Video: Aaron Franklin talks brisket technique with Texas Monthly

Posse member Bruce Tomaso critiques this short video on Franklin Barbecue, shot by Brian Birzer and produced by Pamela Hastings for Texas Monthly. Not sure Aaron gives up his deepest, darkest brisket secrets though!

Bruce writes:

Mike Gagne, a member of the Austin branch of the posse, sent along this link to a Texas Monthy video in which Aaron Franklin, the young, bearded virtuoso behind Franklin Barbecue, discusses cooking brisket Texas-style.

The video may make longtime Franklin fans nostalgic for the Little Trailer that Could. At the time it was shot, Franklin Barbecue was still housed in a small white-and-turquoise trailer along north Interstate 35, with limited outdoor seating in a parking lot. Earlier this month, it moved into permanent quarters at 900 E. 11th Street in Austin. It's now officially a joint, with walls, a roof, and indoor plumbing.

Aaron is witty and charming in the video, as always, but you won't learn much about how he produces some of the finest brisket the posse has ever savored.

There's a lot more to it than, in his words, "salt and pepper, oak, no sleep."

He mentions in passing, for example, that he wraps his briskets in butcher paper. He doesn't mention the extensive trial-and-error experimentation that went into figuring out exactly how to wrap, when to wrap, when to unwrap. As our own pitmaster, Marshall Cooper, will tell you, it ain't as easy as ordering a roll of butcher paper and going from there.

And backyard cooks everywhere will be frustrated by Aaron's advice on how to know exactly when a brisket is done -- not overdone and dry, not underdone and bland, but done to perfection, crisp and tangy and smoky on the outside, warm and tender and juicy on the inside.

Don't worry about thermometers, he says. Don't worry about the internal temperature of the meat. "The Texas way is by feel, you know. It's not done 'til it's done."