented that it was like cutting an orange, you had to get through the rind to find the meat. Once Mindy finished trimming off the fat, you could see the two pieces of the brisket. One piece was flat and had tight grains, the other piece was thicker and had looser grains which was called the point.
Once the two pieces were separated, Jen and Amy took over the meat cutting and chopped the meat into 2-3 inch pieces.
Jen P. and Christie seasoned the beef with salt.
Once the meat was chopped up, Dave started makin’ bacon. Amy added the onions and then the beef to brown. Once browned, the chunks o’ brisket were set aside. Karrie blended cumin, garlic, chili powder, oregano, and chilis with their water together until smooth. After tasting the concoction, Dave said it needed more agua. Meanwhile Amy was busy chopping cilantro stems and Christie and Mindy were busy dicing canned whole tomatoes (Karrie couldn’t find the diced canned tomatoes, much to Jefe Dave’s dismay). Once the chili sauce was up to Jefe’s high standards, it was added to the meat and onion mixture along with the chopped tomatoes, chopped cilantro stems and the best part, beer, Jen P's Negro Modelo contribution for the evening.
The mixture cooked for about two hours. Amy painstakingly peeled and chopped the butternut squash and added to the meat mixture for more cooking. The next day, we cooked the chili for an additional 2 hours. By this time, the meat was falling apart and the mixture had thickened up nicely. This chili rocked! We think the trick may have been letting it sit overnight to let the flavors come together as well as letting the tough as football players brisket meat completely cook. The butternut squash made a nice contrast to the chili, almost more like a stew than what our Midwestern palettes considered chili.
Paired with Christie’s kickin’ corn bread, Mary and Karrie’s mini Kobe corn dogs, and Jen P.’s magic bar and banana muffins, turns out our Texas style chili feast was better than the Superbowl. After who knows how many bowls, Christie commented that this was our best Cooking Project meal yet. SCORE!
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