Progressive Smoke: 4th of July Brisket, Burnt Ends and a Pizza Fattie on the Traeger

[tadowdaddy]

Phew... got all the characters in there. Haven't done a progressive thread in a while, so this one will be filling up with pics thru Wednesday. Tonight, I started with my 14.5 lb packer. Mixed up a rub consisting of 1/2 Mad Hunky and 1/2 Plowboys Bovine Bold. Added some Garlic Salt and 3 different peppers to the rub (Black, White, Cayenne). Finally, after a taste test, threw in a pinch of brown sugar.

Here's the briskey in all her glory:


Here she is after taking off about 3 lbs of fat. I left about 1/4 inch around the top, and totally de-fatted the bottom. Also took of 85% of the fat between the point and the flat:


For the newbies out there, here's something I do to help with slicing at the end. I find the grain and then cut that corner off the brisket. Then I shove in a toothpick to mark the direction the grain is running:


Rubbed up with worshy and rub:


Wrapped up for a 24 hour relaxation period in da fridge:


Will be throwing this baby on the Traeger with some Lumber Jack 100% hickory pellets around midnight on Tues night/Wed morning. Picked up 60 lbs of 100% hickory and 20 lbs of 100% cherry from a guy locally who had bought a ton. Sold me the 80 lbs for $40. Pretty damn good deal.

Hoping to have her ready just in time for an early 4th of July dinner. Also doing a pizza fattie with shrooms, pepperoni, pizza sauce and 5 cheese blend. That will be made up tomorrow night and will go on Wednesday around 11 am.

More to come tomorrow night!

[Richtee]

You could have waited a week and brought sammies...

Nice looking packer....you have time..trim off that grey crap.. it's gonna end up dry and yuckky anyway in my experience.

[tadowdaddy]

You could have waited a week and brought sammies...

Nice looking packer....you have time..trim off that grey crap.. it's gonna end up dry and yuckky anyway in my experience.

Yes, I need to... couldn't find my sharp knife tonight. Turns out the wife left it at her parents last weekend while I was golfing. I'm picking it up tomorrow before I get this thing going. Have a little more trimming to do for sure, just couldn't get it done with the garbage knife I was working with.

[tadowdaddy]

You could have waited a week and brought sammies...

Nice looking packer....you have time..trim off that grey crap.. it's gonna end up dry and yuckky anyway in my experience.

Oh, and by the way, I was -2 thru 5 holes on Saturday, finished at +13. Still not horrible, 84. Hoping I'm playing that decent a week from this Friday when we hit the links for your bday!!

[Richtee]

Yes, I need to... couldn't find my sharp knife tonight. Turns out the wife left it at her parents last weekend while I was golfing. I'm picking it up tomorrow before I get this thing going. Have a little more trimming to do for sure, just couldn't get it done with the garbage knife I was working with.

I understand COMPLETELY.

As an aside... do NOT let wife touch your knives. Mine does not. Mainly because she damned near lost her index at the first knuckle once.

"They are too sharp!" she says.
"you are not qualified" I said.

And there it lies... bout 15 years now.

[Richtee]

43 for me the other day, just did 9. Not shabby. 4 up-N-downs. Greens in reg be damned...

[tadowdaddy]

I understand COMPLETELY.

As an aside... do NOT let wife touch your knives. Mine does not. Mainly because she damned near lost her index at the first knuckle once.

"They are too sharp!" she says.
"you are not qualified" I said.

And there it lies... bout 15 years now.

We have a nice set of Henkels, or had a nice set. I tried and tried to tell my wife to hone them and use the sharpener after each use, as well as "NEVER PUT THEM IN THE DISHWASHER". 2 years later, they're shit.... except for the steak knives.

[tadowdaddy]

43 for me the other day, just did 9. Not shabby. 4 up-N-downs. Greens in reg be damned...

We will have a blast. 43 is quite impressive. I started drinking at the turn on Saturday. 38 and then 46.. Damn beers!

[Fire it up]

That's gonna be one great meal! Fattie sound great but of course the star is the brisket.
Gonna give you pre- because you're doing burnt ends and that's not only a must when cooking a packer but to me half the time the main reason to cook a packer

[barkonbutts]

Cant wait to see this one finished!! sweet

[HawgHeaven]

Really looking forward to the progression brutha! And my knives are MY knives... nuff said.

[sweet_magnolia]

Gonna be good!!

[Squirrel]

Hell to burnt end YEA! I've never done burnt ends, but I'm thinking I need to. Looking forward to following your smoke.

All you guys pissin' and moanin' aboot you wife unit messing with you knives. I can tell you how to solve that right quick. Use her toothbrush or just tell her you used her toothbrush WHILE she is using it. After she regains consciousness tell her you will stop using her stuff if she will stop using yours. Gotta draw the line somewhere fellas. You could do what I did and just kick'em to the curb.

[SQWIB]

I really like that toothpick idea.

Good looking piece of meat.

Ditto Richtee, I keep my extra sharps away from wifey, I do however let her play with my Rambo Knife every now and then

[tadowdaddy]

Ok, so now time to put the Fattie together.

Step 1, roll out 2 lbs of pork sausage in a 1 gallon ziplock ( I could have just stuck with 1 lb, but why not use 2....) :


Step 2, top with the homemade ragu that we used tonight for our spaghetti dinner. This will serve as the pizza sauce:


Step 3, load with pepperoni:


Step 4, an entire bag of Kraft Italian 5 Blend cheese:


Step 5, and what a pain in the ass it was, roll er up:


Step 6, get this big ass heart attack waiting to happen into a bacon weave:


Step 7, top with Mad Hunky and wrap in plastic wrap:



It's in the fridge right now where it'll sit until about noon tomorrow!
On beer #1, gonna have a few more tonight before I throw the brisket on around midnight/1 am...


More to come!