Tranquility brought me back!!

Take Away - Broadwell Smoked Brisket

I acknowledge that it has been too long since a new entry and recipe.  Truth be told, I have been a bit busy and neglected the site.  However, a recent visit to a friend's family "place" (coupled with the food that we ate) was enough to breathe life back into thekingfishmenu.  The commeth of the recent cold spell inspired a tribute to the last days of pool life, BBQ and the dawg days of summer..

James Melchers launching his wife's dog into the pool at Tranquility

Jay Broadwell and I became friends shortly after were introduced a few years ago by our buddy, Zach Materne.  A group of us used to sit out on Zach's porch every Tuesday (Stoopday) evening and solve the world's problems over a few beers.  Though the event became extremely well attended, we eventually fell out of practice.  These days, Jay and I see each other most frequently when we tailgate together for Saints games.

To rectify the sometimes infrequent visits, Jay and his wife Anne invited a group of regular tailgating friends to Jay's family "place on the water."  All I had to hear was the word "water," and I was in... so I did not quite catch everything that Jay said when he invited us.

I heard something about about "at Tranquility" and "outside of Slidell."  Thus, I assumed we were heading to some sort of waterfront neighborhood area.  Neither Mollie nor I minded that we would probably be in cramped quarters with so many people staying at someone's family camp.  We were obviously in for a surprise....

Mollie and I arrived at Jay's on a Friday evening, after first thinking that we were totally lost.  We passed a neighborhood or two, but could not find the house number.  My GPS kept telling me that the neighborhood was supposed to be in a certain spot, but all that was there was a large iron gate with no house in site.  Finally, we called Jay. He told us to pull up to the iron gate. . .

As it turns out, "Tranquility" is not a neighborhood.  Tranquility is over 200 acres that Jay's family owns.  Upon that acreage, there sits an iron gate at the front of the property.  Behind that iron gate winds a very very very long driveway.  At the end of that driveway sits a very impressive 4 bedroom house.  Next to that impressive 4 bedroom house sits an EXTREMELY impressive brick pit that is certainly capable of cooking a full size pig.  This was the start to a good weekend.

It was not until later that I truly realized that the impressive 4 bedroom house was actually not the main house at Tranquility.  The larger main house revealed itself the next morning when I stepped out onto the balcony of the "pool house" in which we were staying.  To say the least, the place was not tiny, and it came complete with tennis courts, gardens, extremely strange looking chickens, riding trails, motorcycles and a shooting range.

Jay Broadwell taking a break from brisket preparation

    

Jena showing off her shooting skills

Captain Materne losing control of his vehicle

However, to be honest, it was the food and the company that made the weekend.  Eighteen of us (plus four dogs) swam, shot, rode boats and bikes, cooked, drank and ate.  The menu consisted of everything delicious and nothing good for you:  crawfish pies, shrimp pasta, red rice with mushrooms, hashbrown casserole, macaroni and cheese, emergency quesadillas (late night), Jenna's fantastic bacon biscuits and.....some of the best brisket I have ever tasted!!

I am not really sure how everyone actually functioned after eating the amount of food that we cooked. I can only surmise that the adrenaline from running and swimming around the adult theme park fueled the the group's appetite beyond normal capacity.

By the time the Saints game kicked off on Sunday afternoon, the guns and sounds of ATVs had silenced, as everyone began to settle into somewhat of a food coma.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the weekend an 11. 

The latest addition to the Materne family was still going at kickoff

Trooper Bruce having a good time on his birthday weekend

Before we get to the recipe, I have to thank Jason Van Haverbeke for taking all of these fantastic pictures.  Mollie and I are actually planning on using a picture he recently took of us as a holiday card.  I truly wish we would have thought of using him for our wedding.  Jason's company is VH PhotoGraphix, his website is http://www.vanhavephoto.com/ and his contact information is jason@vanhavephoto.com.

Broadwell's Smoked Brisket

• Untrimmed select brisket (size does not matter)
• Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Cayenne Powder
• Pam
• Seasoning Salt or Tony Chachere's

Trim some of the fat from the brisket until it is around 1/4 of an inch.  Score both sides with 1 inch wide lines. Work a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce into the meat. Thereafter, layer (in this order) a coating of garlic powder then onion powder then cayenne powder.  Utilize the Pam for adhesion. Note:  The Pam will bubble, but it is not a problem.  Finish with seasoning salt or Tony Chachere's.  Thereafter, manually work all of the wet rub into the score lines so that both sides of the meat are evenly coated.

Smoke fat side down over indirect heat for 1.5 hrs per lb using water logged mesquite and water oak (Jay says that the ideal temperature for smoking is below 150).  Thereafter, place the smoked meat in a pan with 2 inches of water.  Cover and cook at 220 degrees for three to four hours until tender. Slice thin against the grain using water as marinade.