Smitty's has always been good - ever since they broke off from their other family at Kreuz and started their own.l
I'm very intrigued by this process that America's Test Kitchen came up with for cooking brisket in a standard charcoal grill. Have any of you tried this? I mean... I'm sure an offset smoker does a better job, but I'm curious to see how this would come out.
That's pretty much how everybody with a Weber/kettle grill has been cooking brisket for years including the snake method of layering the briquettes, adding the water (although some people use the fat from the trimmings that they let cook/render beneath the cooking brisket and then pour over the brisket), using the Texas Crutch, throwing it in the cooler, etc. There's always going to be some kind of variation in the recipe, but generally, it's basically the same. Say what?!
I don't know if you dine on swine, but a slow smoked (brine it) peppered pork tenderloin is pretty amazing
smittys used to be top-notch, but last two times i went it straight up sucked. kreuzs is fine, but ive never been blown away and also some of the people who work there unfriendly. dont ask for sauce or utensils... blacks has always been my lockhart favorite. terry blacks is really good too. never been to the austin location though.
I confess - I haven't been to Lockhart since 2011... and I'm just now realizing that was 13 years ago.
Barb's green spaghetti sounds like a ridiculous side dish at a bbq joint...it's possibly the best side dish I've ever had How long's it been since you had a big, thick, steaming plate of Lockhart BBQ? Well that's too long.
That's how I felt when I went to City Market in Luling a few weeks ago. Just bad. The ribs were overcooked. The brisket was dry. Maybe we should've specified that we absolutely do not want lean but even so, it wasn't flavorfull at all. Couldn't figure for the life of me how that was a Top 50 place.
I pretty much dined on anything that wasn't moving on the plate. But alas, i've gotten older and have pretty much given up beef/pork except for maybe once or twice a year. I'm mostly a chicken and seafood kinda guy now. You "quit" right about when Franklin BBQ and Snow's started changing BBQ in Texas and people started thinking about levels to Texas BBQ. Before that time, in Texas, there was always the pilgrimage to the BBQ capital of Lockhart or to Saltgrass in Driftwood for "real Texas BBQ". When Franklin and Snow's blew up, those Lockhart places got pushed to the side a bit while other places tried to copy Franklin's style of brisket and found out about little places out in nowhere that few out-of-town folks had heard of. Nowadays you can find great brisket in any of the major cities and in between. I remember I tried Snow's and Kreuz on the same day, and that's when my bbq opinions changed. Snow's was that much better. lol. Kreuz was good, no question, but Snow's brisket was damn-near buttery the first time I tried it years ago. I don't know how they all taste lately, though, but like I said, there's great bbq everywhere nowadays, so probably no need to hike anywhere.
Buck, that looks really good, not much of a cooker, so excuse the dumb question but do you have to cook pork like this well done, it looks pinkish......this is making me hungry
I've made HELLA good briskets using the 18-inch Old Smokey and the charcoal snake, I've been able to stuff 14 pounders in that thing and they came out excellent. I have since graduated to stick burning, but when it's 100 degrees and my back hurts I use the MB gravity fed. Nevertheless, every once in awhile I go back to the always reliable Old Smokey for brisket cooks. It has never turned a bad brisket.
Pink pork is fine as long as its temp reaches 145-150 where it's pink and you let it rest for a bit after cooking. You should probably be using a meat thermometer to test doneness, anyway, since color doesn't necessarily mean it's done or not done - especially when it comes to food safety.
