Pit Talk: How to smoke a great backyard brisket

Without a doubt, one of the hardest things to cook perfectly is brisket.

Despite all the articles, books and videos out there telling you how to do it, there is no magic to the process.

You need tremendous patience and you need to know the specific characteristics of your pit. That takes practice and experience. The more you cook, the better you'll be.

The approach may sound simple and straightforward, but getting there is not.

Here are my 10 essential steps to smoking a backyard brisket on an offset, log-burning pit. Some of the techniques may work for other types of smokers, such as a Weber Smokey Mountain, but not all.

1. Start with a good piece of meat. Find a source that sells Choice or Choice Black Angus, not Select.

2. Trim the fat to 1/4 inch, plus/minus, so it will render down along with the rub and get into the meat.

3. Pick your favorite commercial rubs and spices. There's a million of them out there. Some people apply the rub several hours before cook time. Some grind their spices in a coffee grinder for better consistency. Some even add a finishing rub -- midway through or near the end of cooking -- to enhance flavor.

4. Fire your pit. It's best to build a small fire that breathes well by placing the logs crossing one another. Cooking temperature will depend somewhat on your pit and personal preference. Many cook at 225-250 degrees, which is a good range for basic, low-and-slow backyard barbecue. At that temperature, a 12-pound brisket could take 15 hours, plus/minus. Others cook hotter and faster if their pits are designed to not burn the meat from radiant heat. Keep the fire from smoldering by maintaining a small burning flame. A smoldering fire produces creosote which ruins the natural flavors of the meat and rub.

5. Place the meat on the cooking grate in the sweet spot of the pit -- where the temperature is most even -- away from the firebox and radiant heat.

6. Keep the pit as steady as you can at the target cooking temp. Here we assume somewhere in the range of 225 degrees to 250 degrees. AND do not open the cook doors for the first 4-5 hours PERIOD.

7. At the 4-5 hour mark, check the brisket and evaluate the color and bark and determine if it looks like it's had enough smoke. Wrap the brisket in foil when you think it's color and bark are where you want it. Dark mahogany-reddish brown with some black works for me. Return wrapped brisket to the sweet spot on the pit.

8. Knowing when the brisket is done is a very crucial step. BE PATIENT! Do not try to cook a brisket based only on time. You can roughly estimate when a brisket will be done by allowing 45 minutes to 75 minutes per pound  when cooking at 250 degrees and wrapping in foil after 4-5 hours. But ambient temperature, wind, humidity and composition of the meat tissue all are factors in how fast, or slow, a brisket cooks.

To really nail the finish, use some or all of the following tests:

--Use a good handheld temp probe like a Thermapen. Briskets "usually" become butter tender at 198-202 degrees, plus/minus. But not always. They might get tender at a lower temp, say 185, or a higher temp, 210, depending on the composition of the meat.

-- Don't rely on temp alone. Use the probe to test resistance in the meat, too. If the probe slips in and out of the flat,  or lean, end of the brisket and the thick, fatty end, or point, without any resistance, that's what you're looking for: Butter tender.

--Using heat resistant gloves, develop your sense of touch for when a brisket feels like it's done. When it's still in foil, press it with a finger. There should be some give. Lift the wrapped brisket off the grate. If it's still stiff, it's not done. It should be very floppy.

--Once you think it's done, use your eyes to make sure. Partially unwrap the brisket. It should have a floppy consistency like jello when it's still hot. After the brisket cools it will lose this jello consistency.

9. When the brisket is butter tender, you're still not done. Unwrap it and place it back on the pit at a lower temp, say 175-200, and let it rest for an hour or two. Some people skip this step and rest the brisket in an ice chest for a couple of hours wrapped in towels. Just don't let the meat continue cooking and steaming itself or it will dry out and lose flavor. Letting the brisket rest in the pit unwrapped at a lower temp will help firm up the bark and prevent the meat from drying out.

10. After resting in the pit, pull the brisket off and let it rest tented in foil for another hour or so. This allows the meat to cool and the juices to stabilize. You could pour a cup or so of the au jus on the meat at this point which will soak back into the meat. Now you're ready to carve and eat.

Follow the steps above and you should, with some practice, wind up with damn good brisket. Enjoy.

Photos and story by Marshall Cooper

One last shot: FSA photographer Russell Lee and the 1940 Pie City Fair

I wanted to share one last batch of Farm Security Administration (FSA) photos shot by Russell Lee. These were shot during a free community BBQ at the Pie Town (NM) Fair in 1940.

As a photojournalism student at the University of Missouri in the early 1980s, I was exposed to his work along with fellow FSA staffers including Dorthea Lange, Gordon Parks, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans and Walker Evans. Outside of Life magazine in its heyday, this has to be the most talented photo staff ever assembled. Their documentation of the Great Depression gives us an irreplaceable visual record of the struggles and triumphs of the American people during that time.

Each of Mr. Lee's photos from the fair capture and preserve a moment in time as a small community of homesteaders copes with the end of the depression.  These images bring humanity to the forefront as Pie Town residents gather together to share stories, friendship and a barbecue dinner.
 
Such is the power of photojournalism, but I would also argue that such is the power of barbecue.

Click here to read more about Russell Lee's journey to Pie Town in Smithsonian magazine.

Friends meeting at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair

Grace was said before the barbeque was served at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair

Serving pinto beans at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair barbeque

Getting ready to serve the barbeque dinner at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair

Homesteader feeding his daughter at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair free barbeque

Homesteader and his children eating barbeque at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair

Crowd eating free barbeque dinner at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair

Men of the community of Pie Town, New Mexico eating at the barbeque

Main Street, Pie Town, New Mexico.

Pit Talk: To dunk or not to dunk, that is the question

Lately, the Posse has observed that at a few joints, including some stellar ones, meats are stored (or dipped) in a broth or juice before they’re served.

Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper says the practice, known as dunking, isn’t new. It’s something that many cooks, including those who take part in professional barbecue cookoffs, have used for years as a way to keep meats moist and juicy.

But it’s no substitute for proper smoking techniques – all the dunking in the world won’t rescue a poorly cooked piece of meat.

And it’s probably not something that your dietitian or cardiologist would recommend.

Here’s Marshall:

Several people, including a few BBQ joint owners, have recently asked me what’s up with some of the best Central Texas joints ‘dunking meats in grease.’ Many people seem intrigued and mystified by this, as if it’s the hidden flippin’ secret to making good BBQ.

For years, I’ve heard of BBQ joints using beef broth to hydrate dry brisket. And in BBQ competitions, it’s typical – and perfectly legal – for pitmasters to use beef broth, marinades, sprays and injections as part of their ways of making award-winning BBQ.

While touring in Central Texas not long ago, we stopped at City Meat Market in Giddings and witnessed the process firsthand. While standing in line to order, we saw owner Gerald Birkelbach use a chef’s fork to take big hunks of meat out of large pots of liquid on the stove. He’s slice off a serving, then drop the meat back into the pot – all out in the open, no secret.

Later, when a waitress offered Chris Wilkins and me a tour of the pits and kitchen, I made a beeline over to the pots, to see what the liquid in them was. To me, it looked like basic au jus, made from the drippings of the cooked meats. Gerald confirmed this, saying he held his meats in a watered-down au jus, making sure that the gas burner on the stove kept things at the the right temperature. It all looked perfectly fine to me.

On another tour, Chris, Jim Rossman and I were at Franklin Barbecue in Austin and saw the sliced turkey go for dip in a pot of what looked like a butter bath before it was put on the customer’s plate – again, all done out in the open, no secret.

And when Jim, my son Mark, and I sampled several meats at Louis Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, even though I did not see any dunking, I suspected that their meats, too, had been held in some sort of au jus, only much richer – you know, greasier.

So what's the big deal? It seems to me to be a good way for BBQ joints to prevent meats from drying out – certainly an acceptable alternative to a warmer oven or steamer. I guess you have to assume that dunking will knock any rub off the outside of the meat, but by that time, most of the flavor of the rub should have been rendered into the meat.

The drawback for some could be the added calories – lots of added calories. I think oils and grease drippings contain about 100 calories per tablespoon. So you may want to factor in an additional 800 to 1,000 calories – or 20-plus Weight Watcher points – the next time you eat dunked BBQ. And I can’t imagine how many saturated fat grams or milligrams of cholesterol are involved. (For dieters, it probably defeats the purpose of ordering the turkey instead of brisket, sausage or ribs…)

It’s probably best not to think about that. Au jus tastes good. People love it. (It’s sometimes added to BBQ sauce, too.) Dunking won’t transform a crappy piece of meat into a great one, but it sure as hell can make an average piece taste damned good.

Photo of dunking at City Meat Market in Giddings by Guy Reynolds/Texas BBQ Posse

Pit Talk: The 7 essentials of damn good barbecue

What makes good BBQ? I consider successful barbecue to be the combination of seven basic characteristics happening at once: tenderness, juiciness, smokiness, proper fat rendering, enhanced rub, good exterior bark, all with a firm texture.

Good-tasting brisket, ribs and pork butt are s-l-o-w smoked at l-o-w temperatures using a real wood fire. Most importantly, BBQ should be left undisturbed on the pit and should not be hurried at all. Be aware of smoldering fires, which produce bitter tasting creosote that destroys the natural flavors of properly cooked meats.

The meat is done when it’s tender, the fat has rendered and it's still juicy as hell. When BBQ is cooked slow, good things happen. Deep, rich flavors are created and absorbed from the wood fire. The marbled fat in the meat renders down making it juicy and tender and imparting a wonderful flavor mixed with the rub as it absorbs smoke.

Good barbecue has just enough smoke to create the richness and flavor without overpowering the natural flavors produced slow cooking the meat. Exceptional barbecue with the characteristics listed above can be produced when the pitmaster strikes a balance of these three essential elements:

• Smoke produced with a proper fire and clean fire burning wood logs. Hickory, oak and pecan are my favorites. You can also use mesquite sparingly, just don't overpower the meat and rub.
• Flavorful rub that combines with smoke to enhance but not overpower the meat.
• Low even heat to impart the rich flavors and allow the fat to render.

When you do it right, the brisket sort of just slowly melts down and gets really juicy and tender. It's bathed in good smoke and has salty-peppery flavors from the rub which all meld together into a heavenly taste that some consider downright sensual. It's damned good!

On the other hand, mediocre barbecue is dry, tough (but sometimes tender), flavorless meat that requires the use of BBQ sauce. It is typically cooked fast in a non-wood fired device that will not produce the true flavor that an authentic wood-burning pit produces.

Many BBQ joints that do know how to cook good meats don't want to spend the time to train staff or the money to pay a pitmaster to run a wood fire all night. They use gas-fired ovens and compensate for missed smoke flavor with liquid smoke in the sauce. Mediocre cue is usually undercooked leaving it somewhat tough and rubbery, reducing shrinkage and thus increasing profit.

However, mediocre cue can result from a wood-fired pit. If a wood pit builds up an overabundance of hot coals from logs, then the smoke is gone. If you add more wood the pit will overheat. When a seasoned wood log in placed on hot coals it typically will create smoke for 15-30 minutes depending on it’s size.

What you are left with is an overly hot fire that produces no smoke, resulting in roasting the meat, aka: roast beef, instead of smoking it! At some point the hot coals should be shoveled out so more wood can be added to the fire to produce smoke to get the flavor on the meat. Running the pit too hot even while burning wood logs, combined with cooking the meats too fast will often result in dry and smokeless meats.

Tending a wood fire takes time and labor, which is something many barbecue joints want to eliminate with automated ovens and liquid smoke. So the next time you visit your favorite BBQ joint check out their smoker, type of wood and cooking techniques and determine if their meats have the seven characteristics of damn good BBQ!

Also, if you have thoughts about what makes good barbecue, please let us know so we can share with others.

Photos ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse

Casting call for the Aaron Franklin-John Mueller BBQ movie

Just finished the February Texas Monthly cover story about Aaron Franklin and John Mueller and it is a very nice read.

Posse member Mike Gagne even thinks the tale of the novice pitmaster (Franklin) and the troubled master (Mueller) would make a great movie.

Tobey Maguire as Franklin? Sean Penn as Mueller?

One pivotal scene in any movie would certainly have to be when Franklin had his barbecue epiphany at Louie Mueller Barbecue in 2002.

"I think I might have cried a little bit," Franklin told Texas Monthly of his reaction after his first taste of Mueller's brisket.

When the story hits the big screen, there might even be roles for some Posse members as extras. We're mentioned, along with several other blogs and online critics, as representing "a boom in barbecue connoisseurship, a growing movement spurred by the nationwide emergence of the modern foodie."

And we thought we just liked smoked meat.

Without a doubt, Fargo's is one of the best BBQ joints in Texas

When you hit the Texas BBQ trail, there are often more disappointments than pleasant surprises. How can a place that looks so cool from the outside have such tasteless meat inside? How can a perennial BBQ people's choice winner be so bad? We've seen and learned a lot over the past two and a half years as we travel around the state searching for the best smoked meats.

Our recent Speedtrap BBQ Tour is a perfect example. Snow's BBQ and City Meat Market in Giddings were off-the-charts good, just like they've always been when we go there. The next couple of stops looked really intriguing from the outside but didn't rise to the top of our evolving list of favorite joints.

However, our last stop of the day was the game changer. We first heard of Fargo's Pit BBQ in Bryan when BBQ Snob Daniel Vaughn gave it five stars after his first visit in 2010, one of only 17 five-stars Daniel had recognized in the country. We had high hopes but are accustomed to disappointment on the BBQ trail.

We drove north up Hwy. 6 from Navasota and headed west at the MLK St. exit in Bryan, then north on Texas Ave. until we saw the blue facade of Fargo's on the left. We applied our criteria for a great joint: Cool looking building - check. Handmade signs - check. You smell smoke as you approach the driveway - check. Cash-only sign - extra points. Fargo's was looking good indeed.

Owner Alan Caldwell greeted us at the counter, working the joint with his wife and son. We told him this was our last of five stops that day. He said Fargo's should have been our first stop and he was right. The meats, priced at $10 a pound, were displayed in a glass-enclosed warmer and looked amazing. And they tasted as good as they looked.

Just as he had done with the BBQ Snob, Alan declined to show us the pit or tell us what kind of wood he uses. I guess it's a trade secret and he understands how good his product is. Just a hunch, but I suspect when the Texas Monthly Top BBQ 50 list comes out in 2013, this place will be a busier than ever.

We headed north toward Dallas after eating every last morsel of meat we ordered from Fargo's. One of the Posse members, who will remain unnamed, even ate a small chunk of brisket that had fallen on the bumper after we had eaten on the tailgate of Marshall Cooper's Tahoe. Since Fargo's doesn't have seating, you have to get creative if you want to eat onsite. Like Meshack's BBQ in Garland, another Posse favorite.

We must have debated for the next hour about what we had just experienced at Fargo's. We've learned to be cautious in our assessments, but someone declared Fargo's to be the best stop of the day. A day that included Snow's and Giddings.

I'm not prepared to make such a bold statement yet, after only one visit. However, we'll be back there in March at the top of our Houston BBQ Tour. The first stop of the day. Daniel Vaughn has seen enough though. Late last week, he named Fargo's as his second six-star joint ever. Franklin BBQ was the first he named in September 2011. That's pretty lofty territory the little blue BBQ joint on Texas Ave. in Bryan.

Fargo’s Pit BBQ, 1220 N. Texas Ave., Bryan TX 77803. Phone: 979-778-3662. Hours: Tue-Sat, 11 am-7 pm.

Photos by Bruce Tomaso, Jim Rossman & Chris Wilkins