My neighbor and I teamed up as usual this year. He did the dry brined and applewood smoked turkey, absolutely the best turkey I’ve ever had. The applewood just is such a mild and complimentary flavor. Me-- I went brisket crazy and omg.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Braised-Brisket-with-Bourbon-Peach-Glaze-388709
Only made a few modifications to the recipe. First off the rub, I used alderwood smoked sea salt in place of kosher to further my slightly smoky flavor, and added some brown sugar and espresso grinds to the rub. Wrapped tight in plastic wrap, into the fridge for 24 hours. Second, I was intent on getting some smoke into the meat so I put it in a cast iron pan and threw it on the grill with a ton of mesquite chips and kept the meat as far from the heat as possible to try and “cold” smoke as much as possible.
Did this for about 2 hours at ~180°. Brought the cast iron pan in, took the brisket off, hit it with oil, seared the brisket quickly, removed it, and browned up the aromatics. Deglazed with some guinness extra stout and scraped all the bits and moved to a roasting pan that was sealed tightly with foil. Added the braising liquids and off we went for about 4 hours at 325° until the the brisket held it’s shape but was easily penetrated with the edge of a butter knife. Had a roux ready to go, dumped the braising stuff through a chinois and into the roux. I elected to skip the glazing step and instead added the bourbon and peach preserves directly to the gravy. Sliced up the brisket and dumped the gravy over it. Didn’t get a pic it was eaten far too quickly. Overall, pretty easy recipe and incredibly moist and tender brisket, with deep and complex flavors. Props to Ed Lee!!!