Smoked Corned Beef

Ahem....Its time for temporary live blogging...let me rephrase that...Its time for temporary live blogging from memory. This is the hottest live food blog on the scene... Wired magazine has given it two plugs up...and Culinary Weekly is calling it the "the new buzz word in casual cooking"...whatever that means....

Does this blog currently have a new tone and feel?????

We'll it should, because Liz is on hiatus heeling her wounds from the discovery that eating 12 cheezeburgers a day is not the way to optimum health. Instead I...her husband...am filling the void to give you olde worlde nutritional wisdom with scotch in hand...

So in honor of the patron saint of the Celts I wanted to smoke a corned beef-- I thought I'd put a Southern twist on an Irish American favorite.....

Smoked Corned Beef on a Gas Grill

Instructions/Ingredients
Served 8

Night Before Cooking:
4lbs Corned Beef
Simmer beef (do not boil) for approx. 45 minutes to release some of the salt from the corning process
Strain all the gross fat foam
Rinse the beef and put back in the simmering pot
Let cool and pat dry.

Dry Rub:
1T Fresh cracked black pepper
1T fresh cracked coriander
1T paprika
1 tsp cayenne
2T dry mustard
1T garlic powder
2-3T brown sugar
2-3T olive oil
1T chili powder

Mix spices and oil and apply to beef
Wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight

Next Day:
Remove from fridge and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
Soak some hickory or mesquite chips for at least 30 minutes in water.

Wet Rub/Baste
1 whole onion chopped
1 whole jalapeno seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
2T honey
2T brown sugar
1T chili powder
2T olive oil
2T butter

Add olive oil to sauce pot.
Saute Onion and jalapeno for about 6 minutes
Add garlic, cook for a minute or two
Add butter and the rest of the wet ingredients, boil reduce to 1/3 of its original volume.
Cool mixture a bit and then blend together with an immersion blender.

Rub beef with wet mixture.
Create smoke packs (tin foil pierced with holes, folded with wood chips)and start grill
Place smoke packs on grill burner
Get some smoke rolling
Once grill is smoking, leave the back burner on until grill temp is around 250 degrees
Place meat on a roasting rack over a disposable aluminum pan. Baste and rotate every 30 minutes
Add additional smoke packs once they stop producing
Figure cooking will take about 30 minutes per pound of meat or until 165 internal temperature.
A meat thermometer is great for this occasion.

**The next entry from TE will include mashed red potatoes and balsamic cabbage, both of which are an excellent side dish for this smoked corned beef! Yum