Smoked Meat and Awesome Sauce-Cooking with Beer

I did something that I am very proud of this weekend. I smoked a brisket! The most tasty brisket that I have made to date. As you know I have made brisket several times using beer to braise it, with much success. I decided to go outside my box a little on this one, mostly because we had a Memorial Day cookout and I promised everyone smoked meat (I also made drunken chicken but that will be another post).

We of course had to go get the brisket, which was a lot of hard work, as you can see. The peanut simply could not hold in her enthusiasm (the mustache is from her smiley face cookie)

I got a 5 1/2 pound beef brisket. I made a dry rub of Chili Powder, Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, Season Salt, Garlic powder, Basil, black pepper, and Goya's Adobo. I mixed it in all in a bowl, reserved some (about 1/8) to put in the mop sauce, and then rubbed it on the meat. I am not really good at measuring things, so I am going to say I eyeballed it, and it was all about equal parts (except the garlic powder; the one I have is super strong). 

Spices

Massaged Meat

I suppose the next critical step is to start the fire... If you have a smoker, we used cherry and hickory chips for the brisket, and it turned out fantastic. I started the coals after I rubbed the meat to give it time to absorb some of the awesomeness I massaged into it. Once the coals were hot I added my soaked chips. If you are a smoker aficionado then you could probably teach me a thing or two, so please don't judge me too harshly.

The Mop Sauce

I have never mopped a meat while it was smoking... I am not sure why, it was insanely easy and the results were AMAZING. This is what I did for my mop sauce

I did about 1/4 cup of yellow mustard, a bottle of a delicious IPA (from Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee), as many shakes of the Tabasco as I dared do, I recommend you use your own judgement on this.

Oh and I almost forgot this!

Worchestershire Sauce (or wrrchssshhhshhure sauce)

Add the dry rub that we set aside earlier and mix together. VOILA! You have my very own Awesome Sauce. It is tasty, it makes meat super tasty, and it smells sooo good!

Awesome Mop Sauce

I did one good mop on the brisket before I put it on the smoke. 

 Then I went back every hour and a half and mopped again. My 5 1/2 pound brisket took about 6 hours to get to temp (185* F).

This is where I would like to put in my picture of the finished product... but it disappeared as soon as it was carved! It was delicious! Spicy and smokey, with a nice hoppy/mustardy bite. I am drooling again...

So there we have it, that is my awesome mop sauce. If you make it, let me know how it works for you. If you have any suggestions on improving my grilling or smoking techniques feel free to come over and show me, I am always glad to try someone else's cooking.