Sometimes it’s about the meat, People.
It just is. I get focused and annoying. Fortunately I’m alone.
I got it in my mind to try to cook another brisket. My second one. I have a Traeger pellet grill. I don’t have to tend a fire or adjust vents or find the proper piece of wood. I’m not saying I can’t do all that but I probably can't. That doesn’t mean that the project didn’t take on a life or death kind of intensity as I converged on the cook.
That is how my brain works. That is how I spiral. I lock into an obsessive process and some part of my brain thinks everything depends on it. My sense of honor, my sense of masculinity, my sense of what I can do, my entire sense of self. Ridiculous.
I went to the ‘good’ place to get the meat. I never go to the good place. I usually go to Whole Foods which just seems good. Brisket is a garbage cut anyway. So, I look at some meat that is still in packaging at the ‘good’ place. They don’t have any flat or lean pieces connected to a few inches of point or double. I got a flat and separate piece of point. I got home ready to trim and rub and the point piece was basically a hunk of hard fat. I was furious. The spin began.
I called the good place and told them I was unhappy I was sold a hunk of hard fat. I had the intense tone on. Not the nasty tone. The I’m-aggressively-disappointed-and-I-want-justice tone. The guy understood. Said he had to talk to his manager and then see if they even had any more brisket.
Now I’m in it. I’m not going to wait for the call back. I go directly and quickly to Whole Foods as if something is depending on me getting the meat other than I just wanted it. I stopped the butcher there who was in the middle of sawing ribs. In a loud, intense tone I said, ‘You have a piece of the fatty double brisket?’ He went and checked the smoker. I said, ‘No, raw.’ He said, ‘Of course.’
He brings out a whole Packer Brisket. It must’ve been 20 pounds. He holds it in front of me. I show him the section I want. He cuts around it, trims it. Sells it to me. Great.
The guy from the good place calls back. He tells me to come trade out the hunk of hard fat for some meat. I go there. I get another piece of point AND another piece of flat. So, now I have two flat pieces and two point pieces to choose from. I break it down. I assess. I pick two to freeze and get to work rubbing the other two. Lot of meat. A lot of intensity. A lot of compulsive focus.
The next day I cooked them up in about seven hours. They came out perfect. Dean and Al Madrigal and I ate most of the five pounds of meat. It was beautiful.
And Dean sold me a grown-up watch.
Today I talk to Sally Struthers about Five Easy Pieces, The Getaway and All in the Family, among other things. Thursday, I talk to Yo-Yo Ma about being Yo-Yo Ma, among other things. Great talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron