The BBQ Thread
There's been a steak thread and a sushi thread and even a BBQ sauce thread so I figure why not do a BBQ thread devoted to all the top BBQ places around the country.
I live in Austin, Texas. Right in the middle of a 100 mile radius of land lovingly called by some locals "The Smoke Ring". The BBQ in Austin while good, is not mind blowing like some of the places in small Texas like Taylor or Lockhart or Luling or Lexington.
While folks outside Texas often bring up The Salt Lick, local foodies realize that Salt Lick is a mid tier BBQ place and their original popularity stemmed more from their atmosphere and their BYOB policy.
Texas BBQ is predominately known for Brisket and to a lesser extent Beef Ribs.
That is a picture of Brisket , Beef rib, and sausage from Louie Mueller's in Taylor. One of the most venerable of central Texas BBQ joints.
The above is a slice of brisket from Kreuz Market in Lockhart.
Brisket has a fatty end and a lean end, typically the fatty end is better tasting at least to me. The key requirement for a good piece of brisket at least for me is a deeply flavorful bark ie outer layer, followed by a layer of smoky fat about 1/3 inch in thickness followed by tender meat that does not require much chewing but doesn't fall in to shreds like stewed meat either. The Seasoning rub should be minimal, salt, Pepper, maybe some cayenne and the meat should be enjoyable without sauce. The brisket should glisten with a deep smoke ring in appearance and should have a pronounced smoky flavor.
more to come.... in the meanwhile, name some of your favorite bbq.
3 Replies
I cant imagine how a Chuck prepared the same way as a brisket is significantly different. Kinda like how beef ribs come out like brisket. Any of the tough cuts full of collagen and interstitial fat would come out the same. Definitely worth a shot.
Way back in the days of Central Texas bbq the home of brisket bbq it use to be that shoulder clod was as big as brisket. Shoulder clod I believe is just a bigger cut of chuck roast. Or actually chuck roast is cut from shoulder clod. In a decent number of bbq places they’ll list lean vs fatty brisket on the menu and in many cases lean brisket is shoulder clod, so yeah they’re similar.
Supposedly also back in the day most bbq joints were butchers that would also smoke meat. At the end of the day whatever cuts that were left over usually ended up in the smoker, cooked and prepared the same way as brisket.
Way back in the days of Central Texas bbq the home of brisket bbq it use to be that shoulder clod was as big as brisket. Shoulder clod I believe is just a bigger cut of chuck roast. Or actually chuck roast is cut from shoulder clod. In a decent number of bbq places they’ll list lean vs fatty brisket on the menu and in many cases lean brisket is shoulder clod, so yeah they’re similar.
Supposedly also back in the day most bbq joints were butchers that would also smoke meat. At the end of the
It was some of the best stuff.
