It’s June and the weather is nice, lets have some friends over for a small feast.
Today, I am going to try something for the first time. Brisket Burnt Ends.
I really wanna do a full brisket on the masterbuilt but can’t afford doing it right now but I have brisket point in the freezer that is perfect for burnt ends.
I also have 5kg of some very lovely, locally grown, Gloucester Old Spot, Pork belly (we had chops from the same pig for dinner a couple of weeks after this, just amazing).
The brisket I’m using the Angus & Oink Black Gold Rub as it really is designed for this, the flavour of this is really intense and should get right into the meat.
I’m prepared for a longer cook, so this goes into the smoker at 250f and some chunks of hickory wood in the ash catcher (and the smoke flavour comes through lovely).
The cook actually goes quicker than I expected, so I turn the temp down for about an hour to keep things to time as much as I can.
Once the temp on the brisket hits 165f it’s time to wrap, I’m using silver foil today just for ease. I would also usually wrap with beef broth but today I’m trying out just using beef dripping on top.
The bark on the brisket looks good at this point. It’s the best I think I’ve ever seen on any of my briskets.
Back on the smoker until roughly 205f and then it needs to be sliced and cubed.
And slicing is just incredible. I try a tiny bit now to taste and the flavour is super intense. I’m glad I am using the Blues Hog Raspberry Chipotle sauce to go with it in the final stages of the cook to bring some sweetness and intenseness down.
Finally these burnt ends are done. I need to cook the pork belly before the guests arrive and so I cover the tray with silver foil and put into my coolbox to rest and hold.
The pork belly is rubbed with Angus & Oink’s Cherry Kola Rub from our pork belly lollipop cook a the Burger Competition. This skin is scored and seasoned with pink salt. This is done the night before and left in the fridge until almost ready for the smoker. One last hit of pink salt as it goes in.
And it’s just a waiting game with pork belly, it’s cooking well but the skin isn’t quite there so I crank the temp up a bit to give it a blast and it mostly crackles.
There is far more pork than any of us can eat, the cherry rub doesn’t come through as much as I thought it would, this, I would like to say, is down to the very delicious flavour of the pork but I’m not sure.
To go with all this small feast meat, my wife has prepared a corn and mango salad, some Garlic, Rosemary and Parmesan Hassleback Potatoes and a coleslaw.
The brisket burnt ends where described by one of my guest as perfect, this is lovely for 2 reasons, 1 – it being the first time I’ve cooked them, 2 – the guest is American.
My other guests are from South Africa and were also very impressed and have invited us over for a Braai with them, I look forward to the Boerewors!
