Friday was a busy day around here. Baby A had a sort of end of the year party with an unspecified number of boys coming over and he had requested a brisket, ribs, burgers, and hot dogs. I told him that was a bit much but I would make a brisket and some ribs since it has been awhile since I smoked one and we had one in the freezer. As usual, Friday came around too fast and I never got the brisket out of the freezer. From experience, I know that it takes at least two days to thaw out if placed in the fridge and I have read that steaks and stuff can be cooked from frozen but I didn't want to be experimenting with a meal that my son's friends are going to eat. So, Thursday night after work, I stopped at HEB to buy one and first of all, they should be ashamed what they did to the prices. Briskets have pretty much been $2.29/pound all year but I couldn't find anything cheaper than $3.99/pound. I settled on a smaller 9 pounder that was about $36 but I was a little pissed about paying that much. Same with the ribs, they were also more expensive, but I told Mijo I would cook this for him, so I bit the bullet. Of course, since I had gone to the store, Wife told me to get them regular sodas, sugar free stuff, chips, and whatever else boys eat.
I started the brisket at 7:30am, and was able to manage the day around it. I took Mijo to his morning practice, went to Home Depot, gassed up Wife's SUV, and even worked on the pool during the day. Running the grill all day does take about 3/4 of a 20 pound bag of pellets. I thought I had enough pellets from a bag I had just opened earlier in the week, but I had to go and tear into the back-up bag. I still love cooking with my pellet grill and it has behaved very well after changing the heat probe and temperature sensor a couple months ago.
Eventually, my brisket got done around 5:00pm, when I was talking to Wife on her way home. I took it out and let ir "rest" in the oven just so it would stay warm and do whatever it does while resting. I continued smoking the ribs at 225, finally adding the sausages and bringing everything in to eat around 7:00pm. The boys had run down to Southpark Meadows, it rained hard on them, so I went to get them and bring them back home. The brisket was about perfect, it was falling apart while I cut it into slices. Maybe it has taken me the five years of Wife working out of town, but I am now pretty comfortable running the kitchen, as I sliced the brisket, cut the ribs, Wife heated some tortillas, then we all ate. I made a comment about how I thought I had done a pretty good job to Wife and one of the kids said "you made this?" I said "yup, smoked it all day on my grill right out there." He thought it was from a restaurant and the other kids commented that it was "delicious". Baby A is a little shit who will not give me the compliment and just says "it's alright" because he says he doesn't want it to go to my head. It really was one of the better ones I have made.
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