Brisket

This wasn’t my first brisket. But this was BY FAR my best brisket.

Smoking brisket is kind of the holy grail of grilling. It’s a big, expensive cut of meat. There’s only two on a cow. You don’t wanna mess it up. You cringe at the thought of babysitting this thing for 12 hours. You regret setting your alarm for 12:00 A.M. so that it’s ready to put on two hours later; and pulled, rested, and edible at 5:00 P.M.

It’s a lot of labor for one – maybe two – meals.

I shouldn’t’ve started out with brisket. The couple times I did, reminded me to go back to the drawing board.

I started with chicken. Cheap meat. Easy to work with. Simple seasonings.

I did chuck steak. A lot of chuck steak. Again, easy to work with. Quick cook times. Practice beef seasoning.

New York strips and ribeyes were next. Thicker pieces. Higher costs. Longer cook times. Need more care here.

Then I ventured into pork. Roasts and ribs – mostly ribs. Ribs helped me a ton: I got used to methodically sticking to a routine, controlling variables, keeping constant what did work. It’s also a several- hour ordeal; more than once, I found out too late that dinner would be after 7:00 P.M….

In the meantime, I researched. I watched videos. I learned from others’ mistakes. I made a plan.

Finally. The morning came. I stuck to my plan. I messed up once. Whoops. But it didn’t ruin the whole thing. The overcooked part, just gets used as dog treats. The remainder, the good bits, turned out AMAZING. I’ve sampled a few really good briskets at decent restaurants before. They’re very good. They’re great.

This… this turned out better.

And the best part about it is, I earned it.

It just felt right as we bit into it. The bark, the fat, the spices, the meat itself: everything complemented everything else. I could see the pure satisfaction on my wife’s face. I knew it was a job well done.

That’s the payoff you should look for with your work. That’s the pride you should strive for in your daily labor. That’s the passion you should pursue. Boy, is that mountain peak high, and what a high you get once you reach it!