Smoker Brisket
Our Valentine’s Gift
Perfect the first time! A home run! This smoker received almost a perfect score on Amazon for good reason. (Purchased locally at Home Depot.) Easy and slick. I did follow the directions! The only drawback … you’ll smell like smoke during the process. After you become a Pro it can be done over night while you sleep. Of course, you’ll have the safety risks ironed out. Just a fun way to cook, and I can finally make my own linguica.
For this brisket I used Emeril Lagasse’s rub. If anyone knows about these spices he does! He suggested mesquite for the smoking but I used hickory (pretty strong compared to some woods) which worked well. (Mainly using regular Kingsford briquets with 3 chunks of hickory placed by the bottom vents inside the briquet chamber. And if you haven’t used a chimney lighter you must get one. It works perfectly in minutes with just lighted paper.) Because the Weber Smoker has such a stellar rep I followed their directions very closely, kinda. I filled the briquet area of the smoker as directed for the time and meat I was smoking but removed about 35 pieces to the chimney lighter. Lit these 35 first and then added to the remainder and the three chunks of hickory. Really worked well! I’ll branch out as I become less of a novice.
Few ingredients … simple recipe … stick to your ribs kinda soup! Check out my 50+ 
Happily put this together for a friend of mine! We just knew no one had made such a soup! If into brisket and the flavors of barbecue with a little heat this is the soup for you. To start I recommend cooking the brisket the day before you make the soup. It definitely can all be done the same day but I recommend putting the brisket in the refrigerator after cooking to make the removal of fat easier. Brisket can have a thick fatty pad over the top. This helps give the cooked brisket a juicy taste but can lead to a greasy soup unless removed. Cutting some of the fat off before cooking is an option too but you will still need to leave a little to keep the meat juicy. Here is the recipe for the 
Step one for my 
This was my own idea but if you check it’s been done before. I’m into soups especially these last days since my heater pooped out. I was going to make stuffed bells in my crock pot and opted for this soup instead. The recipes are very similar actually. While you can cook this recipe in a slow cooker there really isn’t a reason. It’s so fast right on the stove top. And oh my goodness, I was on it with this! It’s totally delicious!
If you’re like me and your soup recipes grow as you go you may want to start with a seven quart slow cooker instead of a four. I was definitely my grandmother’s sous chef … learning very quickly that measuring soup ingredients was overrated. Today’s soup recipe is no exception. Yep, it started overflowing. Just had to put in those extra veggies! No excuse … I need a new slow cooker! Mine is a bit dated (still calling it a crock pot), not pretty
This is an incredibly simple soup recipe. You may have all the ingredients to make it right now. I say step it up a bit and serve with a brioche hamburger bun on the side. The next time you are craving a cheesy cheeseburger give this a try.
Short Rib Stew or layered over rice! 
Nope, not Grandma Rose’s recipe but she’d rave about this if she’d a taste. A young friend who shares recipes with me now and again says this will be prepared as one of the meats served at Easter. Melissa’s family is right out of Terceira. She just had a birthday and complains she’s in her thirties. Ha. Albeit she’s been cooking since she was a child. Her recipes, yep I’ve tasted her Portuguese Beans, are a mixture of traditional Portuguese and well, American dishes. She tweaks her American dishes but her traditional dishes not so much. I tweaked this one just a little … lack of availability of slab bacon or “bacon steak” as Melissa calls it, and well, my handful of spices may be different from Melissa’s. Slab bacon isn’t really too difficult to find but I wanted to make the dish now … And not have to travel 40 minutes to our special Portuguese grocer.