It's brisket Thursday !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ricksrealpitbbq]

Since I'll be working from home tomorrow, I figured I'd smoke a brisket. I've got a small 9.5 lb packer that I'll be doing. Of course I'll document the whole thing and post pics throughout the day

[Mama Mangia]

brisket on a Thursday??? mmmmmm - remember the old days in an Italian home? pasta every Thursday and Sunday....................
and on all those meatless Holy days

[ricksrealpitbbq]

Actually growing up I had macaroni quite a bit, didn't realize till I got older mom and dad were just trying to save a bit on food costs. But I thought I was eating pretty darn good and considered my self lucky

I never did quite understand the whole can't eat meat on Friday thing

[Mama Mangia]

Pasta kept our family alive for generations. A cheap meal - flour, eggs - and most of the Italians were raising their own chickens anyway. I never thought of it as a cheap meal - I love my pasta. Probably more than Sophie Loren does!

I'd never make it on a low carb diet - I need my pasta for survival.

I'm like you - I was lucky to have such good food. I still prefer homemade pasta to any store bought - and NEVER serve me those refrigerated pastas! YUK!

The no-meat thing is a Catholic thing with the Italians - it was their way of "sacrificing" for Jesus the way he sacrificed (His life) for us. By giving up meat (a luxury) and eating fish we remember the fishes and loaves, etc. Many times it was because of droughts or years of bad crops, and they would pray to a saint for help and then would give thanks by sacrificing meat for the occasion.

Like when there was a terrible drought in Sicily in the Middle Ages and their food supply lemons, grapes, wheat, olives and fruits needed the water so that they could survive. The Sicilians prayed to St. Joseph and promised that if he would bring them rain and save their crops they would prepare a large feast in his honor. The tradition says these prayers were answered with rainy weather. In gratitude, huge banquet tables were set up in public, and the poor people of Sicily were invited to come and eat as much as they wanted.

The families of farmers and fisherman built altars in their homes to share their good fortune with others in need. St. Joseph's Day altars began as a custom and then brought to the states by Sicilian immigrants. The tradition of building the altar to St. Joseph dates back to the drought, and it served as a gift of thanks for St. Joseph. The tradition grew to a more public event on St. Joseph's Feast Day on March 19. Today, special foods, linens, flowers, and statuary adorn the St. Joseph's Altar, which is built with three steps representing the Holy Trinity.

St. Joseph's Day falls during the Lenten season - In the tradition of other towns that were closer to the sea, fish was readily available and fish dishes were used on their tables.

[ricksrealpitbbq]

You just taught me more about St Joseph's day than 8 years of parochial school did, or maybe I pay attention more now

[ricksrealpitbbq]

Now on to the main event it's a little before 6:00 am and I already lit the firebox on the smoker. As that is warming up, I started to prep the brisket it's kind of complicated so pay attention.

I first wet the outside of the brisket with worcestershire sauce and then add a very liberal coating of rub. That's it. Seriously that will be all it takes for an outstanding, melt in your mouth brisket. That and time and low temps. I'll do a little more to this one later. But if I wanted to, that would be all the seasoning.

Here is my first pic



more to follow

(If these pics are too big, let me know and I'll resize them.)

[Mama Mangia]

sounds and looks good!!!! and don't forget to share some with us!
and the bigger the better!!!

BTW - speaking of parochial schools - first of all - they would praise St. Joseph because he was a Saint - but they didn't do the feast like the Italians - the Italians promised St. Joseph and kept to their word (something the Catholic Church cannot do - but don't get me going on that one)

and the memories of the nuns tellling us that we could not wear patent leather shoes because the boys could look up our skirts and see our panties!

OMG!

I had the old-school nuns - all the ones that became nuns because they were born deformed - you know the ones I am talking about - they used to hide their hands up their sleeves and when their hand came out there was a 20 foot thick board attached for smacking your knuckles with!

The ones that told us that we were baptized to remove mortal sin from our souls and that no other religion did that - and if we were friends with someone that was protestant - that person was not baptized catholic and we would go to he.l.l. for associating with them - and Lord help us if we had a Jewish friend! But yet - Christ was a Jew.

The warped minds of those cloistered old witches - no wonder they lives in cells - half of them belonged in jail - and years go by and they end up tearing down the "nunneries" and they find dead babies in the walls..........................

time for Mama to shut up!

[Mama Mangia]

May I ask??? Didn't your family (being Italian) celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph and open their doors to anyone who wanted to eat?

[ricksrealpitbbq]

We were holiday catholics at best, you know Christmas Palm Sunday and Easter mass. In first grade I had my knuckles beat to a pulp with a ruler from one of those sadistic nuns. Lots of hypocrisy. But we did celebrate St Joseph's day and any other excuse to celebrate. Our home was always open to whoever dropped in so in that respect I guess we did somewhat celebrate it right. My mother always managed to throw a meal together quick at short notice.

[Mama Mangia]

That's one thing about the Italians - they always have food in the house and can whip up something fabulous in no time. We feed everyone - that's the way I was raised. When I'm dead and gone - there's a slot in the heavenly kitchen for me to keep cooking and baking. Heck - someone's gotta feed all those angels and residents!