Right on. I accidently left 2lbs of brisket in my friends fridge in Houston Sunday morning when I headed home... I called him when I was halfway home to tell him Merry Christmas and later I had huge urge for a sandwich.
So I finally did my first great brisket after ruining 4 briskets in the green egg. Found out my thermometer is off which was fun. 20 hour smoke with post oak chunks, and 4 hour rest in the cooler. It's weird cause all the failed smokes and briskets and money spent is so worth it in the end. I can see why people do this for a living. Looking forward to improving my technique.
Document your technique so that you can repeat and improve as you go, and so that you can pass your information to your family (or your brethren at ClutchFans)
I will most definitely try! I'm worried it was a fluke, but I think thats part of the process or getting this right. Also, the quality of the meat plays such an important role, even much more so in smoking and briskets. I knew this beforehand, but it was even more amplified when trying to do long cooks. Good product def helps and is a little more forgiving. Costco does Prime Grade Briskets for $1.99 a pound, which is cheaper than most grocery store Choice cuts. Thanks everyone for the kind compliments, especially knowing that some of yall are awesome pit masters. Back to the grind.
Holy cow, I had no idea they had them that cheap. I may try my hand at smoking brisket this year, who knows. I usually just try everybody else's... far easier for me.
So I had a few weeks off for vacation and thought I'd travel around some southern destinations for bbq and museums. Since this thread is about Texas BBQ, I'll keep it on topic : I still haven't found bbq as good as Texas. For those of you wandering around the following cities, here are the places I've tried : Memphis Memphis is known for their pig and sauce. They are into BBQ spaghetti... I never tried it. I'm not sure I want to, to be honest... They're also into fried bologna sandwiches, I think, but I can make that home, so I went for ribs instead. They're more known for their pork sandwiches and ribs, so ... yeah... ribs, it was. Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous (went here a few years ago, actually) : tourist trap of sorts a few blocks away from Beale St. where the waiters mostly all seemed pissed off; some have worked there for 30-50 years or so (no joke) and are probably sick of answering the same questions repeatedly. lol. The ribs ... looked like they were cooked in an oven.and then sprinkled with seasoning. The seasoning was good but the ribs were dry/overcooked the day I went. They had multiple bottles of sauce on the table and that was about the only thing that saved the ribs. At least on this visit, they were overrated and disappointing. I got there right as they opened for dinner to hopefully get fresh BBQ, too. Blah. One and Only BBQ is a new kid on the block (I think) in Germantown, TN... a burb of sorts of Memphis. It's in a nice area of town, but typical suburbia I guess. The people here were really nice. Wish I could say the same about the BBQ. The ribs were partially overcooked ... by a lot. There were some ribs I could hammer nails with the bark was so tough. Their sauce was, of course, syrupy sweet like so many bbq places in Memphis. I got them half wet and half dry but both were fairly dry and overdone. In all fairness to them, I did show up after 7pm, I think, so I don't know how long the bbq had been sitting there. I'd give these guys another shot, but I can only make it up there once a year at the most. Cozy Corner BBQ is a place that's often recommended. It's not a pretty site, but then some of the best food is probably found in places that aren't a pretty site. The folks inside were friendly. This is one of those places that people seem to always recommend as "real Memphis BBQ" along with places like Corky's and Interstate (although the latter is getting that "they're not as good as they used to be" references lately). I must admit they gave me hope. I had the ribs again. The sauce was sweet, but not syrupy sweet and the ribs were probably a 6-7 out of 10. Nice bark without it being leather. BTW, I actually don't mind "syrupy sweet" on pork, but I don't want it to completely overpower the meat itself. I'd definitely go here again. I still have some places to hit the next time I'm out that way like Interstate, the Germantown Commissary, Corky's, etc., so I don't know if I'll return to the ones above, but of the 3, Cozy Corner is the one I'd go back for. Oddly enough, the best "everyman's" restaurant I've been to in Memphis has been Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken. Love that place. Some of the best fried chicken I've had outside of Nashville hot chicken in, well, Nashville. I noticed they opened one up in Austin. Kansas City I couldn't make it over to the Nashville area this year, so while I was up in the Northwest Arkansas area at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and looking for possible areas to eventually move to, I noticed that KC was only about 3 hours away, so I thought I'd go visit the National World War I Museum and Memorial as well as the Steamboat Arabia exhibit/museum and then try what is considered by many to be THE bbq joint in all of America : Arthur Bryant's. Arthur Bryant's is one of those places that if you're a BBQ fan, you are supposed to visit. It's kinda of like a pilgrimage of sorts. KC is known for their burnt ends and for doing all cuts of bbq "pretty well" and no place is quite as legendary as Arthur Bryant's in BBQ circles in that regard. I went to their original location. If anybody gives you grief about KC BBQ being better than Texas BBQ and offers Arthur Bryant's as an example, just let them know that Arthur was from Texas and went to Prairie View A&M. As for the BBQ, sadly, I was sooooo disappointed. I got the ribs and the burnt ends. The ribs were ok, and nothing other-worldly like I had built myself up for. Nice bark and the meat was done and not overdone. I actually got there right when they opened which would be around 10:00am since I heard crowds may be an issue. If there is one meat above all that KC is known for, it's probably burnt ends. They are probably the most evil, stroke-inducing, heart attack-causing, cut of meat that's bbq'ed. By the same token, if you're lucky, they're the most delicious. Unfortunately for me, I think the staff at Arthur Bryant's mailed it in today or weren't ready to be open or something. Maybe they had to heat up the sauce, I don't know, because what I got were great burnt ends swimming in sauce that was cold. The burnt ends were unbelievably tasty. The sauce was even good. However, the sauce was cold and killed it. I would put the burnt ends on par with any BBQ I've had in Texas, only to be ruined by that cold sauce. By "cold", I don't mean room temperature - I mean straight-outta-the-fridge cold. The other problem was Arthrur Bryant's has 3 sauces. The "original sauce" is not like any sauce you've tried. I was expecting this, however, it was almost inedible... it was salty as hell and I don't know... had a funky taste to it like something had gone rancid or something. Even if you read reviews for this sauce on Amazon, you'll see some people say the sauce is nasty while others say it tastes great, so I don't know what's going on. They have 2 other varieties that are sweet and sweet/spicy. Both tasted like sauces you've probably tasted before. I wanted to try Gates BBQ as well since the rivalry in town is between Arthur Bryant's and Gates, but I didn't get a chance. There are a couple of other locations I'd like to try eventually, as well. It seems, just as in Texas, there are new joints popping up here that putting their own spin on KC BBQ and "new ways" of doing things. I still want to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, so that'll be my excuse for heading up there again one day. I may head up to the Carolinas and try their take on BBQ, as well. However, so far, if you're in Texas ... you're not missing out on much. The only exception may be the burnt ends I had. That was some good stuff (minus the cold bbq sauce). This reminds me ... I still need to try Louie Mueller's ... maybe in a few weeks a trip to Taylor is in order. But first things first... in the morning I have to play with my Bowflex dumbbells I got as a gift to myself to help work off all the fun I just reported.
Austin this weekend for a bachelor party. Going to stop in Lockhart. I am excite. Im not about those lines at franklins so I'll just go to blacks.
I'm actually planning a trip to Austin just for Franklin's. Never been, but getting more into BBQ and had some free hotel points.
Do you have Mississippi and Alabama on the list? Would love your Travel Guide to that, too. I've heard a lot of under-the-radar goodness is happening there -- and not-so-surprisingly since slave times. They just don't get the pub.
There's nothing wrong with pork........it's made for BBQ. But the skill it takes to make a great brisket is exponentially greater than the skill it takes to make great BBQ pork (be it butt, ribs, whole hog..........whatever).
I usually go to these places because I enjoy driving and stopping off at historical museums or some point of interest that's worth the drive to me. I always try to eat at restaurants or food that's somewhat unique to the region while I'm there. So, to be honest, I haven't considered Mississippi or Alabama, but maybe I can find some interesting place to check out and stop off at some restaurant while there. The only bbq restaurant I've heard of in Mississippi is The Shed, and that's only because I've seen it on TV. When I think Mississippi, I think fried catfish, to be honest. And Alabama? I think of people eating footballs there.
If you can cook beef ribs you can cook anything. I will say...cooking a wild pig is a whole 'nuther world from cooking a domestic.
