I am going camping in a couple of weeks and I would like to try to barbecue a brisket without bringing a barbecue pit. How would one do that? Dig a hole, line it with rocks build a fire in it, let it burn to coals, put down a tray or something with the meat on it, and cover the pit? How long would it take to get good results? What kind of rocks would you need? Around here, most of the rock you dig up is limestone. This will be in San Saba, Texas.
Thanks,
Rob
You don’t. No smoke. This is Texas, not Hawaii.
Now, you can probably cook a brisket in a hole in the ground, but I surely wouldn’t recommend it. Too long a cook time. You’d have to build a very large fire, let it burn down, place the well-foiled meat on the coals, cover with more coals, bury and then wait way too long.
Why not try a turkey? Same arrangement, but 20 min./lb turns out perfect.
I don’t see why a brisket couldn’t be cooked that way, but it wouldn’t be BBQ. It’d be more like steaming the meat.
The Hawaiian style uses banana leaves to provide some insulation from the coals and hot rocks and this also provides the steam. There won’t be any real smoke getting into the meat. In terms of cooking time, I’d guess about 5-6 hours would be enough
The only thing I’ve ever (helped) cook underground was a whole pig. We gave that 8 hours and it didn’t turn out so good only because somebody substituted cabbage leaves for banana leaves. The texture of the meat was perfect, it’s just that the whole pig tasted pretty strongly of overcooked cabbage. :smack:
If I wanted BBQ brisket, I would do it a day or two before I left for camping and then warm it up while we were there. Alternatively, I’d bring a small grill, like a Weber, and cook it on that. You won’t have the option of indirect heat, but if you control the fire well enough, it should still come out tolerably well. The problem is that you’ll be stuck tending a fire all day long. In my mind, camping is meant for better things.
You could build a rotisserie type contraption and skewer the brisket and slowly rotate it maybe 2-3 feet above the smoldering coals with green wood to make smoke. It would take a while but what else are you going to do while camping in the wilderness.
What about open pit barbecuing?
Thanks,
Rob
I don’t see it working with a campfire. Too little heat and too hard to control the heat. If you want to go open-pit, I could see doing 100 lbs of brisket and feeding the entire campground, but I couldn’t see doing just one for your family. My father used to rent a BBQ trailer for special events that literally had a 4’x8’ cooking surface. That worked just fine for an open pit because the sheer size generated enough heat and smoothed out the hot spots. (Also, we never did brisket that way. Just chicken, ribs and/or tri-tip and these things take a lot less time than brisket.)
Depends on how you want to define barbecuing. I would recommend simple grilling. Bring along a grate of some sort and you can easily rig something to keep it above the glowing coals. Steaks, burgers, dogs/brats, chicken, pork chops, etc. all do very well on this type of set up. I wouldn’t try anything much bigger than maybe a pork loin unless you have some experience.