Bout to cook up some dogs ... happy 4th

We did a two-part celebration starting yesterday.

We grilled brats along with nachos to eat while watching Hamilton.

Tonight we're eating insta-pot and broiled ribs while checking different firework feeds across the US.

Happy Independence Day!

j/c...

Happy Fourth of July!

Took the family to Top Golf and we had a great times.

Just went through 3 hours of canine terror. Poor dog can stand fireworks, and just about everyone in my neighborhood had them.

Sounds like our previous dog. Fireworks terrified him, thunder as well.

There was what sounded like a cannon the other day, and my dog jumped, took 3 steps toward the house, then turned around and stood tall. Nothing has bothered him since. He likes the smell in the air from whoever is setting stuff off nearby.

Spent yet another day with two shivering scared dogs as folks were setting off fireworks from 10 am yesterday till around 1 am this morning. After three days and nights in a row of fireworks my dogs won't even go outside to do their business. One of these days I'm going to buy my own fireworks and shove them up some of my neighbors asses before lighting them.

I bought a large slab of dry ribs, sauce on the side, a pint of potato salad and a pint of slaw.

We ate that while watching the last 4 episodes of Longmire.

Today we will give Ozark a shot.

I smoked a 14lb brisket. Unfortunately, it came out drier than usual. It was a USDA select, so I took a little bit of a gamble as it passed the flop test, but not much marbling. It was delicious with a nice smoke ring, but I usually do much better.

Yes, select is going to dry out a bit more than choice or prime.....not sure if I have even seen a prime brisket before.

Try it again. Use a tin of water and maybe some herbs....keep the humidity up. That way it won't cook off as much of the fat down in the grain of the beef.

The fat cap won't melt down as quickly. Can't say I have ever been a big fan of beef on the smoker except for a nice prime rib. I have smoked plenty of beef cuts over the years, but I tend to stick with pork or poultry. Just my choice, or maybe they just come out better for me.

Beef, a couple of filets or rib eyes seared in a scorching hot cast iron for a minute or two per side, finished in a 350 degree oven to the doneness you like...a dab of Maitre d's butter as they rest. As good as it gets IMO.

There was a full water pan in there. I've smoked more than a few briskets, so this was an outlier. I've even had select briskets come out moist and juicy in the past, but I'm not going to chance it anymore.

j/c...

Cool. I wasn't trying to make it sound like you don't know what you are doing. Sorry if it came across as such.

Sometimes you just get a tough piece of meat, and brisket is tough to begin with. Inspectors make mistakes. Sometimes it is hard to tell. Maybe that select graded cut was more a cutter canner cut better suited for making jerky. Meat packers have been known to "kick back" to the inspector to stretch the bounds a bit to get a higher grade, thus a higher selling price.