Attempting to Make My Own Brisket

Me in my new Arby's gearLast week I wrote about the new Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich from Arby’s and mentioned how they also sent me everything I need to make my own brisket at home including wood chips, an apron, gloves, a thermometer, a sauce brush and an American Express gift card so I could purchase some meat. So, this past weekend I attempted to do just that, smoke my own brisket.

I had a pretty busy weekend already, with a wedding to attend on Friday night and a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game — plus some major tailgating and drinking to take care of — on Sunday so I set Saturday afternoon aside for my little brisket experiment.

Well, I guess I never knew how much work really went into making a good brisket. I mean, Arby’s smokes theirs for 13 hours, but investing that much time in some brisket would literally take away all the free time I had left this weekend so I thought that maybe I could just smoke my brisket for only a couple hours.

Well, my brisket was a disaster. It didn’t look good at all and wasn’t even picture worthy. Maybe if I had more time it would have been better, but honestly, it just isn’t worth the effort as long as Arby’s is still selling their Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich, so rather than waste any more of my weekend I just hopped in my car, drove five minutes to the nearest Arby’s and ordered two more of their sandwiches. Thanks Arby’s!

Also, Arby’s will be hosting a Brisket Twitter Party this Thursday, May 15, from 8-9 p.m. ET. where you’ll have the chance to win prizes and learn more about the new Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich. You can participate by using the #BrisketIsBack hashtag.

Oh yeah, and according to Arby’s I’m supposed to explain that I was paid for this blog post, but do you know what? The joke is on them because I would have written about them in exchange for the free food alone!

17 Comments on Attempting to Make My Own Brisket

  1. John Smith
    May 14, 2014 at 2:37 pm (10 years ago)

    Aside from the grammatical and spelling errors…

    This blog has just become BLATANT and shameless plugs for whatever companies decide to send you products. Maybe, just maybe, try a bit harder to pepper in these plugs with some finesse… or write some compelling content.

    Reply
    • Nick Chipman
      May 14, 2014 at 2:45 pm (10 years ago)

      What grammatical and spelling errors?

      Yeah, heaven forbid I should actually you know, make some money from my blog, which I spend an insane amount of time on. Sponsored posts like this one aren’t necessarily the greatest, but they do pay and they allow me to spend the rest of my time blogging about whatever I want.

      Companies send me things and if I use them in a blog post of course I mention them. It’s called common courtesy. If Hormel didn’t hook me up with tons and tons of free bacon I wouldn’t be able to make things like Mac & Cheese Stuffed Bacon Weave Tacos and Deep Fried Doritos Crusted Bacon.

      Reply
      • Laney
        May 14, 2014 at 4:00 pm (10 years ago)

        Nick, I love reading about your crazy food adventures- even if they don’t always turn out (brisket really is a tough one).

        Poor “John Smith” up there was just being a troll, implementing the usual method of trying to get the attention of someone successful. He’s an angry one, too- you can tell from the BLATANT use of capital letters and shameless grammatical and spelling error accusation.

        I think it’s awesome you actually have some names sending you goodies to spotlight a bit. Like you said: free food, man! Keep doing your thing!

        Reply
        • Nick Chipman
          May 14, 2014 at 6:39 pm (10 years ago)

          Thanks Laney! I really appreciate it!

          Reply
      • David
        May 15, 2014 at 7:19 pm (10 years ago)

        Man, I want you to make a million dollars from this blog. I have loved your posts, shared them with my friends, and have your RSS feed as part of my home screen. You deserve all the success you can get.

        I would love it if I could keep enjoying the blog while you make your money. The last two Arby’s related posts felt, if you’ll excuse my saying so, kind-of heavy handed and very corporate paid for.

        Maybe you could make money with banner ads on the side that don’t affect your content? I’m sure tons of places would want to advertise. You’ve proved that you can get big name interest.

        http://www.sitescout.com/ (formerly adbrite.com) is one of the biggest places that sell adspace to big and small companies.

        Anyway, food for thought.

        Reply
        • Nick Chipman
          May 16, 2014 at 7:20 am (10 years ago)

          I already have banner ads, the problem is that most people don’t click them and for the most part I only make money when people click them. I get that the Arby’s posts are annoying, but when they’re willing to pay me the same amount that I’d make in almost a month from having banners on the side of my blog it’s sort of hard to pass up.

          You should see the number of sponsored post opportunities that I turn down though. I could easily have tons more of them and make tons more money, but I want to clutter up my blog as little as possible. At the same time though, I need to at least be making something to be able to keep doing it.

          Reply
  2. Emilio Algonquin
    May 15, 2014 at 1:10 pm (10 years ago)

    I’m going to have to side with Mr. Smith on this one. I have nothing against sponsorship, it’s how the internet works and good for you to be able to get some dough doing something you love. But what is the content of this blog post? Here are my takeaways:

    1. You were very busy this weekend and you could not make brisket (barely worth a Facebook post)
    2. Buy Arby’s!
    3. I was paid to tell you number 2

    Reply
    • Nick Chipman
      May 16, 2014 at 10:27 am (10 years ago)

      The context of the blog post is me wanting some money, having really no spare time last weekend and Arby’s telling me that I had to have a blog post up about trying to make my own brisket by May 13th.

      Be forewarned though, within the next week I’m also supposed to write about a free George Foreman grill that I recently got so you might not want to read my blog for the next seven days or so if you don’t want to see any more pointless blog posts. I do hope to sneak one worthwhile — depending on your definition of the word worthwhile — post in there before then though.

      Reply
      • David
        May 16, 2014 at 10:34 am (10 years ago)

        I think you can write sponsored blogs without sounding like a sponsor shell. Personally, I would love to see what the king of DudeFoods can do with a George Foreman grill. It’s about finding balance.

        For example: “The good people at GF Grill gave me a grill, a bag full of money, and a challenge to come up with some interesting dude-centric foods that would work well on the grill. Here’s what I came up with:” (then you can just pile on the awesomeness that you’re known and loved for.)

        Anyway, just a suggestion.

        Reply
        • Nick Chipman
          May 16, 2014 at 10:37 am (10 years ago)

          That’s a valid point. The funny thing about the George Foreman people is that they sent it and instructed me to use it to create a healthy recipe, which obviously isn’t happening.

          I think I’m just going to test out how many different foods I can make with it, like chocolate chip cookies or grilled cheese sandwiches, just things that people don’t normally use their George Foreman grills for.

          Reply
          • Jake
            May 17, 2014 at 4:32 pm (10 years ago)

            To me, this just adds bad taste to the mix of sponsored content- if you’re paid to do a project from a sponsor and are given free product/compensation for it, it’s typically in good form to use their product as they ask you do. Would a lower-calorie bacon-Dorito-cookie hybrid be a challenge? Yeah. Would it be fun and compelling? Definitely.

            By completely ignoring the instructions and just ‘testing out how many different food you can make with it’ you’re both being lazy, like with this Arby’s post, and taking advantage of the good graces of the company. I like this blog and I like what you do but I’m not crazy about this wink and a nudge style of receiving compensation while simultaneously attempting to convey that you don’t take the companies who pay you seriously enough to form a solid relationship.

          • Nick Chipman
            May 17, 2014 at 4:47 pm (10 years ago)

            Right, and then the second I try to do exactly what they asked and use the grill to make some healthy recipes I get a ton of emails and comments about how lame that is as well because I’m going against what I normally write about.

            Honestly, in situations like that I just can’t win. There are gong to be people that complain about any sponsored posts at all regardless of content, people that claim they’re OK with them, yet complain that I ignored the instructions or got “lazy” with them like you and people who are the total opposite and say they’re fine with them, but then get mad that I didn’t do my own thing with them.

            Bacon Doritos Cookies DO sound awesome though, so at least an awesome idea came out of this.

  3. Brooke
    May 17, 2014 at 6:09 pm (10 years ago)

    Here’s a solution…stop reading his blog or see if you could even for a second compare to the amazingly creative things Dudefoods has done. Chances are you can’t even fathom how to even get a blog up and running so go back to your local deli and buy yourself some Lunchables. Dudefoods is an incredible blog and has inspired many!

    Reply
  4. Joe G
    May 19, 2014 at 8:08 pm (10 years ago)

    You dieting dude? You look thinner than the pics from the “McEverything”.

    Reply
    • Nick Chipman
      May 20, 2014 at 7:08 am (10 years ago)

      Yeah, not really dieting, but I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier.

      Reply
  5. Andrew
    May 24, 2014 at 11:18 am (10 years ago)

    Yea you need a no life weekend for a large brisket but youll have a good supply of meat some time.
    Yet I still enjoy the ease of going to Arby’s for a quickie Arby’s is great food enjoyed it for years.
    Please continue to profit from your blog in whatever way you see fit as you’d probably get the same whining and complaining if you blogged for nothing.
    The idea that these companies would work with you is refreshing and I would endeavor to give them even more business.

    Reply
  6. jas
    May 29, 2014 at 10:16 pm (10 years ago)

    this post wasnt bad. i don’t get why people are complaining. also it’s almost impossible to make money on ads now.

    Reply

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