Grillstock: Wagyu brisket video

One of the more amazing – and unexpected – achievements of last weekend’s Grillstock King of the Grill competiton was placing 2nd in the brisket category, behind the legendary Dr. Sweetsmoke. In this video from Homegrown Films, I give a little rundown on how we prepared our brisket. Our high placing may have something to do with the fact that we brought our own briskets – in this case two superb pieces of Welsh Wagyu from Alternative Meats. The other thing that we did was start our briskets very, very early – 1am to be precise for a 5.30pm turn-in. I was surprised to see many teams not starting their briskets until breakfast time the next day. Although you can do brisket “hot and fast”, around 275-300 F, I much prefer to do them low and slow, unfoiled until they reach about 200 F and then give them a good rest. In fact this is really important for Wagyu brisket as you want to render the fat, which in turn helps baste (well, more like confit!) the meat.

Grillstock: full results!

Part 1

Chef’s special

1. Backyard Brummies
2. Dr sweetsmoke
3. Newman’s own

Dessert

1. Gurmee Gala
2. Backyard Brummies
3. Bodean’s

BBQ Beans

1. Bodean’s
2. Backyard Brummies
3. Bone stock

Spirit of BBQ

Barbecue shack

Best dressed stand

Braising saddles

Ribs

1. Bunch of Swines
2. Dr Sweetsmoke
3. BBQ Fanatics

Brisket

1. Dr Sweetsmoke
2. Backyard Brummies
3. Butt Rub

Chicken

1. Gurmee Gala
2. BBQ Shack
3. Mad Apple

Pork shoulder

1. Bunch of Swines
2. Butt rub
3. BBQ Fanatics

King of the grill

1. Bunch of Swines!
2. Butt Rub
3. Dr Sweetsmoke
4. BBQ Fanatics
5. Gurmee Gala

Grillstock: day 2!

Here we go, grillstock day 2. Pork has been on since last night, although our smoker ran out of fuel by the morning and lost some temperature. Nothing we can’t handle, we hope. Lap has laboriously prepped his brined chicken, skins defatted and subsequently replaced. These are now going in the smoker, to turn in after midday. I’ve got my beans bubbling away in some ham stock, smoking over pecan. The sun is coming out. Now if I could just rid myself of this hangover it could be a perfect day!

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