Sept 6, 2009 - Smoked Brisket and Louisiana Gumbo

I didn't take pictures of these unfortunately. Just hard to make a slab of meat and a bowl of stew look exotic.

Smoked a beef brisket for 5.5 hours using Pecan and Cherry wood. Made a dry rub beforehand that sat on the meat for about 4 hours. Sliced the meat thinly across the grain and then tossed in a sauce made from the pan drippings, ketchup and another bbq sauce I had made.

The okra at the farmers market looked too good to pass up so I decided to make gumbo. I also remembered that I had some Pork Tasso (smoked pork from Louisiana) in the freezer so this ended up being a chicken and pork tasso gumbo. I did the roux to a reddish brown to start since I prefer it this way rather than black, then added the cajun trinity (celery, onions, green peppers) and sauteed, then the chicken, okra, pork, chicken stock and a bottle of amber beer. Used a locally made Caribbean hot sauce for kick (www.pagochea.com) and added file powder to thicken things up.

In hindsight I should have taken pics anyway!