Texas "Pot Roast" aka Fake Brisket

My local grocery store (as I presume most local grocery stores do) likes to sell cuts of meat with random names, forcing the buyer to figure out how exactly to cook it. One cut of meat they used to sell is the London Broil. Luckily, London Broil is actually a cooking method, so it was pretty easy to figure out how to cook this (marinate overnight, grill to medium-rare, slice thin across the grain).

Recently, however, they've started selling something called the Texas Broil. As far as I can tell, it's just a larger cut of the London Broil. The description on the packaging says "Chuck Arm Roast", but last time I checked, cows don't have arms, and the chuck is part of the shoulder.

Chuck is usually a tough meat, calling for the London Broil treatment (cooking it medium-rare keeps it from getting to tough, and thinly slicing across the grain keeps the muscle fibers short, also reducing toughness) or the pot roast treatment (i.e. braising). But that word Texas kept jumping out at me. Texas folk don't care about anything with London in the name, and they certainly aren't going to waste a nice chunk of beef by braising it. Then the idea hit me: smoke it! If I pretend the chuck is a brisket I'll get the tenderness and Texas-ness I'm looking for.

Texas "Pot Roast" aka Fake Brisket

• 1 chuck roast (1.5 lbs)
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. cracked black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 c. apple cider vinegar OR good quality beer
• 2-3 tsp red pepper flakes
• several cups mesquite or hickory chips

Mix together the paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sugar and cayenne pepper until thoroughly blended. Pour about three-quarters of it onto the brisket, rubbing onto every side and into every nook and cranny.

Prepare your smoker or grill for smoking. When it's ready, smoke the steak for at least 6 hours. If you are in a hurry you can get away with 4 hours, and if you have more time it could go up to 8. Mix some of the leftover rub with your vinegar or beer and red pepper flakes, and mop the meat with it about once an hour.

After 4, 6, or 8 hours in the smoker, you will hardly believe this used to be a tough piece of pot-roast. It will be fork tender, smokey, and delicious!

Savory Smoked Chicken Tart with Shallots and Apricots

See this post for a little background on this dish.

Morning of (or night before) Dinner:

• 1 lb chicken breast, trimmed of excess fat
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 3-4 dried apricots, sliced thin
• 3/4 c. good quality soy sauce

Place all ingredients in zip top bag or other water-tight container. Marinate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Two hours (or more) before dinner:

• 7oz shallots, sliced thin (I just used the rest of my half-pound bag)
• 1 cup-ish dried apricots, sliced thin (I counted out 20)
• 1/2 c. marsala wine
• 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced (dried is fine)

Place all ingredients in zip-top bag and marinate for at least an hour. Here's a superfluous shot of my sliced ingredients:

Pro tip: If you, like me, are too manly to be seen crying in the kitchen, cut your shallots near an open flame. This won't work if you're crying because you've cut your self; in that case you've got no options but to man up.

Right about now is a good time to start smoking your chicken. I smoked mine for about an hour and a half using hickory wood. If you like a milder smoke flavor, apple or pecan wood work well with this dish as well. As you can see I added the shallots and apricots from the chicken marinade to help keep the chicken juicy and flavorful.

For those of you not fortunate enough to have a smoker, you can grill the chicken along with a foil packet filled with wood chips. If you don't have a smoker or a grill, then have a nice little cry, then cook the chicken in the oven instead.



Mmmm smokey goodness

Yummy Herb-Garlic Crust

• 1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 c. corn meal
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• large pinch salt
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. (ish) very cold milk

Disclaimer: if you already know how to make pie crust then don't listen to this part. If you don't know how to make pie crust then say a little prayer before proceeding. It's not at all hard to do, I just never do it and I'm not very patient.

Thoroughly mix together all dry ingredients, then cut in butter until it's nice and pebble-y. Add milk a small bit at a time and stir together. Keep adding until the crust just holds it's shape when pressed together. Flatten into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for about an hour.

Almost dinner time!!!

• Shallot/apricot mixture, drained of excess liquid
• Yummy garlic-herb crust
• 8 oz. goat cheese, softened
• Smoked chicken breast, diced

Saute your shallot/apricot mixture over medium-low heat. It'll be hard to tell how cooked everything is since they will be stained a nice shade of black, but you want them to soften and for the harsh vinegar smell to mostly dissipate. (Don't test this by sticking your head over the pan and sniffing. A wise man learns from other people's mistakes.)

Meanwhile, roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a nice 1/8th inch to 1/4 inch thickness, in a roundish shape. Mine ended up being too dry, so I pressed it into a tart pan instead. The key to making mistakes is to make it look like you planned it that way. Spread the crust with a thin layer of the goat cheese. If you are having trouble spreading it, warm the crust in the oven for a minute (you did preheat that to 350, didn't you?). Set the cheese on the warm crust to let it melt a bit and it will spread like butter.

Add the chicken next, and top it all off with your shallots and apricots. Pop it in the oven long enough to warm everything through and cook the crust (should be no longer than 10 minutes). It should look like this:


Money shot! The dark color is poor lighting; it wasn't at all burnt.

It's salty, sweet, savory, chewy, crunchy, tangy, smokey, fruity, creamy, and most importantly: total yumsters. Enjoy!