Follow us!
For updates on upcoming episodes, pictures of Misha being Misha and behind the scenes content follow us on social platforms and subcribe to our newsletter here.
@Roadfood
BBQ brisket is smoke-cooked beef with succulent red-meat flavor and tenderness beyond compare.
Well into the late 20th century, America’s food explorers associated brisket only with the Southwest, Texas in particular. Plus Oklahoma and as far as Arizona. Once a Lone Star icon, brisket today is nearly everywhere. BBQ parlors around the country feature it along with ribs, pulled pork, even chicken or fish.
To this day, the best brisket still is in the Southwest. It originally was created by small-town butchers there as a way to extend the life of unsold cuts of beef. They set up makeshift dining tables in the back rooms of their meat markets. They sold the cooked meat by the pound, wrapped in butcher paper. Plates, utensils, and side dishes were extraneous. Maybe you’d get half a loaf of white bread to help sop the juices. Sauce was a rarity. Meat was all that mattered.
You still can get a feel for the original ways of cooking BBQ brisket in such old-time eat-shops as Smitty’s, Louie Mueller’s, and Luling’s City Market.
The answer is: where it cooks in the pit. While many chefs add spice rubs and baste their brisket as it cooks, Wayne Mueller (Louie’s grandson) uses nothing more than salt and pepper. He says the secret of his magnificent meat is knowing how to move it around in the pit to take advantage of cool spots, hot spots, and drafts. While brisket begins as a fairly tough cut of beef, basking in the smoke of smoldering coals transforms it. The meat becomes ridiculously tender, closer to butter than beefsteak. The exterior, blackened and crusty from its time in the pit, delivers concentrated flavor; interior fibers that are still laced with fat literally melt on your tongue.
Today, most BBQ parlors around the country have softened the primitive style of original Texas BBQ by adding such amenities as plates, forks, and napkins. Many offer potato salad, corn pudding, and fried okra on the side. You’ll even find different BBQ sauces to add outsourced flavors to the meat.
What do you think of BBQ Brisket?
Seattle has some of the best food in the country hands down Although there are some...
Seafood is a delicacy that has been enjoyed since the beginning of time Its flavors are unique...
We have for you a list of some of the top eats on a budget when you are visiting Chicago, Il ...
The Best Affordable Restaurants in Miami that Won't Break the Bank Miami is a city that's...
Florida's north coast is an eater's paradise, with fare both exotic and familiar The menu...
Road trip: Apalachicola, Florida to Mobile, Alabama Roadfood Adventures are not just quests...
2 Responses to “BBQ Brisket”
Nancy Klintworth
August 16th, 2023
You short-changed BBQ in Texas. You need to go to the Original Salt Lick in Austin, Cooper’s BBQ downtown Austin. Good thing you included Franklin’s, but Cooper’s is so so much better.
Kaarina
August 18th, 2023
Thank you for these ideas! Love the recommendations.