Texas Barbecue-Style Brisket for the Slow Cooker

For this week's Around the World in a Pot, I'm posting a recipe that I'm cooking as I post.  I won't be able to speak about the success of the pot until later tonight, which I will update you on. 

This weekend I was in Houston, which means that I can get H.E.B.’s Texas Tasters, Taco Cabana and Texas Barbecue. The first purchase was of Texas Tasters and my last meal was at Taco Cabana. However, the first meal that I ate was at Luling City Market. From their webpag, “[i]f you're looking for REAL Texas Bar-B-Que, you've come to the right place!” Yet, I was disappointed. It did fulfill my need for BBQ, but it didn’t satisfy my craving. The brisket was dried out and the barbecue sauce tasted mustardy – a tomato-based sauce but with a noticeable amount of mustard. It was good food, but not what I wanted nor expected.

Over four pounds of brisket left
in the slow cooker this morning

So I googled “Barbecue in Texas” and I should have known that there are regional varieties of barbecue. Two of which are East Texas Barbecue and Central Texas Barbecue, which translate for me as Houston versus San Antonio and Austin Barbecues. (There is South Texas Barbecue, but that’s more strictly along the Rio Grande.) Yet, I’m not well-versed in Texas Barbecue to know the exact differences and I don’t know if Luling is the standard East Texas Barbecue.

I yearned for the barbecue that I get in San Antonio and Austin.  That's what I think of as Texas barbecue.  Brisket and ribs slowly cooked over a fire of hickory, gaining those smoky, caramel notes of the fire that lightly and deliciously scratch at the back of your mouth. Then, the meat is finished off with a tomato sauce, naturally sweet and only slightly enhanced with brown sugar, and supplemented with the acid of vinegar and the additional brightness of some citrus. If I'm luck, there's a little bit of heat from a local chili powder and the savory garlicky notes hit my taste buds too.

I returned to Philadelphia without the tangy, tart and sweet but still always savory tomato-based barbecue sauce that I love topped over slow-grilled hickory-smoked brisket and ribs. I needed to find a way to change that. Again, I googled, “Slow Cooker Texas Barbecue,” and found a recipe, "Texas Style Beef Brisket - Slow Cooker". Now I know that it won’t be actually smoked or grilled, but I thought it was a better try than dried out brisket.

Yet, I wasn’t sure about the barbecue sauce in that recipe I have my own Dr Pepper Barbecue sauce and it’s a good sauce, however, I knew what I was missing – the taste of Central Texas Barbecue. Thanks to my friend, Laura, in San Antonio, I know of Rudy’s BBQ and it’s what I think of as a good Texas chain, centered around San Antonio, for barbecue. I took it a step further and googled “Clone Recipe Rudy’s BBQ Sause [sic].” I found this recipe which I stole from Chaos in the Kitchen. Since I didn’t get to sample any Rudy’s in Texas this trip (though I now know there’s a Rudy’s on US 290 in Houston, but I didn’t find that until I had some traffic getting to IAH and I was rerouted to the 610 loop) I can’t say that it is just like Rudy’s Sause. However in tasting it last night as I prepared it for today, it was in the vein of the taste that I was looking for in my barbecue sauce.

Again, I admit, it’s not grilled brisket, rubbed with seasonings and left for hours to cook and smoke, but I suspect that it will satisfy my craving for the Texas Barbecue that I know and love.

Texas Barbecue-Style Brisket, adapted from food.com's Texas Style Beef Brisket - Slow Cooker

The finished dish

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• ½ Tbsp paprika
• ½ Tbsp cayenne
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4-6 lbs beef brisket
• ½ cp beef broth
• About 2 cps barbeque sauce (I used the homemade Rudy's Sause clone.)

Directions:

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the Worcestershire sauce, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder and black pepper; close the bag and shake well to mix.
2. Place the brisket in the bag, cutting the beef in half, if needed. Then, seal bag and turn to thoroughly coat brisket with seasonings; refrigerate overnight, turning the bag periodically.
3. Place beef into a slow cooker and add broth; cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until tender.
4. Remove brisket from the slow cooker and reserve one cup of cooking liquid, skimming the fat; discard any remaining juices.
5. In the slow cooked add the reserved juice and the barbeque sauce and mix well; return the brisket to the slow cooker.
6. Cover and cook on high for 30 more minutes to allow flavors to blend.

I'm home and I finally finished making the brisket.  It's not true barbecue, but it really satisfied my taste buds to no end.  I had some reserved Rudy's Sause clone and I topped the brisket with it and it sent me to the moon. Yum!