I said I was going to do it. I told you I was going to when I made those EBLTs. And I followed through, cause that’s what I do, and you should be really happy that I did, cause this was some truly awesome sauce.

Now, you’re not going to have overwhelming flavor from the guanciale, but really what we’re doing here is building layers of flavor on top of each other so that you have a balanced delicious sauce. A little bit of smokiness, a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of acidity, a little bit of umami, and a little bit of heat. When you bring all those things into balance, then you know you’ve achieved something amazing. I chose to make some brisket with this, but honestly ribs, pork butt, chicken, anything would be good with this sauce.

Ingredients:

Brisket

– 3-5 lb brisket

– 2 T smoked paprika

– 1 cayenne pepper

– 2 T brown mustard seed, ground

– 2 T yellow mustard seed, ground

– 1 T cumin seed, ground

– 1 T chili powder

– 1 T garlic powder

– 2 t coriander

– 1 T salt

– 1 T black pepper

BBQ Sauce

– 1.5 T brown mustard seed, ground

– 1.5 T yellow mustard seed, ground

– 1 T cumin seed, ground

– 1 t garlic powder

– 1 t cayene pepper

– 2 t smoked paprika

– 1 t salt

– 1 t black pepper

– 1/4 c Frank’s Red Hot

– 1 c ketchup

– 1 c spicy brown mustard

– 1/4 c molasses

– 3/4 c apple cider vinegar

– 2 c guanciale infused pecan bourbon (William Wolf is what I used)

Directions

– Preheat your oven to 300F.

– Score the fatty side of your brisket.

– Season both sides of the brisket well.

– Place brisket fat side up on a roasting tray, add a cup of beer or broth, and cover with foil.

– Put the brisket into the oven for 4-5 hours, depending on weight (I did a 5 lb brisket for 5 hours).

– While that’s cooking, we’ll make some sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients into a pot, bring to a boil, turn your heat down to low, and let it simmer for 2 hours. Stir it pretty regularly especially as it comes to its first boil, as the sugar in the sauce can burn on the bottom if you let it sit for too long at too high of heat.

– I made some really good beans by following my normal recipe, but I added 1/4 c of the bbq sauce, and 1/4 lb of cubed cotija cheese. I highly suggest that as a side.

– I also made some coleslaw. I prefer a vinegar-based slaw to a mayo-based slaw, and you can try this recipe, but without the blue cheese and honey (or with it if you want, no reason you can’t have blue cheese coleslaw with your bbq).

– And definitely serve with some white or potato bread. I went with Martin’s potato bread, and it was a good call.