My favorite BBQ cooker is at Blacks or Smitty's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling or Killen's in Pearland. Period. Otherwise I don't do BBQ myself. I will grill steaks, chicken, shrimp etc, but it's not BBQ.
My favorite BBQ cooker is at Blacks or Smitty's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling or Killen's in Pearland. Period. Otherwise I don't do BBQ myself. I will grill steaks, chicken, shrimp etc, but it's not BBQ.
For arkansasbob:
Just read a newer review of the "Luling City Market" in Houston. Evidently it's really gone down hill the last few years becoming more of a bar than a BBQ joint. The original pit master in 1981 was from City Market in Luling but left in 1990 or 1991 to go back to small town life.
Lulling is a convenient lunch stop between Houston and San Antonio on I-10 and I generally do when I go by at or near lunch time. Good BBQ in Luling then Tex Mex in San Antonio. Can't get more Texan than that.
After a year with the pit barrel, I couldn’t be more pleased. I’ve cooked everything on my list except a brisket.
With Christmas coming up, I think it’s time to fork over the cash and try my hand at the brisket. I know in Texas that means post oak, salt, pepper, and pink butcher paper.
I haven’t found post oak locally yet. Will pecan and/or hickory do the trick? I’m told mesquite is too much for that long of a cook.
To me either will do well and I agree about mesquite. To me more important is to get a good brisket. If at all possible buy certified Angus beef (may be abbreviated CAB on the price sticker). Basically that means it's a "choice" grade of beef.
If you have to settle for "select" grade, take the brisket by the ends and see if you can bend it into a U. Even better is if the ends will touch or nearly touch. What that tells you is how much fat is hidden inside the brisket. Cold fat is hard to bend. The thicker the fat layer the less flexibility. It's pretty disappointing to spend a lot of time on a brisket and find a 2" layer of fat when you go to slice it.
You might want to checkout a website called www.amazingribs.com. The guy that runs it has put years of research into outdoor cooking. He's got a lot of info about brisket techniques and a lot of it is based on real food science, not hearsay and old wives tales.
i have just the opposite opinion. brisket with oak smoke (though popular in southeast texas) has way too much oak flavor for me. i use mesquite and it turns out perfectly. if you have long enough to cook it, you don't need the butcher paper, but it sure helps if you want to get it done in the daylight hours. also, it helps make a really nice bark if you use a little bit of sugar in your rub (don't tell any texans i said this...)
Found a mispriced Certified Angus Beef brisket at Brookshire’s. It’s an 18 pounder. Friday is the day! Hot and fast is how the pit barrel cooks, so I’m expecting 8-10 hours.
Good for you on the CAB brisket!
Recommendation especially since you're going to cook fast. When you get it to the temp you want, wrap it in heavy aluminum foil so it won't leak any juices. Then wrap it in a bath towel (or two) to hold the heat, place it in an ice chest for at least an hour and let it rest.. Kind of a po'boy's faux cambro. Doing this will help melt connective tissue, improves the brisket's tenderness and the brisket will absorb and retain a lot of the juices that would otherwise come out.
It works.
And look up how to slice a brisket. The grain of the meat changes from the flat end to the point and you want to be slicing across the grain as much as possible.
Gas or Charcoal? Shoot, for me, beef goes on on charcoal USUALLY (but sometimes I like to put a steak on gas so I can control the temp easier), Chicken breasts on gas (same reason as the steak...easier to control, not overcook), leg quarters on charcoal, pork is somewhat of a toss up. Whatever you like, you like. Know what I mean?
My brisket took right at 6 hours and is holding now. Wanted to try my hand at cooking with wood too, so some chickens are on the off-set smoker with pecan providing the heat.