Home Cookin' Smoked Brisket So Good It'll Bring a Tear to Your Eye

Ever go to a restaurant that isn't a bbq joint that had brisket so flavorful and tender that it rivaled the best BBQ restaurant brisket you've ever had? Here's one way to do it. There are others, but this way is pretty much fool-proof and the end result is so fantastic you'll sprain your arm patting yourself on the back. It's very impressive for a dinner party too.

All you need is meat, salt, seasoning, a smoker, a vacuum sealer, and an immersion circulator. It's not as bad as it sounds, promise.

 I started out with a brisket flat. It is about $6.99/lb at Giant. You can find it cheaper on sale. This recipe will work for a whole-muscle brisket as well, so if you've got an actual butcher who will get you one, give it a try.  I sliced it in half to start with as my vacuum sealer is on the small side. I salted it generously with flaky kosher salt and let it sit in the fridge for a few days.

 The day before you're going to serve, season the brisket with your favorite rub, then smoke it for 3 hours at 225. 

 Turn off the smoker, or kill the fire, whichever is applicable, and let the meat cool to room temperature. Once it's cool, vacuum seal it. Once it's sealed, you can put it in the water bath you've got waiting at a toasty 185 degrees.

 Set your temp to 185 and set the timer to 12 hours. If you want to go lower/longer that is an option as well. I was in the middle of a Gotham binge with my wife so I knew I'd be up until midnight, which is when the meat went into the bath.

 In the interest of having fewer single-use tools in my kitchen, I use a cooler that fits nicely into the small compartment of my sink for my water bath rather than having a lexan to store and keep clean. I line it with a trash bag, fill it 3/4 of the way with water that is as hot as I can get it out of the tap (@130), and then boil a pot of water to get the temp up to 185 quicker. The faster you get the water up to temp the less wear and tear you put on the heating element of your circulator...I think. 

Be aware: even though the meat is sealed in bags, the smell and some color leaches out into the water after 12 hours. Don't use your favorite tailgating cooler.

 After 12 hours at 185, I kick the temperature up to 203 and let it continue to cook for another 2-3 hours, then shut off the circulator, remove any covering you have on the water bath, and let the meat cool a bit. When you're ready to serve, cut off the corner of the bag and pour the liquid into plastic pint container. Put it in the fridge and the fat will rise to the surface so you can skim it easily. The liquid remaining is pure gold. It will eventually solidify as it's very gelatinous. You can use this for anything from gravy or a sauce for the BBQ to flavoring for greens.

 When you're ready to serve hit that shit with a torch! It looks cool and it will give you a crust, though it won't be nearly as thick/crunchy as you'd get with smoking it for 12 hours.

And there it is. Beautiful, tender brisket. The fat is fairly liquefied and isn't chewy at all. It's more like bbq flavored mayo. Get a little fat, a lot of meat, and slap that on some white bread. 

Enjoy.

Don't say I never gave you anything.

If Dinner Parties Were A Competition - We Won. Again.

Dinner Party at Hotel Antolli

Undisclosed Location in Suburban Maryland, MoCo

Sorry for the self-aggrandizement and tooting of thine own horn you're going to be subject to here, but this one is too good not to tell you about.

I'm the co-founder of a charitable organization called Shooting with Chefs. We have an annual fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic and it's, for lack of a better word, unique.

Some of the area's best chefs help my organization create a day-long extravaganza of food, firearms, fun, fire, cigars, bourbon, and fundraising.

This year's event was the most successful to date. We raised over $54,000 in this one-day event that went directly to Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic.

We raise these funds through corporate sponsorships and donated auction items. The auction items range from hotel nights and chef's tasting dinners at exclusive restaurants to one-of-a-kind experiences created by world-renowned chefs at the winners' houses.  Last year I was lucky enough to be invited to a dinner where both Bryan Voltaggio and Mike Isabella provided dinner at a friends house. Here's a link to the post about that dinner: How to Win a Dinner Party.

A few smart friends of mine and I decided to pool our resources and bid on a private dinner at one of our houses prepared and served by Bryan Voltaggio, Graeme Ritchie and Dane Nakamura of Voltaggio Family of Restaurants this year and it was a rousing success. Read all about it.

Above is the first course we enjoyed: Turbot with cucumber, lemon, chanterelle mushrooms. 

For the dipping: Whipped lardo with crispy leeks and a chicken liver mousse if memory is serving me correctly. 

Here's another shot of the Turbot.

Corn soup with cotija, okra and guajillo. Smooth, cold, and buttery. 

Nothing like some perfectly seasoned and grilled octopus with fregola, almond, olive and Meyer lemon.

This dish bordered on flavor overload: Tonnarelli Nero, cooked in squid ink, with Maryland Blue Crab, jalapeno and sea urchin. 

Sometimes something is cooked so perfectly it's almost like a new food. Anson Mills Grits with coconut, calamari, shrimp, and the most exquisitely cooked scallop I've ever had.

For those of you who are not afraid of food with a face, here is one of the ultimates: Pig Face. There were two halves for the ten of us. I will not share the metode' with you as it was entrusted to me in confidence and I solemnly swore to only use the recipe for my own benefit moving forward.

Think of the best pork belly you've ever had. A thin layer of crispy skin with about two inches of fat-layered meat. Now think of that with more flavor and a crispiness that has none of the inedible portions that  you sometimes get with roasted pig. This was the bomb. It was served moo shu-style with lettuce wraps and various toppings/condiments. I know I'll never love this way again. (Yes, that's Whitney singing in the background.)

I had range officer duty the next day in Poolesville and Paul Antolli, host for the evening, was nice enough to bring me four slices of white bread and some of this for lunch. It was spectacular then as well.

This was adding insult to injury at this point, but when Graeme comes and drops a dessert in front of you you are compelled to eat it. Every last bit. Black Forest: Chocolate, dry cherry, sweet cream, and cocoa nib. Sounds simple. Looked spectacular and tasted better.

What's even better than some kick-ass cigars after a meal like that? Spending time shooting the breeze and smoking kick-ass cigars around the fire with some of your restaurant heroes who just made you and your friends one of the best meals of your life. We had a great time and the money went to a great cause. Brian is very generous to donate his time, money and effort to several charities including No Kid Hungry, Chefs for Equality, and others.  Bravo chef, and thank you.

And the parting shot! Left to right the lovely Mrs. Cheryl Bolen (AKA Mrs. Smelson), Dane Nakamura, Graeme Ritchie, yours truly, and Bryan Voltaggio.
If you're interested in something like this and want a crack at winning a dinner prepared in your home by Bryan, Mike Isabella, or some as-yet-to-be-named chefs (got a couple of special donors TBA at game time) at Shooting with Chefs IV to be held in June of '16 reach out to me at ChefShoot@Outlook.com or dsmelson@gmail.com

Thanks for reading.

Home Cookin' - Possibly the World's Best Chili

I know, everyone thinks they have the world's best chili recipe.

I stole this one from someone else, so I don't have a dog in the fight personally, but I can tell you it is certainly the best chili I've ever tasted.

I found the recipe here: FoodLab Best Chili Recipe

His description of how he came up with the recipe and the methods he used to achieve the most awesome chili ever had me sold.

The photos that follow here are from my second attempt at this. Don't be alarmed by the cost or quantity please. I made a 3X batch because it is a bear to make. If you're going to cook for six hours and destroy your kitchen you might as well make it worth-while, right?

Ok, so here is the ingredient list below. I've inserted in parentheses and underlined anything I substituted or did differently and the reason why. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried dark red kidney beans
• Kosher salt
• 4 quarts water (I used canned dark red kidney beans)
• 3 whole Ancho, Pasilla, or Mulato chilies, seeded, and torn into rough 1-inch pieces (about 1/2 ounce) (I used dried Ancho because they had them at Balducci's)
• 2 whole New Mexico red, California, Costeño, or Choricero chilies, seeded, and torn into rough 1-inch pieces (about 1/8 ounce) (I used dried California because they had them at Balducci's)
• 1 whole Cascabel, Arbol, or Pequin chili, seeded, and torn in half (I used dried Pequin because they had them at Balducci's)
• 5 pounds bone-in beef short rib, trimmed of silver skin and excess fat (I used what is known as Chuck Flap or Boneless Short Rib because I didn't want to mess with the bones. I used bone-in short rib last time, it was great, but a pain in the butt. I also added 1 package of Veal Demi Glace De Veau Gold to make up for the flavor I was missing from the marrow.)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth (preferably home made), divided
• 2 whole anchovy fillets (Omitted, substituted fish sauce)
• 1 teaspoon marmite
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds, toasted, then ground
• 1 1/2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds, toasted, then ground
• 2 whole cloves, toasted and ground
• 1 star anise, toasted and ground
• 1 tablespoon extra-finely ground coffee beans
• 1 ounce chopped unsweetened chocolate
• 1 large yellow onion, diced fine (about 1.5 cups)
• 3 fresh Thai bird chiles or 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (I used Jalapeno)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup vodka or bourbon (Bourbon, 'cause Bourbon)
• 1 tablespoon Buffalo-style hot sauce, such as Franks RedHot (or more to taste) (I used Frank's)
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar and added molasses)
• So let's get started, shall we?

Beautiful meat from The Teet...OKA Harris Teeter. It was more expensive than the pitiful short ribs at Giant, but $1.00/less per lb. than the good looking short ribs they had at Balducci's. Once again, this was a 3X batch that I made, so you can either go 1-2lbs of this or 5lb of bone-in short rib per the recipe.

This is what you get...two of these in the package.

You'll want to trim away as much of the fat and silver skin as you can. Cut the meat into 1" thick chunks. You're going to brown these and you want them to take a nice sear. It's part of the incredible umami construction that makes this recipe what it is.

Salt and pepper liberally, then sear either in a Dutch oven or heavy skillet.

Put the meat in a pan when you're done. You want to let it cool a bit so you can work with it. Don't discard any juices, we're going to use them.

I followed the advice in the recipe and nuked the dried peppers for 30 seconds. They came out pliable and easy to work with. After you tear them up you're going to throw them in the pan you cooked the beef in with the chicken stock and let it simmer until the peppers are nice and soft.

If the smell of the meat didn't do it for you, this step and the next one will. It starts to smell really good here.

You're going to toast all of your spices including the cumin, coriander, cloves, and star anise. Keep an eye on them, they'll burn easy.

Mmm. Spicy!

Gather all the spices and put them in a coffee or spice grinder. 

This is going to go in the blender with the peppers that have been simmering.

Turn off the pan and let it sit for a few minutes. You can start cutting your meat up while this is cooling.

Once it's cooled a bit, put the peppers, spice mix, soy sauce, Marmite, and fish sauce in a blender and puree the hell out of it.  Give this a taste. It's unreal. By the way, do yourself a favor and put a kitchen towel over the top of the blender. Better safe than sorry and repainting your kitchen. 

Cut the cooled meat into chili-sized pieces and place in a bowl.

At this point you're going to add some oil to the final vessel and cook the onions until soft, then add the garlic, oregano, and fresh Jalapeno. Cook that for an additional five minutes.

Pour in the chili paste. I put the remainder of my chicken stock in the blender and pulsed it a couple of times to make sure I got as much of the paste out of it as possible for use in the next step. Cook the chili paste and onions/garlic until it starts to fry. Do that for about 5 minutes, then put the remainder of the stock in the pot, making sure you scrape up any goodness from the bottom of the pot. Add the beef, any reserved juices, and the bay leaves. Bring it to a simmer, then turn it down as low as possible and cover loosely. Let that go for an hour, stirring occasionally.

After that's been on for an hour, you're going to add your beans, crushed tomatoes, and cider vinegar. Let that go for another 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

When you're ready to serve, stir in the sugar and bourbon, then plate it.

Serve with your favorite chili toppings.

This chili is dark brown and so flavorful that you need to go through the experience from smell, to first taste, to roasty-finish and savor it.

Hope you all enjoy your chili. I sure did! Hit me up with questions/comments/rude remarks.

Home Cookin' - Oxtails: What do you do with them?

 Liberty Delight Farms

Oxtails

as prepared by

Pleasures of the Table

You may have read about Oxtail before. Some of you may have had it, but it's not a hugely popular dish anymore. I'm not sure why, but it may be that it requires a little more time than some people care to spend cooking. In any event, it's one of my favorite cold-weather dishes to make and eat.

The tails are literally cow tails. The nice thing about them is that the meat, after braising, holds together nicely and there is a huge amount of collagen in the tail-bone that gives the stew a rich texture.

It's a great dish when you've got some spare time to spend in the kitchen as I did when I went to Snowshoe Mountain last weekend. I prepared it over a two-day period. Well worth the time spent.

Here's how they look coming off the truck. Either leave them in your fridge for a day or two to thaw or leave them in the package in a cold-water bath for an hour or two to thaw.

I actually left them frozen and used them as ice-packs in my cooler for the trip up the mountain.

 I used some random vegetables that I brought up with me. Peppers, carrots, parsnips, garlic, shallots, and celery.

I diced up all the vegetables, tossed them and the tails in a little bacon fat left from breakfast, added salt, pepper, and dusted them with flour, then let them roast for an our at 375, turning a few times.

After the tails had browned a bit I added a can of chopped tomatoes, a couple of bay leafs and four cups of beef stock and covered them tightly and left them in the oven for about 3 hours at 325. When I took them out of the oven, the meat was tender and easily separated from the bones, which you discard. Put the meat back in with the vegetables and let it cool, then put covered in the fridge for dinner the next night.

I skimmed a lot of fat before I put it in the fridge, but a lot more will solidify on the top when it's fully chilled. You can easily scoop it off. Don't be too heavy-handed with the removal though as a lot of the flavor is fat-soluble, so you don't want to remove it all.

Heat it back up slowly to just a simmer and stir in some cooked lentils or beans if you prefer, add 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice, a teaspoon of time, salt and pepper to taste.

And there you have it. Hearty, rich, flavorful stew to keep you warm and satisfy hearty appetites.

Thanks for reading. If you try it, let me know how it turned out!

Range in Chevy Chase...Home cooking made extraordinary.

Range

5335 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20015

Valet on Military Road just past the hotel entrance.

Yes, I was busy over the holidays, and to tell you the truth I haven't really had any great meals in places that had good enough lighting for me to take pictures. Sorry to disappoint. I made up for it last night though. Six friends/family members and I went to Range, Bryan Voltaggio's new restaurant in Chevy Chase.

.

Here's a shot of one of the barmen creating a pair of fabulous cocktails. Note the huge cubes.  They are not only fun to look at, but functional as well.

Back to the story line though...Bryan was previously with Charlie Palmer and won some accolades there, but really came into his own with the restaurant Volt in Frederick.  I reviewed the restaurant a few years back when I had dinner at Table 21, which at the time was a four-seater with 21 courses.  You can read about that here - Table 21 at Volt Restaurant

 Range is NOT a trip down molecular gastronomy lane.  It is a place where you can take your family, or have a business meal, or just stop in for some chocolates and a coffee. It is accessible. It is, and this is going to be a shocker, a tremendous value.  More on that later.

 Here is a pic of the menu. 

 This is another of their tasty cocktails.

 And another.  All of the cocktails are priced less than you would expect for such well thought-out and executed drinks. If you were to hit a bar downtown that had this kind of talent behind it (Owen Thomson) you'd be hitting $15.00-$20.00 per drink easily.

Some of my intrepid eaters: Shawn, Cheryl and Amelia.

Kathy Morgan, MS. She chose our wines for the evening. She rocked them out, each one was something unique with memorable characteristics. Nothing middle of the road here, and nothing more than $60.00/bottle if I remember correctly.  It takes a master to give you an experience like that without breaking the bank in the process.

 Perfectly cooked 1/2 Raw Bar Tower. Fresh, briny, served with several accompanying sauces which I didn't try. Everything was so fresh and succulent that I didn't want to sully the flavors.  I did, however, keep their fresh horseradish to nibble on after the tower was removed.

Kampachi with pine nuts, lemon and coriander.

 Goat Cheese Ravioli with a braised meat ragu.

 This one was not on the menu, but it was some beautiful fish.

 The pork cheeks with moustarda.

 The Kampachi with hazelnuts. Perfectly crisp on top, flaky/tender inside.

 Wonders abound on the charcuterie plate. I was particularly fond of the pork rillettes and the duck galantine.

 This was the kale Caesar.

 That is one fancy spork. I think it was meant for the marrow bones.

 This is the lobster with garlic and chilies. The bread that came with it was soaked in the jus. This was one of my favorite dishes.

 Not everyone is a fan of bone marrow, but I sure am. One had the raisin topping and one didn't. I liked them both, but the pristine version with the just-crisped top was worth the trip by itself.  Mmmmm.

 This is the rib eye with mushrooms. Very nice.

 The Border Springs lamb. Very nicely done. Tender.

 Of the two steaks this was my favorite.  The Roseda Hanging Tender. I managed to bring some home and my son had it for lunch. He closed his eyes and chewed....going MMmmmm.

 This is Kampachi with forbidden grains and coconut. Once again, perfectly crisped with a tender inside.

 This is the whole stuffed rabbit. Very earthy. Takes you right to the woods.

 This came to the table last.  It's the  merguez stuffed lamb breast. Very well-spiced sausage cooked to perfection. I was able to bring some of this home as well and it was a great addition to lunch today.

 This was the favorite wine of the night...or at least for half of us.  The rest were enthralled by the Muscato that came with desert. I didn't get a picture of that bottle...8(

 There were various sorbets and tastings of things for dessert.

More desserts!

In these pix you don't see the various side dishes including sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, and other things. There wasn't a poor recipe or execution among them. 

What you also don't see is the level of service we received. It was very gracious and fun. Never overbearing or pretentious. I asked our server, Nema, to order for us and keep the food coming until we cried Uncle. She did that in spectacular form, incorporating the dishes that we specifically asked for.

There were a few hiccups with timing, but that is to be expected as this is a very new place and everyone is still getting their sea-legs.

Just a mention of the Home Cooking in the title? These recipes and preparations are classic with a little updating in some cases. Whole-animal usage is the order of the day here, and hopefully it will catch on in more venues. It is what it's supposed to be, and it's awesome.

Regarding my earlier comment about value? We spent about $130 per person including tip. I've had meals that cost twice that and delivered less than half the satisfaction. This is the new Must Try DC Restaurant.

Congratulations team Range.