Earl Cooks Smoked Brisket & Veggies for Sunday Dinner

Roast Beef was one of my mom's favorite Sunday dinners to cook, because it was a one-pot meals that could cook while we were at Sunday Services. On the TV series "Big Bang Theory Howard Wolowitz's mother makes a nice brisket, and of course for St. Patrick's Day corned beef brisket becomes corned beef & cabbage. We never had brisket growing up, just whatever roast was on sale. This last summer I was introduced to Capt. Len's Smoked brisket, and fell in love!

In years past when I had brisket in other BBQ places it was okay, but often dry and not real flavorful.

But the Captain's is Special. Shown Right is a whole smoked brisket after the Captain's rub, developed over years, and then smoked for many hours. Below is the piece I was working with for our dinner.

I placed the brisket in my favorite slow cooker, to bring it up to temp. I don't need to add additional seasonings and it is fully cooked, so I line the slow cooker with onion slices to provide moisture and protect the brisket. Quartered Yukon Gold potatoes are placed on top of the onions and the juices from the brisket will run down and make them brown and luscious. A few carrots are placed around the crock-pot. I made a simple Au Jus to drizzle over all and leftover brisket becomes an awesome Sunday dinner.

I always want to have extra brisket on hand for this and many other meals. It goes great in Ramen, stew, sandwiches and I made some Jerky that was a real hit and I will share in an upcoming post.

Earl Cooks Crock-Pot Caramel Sauce

This dish never ceases to amaze me. It is the best way I have found to a terrifically tasty sauce that is so good you could just eat it by the spoonful, and you probably will. Let me say here that desserts are not something I eat often and I make them even less. All you need for this recipe are three 8 oz mason jars, two cans of sweetened condensed milk, and a slow cooker deep enough to cover the jars with water. Here is the WHOLE recipe:
—Fill the 3 jars to within about ½ inch of the top with the milk. Seal them tightly by hand.
—Place them in the slow cooker and cover with HOT tap water. Set to low and cover. Cook for 8 hours. Check the water level periodically to confirm the jars are covered.
—After 8 hours, remove from slow cooker and allow to cool. MUST BE REFRIGERATED! This is not a canning seal.
Now for the good stuff! We like this on ice cream. Here I dipped a pretzel rod and it was like eating salted caramel. Anything you can imagine, try it, or just eat by the spoonful!

Earl Cooks 2 Dishes and a Snack for a Christmas Feast at Daughter #2's House - Baked Beans

It seems the more I cook, and the more I learn about cooking, the more I find recipes that seem to copy my ideas on cooking. I know they aren't, or maybe they are catching up to a lazier way to a similar result. This happened recently while I watched Cook's Country on PBS. Right there was the way I had been making my baked beans in an episode from 2016. They called theirs "Backyard Barbecue Beans", but the idea is almost the same as the way I have made them for years! I'm not sure when I first made baked beans, mine have always been unique, or so I've been told. Mine are loaded with meats and a variety of beans. Mine have cooked onion and a bit of uncooked onion and more often than not, raw celery to give them CRUNCH. I always make them in a Crock-pot, since I discovered crock-pots many years ago. Slow cookers are great for large gatherings because you can keep everything at a great serving temperature and you can prep it and forget it...almost.