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: Grilled lobster with alphonso mango video
Here’s a lovely little video by Homegrown Films showing the preparation and serving of Lap’s grilled lobster and alphonso mango dish which won first prize in the Chef’s special category.
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: chicken going out!
And lookin’ mighty fine!
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!
Grillstock: onto day 2
Alabama 3 are just finishing their set (play some sopranos already!) and there’s a double rainbow in the Bristol sky. A good end to a great day here I’d say. Although we’re not quite finished here. The pork has just gone on the smoker and I’m starting my BBQ beans preparation. Lap’s marinating the chicken with his trademark jerk sauce. We were very happy with everything we sent today, particularly lap’s lobster dish, the apple pie and the brisket. Hoping for good scores tomorrow. Couldn’t blog the brisket because was too busy putting it out but thanks to all the crowd who were very vocal in their support! But will post more on that tomorrow!
Grillstock: dessert and ribs have gone!
Too hectic to blog for a while there … We sent our dessert of BBQ apple pie and smoked ice cream at 13:30 and then it was on to the ribs. These meat rounds are judged by BBQ experts and the judges are completely poker faced when presented with their boxes, so it’s very hard to gauge their opinions. One more round to go today: brisket!
Grillstock: chef’s special and dessert preparations underway!
We’ve just about managed to wake Lap up and now preparation is underway for the first two courses up today; chef’s special and dessert!
Grillstock: brisket coming along, ribs in
Well my brisket has fared quite well overnight, although one of my flats is nearly cooked and it’s only 9am (serve at 17.30!). I’ve rigged up my temperature probes and we’ll see when it’s ready… In other news, apples are prepped and the ribs just went in!
Grillstock: brisket on, and night time!
Overheard earlier: “Is your pineapple juice fresh, or from concentrate?”
Well it’s time to have some rest. We seem to be the only team that put our briskets on already, but that’s because they are uber – and massive. And there’s nothing worse than an undercooked brisket. Some teams are threatening to turn up at 3am or 4am to start theirs off. Anyway, Ozzy – one of our ProQ’s is on and I’m leaving him to it. Night night!