Just to make you all scream

[Aleksandros]

Twist, for the quicky version of a similar treat:

Pick up a box of the Little Debby-style fudge brownies, or even a single one at your local convenience store. Apply McIlhenny's Tabasco sauce liberally to one side, and enjoy Odd, but strangely satisfying.

[Rinikku]

Oh my gosh... I love chocolate and cherries (with or without the liquor ) and now I'm drooling over the chocolate cake...
yummy... now I must find me some chocolate to stop the shakes, lol, jk

[Chakua]

I just made Banana's Foster while here in Germany visiting friends. They had never tried it and I must say it's so much better with the fresh-churned butter that I picked up at the market. Well...the homemade vanilla ice cream really set it off, too.

[Ddemons Ddemise]

now that i know what you meant by the cake..
*channels spirit of Homer Simpson*
MMMMM, Cake

[Brodder FoamyMugs]

Kona coffee beans came via UPS from a friend I haven't heard from let alone seen in 12 years...just half a KG.

1 oz into grinder...1 oz reg beans...= potof very good coffee.
Defrost one bavarian dark chocolate forest cake

= chocolate cafeeine overload and very happy dwarf.

[arryl]

mmmmmm. sounds dangerous am personally contemplating: planting a walnut, watching it become a tree, harvesting some nuts, and making fresh chocolate chip cookies while waiting for the patch to finish

[Brodder FoamyMugs]

Let me know what you find in the patch...I seemed to have lost something important...

[Quichon]

Well, I'm no good with desserts, but I'm a fair hand with meats, specifically the open grill and smoker.

Now, I'm a good ol' southerner, so of course what would I be without my smoker? It's rediculously easy to make one, too. Take a 50 gal drum. Cut it in half. Install hinges on the backside and legs underneath via a wielder. Cut a 5" (with 1" tolerance) hole in the top and install a chimney with slidable lid. Then you just mark where you want the racks and install little hooks for them to sit on. Smoke it good first to cure it before putting any meat in it, of course.

Now then, what do I use this monster to do? Brisket!!

First, ya gotta choose your meat well. Make sure it's got a good slab of fat on the top and a good marble. Why? That's the secret to making fork-tender brisket, the fat will melt off at the temperatures we're talking about, drip all throughout the meat to tenderize it, then drip into the fire to give it that flame-kissed taste everyone loves.

Okay, then you use either a rub or a maranade to make the meat even more tender, juicy, and tasty. I like to use a rub with a lot of brown sugar in it to act as a carmelizing agent, with a dash of cayanne pepper, powdered garlic, salt, and a few other goodies. If you maranade, make sure it's in there for several hours in a cool place (like the back of your fridge) to make sure it soaks all the way through.

Right, now you toss in your charcoal to start with. This isn't what you're gonna be using to smoke, but it's the bed of coals that will get your fire going once you're ready. Either use Girl Scout Juice (Lighter Fluid) or match-ready charcoal and keep it aired until it's a bed of coals. You don't want lighter fluid taste in your meat, but once it's coals, you're good to go.

Now, wood choice is actually quite important in smoking meat. Mesquite has a thick flavor, and is quite available where I live, so that's what I use most. However, up north, you yanks pay for it like it was gold, and there really are other choices available. Oak is good, with a decent and sweet flavor to it, and Hickory is another very good wood to smoke with.

How your wood is cut is also very important. You want chunks, not chips, not logs. You also want to soak them in water before tossing them in. No, your'e not going to put out the fire, you're going to make them smoke up, which is the point.

Right, so you've got your bed of coals, you've got your wood soaked, and your brisket prepared. Everything's ready. So slap that meat on the grill. Make sure the rind is on top, to let the fat drizzle down through the meat to tenderize it. How long it stays in there is up to personal preference, but I try to keep it in there for 4-6 hours. This will give you a good smoke on your brisket and bring out the taste. You don't want too much longer or it'll dry itself out and be stringy and tough, but you don't want to pull it too early or it won't be as tasty. Anyways, once you do that, you wrap it in foil and slide it back in, making sure the fat side is still up, and let it slow cook over coals, adding more charcoal or wood as needed. How long? Well... I generally tend to put it in early afternoonish day before I serve, and pull it late afternoonish on the day I serve, so I tend to go for a good 18 hour slow cook. A good foil wrap keeps it nice and juicy, so overcooking won't really dry it out, it'll just make it more tender, but you should cook it a minimum of six more hours after the smoke just to ensure the meat is cooked all the way through.

My only problem with the way I do my brisket is the trouble getting it out... it tends to fall off of the serving fork I stab it with to pull it out, requiring a pair of tongs to get it out of the smoker.

Then you trim the rind off, cut, and serve it up with whatever sides you've already fixed up. Since you've got a hot grill, you can always do grilled corn on the cob, just stick the buttered and foil wrapped cobs in about a half hour before you plan on pulling it and they'll be ready at the same time.

Y'all enjoy now, y'hear?