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ROUSES.COM
25
PITMASTER
’Cue Me In
Tim:
A lot of people are fearful of slow-
smoking large cuts of meat like brisket.
It’s not as simple like throwing a couple of
Rouses steaks on the grill.
Mike:
We can do 10,000 to 15,000 pounds
of brisket a month. We use the whole
brisket, but can get a pre-trimmed brisket
(Rouses sells both). Prep couldn’t be easier.
With good-tasting beef, you only need
a rub, or even just salt and pepper, which
is what they do in Texas. The point is you
want beef to taste like
beef
— you wouldn’t
want to cover up that good flavor.
Tim:
I cook brisket on my Big Green Egg
with your rub. It’s a two-day process for me,
which involves cooking overnight, low and
very slow.
Mike:
At home I cook on a pit at 225
degrees. In the restaurant, I can dial it in
lower — at 190 or 200 degrees — because
I have more time. A whole brisket takes me
about 16 hours, cooked indirectly over a
wood fire. Sixteen hours is just enough time
for that fat-crisped outer bark to build.
Tim:
People get freaked out the first time
they do a brisket and see that crust turning
black.
Mike:
They just don’t know how pretty it is
on the inside.That smoke ring (layer of dark
pink) is just under the crust.
Tim:
I’ve heard about cooking brisket “hot
and fast” but I’ve never tried it.
Mike:
If you want to fast-cook it, you do it at
250 degrees.But you have to introduce some
moisture, so you put a little pan of water
underneath it to lessen the heat’s impact on
the meat. You want the pan between the fire
and the beef. Myron Mixon won Memphis
in May’s — first place in brisket and Grand
Champion — and he fast-cooks his brisket
in a “water smoker.”
Tim:
Now Mike, here’s where I’m a
champion: ribs. I won Rouses Big Green
Egg Cookoff a couple of years ago. Lately
I’ve been putting our beef short ribs on the
smoker. (Short rib is like brisket on a bone.)
I put some of your rub on those ribs, then
smoke them at 250 degrees for about eight
hours.
Mike:
I have a better way, an easier way. You
should actually smoke the short ribs
after
you’ve cooked them. Start with a small pan.
Add the short ribs, season them with Big
Mike’s Rub, throw in some chopped onions,
a few bay leaves.
Put a couple of the bay leaves in the bottom
of the pan and a few on top. You don’t need
any liquid. Wrap the pan in foil and cook
in your kitchen oven for 4-5 hours at 225
degrees.Transfer the ribs out of the pan and
into the smoker and cook them for another
hour and a half.The bake makes it easy, and
the ribs get a lot of flavor without spending
all day on the smoker. And you talk about
bay leaves making a huge difference …
Tim:
Do they get a sauce?
Mike:
You want a mustard sauce for beef
short ribs. Go 2:1:1 with the ratio — two
parts Big Mike’s BBQ sauce, one part
mustard, one part honey. Serve it on the
side or add it last minute. Be careful with
the sauce. You
never
want to put sauce or
honey on meat when you cook it until the
very end, say the last 15 minutes or so. A
sweet, thick sauce will burn and get bitter if
you put it on too soon. Once the sauce is on,
watch it close for burning.
Tim:
Finally, let’s talk turkey. You smoke
them year round at your place.
Mike:
A good smoked turkey is different
from your usual Thanksgiving turkey, which
can be dry. You might need gravy on that
Thanksgiving turkey, but smoked turkey can
be a whole other bird. At Big Mike’s, we
brine our turkeys overnight to get the best
flavor out of them, then rub them with fresh
herbs, spices and a salt.Then we put the rub
on before we smoke them. I promise you,
you’re gonna ask for seconds of my turkey.
[PAGE 24] photo by
Joe Racoma
[TOP RIGHT] Big Mike — photo by
Joe Racoma
[BOTTOM] Big Mike’s BBQ Brisket — photo by
Randy Hawthorne