ON THE GRILL
Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
By John Clarke
Burnt ends are largely associated with a whole beef brisket, which is usually
too large for a few adults but great for a party. And, of course, you can use the
brisket instead for Texas-style barbecue. A brisket has two distinct parts: the
point and the flat. The point is usually the side that has much more fat and is
thicker. The flat, as you can guess, is the thinner end of the whole brisket. The
burnt ends are usually the well-done edges of the brisket point, which are cut
into cubes, smothered in barbecue sauce and smoked a while longer, usually in
a disposable pan covered in aluminum foil. According to Wikipedia, burnt ends
were developed in a Kansas City restaurant, Arthur Bryants, and were given
away for free during the 1970s—and then they got popular and became a Texas/
Kansas City-style restaurant staple.
When you go to the market these days, meat prices overall are up, and the
larger cut of brisket, called a packer, is a big budget purchase. Our local Food
Lion may carry only the smaller flat cut, and while Harris Teeter has the larger
cut, it s not the big packer cut. You may be able to find the larger brisket you
want at the IGA, but it may have to be specially ordered. Call around and talk
with the butchers to see what they can do for you if you want a packer cut.
A typical packer brisket will be over 10 pounds and usually closer to 15-plus
pounds, which can set you back over $100 at the register.
A chuck roast is an alternative that gives you a very close imitation, but at a
much lower price per pound. Cut from the shoulder and often with more fat or
connective tissue, including collagen that melts when cooked, the chuck roast
is usually prepared in a slow cooker for great beef stews. By using a different
approach and cooking it low and slow on the grill, you can end up with delicious
burnt ends. A chuck roast is much smaller than a brisket, which makes it great
for a meal for two to four adults or as an appetizer/tailgate dish. An added bonus
is that burnt ends can be eaten as finger food.
Look for a roast that is about four pounds. You will want to trim some of the
excess fat, but the internal marbling will make for excellent flavor as it is cooked
low and slow. Your guests may not be able to teU the difference between brisket
burnt ends and those from the chuck roast.
Beef cuts can take an extra dose of rubs for seasoning, and you can prepare
them with ingredients right out of your cupboard, using salt, pepper and garlic
powder. If you want something with a little more kick, head over to the spice
section in the market and look for the blends for brisket. Before applying
the rub, cover the meat with mustard, which will help the rub adhere to and
penetrate the meat. The mustard will cook off during grilling, and its taste will
not be detectable.
Let the roast rest in the fridge overnight, or if you are tight on time, for at least
an hour. Set the grill up for indirect cooking with the charcoal off to one side,
and a pan of water under the roast. Bring the grill temperature up to 275-300
degrees, and put in a few chunks of apple or hickory wood for more flavor. Cook
the roast for three to four hours, with an eye toward achieving a dark mahogany
color overall with darker bark around the edges.
Once you have the desired color, remove the roast from the grill and add
barbecue sauce before wrapping it in a double layer of foil for more time on the
grill. I like to combine 1/4 cup of a mix of George Hughes sauce and a vinegar-
based Eastern NC-style sauce with 1/4 cup of beef broth. Whatever combination
you choose, pour the mix over the roast, close the foil and return it to the grill.
Continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches approximately 205
degrees.
Remove the wrapped beef from the grill and cut the meat into one-inch
squares. Place the meat back on the same foil, toss it in some additional sauce/
broth mixture and return it to the grill, this time with the foil open. In about
30 minutes, the sauce will be tacky on the meat, and if not, cook a little longer.
You can also add some brown sugar to the cubes as they cook to enhance the
tackiness of the sauce. Remove the cubes, and serve them warm.
Great sides include baked beans (and you can toss some of the cubes into the
beans for more flavor), coleslaw or corn on the cob. If you have had the brisket
version of burnt ends, you may be able to detect a slight difference, but most
likely the chuck roast burnt ends will be just as good.
PKS Police BuUetin
(Continued from page 3)
intention of requesting NCDOT make efforts to improve consistency among sig
nage and road markings. I am optimistic that the efforts of this coalition will be
the foundation of a countywide initiative in the years to come.
Our efforts have gotten the attention of decision makers at tjie county and
state level, and we are now being asked to participate in transportation meetings
with the county. Not every community outreach plan works, and sometimes we
strike out. We recently tried to host a Community Bike Patrol, with the hopes
of getting together a group of children and parents and giving a safety brief on
helmets and sharing the roads. After the safety brief, it was our plan to do a
30-minute bike ride through our neighborhoods, but nobody showed up for
the event. I am certain it was due in large part to inclement weather that moved
through our area the night before.
In another new venture, we partnered with the North Carolina Aquarium and
hosted a Safety Day at their facility on July 27. For several hours, our staff hand
ed out bike helmets, reflective wristbands, reflective headbands, bumper stickers
and beach safety koozies. We met with dozens of people from all over the United
States and handed out over 25 bicycle helmets to children. All the pedestrian and
bicycle safety gear that we handed out, including the bike helmets, were 100%
grant funded. Please see the Town Crier pages in this issue for a photo from our
Safety Day.
It is clear to me that the way to improve safety throughout our county is
through collaboration. I would like to personally thank our citizens, staff and
elected officials for supporting our mission of making Pine Knoll Shores a safe
place for pedestrians and bicyclists alike.
Dis|:>osable foam products are not recyclable and
ittake up to 500 years to biodegrade. Make a smart
decision and choose reusable cups and plates.
12 The Shoreline I September 2022