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11 brisket secrets for at-home barbecue enthusiasts
Feb. 24, 2016 4:58pm
Sarah Blaskovich

This is not a brisket recipe.
You can find thousands of those online and in cookbooks, and each of them will give you guidelines as to how to spend a dozen or so hours smoking a fatty hunk of meat.
Instead, these are brisket tips from some of the Lone Star State's most knowledgeable brisket cookers. They shared their secrets during Camp Brisket, a two-day intensive workshop for 60 beef-obsessed people.

You are not going to be a brisket master on the first try.
“The barbecue tradition is taking meat and making it delicious through a time-consuming process,” says Texas food writer Robb Walsh. But because factors such as outdoor temperature, wind and fire can be so volatile, smoking brisket takes time. Be patient as you learn your pit and the science of barbecue.

Know your wood.
Texas barbecue experts disagree on which wood smokes brisket best. Popular options are post oak, mesquite, hickory and pecan, and Camp Brisket lets attendees taste briskets smoked with each. Wood does make a difference in how your brisket will taste, so experiment with them. Ask your favorite pitmasters what they use, too.

Fat is a good thing. But you’ll need to trim some of it off.
Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin recommends cutting off as much as 30 percent of the entire weight of the brisket. “Good fat is flavor,” Franklin explains. Good fat will keep a brisket moist while it cooks. “But bad fat: That’s bad fat.” And it has to go.
Your mission while trimming off fat is to make the fat layer even, about 1/4-inch thick. If you’re at a barbecue joint, a good bite of brisket should include some rendered fat. When you order, ask for “moist” slices and you’ll get the pitmaster’s best.

Start with salt and pepper for your rub.
Central Texas barbecue purists believe only salt and pepper should be used in your brisket rub, says Texas meat writer Jess Pryles. Some restaurants add paprika or chili powder and swear by it. Try smoking a few briskets with salt and pepper first if you’re a card-carrying Central Texan.

It’s easier to make a fire hotter than to cool it off.
Much of the secret to smoking brisket is keeping a consistent temperature for many hours while it cooks. Managing your flame is the key. Pitmasters suggest easing into your fire; you can always stoke it to spike the temperature. It’s much harder to bring a raging fire’s temperature down. A finished brisket should have an internal temperature somewhere between 195 and 215 F, depending on its size.
Track your results each time you smoke a brisket.

Every pitmaster at Camp Brisket has kept notes of how they succeeded and failed smoking briskets at differing temperatures, at various lengths of time and with varieties of wood. Learn from your mistakes; it’s part of the fun.
You will not be excommunicated from the barbecue fraternity if you use a temperature probe. Restaurants use these all the time!
Best bet might be to leave a probe in your brisket so you can check temperatures without continually opening the pit. Speaking of …

Don’t open another man’s (or woman’s) pit.
Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue peeks inside his pit. He does this a lot, but he's a pro. Don't do it too much or your briskets will never cook.

This is where things get personal: Your barbecue pit is your business. You’ve been tending to that fire and saying prayers to the barbecue gods since the middle of the night, most likely. The worst thing someone could do is walk up and open the lid, messing with that temperature you’re trying to keep consistent, says Jeff Savell, meat science professor at Texas A&M.

To wrap or not to wrap?
That’s a big question. Pitmasters disagree on whether a brisket should be wrapped in peach paper -- a pinkish-brown kind of butcher paper -- or whether it should continue to smoke unwrapped. The potential advantage of wrapping a brisket about 3/4 through the total smoking time is it locks in the moisture and helps keep the temperature consistent for the remainder of the cook. Those who don’t wrap say it doesn’t make a difference in the end.
If you do choose to wrap, using aluminum foil at home is a good Plan B if Amazon.com can’t bring you peach paper in time. (Those in the know call wrapping in foil the “Texas crutch.”) New pitmasters might want to try both methods and record the results.

Let your brisket rest.
So your brisket has smoked for many hours, it’s developed a nice pepper crust we call bark, and it’s time to come out of the smoker. Time to eat, right? No way. Let that piece of meat rest for as short as an hour, as long as a few. Home cooks can put their brisket in a cooler and close the lid. Franklin keeps his briskets in a warmer at a resting temperature of 137.5 F. You probably can’t keep it at that kind of specific temperature, so do your best to aim for 140 F or so.

Don’t slice your brisket until you’re ready to eat it.
Sliced brisket deteriorates with every passing second. So don’t lose too much time Instagramming your perfect piece; it’s time to eat! To test whether you’ve smoked it according to Central Texas barbecue standards, slice a piece the width of a No. 2 pencil and hold it up. It shouldn’t fall apart but should separate easily if you pull it, says Franklin.

Texas brisket shouldn’t need sauce, but don’t let that stop you.
Central Texas pitmasters generally like to let the flavor of the meat shine, and a sugary or vinegary sauce can mask that flavor. But here’s the reality: You might like sauce. You also might’ve overcooked your brisket and sauce might add some extra moisture. Don’t let the apparent rules of Central Texas barbecue change the way you like to eat.

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Students chow down over break for new class on BBQ, Texas wine
By Connor Behrens March 23, 2016

Not all students headed for the beach this spring break — one group spent its week-long vacation in Texas Hill Country studying wine and cuisine.

These students are the first to take “Texas Food and Wine Experience,” which was first offered in spring 2016. The course, part of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, asks students to keep a log of their experiences and submit essays demonstrating their understanding of how food and wine aid Texas’ fruitful hospitality business.

Associate professor Jay Neal said the idea for the trip began with assistant professor Chris Taylor, who approached Neal in June after eating lunch at Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland.

“How could I refuse?” Neal said. “It seemed like a natural fit and great partnership because I enjoy spending time with Dr. Taylor.”

Neal said students had to meet certain criteria to go on the trip, including completing more than 40 contact hours and reading two books on BBQ and Texas wine.

“Students had to apply and be interviewed based on their career goals, specifically wanting to manage restaurants or the wine industry or regional tourism,” Neal said.

Neal said students should consider taking the class because of the knowledge that could be learned from Texas food and wine, a trending cuisine in food culture.

“Texas barbecue is one of the hottest cuisines worldwide,” Neal said. “Students can get a firsthand experience with not only how Texas wines are made and taste but also how it can effect the bottom line in terms of profitability and preference in their restaurants after they graduate.”

HRM senior Brandon King said he would suggest the trip to students who want a look at the Texas food industry and are interested in joining the industry.

“I learned a lot on the trip, including the differences in the thriving Texas barbecue industry from one place to another and how small differences in cooking method, seasoning and other factors can really affect the flavor of barbecue,” King said.

HRM senior Taylor Jakovich said the trip gave valuable personal insight into the food and wine industry that he said he plans on joining.

“The trip really showed us many applications of what we’ve been learning throughout our time at the Hilton school,” Jakovich said. “It’s been a trip in which I’ve been able to apply a lot of the information we’ve learned in the classroom.”

Neal said the ultimate goal of the trip is to give students a clearer representation of the Texas food and wine industry.

“We expect them to get a better picture of the barbecue industry and wineries,” Neal said. “They will be able to visualize wine production and tasting room operations and management. As the tourism industry continues to grow in Fredericksburg, we want our students to consider this as a viable career opportunity."

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On April 12, 2012, Scott, Louisiana was designated by the State Legislature of Louisiana as the "Boudin Capital of the World." This was no small feat and it meant that Broussard, Louisiana needed to relinquish the title [Broussard is now known as the "former Boudin Capital of the World"] and that Jennings, Louisiana's title of "Boudin Capital of the Universe," while seemingly more prestigious, would take a back seat to the boudininalia in Scott. The city of Scott's claim to the title is substantial, with more boudin purveyors per-capita than any other place in the state and a couple of the more prominent boudin makers (Don's Specialty Meats and Best Stop) to boot, no other city in Louisiana (and thereby the world!) produces more links than Scott.

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Originally posted by MikeBurke:
I was in Lafayette today. We planned to have lunch at Eddie's on Pinhook. They are now out of business.

We have great seafood, gumbo, stews, boudin, etc but our BBQ around here is not very good..

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Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I had to make a run over to E Louisiana to pick up a canoe I bought. It was located about 40 mi or so East of Baton Rouge. Not to waste a long trip, I planned on turning it into a Q expedition and to try some of the various boudin (a pork and rice along with spices sausage that is absolutely wonderful when it is right, the commercial efforts towards making a good boudin that I've had in NE and Central Texas have been considerably less than wonderful) joints in Scott, La. The newest "best boudin" spot. From a net review of Scott's boudin shops:

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On April 12, 2012, Scott, Louisiana was designated by the State Legislature of Louisiana as the "Boudin Capital of the World." This was no small feat and it meant that Broussard, Louisiana needed to relinquish the title [Broussard is now known as the "former Boudin Capital of the World"] and that Jennings, Louisiana's title of "Boudin Capital of the Universe," while seemingly more prestigious, would take a back seat to the boudininalia in Scott. The city of Scott's claim to the title is substantial, with more boudin purveyors per-capita than any other place in the state and a couple of the more prominent boudin makers (Don's Specialty Meats and Best Stop) to boot, no other city in Louisiana (and thereby the world!) produces more links than Scott.

I-10 runs right thru Scott, about 10 mi W of Lafayette, and well worth the stop for boudin if you have the time. As they say in Louisiana, "So good, it will make you slap your mama." I tried 3 of the 6 or so "famous" makers in Scott. All were either great or better if you like boudin. FWIW, I think I preferred Best Supermarkets, closely followed by Billy's Boudin, closely followed by Early's Supermarket. I bought about 20 pounds or so home with me, along with some Andouille sausage, and other local products. Let me tell you, those Cajuns have forgotten more about cooking than any other group in the country ever knew. They could make an old boot taste wonderful. I will flatly state that there is not a piece of sausage made at any of the well known Q joints in Texas that is ANYWHERE EVEN close to how delicious a piece of good boudin is, and boudin is substanstially cheaper, running about $3.60-$4.75/lb at the makers joints.

Here is a pic of fairly typical looking boudin.....

So I left home just after 6 AM in order to give the important part of the trip enough time. First stop was....

#100) Grayson's Barbecue, 5849 Hwy 71, Clarence, La (Clarence is a small town about 10 mi E of Nachitoches across the Red River and Grayson's is about 300 yards N of the intersection of Hwys 71 and 6) Grayson's as recently named "One (of 50) of the South's Legendary Barbecue Joints" by Southern Living Magazine. I was told by a friend that it was also recently picked as "Best Q in La".....it may be, but I hope not for Q lover's in Louisiana's sake. I know of at least 2 in Shreveport that I think are substantially better. My overall grade 2.25/5.00

Grayson's opens at 9 AM, every day but Sunday (closed). I arrived just before 10, after getting semi-lost trying to find a route which avoided downtown Nachitoches (worth visiting, sort of like a junior Disneyland Main St. without the Disney Character's and being mostly authentic). I went in, sat at the long counter (room with tables also) and ordered a sampler of a pound of beef, a pound of pork ribs, and a pound of their ham. Their smoked ham is supposedly famous, why I don't know. I'll make this short. Lady who waited on me was nice, started by cutting the outside off of the beef and ham, a process which I quickly stopped. This is a fairly common practice in old fashioned country Q joints in the South, I've seen it numerous times, but, of course, it removes most of the smoke/Q flavor.

Grayson's Q is a throwback to how Q has been cooked for hundreds of years, no rub that I could detect and heavily smoked. The new Q is why Q has grown in popularity, it just flat out does the old style.

All the meats at Grayson's are a very reasonable $13/lb.

The "ham" wasn't really ham, but some kind of shoulder, I think. Slight smoke flavor, very dry. I'm starting an addition to my reviews, giving each product a 1 to 5 grade, 5 being the best. Given that I think most Q is palatable, a 1 something grade would be really poor, and reasonable eating commercial chain type Q would start around 2.0/5. This was a 2.5/5.

The "beef", which I ordered sliced thick, wasn't (I think)brisket, but probably shoulder clod. Heavy muscular stringing, slightly tough, dry. 2.0/5.

The pork ribs, as were all the products, were REALLY black from smoke, tasted by far the best of the three, but the smoking had left a really hard crust on the outside. I liked it, but many people would find it too much smoke and too little tender eating. 3.0/5 but you better like heavily smoked exteriors.

The sauce was a somewhat thin, slightly sweet, slightly vinegary homemade product which I really liked. 4.0/5.

I noticed that the only desert on the blackboard menu was pecan pie. I asked if they made it or was it made for them (not always a bad thing). They said it was made on sight so after briefly tasting (and I mean briefly, this in spite of being hungry with no breakfast) the meats, I ordered a piece. To my surprise, the lady placed a piece of pie in a zip loc bag in front of me, without even the benefit of a paper plate. Plastic spoons were in a container on the counter, so I opened it up, arranged it on the zip loc bag and ate it. Not bad, lots of broken pecans, filling was not as sweet as most commercial pecan pies, which I liked. 3.0/5

Bottom line is, I would give Grayson's ** Two Stars barely and would not eat there again unless I was somehow in Clarence at lunch time. Given that Clarence is really in the middle of nowhere that is not likely. I'm sure it has great people but not great Q.

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Originally posted by Kensco:
Starting May 10th you can get Barbeque 24/7 at Sonny Bryan's on Inwood ("The Original") in Dallas.

I haven't been to a Sonny Bryan's in about 15 years. They used to be an old name, well respected.

As always on TripAdvisor, some guy says it stinks, and the next guy says it is the best he ever ate.

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Originally posted by K Evans:

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Originally posted by Kensco:
Starting May 10th you can get Barbeque 24/7 at Sonny Bryan's on Inwood ("The Original") in Dallas.

I haven't been to a Sonny Bryan's in about 15 years. They used to be an old name, well respected.

As always on TripAdvisor, some guy says it stinks, and the next guy says it is the best he ever ate.

I stopped by there last Thursday at lunchtime...I'd have to agree with your "some guy". It was bad this time.

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What is Kosher salt and what makes it different?


Kosher salt appears as an ingredient in most barbecue and general cooking recipes. But what exactly is it, and why is it important to know the difference?

Sodium Chloride. That’s the more complex scientific name for salt. More like Sodi-YUM. Am i right?! I mean, all foods would be infinitely less delicious without the addition of that most magical of seasonings, salt. Have you ever tried some salts and thought “hrmm, this actually tastes saltier than the other kind I usually use”? Well good news, you’re not crazy, you’re actually just very perceptive. In fact, when I write my recipes, I usually just specify “salt to taste” without talking about the variety or how much to use. And here’s why: some salts are in fact saltier than others. MIND BLOWN!

To be more specific, they’re not saltier in their make up, it’s all the same compound, but it’s all about the density. That is, how much space or air in in each crystal of salt, which affects how much sodium chloride the crystal is actually comprised of. It seems complicated, but I’m gonna tell it to you as simple as I can: basically, some types of salt actually have a greater amount of salt per crystal, so they taste saltier.

What is the difference between table and kosher salt?

Bringing it back to your kitchen, this means that table salt is actually double as salty as kosher salt. DOUBLE! So if a recipe says 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and you’re using that convenient table salt that you have hanging around, you’re putting twice the amount of salt in to your dish than the recipe intended and that, my friends, could be disastrous.

So what can you do about it? It’s actually a pretty simple fix. Just add salt by weight, not volume. But let’s be realistic, most of us don’t have scales hanging around for measuring this type of stuff. Really, as long as you’re aware table salt is gunna be double the strength of kosher, you can adjust the amounts yourself as you go.

So what exactly is kosher salt?

Now you know why you can’t just substitute kosher salt in a recipe, let’s talk about what it actually is. Unlike the same suggests, Kosher salt isn’t about actually being Kosher (ie, blessed by a Rabbi and in accordance with the laws of Kashrut), but rather that it’s salt designed to be used for the koshering process. Kosher laws dictate the meat must be free from blood, so the larger grained salts were favored for drawing out any excess blood. Over the years, that style of salt has come to be generically referred to as Kosher Salt. All this confusion would be most easily fixed if it were simply referred to as “koshering salt”.

Pro tip – if you don’t live in an area where Kosher Salt is readily available, I would advise against randomly calling your local synagogue to ask where you can get some. It’s kinda like calling the Belgian embassy to find out where the waffles are at. Try ordering online instead.

And just to complicate things further, there’s a huge difference between the density of the two major brands of kosher salt, Morton and Diamond Crystal, so be sure to check the side of the box you purchase for full info.

kosher, table, sea, smoked and black salt

Why is kosher salt preferable for cooking?

Easy to distribute: The larger grains make it more tactile, easier to pinch between your fingers and sprinkle, so it’s more precise.
Less likely to over-salt: since it’s about half as “salty” than table salt, it takes more of if to over salt a dish.
Great base for bark: particularly with barbecue, a physical crust is a great foundation to a good bark (which is why BBQ joints predominantly use coarse 10/16 gauge cracked pepper). The bigger grains and ability to use more of it make for a great bark starting point.
Other types of salts used for cooking

While we’re talking about all things salt, you may also want to consider some other types of culinary salts to add to your arsenal. I like using delicate salt flakes as a finishing sprinkle on steaks – the large, flat flakes make for a pretty contrast and can easily be brushed away if you’ve added too much. I also use French Fleur De Sel for salted caramel and other desserts or dishes that need a definitive salty hit. The FDS granules are larger and ‘clumpier’ than kosher salt, so you get a really nice burst amongst the sweetness. And if I’m brining something I’ll try to use pickling salt, which has very fine granules to allow it to dissolve quickly in water.

All of the above is why “salt to taste” is such an important instruction. Plus, salting to taste takes into account that most immeasurable of standards- varying degrees of personal taste. However you salt, just remember the golden rule – you can always add more, but you can’t take it back out!


BY JESS PRYLES

Jess Pryles is a full fledged Hardcore Carnivore. She’s a cook, writer, and TV personality specializing in red meat, with penchant for grilling and bourbon. She's also a respected authority on Texas & competition style barbecue. Born in Australia, she now resides in Austin, Texas.

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posted 26 May 2013 11:07

#55) Pecan Lodge, 1010 S. Pearl Expressway, Dallas Tx (Farmer's Market Shed #2)(in the new Texas Monthly list tied for #2 with Snow's and Louie Mueller (Franklin's being numero uno), some high company) (Open Thur to Sun, 11-3 or until the meat runs out)(My overall grade A--)

I had called a Q phile friend in Ft Worth to see if he would meet us for lunch. He readily agreed and got there about 10:45 and joined us while Adam and I were STANDING IN LINE for the joint to open at 11. He drove about 40 mi one way, so he is a pretty serious Q eater himself. We arrived inside Farmer's Market Shed #2 about 10:40 and there were already about 25 people in front of us waiting in line. By the time we left about an hour later the line was multiples longer stretching about half way the length of the shed, with at least 150 people in it. I mean the Q is really good, but at about $16 or $17 a pound, personally I ain't waiting in line for an extended time period for it again.

By the time we ordered some for us to eat, some for us to take home, and some for my buddy to take back to his business for his employees, our bill was over $300 and worth it. My friend and I have had a long running discussion/argument about his paying in Tarrant County. I quickly pointed out that we weren't in Tarrant County and picked up the tab. I am way ahead, so far, but other non-Tarrant County Q joints still have the siren call of smoke and I hope for our fun meal expenditures to become more even in the future.

At any rate, we got pounds of brisket, pounds of pork ribs, and 1.2 pounds of beef rib (what one rib weighed) to eat in.

The brisket, which I didn't hesitate to try ahead of the others, was really outstanding, dark exterior, dead tender, with a great smoke and spice flavor from the rub. We were all agreed. Just great!

The pork ribs were quite good IMO but my friend disagreed and thought they just didn't do it for him. They were dead tender and tasty to me. The real problem for both of us was that somewhere, and obviously at least in the later stages of cooking (sauce on ribs was very slightly damp but obviously had been in the smoke, as a side note, the sauce "soaked" into the ribs I took home and they were really better than the fresh ones to me), they were basted with their Q sauce. This lead to a slightly vinegary spicy flavor which I found to be both distracting and not as pleasant as the straight finish of the brisket. My friend was even less impressed. Adam was about in the middle of the opinion line.

Finally we come to the piece d'resistance, the beef rib. The brisket was exceptional but in the opinion of all 3 of us, the rib was even better. Dead tender, cooked correctly (not overcooked) and with that mixture of fat and converted collagen with makes good beef ribs so spectacular. I'd have to compare them side by side, but I think I would give a slight edge to Louie Mueller's.

The sauce was home made, tomato based with a bit of hot pepper and a couple of fairly obvious notes of a spice that we could not identify. To our tastes, good but not as good as the unsauced meat.

At any rate, great Q and if the pork ribs hadn't of been "sauced" I might have given it my highest rating yet. Worth a visit, but I might take a chance on a later time and hope the lines had died out but I wouldn't bet on it, since the newest Texas Monthly rating issue just came out. Would I stand in line again, well, maybe for 15 minutes but the wait time for some of the people in line when we left would have been well over an hour. As a friend of mine used to say, that would be too much sugar for a dime for me.

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Originally posted by Texas Killartist:
Not very quick when it comes to TX Q Karl.
I am greatful that my nose & tastebuds are obviously MUCH better than yours.
How can you even put Pecan and Mesquite in the same category ? Much less Oak and Hickory ? If your nose and tastebuds CANNOT tell the difference, they AND you need learnin !

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Originally posted by Texas Killartist:
Not very quick when it comes to TX Q Karl.
I am greatful that my nose & tastebuds are obviously MUCH better than yours.
How can you even put Pecan and Mesquite in the same category ? Much less Oak and Hickory ? If your nose and tastebuds CANNOT tell the difference, they AND you need learnin !

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Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Euripides