Restaurant Recreations: Frankfort Avenue Beer Depot (F.A.B.D.)

Happy Wednesday guys!  I'm happy to report that yesterday, I signed up to participate in a Louisville chapter of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale!  I'll be participating with the group "Louisville Bakes To End Childhood Hunger" and couldn't be more excited!  All proceeds will go to benefit Share Our Strength's fight to end childhood hunger.  So if you happen to be in the Louisville area and want to be a part of this group (or want to donate from far away) feel free to e-mail me at mtlabor85 (at) yahoo (dot) com and I can direct you to where you need to go!  For more info, check out the Facebook page for the group!

It's been a bit since I did a restaurant recreation and this was probably the most exciting out of the 3 I've done so far.  I mean, who doesn't like barbecue?  So let's get right into it with the review...

Frankfort Avenue Beer Depot, or more commonly known in the Louisville area as F.A.B.D., is a quaint little place on - you guessed it, Frankfort Avenue.  From the outside, it looks more like a bar than anything, but upon further investigation - especially the gigantic smokers on the outside, and beautiful barbecue smells coming from inside and outside - you can tell that this place is the real deal - they know their barbecue.

The menu is short and sweet, with no more than 6 or 7 appetizers, and various different barbecue dishes - people come here for one thing (well, maybe two - the second being the beer!), and that's definitely the barbecue.  Like I said, they have two smokers on the outside, so they're constantly slow smoking different types of meat - chicken, pork, and beef brisket, it's hard to find something you won't find tasty (well, unless you're a vegetarian - not many choices for you here in the form of entrees).  They also make their own house recipe of barbecue sauce, available in hot and regular.  The hot is definitely hot, and the regular is more of a sweet and tangy kind of sauce - both really good.

We opted for an appetizer of onion rings which were perfectly cut and fried.  They were on the thinner side - which I like - and were served with a side of a tangy remoulade-type dipping sauce. 

For our entrees, Andy got the Pulled Pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw and I opted for the Lou-a-vul Beef Brisket with a small side of macaroni and cheese.  Both sandwiches come with a pickle and some sliced onions.  They leave the saucin' up to you, which I liked as well - I can decide how messy I want to be!

I definitely give F.A.B.D. two thumbs up.  Quick service, home-style barbecue, and definitely a great price - I think we made it out of there in $30 or less. 


And now on to the recreation.

I went with recreating my dish, the Lou-a-vul Brisket.  I think pulled meat is a pretty easy thing to recreate - slow and low.  So I focused more on my rub for the brisket and the actual barbecue sauce.  While my finished dish was definitely different from F.A.B.D's version, I think it definitely made one hell of a sandwich!

Ingredients:

For the Brisket:

4 lb. beef brisket
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

For the Barbecue Sauce:

1/4 to 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup crushed tomatoes (or you could use ketchup also)
3 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon Sriracha

Coleslaw:

3 cups red cabbage, shredded
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar


Sourdough Rolls, for sandwiches

To prepare the brisket:  In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, cumin, paprika, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.  Mix well and then rub mixture all over beef brisket.  Cover brisket with plastic wrap and let sit in fridge overnight.

On the next morning, preheat your crockpot onto high and add brisket (you may have to cut it in half to fit it all in there!).  Add about 1 cup of beef stock to crockpot and cover.  Let cook for about 6 to 7 hours, or until brisket is fork tender.

To prepare barbecue sauce:  Combine desired amount of apple cider vinegar (the more you add, the acidic the sauce), tomatoes (or ketchup), brown sugar, mustard, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and Sriracha.  If using crushed tomatoes, run the immersion blender through your mixture until it is smooth, or at your desired texture.  If using ketchup, no need to worry about that step.

You can use the barbecue sauce on the side, or like me, add it to the crockpot with the brisket and let it meld for about an hour longer.

To prepare the coleslaw:  Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar in a large bowl.  Add cabbage and carrots and mix well.  Let sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.

To assemble sandwiches, toast your sourdough buns and add a decent amount of pulled brisket on the bottom half (the messier the better!).  Top with desired amount of coleslaw (or you can always eat that on the side) and top with remaining bun half. 

Dig in and enjoy.  You might need a fork for this one - and plenty of wet naps!

This was really really good.  But I'm afraid to say that as good as it was, it still wasn't as good as F.A.B.D.'s version.  Yup... a recreation that wasn't as good as the original.  Recreation 2, Originals 1. Although I wouldn't chock it up as failure - this is still a killer pulled brisket!  And feel free to substitute pork or chicken with this, too... it's pretty versatile!

Well... I'm off to play sand volleyball (speaking of which, we went 3-0 last week, and hoping to continue the winning vibes tonight) in the cold (57F).  Hopefully I'll move around enough that I'll heat up quickly!  Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday guys!

BBC Dark Star Porter Braised Brisket

Andy just jumped on this recipe. It gave me an excuse to buy him some beer, since I needed to get some porter from the liquor store. BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Company) is a local brewery here in Louisville. They have pretty good beer. The food is a different story (personally I find it kind of bland), but the beer is where it's at. Anyway, this recipe was the first meal that I have actually "slaved" over. It's not a short recipe by far. It's definitely a two day project. So if you've got the time, or are just going through some sleepless nights... then maybe you should try making this amazing brisket. And I know it was well worth it because I gave my mother the leftovers and she called it "awesome." And for my very Filipino mother to call something "awesome"... that is something special.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's October 2009 issue

1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 & 1/2 lb. flat-cut beef brisket
2 tablespoon rendered bacon fat (I used 2 slices of thick cut bacon for this)
4 cups chicken broth, divided
1 12 oz. bottle of porter or stout beer
6 whole pitted prunes
4 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
8 whole garlic cloves
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon malt vinegar

The original recipe requires an ovenproof pot and to have the brisket cook in the oven, but you guys know how much I love my slow cooker, so I opted for that. It made the recipe a tad bit longer, but I think the results are just as good, if not better.

First, turn your slow cooker on high. This way, when you're done with the next couple of steps, it'll be hot and ready.

Mix the salt, pepper, dry mustard, sage, and thyme in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the brisket and set aside.


Chop up the bacon slices and heat them under medium heat until fat is rendered. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon and leave as much of the fat in the pan as possible. I let my bacon bits cool and then fed them to the dogs as a special treat, of course, stealing a couple for myself as well. Add brisket to the pan with the bacon fat and brown brisket on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. After both sides are decently browned, transfer brisket to a sheet pan.

In the same pan used to brown brisket, add 2 cups of the chicken stock, scraping up as many of the brown bits as possible. They're PACKED full of flavor. Bring the stock to a boil. Add in beer, prunes, bay leaves, and brown sugar. Return mixture to a boil. Turn off heat and add mixture to your slow cooker. Place brisket in slow cooker as well, fat side down. Place the sliced onions over top of the brisket and scatter out the garlic cloves.



Cover the pot and braise in the liquid for about 1 hour. Uncover the brisket and turn over, allowing onion slices to fall below brisket. Recover and braise for another 30 minutes.

Add 1 more cup of chicken stock and braise for another 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Take the brisket out of the liquid and place on sheet pan. Add final cup of chicken stock, mushrooms, and carrots to liquid mixture. Place brisket over the vegetables and cover. Braise the mixture until the carrots are tender (you can add more stock if needed, but I didn't have to), about 45 minutes longer. Turn slow cooker off and let cool. I took my bowl out of the shell so it would cool faster (considering it was about 3 am at this point, I was ready to hit my bed and be out like a light). Then place in the refrigerator, uncovered, overnight. Like I said, it was probably in there from 3 am to about 3 pm the next day.

It was pretty awesome waking up the following morning because as I opened the fridge to get some juice, you could just smell the sweet smell of brisket just hit you in the face. I pretty much opened my fridge every chance I could, just to smell that smell. Andy said I should market a "brisket air freshener"... I'm sure it's already out there somewhere... after all, they do have "bacon air fresheners". But I digress...

When you're ready to start preparing for dinner, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take the brisket pot out of the fridge and spoon off any fat from the surface and discard. Take brisket out of pot and place on cutting board. Thinly slice the brisket against the grain and place in a large roasting pan.

Bring the juices and vegetables in pot to a boil in separate pan. Whisk in mustard and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Then pour juices and vegetables over brisket slices in roasting pan.

Cover roasting pan tightly with foil and cook in oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, when brisket and vegetables are heated through.

Serve with vegetables and juices.

I'm telling you, this was amazing. I got that feeling you get when you study really really hard for a test and something and end up getting an A+ in return. I worked really hard, stayed up really late, but the result was well worth the long prep time. The meat was tender, the vegetables were juicy, and my only regret is that I didn't have any fresh bread lying around to dip in the delicious juices! Enjoy!