As I situate myself for this post, I flash back to Saturday evening when this beast was removed from the oven and plated up. I started with Justin Wilson’s Mushroom Braised Brisket, followed with simmered greens (swiss chard) and finished with Meathead’s Southern Cornbread. Mr. Wilson would have been proud of my version, very proud.
How did this all start? Well, that’s a story in itself, are you interested?

Be patient, this image will make sense in a moment. Transport yourself back to last Friday, about noonish. I found myself at Rick’s Quality Meats in El Cerrito to buy a sammich. I was hungry and figured along with that hammy sammy I could pick up something for dinner. Pork chops, maybe? Possibly some hamburger or a little beef ball-tip roast? We’ve run the gambit with chicken, so I knew that wasn’t in the plan.
As I walked in I noticed Rick had just finished tying up a little six pound beef brisket! Man, it was all glistenny and right up front where I could see it. I was going to opt for a 3 pound portion, but I could see by the look on Rick’s face, this was going to leave him with an odd cut, so I took the whole thing. OH well, I’d find something to do with it.
I got back to work and sat down with my sandwich to see what email had rolled in over the last 40 minutes or so. Lo and behold, whom did I find in my inbox? Chilebrown, that’s who. And he had just purchased a brisket. Now does the image above make more sense? I had my brisket and there’s an image in the email with his damned brisket. How does this happen?
We shuttled a few emails back and forth, talking about methods, times and dry rubs. I got back to work, went home and started dinner. That’s how days go for working people, just so you know.
It was later that evening when Chilebrown emailed me and threw down the challenge. We were to do our business with the briskets, take pictures and see who wins!

Here we find Chilebrown starting his smoker early Saturday morning with that fancy propane flamethrower. Starts up in no time, I hear. This was probably at nearly 4:30am, I was sleeping.
That’s okay because I believe Chilebrown found something to occupy his time while the brisket cooked for 8 hours.

Considering the weather and the fact I don’t have a dry place to cook outside, I figured I would cook Justin Wilson’s Mushroom Beef Brisket. I did it a few years ago and was it was absolutely wonderful. The richness of the beef, the wild aroma of the mushrooms and the dry white wine is tough to beat. The recipe includes smoked salt, this gives me an excuse to use a large amount of my Danish Viking-Smoked Sea Salt. As a side I chose cornbread & greens, oh yeah.
Getting the brisket ready was easy. Wash and pat dry, rub with smoked salt. Since my family has a severe case of honkey mouth, I figured a basic fajita style (mild) rub would have to do instead of the cayenne listed. The tough thing was deciding on a roasting tray. My turkey roaster was too big and the standard glass casserole (about ‘this’ big) din’t seem large enough. I went with the smaller of the two and pushed my shitake mushrooms, crimini mushrooms & onions in to place.
See, beef brisket when fully cooked tends to lose about 50% of it’s weight, for smoking anyway. I used enough dry white wine to bring the liquid level about 1/2″ from the top of the brisket. The 2 cups Justin calls for isn’t enough for me. I knocked his 350 oven down to 325 and braised it covered/vented for about 4 hours. Remove the foil/lid for another hour or two.

Do up a pound or two of bacon, you’re going to need this for the cornbread and the greens and whoever walks by (Mama and Z). Remember, pour the fat in to a storage container, but don’t clean out the dutch oven or pan. This will be a perfect start for your greens.

These here are the green and red swiss chard, not the collards. Even so, they good. Just wash, slice up a few bunches and put in to that greasy hot dutch oven with a splash or two of extra virgin. Stir a bit to get the action going. Show them you love them. How do you do that? Throw in a good sized handful of minced bacon, that’s how. S&P, minced shallot or two and a cup or so of good chicken broth, you decide how juicy you wants it. Simmer for a while with the cover on, I think these went an hour, maybe an hour and a half. I don’t rightly remember, it’d been a long day. Right before you serve, stir in juice from half a lemon and a lump of butter.

Remember this? The cornbead from the other day? Man, it tasted good soaking up the juice from the greens and the mushroom gravy. The house, kitchen and probably neighborhood have been smelling this meal all day. I totally rule.
Let’s check in with Chilebrown and see how he’s doing, it’s been more than 10 long hours for him.
So Meathenge wants to rumble!. I took my brisket and rubbed it down with my secret dry rub, wildrub. I put it in the refrigerator and got the smoker ready. The smoker a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker that Ms. Goofy gave me for Christmas.
I poured the charcoal and got a couple of chunks of pecan and hickory ready for an early morning start. I then marinaded myself with a couple of glasses of grape. It is a good thing that Ms. Goofy has big ears, because I slept right through the rain. She got up and moved the smoker under cover.

I got up at 4:30 am. That is my usual time to make sure any leftovers in the refrigerator are safe, heh. I got the torch and lit up the patio. I then placed the brisket in the Weber Bullet with its fancy NU-TEMP thermometers. You got to check out this set up. One themometer is for the the smoker and the other is for the meat. They both broadcast to a base station which I monitor in front of the T.V. It is so perfect, I can watch the tube and have Ms. Goofy bring me libations, open and or close vents. Haaaaaaaaaah!
After 8 hours of 225 to 250 heat I took it off the smoker and wrapped it in foil and apple juice ala “Henry Joe”, and finished off in a 300 degree oven. Man it is the bomb. We had potato salad and coleslaw as sides.
Hey Biggles? Give up!!!!

I knew how good his brisket was and it was unbearable that I wasn’t able to chew on it.
Good thing I had my own to keep myself busy.

Not bad for a coupla hillbillies, eh?
This was one meal where nothing on the plate over shadowed anything else. Each one made you giggle and fork for more. It was a great day and I’m glad Chilebrown was able to handle my ‘spirit’ and food snobbery, it can get tough at times.
How can you pick a winner here without sampling a little of each. You can’t and it wouldn’t be fair. We’ll go out to dinner and share some cool freshing beverages and reminisce about the day of The Dueling Briskets!
Okay, what’s next?
Biggles