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.

Passover 2008

So Saturday night we had seder at our house. I think it's the first time we've had seder at our house. As you can see in the photo Tim, Jason, Laura, and Lisa Diane and Joey came (Joey was taking the photo.) I made most of the food early Saturday, so we were able to start just after sundown and when it was time for the meal I just reheated everything. We had matzoh, matzoh ball soup, steamed baby carrots with mint, gefeltefish, charoset (2 kinds), boiled eggs, twice cooked Chinese 5 spice lamb, zabaglione, and lots of wine. Things went pretty smoothly. It was a good passover dinner. I managed not to eat too much. After dinner Bailey started kneading Lisa Diane's knitting and curled up on it.
On Sunday we had some sushi then did some shopping. I bought some capri pants that actually fit. I don't know how I fit into a size four, but I did (and I was all proud until a certain somebody burst my bubble and told me that those sizes run large....hahaha (I knew it was too good to be true.)) We also went to Bethany and got some drinks. I had a taro frappe. It was tasty. Around 8 pm the weekend really hit me and I started to feel exhausted. I slept in and I still feel tired. The house is pretty much cleaned up...it took me a whole hour to wash the dishes.
Oh yeah. There seems to be a consensus that the chocolate matzoh is better with the brown sugar. There are only 2 pieces left in the fridge. I'm going to have to get some more chocolate chips and make some more tonight! Oh, and its SUPER scrumptious with peanut butter on it.