Dr. Pepper Brisket

So I'm going to write about how I turned this:

Into this:

I started with the smallest brisket they had at Fiesta: 11.13 pounds. I trimmed off the fat, and out of curiosity I weighed it: 2. 34 pounds.
I coated the brisket with salt, pepper, and some smoked pepper then seared both sides of the brisket. At first the brisket didn't fit into my huge roasting pan, but it shrank a little when I seared it and I was able to wiggle it in. I then coated the brisket (fattier side up) with a bbq sauce mixture.

Sauce
Stubbs Sweet Heat BBQ sauce (2/3 of the bottle?)
12 oz. can of tomato paste
whole grain mustard
Worcestershire sauce
brown sugar
honey
smoked pepper

Dr. Pepper

You know me, I don't measure. I just threw the sauce together. This is based on a root beer brisket slow cooker recipe. Well, no slow cooker could have held this brisket, and I don't do slow cookers anyway. I wanted to make a Texan brisket, so I used Dr. Pepper instead of root beer.

After coating the brisket with the BBQ sauce mixture I poured Dr. Pepper into the bottom of the pan. I cooked the brisket at 350 degrees F for 3 hours, then flipped it over. I cooked it another two hours then coated it in Dr. Pepper glaze. For the glaze I simply simmered Dr. Pepper in a small pot until it reduced down to almost nothing. When it cooled, it was basically Dr. Pepper syrup, which I brushed onto the meat. I cooked the brisket for another 30 minutes without the lid. When I pulled it out of the oven the meat was falling apart and had a kind of candy coating on the top.

The Dr. Pepper brisket was a hit at Seder last night. I will definitely make this again. Ross and I both love the sauce.

The Doctor from Dublin

After lunch on my first day back in Texas where did I request to go? Fry's! I surprised even myself with that request, but I really needed a new camera battery, and that is the best place to find one. I have no idea how to describe Fry's. It is a gigantor electronic superstore. They sell everything you would need to build a computer from scratch, and they sell stuffed animals. That's the strange part. They sell a lot of things that you wouldn't expect to find in an electronic store. Oh, and the one we went to has an entire cafe on the inside.

Anyway, on the way out I got a craving for vitamin water. I never got that far. The first cooler I saw had Dublin Dr. Pepper in it. I had never had one before! I bought a couple and that satisfied my craving for something sweet. Ross said it tasted different than regular Dr. Pepper. I so rarely have Dr. Pepper that it was hard for me to tell. It was very sweet though. Mmmmm cane sugar.