The science behind Texas barbecue
Texas A&M AgriLife elevates the barbecue industry through meat science teaching, research and outreach
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Aggies participate in 2022 Houston BBQ Festival
A group of Aggies involved in the Texas Barbecue program at Texas A&M University participated in the 2022 Houston BBQ Festival, which was held in the Humble Civic Center Arena in Humble, Texas on Sunday, April 3, 2022. Those in attendance from Texas A&M University were faculty Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, Jade Cooper, and Jeff Savell, and graduate students Sydni Borders, Kylie Burriss, MacKenzie Chapman, Shelley Curry, Ayleen Gonzalez, Kaylee Greiner, Katie Kendrick, Lilly Kochevar, Lauren Lee, Ian Lovell, Thachary Mayer, Trent Schwartz, Tori Teegarden, Paige Williams.
We enjoy going to the festival each year to talk to folks about Texas Barbecue and to see so many of the pitmasters we have gotten to know through festivals and camps and to make new acquaintances with those we have not met yet. One of the most common questions we get is not about how to cook better barbecue, but how to get into the always-sold-out Barbecue Summer Camp and Camp Brisket, two outstanding programs we conduct with Foodways Texas.
The Houston BBQ Festival has two great champions, Chris Reid and Michael Fulmer. Chris and Michael are the event founders, and thanks for always inviting us each year and allowing us to interact with barbecue specialists and enthusiasts from around the Houston area. Your passion for shedding the spotlight on these great barbecue endeavors is making a difference throughout the southeast Texas area. The number of great barbecue establishments in the Houston area keeps increasing, and your efforts to highlight and support them has made a difference in this recognition.
Camp Brisket 2022 edition
The tenth Camp Brisket, a joint venture between Foodways Texas and the Meat Science program of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, was held on January 7-8 , 2022 at the Rosenthal Meat Center and the Thomas G. Hildebrand, ’56 DVM Equine Complex. About 100 participants embarked on a journey to learn more about the ultimate challenge preparing that most difficult dish of Texas Barbecue cuisine, the brisket.
This year’s Camp Brisket was coordinated by Texas A&M University meat science educators, Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, Jade Cooper, and Jeff Savell, and who were assisted by graduate students and undergraduate students including Sydni Borders, Kylie Burriss, Ben Crockett, Shelley Curry, Julie Diebel, Ayleen Gonzalez, Reid Harris, Katie Kendrick, Lauren Lee, Ian Lovell, Karlie Lowe, Thachary Mayer, Mirjam Pearman, Trent Schwartz, Cory Sinkule, Tori Teegarden, and Anna Welch. Special thanks to Thomas Larriviere, McKinney, Texas and to Lauren Larriviere, Hays Middle School and Jackson Larriviere, Rock Hill High School, Frisco, Texas for their help in conducting the camp. These great folks ensured that the needs of the briskets, pitmasters, and guests were attended to through the camp.
Marvin Bendele, Foodways Texas, welcomed the participants to Camp Brisket. Greetings and introductions are part of the beginning of each Camp Brisket. Getting to know each other is one way to create community that is so important when we conduct these workshops. With each camp, this process takes longer, but we know that many people enjoyed getting to know who all was there.
Brisket procurement and trimming
Before Camp Brisket starts, work begins on procuring the briskets representing different types and grades, trimming them, and applying the salt/pepper seasoning (we used a 4:1 volume of course pepper to Kosher salt). John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, led the brisket trimming and seasoning effort.
Brisket use and anatomy
The first talks were by Jess Pryles, cook, writer, and TV personality, on the difference between restaurant and competition brisket, and Davey Griffin, on the anatomy and trimming of a brisket.
Cooked brisket slicing
Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue and Jeff Savell talked about and demonstrated proper cooked brisket slicing.
Tasting different grades of brisket
The first tasting test we did was for different grades of brisket. We obtained five different grades/types of briskets for use in this demonstration: Snake River Farms’s American Wagyu, Prime, Tyson’s Chairman’s Reserve, Choice, and Select. These briskets and the remaining ones used for the camp were trimmed to have no more than about 1/4 inch of fat remaining anywhere. Each brisket was seasoned with a 4:1 ratio by volume of restaurant-style coarse-ground black pepper and Kosher salt. The briskets for the grade/type demonstration were cooked by John Brotherton of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue on his offset smoker. We used oak logs as the source of heat and smoke.
Each grade/type of brisket was sliced so that each participant received a lean portion to rate on a ballot. When completed, the ballots were tabulated by the students to determine whether the participants could tell the difference in the grades or types of brisket. The winners? Chairman’s Reserve, Prime, and The Snake River Farms’ American Wagyu were at the top. Each year, this taste comparison usually results in Prime and Wagyu near the top and Select being near the bottom in ratings. There are perceivable differences in eating quality among different grades and types of briskets, and those interested in producing the best cooked briskets possible need to be aware of this.
Beef grading discussion
Ray Riley and Jade Cooper gave a beef grading demonstration talking about the USDA beef grades so that the participants would know more about the various labels and brands associated with the meat they purchase.
Friday night dinner
We moved to the Hildebrand Equine Complex for the rest of the program. We were blessed to have food from two groups involved with dinner that night. Israel “Pody” Campos from Pody’s BBQ, Pecos, Texas and friends prepared great food along with Homer Robertson, world champion chuck wagon competitor, who provided bread pudding and apple crisp for the crowd. The food was enjoyed by all!
Overnight smoking at Camp Brisket
The next brisket comparison was to smoke briskets overnight using the four primary woods — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Multiple pits were used for the overnight cooking. We used Prime briskets, trimmed and seasoned as mentioned before, for the comparison, and briskets were put on the smokers Friday afternoon so that they would be ready to serve around lunch time on Saturday.
Chuck wagon breakfast
Saturday morning became a time for a great chuck wagon breakfast of biscuits and gravy and breakfast tacos made with sausage and brisket from Homer Robertson, JArthur Garcia, Joe Riscky, Joel Phillips, Misty Roegels, and some of the students. Thanks to everyone for such a great breakfast experience enjoying the chuck wagon breakfast.
Pit discussion
Participants had a chance to see the different types of pits that were used to cook with. In addition to the pitmasters who were in attendance for the camp, Coy Christoffel, Pitts and Spitts and Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC demonstrated various products from their companies.
Pit design and maintenance panel
A pit design and maintenance panel was composed of Arnis Robbins, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; and Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts; Sunny Moberg, Moberg Smokers with Davey Griffin as the moderator. Each panelist added his own take on what types of pits/cookers they preferred and what they did to make sure they were used to their best ability.
Smoke tasting panel
Lunch that day was the tasting of the briskets prepared using the four different smokes — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Each participant received a small slice of brisket from each smoke and were asked to rate it on 9-point scales. Students tabulated the results, and there were no differences among the four woods for sensory panel ratings. In 2019, participants found no differences in preference for the four different smokes used. Most other years, either oak or hickory wins this competition, but we are amazed that there are really few differences in how the participants rate these briskets cooked with different woods/smokes.
Seasonings and barbecue science
Ryan Heger, Adams Extract and Seasoning, spent some time going over different seasonings outside of the normal use of salt and pepper. Jeff Savell discussed some of the science behind meat and barbecue and fielded questions from the crowd regarding a wide array of topics.
One of the topics was whether postmortem aging was necessary for Texas-style briskets. Our works shows that postmortem aging does not improve tenderness of briskets.
Life as a pitmaster panel
One of the most highly regarded parts of Camp Brisket is the final panel, moderated by Jeff Savell, which featured Arnis Robbins and Nathan Pier, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue; John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue; Israel “Pody” Campos, Pody’s BBQ; Tuffy Stone, Stick Burner/ Chef, Richmond, Virginia; Luis Rivis, Rivs Smoke & Grill; and Tootsie Tomanetz, Snow’s BBQ. The title of the panel was “Life as a Pitmaster,” and it gave each person a time to reflect on their path to where they are now, the challenges and opportunities they each face, and why in this crazy world of barbecue, they love this business so much.
Send off meal
The final meal was a comparison of wrapped versus unwrapped briskets. We did not conduct another taste test as most participants are facing “brisket fatigue” at this point, and are ready for something fairly light as they depart.
We end Camp Brisket for this year and know that many people from all walks of life have come together to bond over barbecue in general, but with the common goal of how to tackle the challenge that is the brisket! Thanks for Misty Roegels and Debra Reardon for coming to the camp along with their husbands.
Texas Barbecue Town Hall Meeting, January 24, 2022
The Texas Barbecue Town Hall Meeting, a one-day event dedicated to those involved in the commercial barbecue business, will be held at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas on Monday, January 24, 2022. This meeting will be hosted by the Meat Science program of the Department of Animal Science and will be held in the The Shirley & Joe Swinbank ’74 AgriLife Center and the Rosenthal Meat Center.
“We have had six town hall meetings with great turnouts, and we look forward to this year’s event,” according to Jeff Savell, one of the leaders of the Texas Barbecue program at Texas A&M University.
Three speakers have been confirmed for this year’s town hall meeting: David Anderson, economist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, will be back again to give an update on the livestock and meat markets, Brandon Hurtado, Hurtado Barbecue, Arlington, Texas will discuss the role of social media in growing your business, and Homer Robertson, Deputy Fire Chief, City of Fort Worth and World Champion Chuck Wagon Competitor on how to fireproof your business. In addition, participants will get a chance to see view beef carcasses and meat cuts at the Rosenthal Center in the afternoon.
The meeting will begin at 10 AM (coffee and kolaches at 9:30 AM) and end around 3 PM and will involve both lectures and hands-on demonstrations. “We choose Mondays for these meetings knowing that many restaurants are closed that day, which may allow for some operators to bring key in-house staff with them,” said Savell. “Hopefully, people can drive in, attend the meeting and be back home later that night without having to spend too much time away.”
The Texas Barbecue program at Texas A&M University is coordinated by Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell, and it includes the first-year seminar, ANSC 117, Texas Barbecue; Barbecue Summer Camp and Camp Brisket, conducted with Foodways Texas; and the Barbecue Genius Counter.
The Texas Barbecue Town Hall Meeting is sponsored by the E.M. “Manny” Rosenthal Chair in Animal Science. To register for the meeting, email Jeff Savell at [email protected] or call at 979-845-3992 (office) or 979-255-6676 (mobile), or contact Davey Griffin at [email protected] or call at 979-229-0273. Details about parking, meeting locations, appropriate dress for the refrigerated meat coolers, etc., will be sent to the attendees before the meeting.
Previous Texas Barbecue Town Hall posts
Fifth Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held
Fourth Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held
Top pitmasters convene for third-annual Texas Barbecue Town Hall at Texas A&M
Third Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held
Texas barbecue owners, pitmasters learn about price trends at town hall meeting
Second Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held
Texas barbecue restaurant owners hear beef price forecast, discuss trends | AgriLife Today
Barbecue town hall meeting attracts owners, pitmasters to Texas A&M
Camp Brisket 2021 edition
The ninth Camp Brisket, a joint venture between Foodways Texas and the Meat Science program of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, was held on July 16-17 , 2021 at the Rosenthal Meat Center and the Thomas G. Hildebrand, ’56 DVM Equine Complex. About 100 participants embarked on a journey to learn more about the ultimate challenge preparing that most difficult dish of Texas Barbecue cuisine, the brisket. Camp Brisket was postponed from its usual January date because of COVID-19, and fortunately, it was able to be held in its usual manner.
This year’s Camp Brisket was coordinated by Texas A&M University meat science educators, Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell, and who were assisted by graduate students and undergraduate students including Sydni Borders, Cassie Brown, Mason Holmes, Rebecca Kemp, Thachary Mayer, Addie Rankin, Trent Schwartz, Reagan Wagner, and Paige Williams. Special thanks to Thomas Larriviere, McKinney, Texas and to Nathan Kerth, College Station High School, College Station, Texas, and Jackson Larriviere, Rock Hill High School, Frisco, Texas for their help in conducting the camp. These great folks ensured that the needs of the briskets, pitmasters, and guests were attended to through the camp.
Marvin Bendele, Foodways Texas, welcomed the participants to Camp Brisket. Greetings and introductions are part of the beginning of each Camp Brisket. Getting to know each other is one way to create community that is so important when we conduct these workshops. With each camp, this process takes longer, but we know that many people enjoyed getting to know who all was there.
Special thanks to Kelly Yandell for her assistance in capturing the events of the camp through her photography and for being there to visit with everyone helping them feel a special part of the program. Kelly has been a valuable part of Foodways Texas, and she brings such an energy to everything she does.
Brisket procurement and trimming
Before Camp Brisket starts, work begins on procuring the briskets representing different types and grades, trimming them, and applying the salt/pepper seasoning (we used a half and half mix by volume of Kosher salt and course ground pepper with 3/4 cup applied to each brisket). John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, led the brisket trimming and seasoning effort.
Brisket use and anatomy
The first talks were by Jess Pryles, cook, writer, and TV personality, on the difference between restaurant and competition brisket, and Davey Griffin, on the anatomy and trimming of a brisket. John Brotherton joined Davey in showing the participants how he trims briskets before cooking.
Cooked brisket slicing
Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue, and Jeff Savell talked about and demonstrated proper cooked brisket slicing.
Tasting different grades of brisket
The first tasting test we did was for different grades of brisket. We obtained five different grades/types of briskets for use in this demonstration: Snake River Farms’s American Wagyu, Prime, Tyson’s Chairman’s Reserve, Choice, and Select. These briskets and the remaining ones used for the camp were trimmed to have no more than about 1/4 inch of fat remaining anywhere. Each brisket was seasoned with 3/4-cup of a half and half mixture (by volume) of Kosher salt and restaurant-style coarse-ground black pepper. The briskets for the grade/type demonstration were cooked on Russell Roegels of Roegels Barbecue pit with John Brotherton of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue managing the cooking cycle. We used oak logs as the source of heat and smoke.
Each grade/type of brisket was sliced so that each participant received a lean portion to rate on a ballot. When completed, the ballots were tabulated by the students to determine whether the participants could tell the difference in the grades or types of brisket. The winner? The Snake River Farms’ American Wagyu won, with Prime and Chairman’s Reserve being rated higher than Select. Each year, this taste comparison usually results in Prime and Wagyu near the top and Select being near the bottom in ratings. There are perceivable differences in eating quality among different grades and types of briskets, and those interested in producing the best cooked briskets possible need to be aware of this.
Beef grading discussion
Ray Riley gave a beef grading demonstration talking about the USDA beef grades so that the participants would know more about the various labels and brands associated with the meat they purchase.
Wood and Smoke panel
There was a Wood and Smoke panel in the afternoon featuring Dr. Nick Nickelson and Joe Riscky, The Meat Board; Homer Robertson, World Champion Chuck Wagon competitor and Fort Worth Fire Department leader; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; Chris Kerth, Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, and Jeff Savell. Post oak is the featured wood for Texas Barbecue based on its abundance and how the smoke complements beef. The panel discussed the topic of using properly seasoned wood to smoke with and how important it was to getting a clean fire that imparts the good aspects of the smoke onto the product. The positives and negatives of the other woods most commonly used in smoking — hickory, mesquite, and pecan — were discussed.
Friday night dinner
We moved to the Hildebrand Equine Complex for the rest of the program. We were blessed to have food from two groups involved with dinner that night. Hutchins Barbeque, Frisco, Texas provided wonderful brisket, sausage, its famous Texas Twinkies, and sides, and with Homer Robertson, world champion chuck wagon competitor, provided bread pudding and apple crisp for the crowd. The food was enjoyed by all!
Overnight smoking at Camp Brisket
The next brisket comparison was to smoke briskets overnight using the four primary woods — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Multiple pits were used for the overnight cooking. We used Prime briskets, trimmed and seasoned as mentioned before, for the comparison, and briskets were put on the smokers Friday afternoon so that they would be ready to serve around lunch time on Saturday.
Chuck wagon breakfast and pit discussion
Saturday morning became a time for a great chuck wagon breakfast of biscuits and gravy and breakfast tacos made with sausage and brisket from Homer Robertson, JArthur Garcia, Joe Riscky, Misty Roegels, and some of the students. Thanks to everyone for such a great breakfast experience enjoying the chuck wagon breakfast.
Pit discussion
Participants had a chance to see the different types of pits that were used to cook with. In addition to the pitmasters who were in attendance for the camp, Coy Christoffel, Pitts and Spitts, and Dustin Green and Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC demonstrated various products from their companies.
Pit design and maintenance panel
A pit design and maintenance panel was composed of Arnis Robbins, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Dustin Green, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; and Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts; with Davey Griffin as the moderator. Each panelist added his own take on what types of pits/cookers they preferred and what they did to make sure they were used to their best ability.
Smoke tasting panel
Lunch that day was the tasting of the briskets prepared using the four different smokes — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Each participant received a small slice of brisket from each smoke and were asked to rate it on 9-point scales. Students tabulated the results, and there were no differences among the four woods for sensory panel ratings. In 2019, participants found no differences in preference for the four different smokes used. Most other years, either oak or hickory wins this competition, but we are amazed that there are really few differences in how the participants rate these briskets cooked with different woods/smokes.
Seasonings and barbecue science
Ryan Heger, Adams Extract and Seasoning, spent some time going over different seasonings outside of the normal use of salt and pepper. Jeff Savell discussed some of the science behind meat and barbecue and fielded questions from the crowd regarding a wide array of topics.
One of the topics was whether postmortem aging was necessary for Texas-style briskets. Our works shows that postmortem aging does not improve tenderness of briskets.
Life as a pitmaster panel
One of the most highly regarded parts of Camp Brisket is the final panel, moderated by Jeff Savell, which featured Arnis Robbins; Bryan Bracewell; Russell Roegels; John Brotherton; Dustin Green; Tim Hutchins; Trey Hutchins; and Kerry Bexley and Tootsie Tomanetz, Snow’s BBQ The title of the panel was “Life as a Pitmaster,” and it gave each person a time to reflect on their path to where they are now, the challenges and opportunities they each face, and why in this crazy world of barbecue, they love this business so much.
Kerry Bexley and Tootsie Tomanetz from Snow’s BBQ came to the camp after finishing serving on their restaurant on Saturday morning. The number of people who got in line to take photos with Miss Tootsie shows how much she is revered as the Queen of Texas Barbecue!
Send off meal
The final meal was a comparison of wrapped versus unwrapped briskets. We did not conduct another taste test as most participants are facing “brisket fatigue” at this point, and are ready for something fairly light as they depart.
We end Camp Brisket for this year and know that many people from all walks of life have come together to bond over barbecue in general, but with the common goal of how to tackle the challenge that is the brisket! Thanks for Misty Roegels and Debra Reardon for coming to the camp along with their husbands.
Barbecue Summer Camp, 2021 edition
The Barbecue Summer Camp, co-hosted by Foodways Texas and the Meat Science Program of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, was held on Friday, June 4th through Sunday, June 6th, 2021. The camp is coordinated by meat science educators, Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell, and activities were held at the Rosenthal Meat Center and the Hildebrand Equine Complex on the campus of Texas A&M University. This was the 11th Barbecue Summer Camp with the first one held in 2011, two held in 2016, and because of COVID-19 restrictions, none was held in 2020. It was so good host the camp with so many activities on hold during the past 14 months or so.
Introductions to Barbecue Summer Camp
On Friday morning, Marvin Bendele of Foodways Texas and Jeff Savell, meat science professor at Texas A&M University welcomed about 50 participants to the camp. Valuable helpers who were introduced later included a number of grad and undergraduate students and others who were vital to the success of the camp. Texas A&M University grad students who helped with the camp were Sydni Borders, Ayleen Gonzalez, Becca Kemp, Lilly Kochevar, Thachary Mayer, Trent Schwartz, and Paige Williams. Texas A&M University undergraduate students who are Texas Barbecue teaching assistants who helped were Emily Brite, Jack Detten, Luis Erazo, Kenzy Hoffmann, Mason Holmes, Addie Rankin, and Ryanne Young. Additional help was provided by Thomas Larriviere and College Station High School student Nathan Kerth. Thanks to all of the people who helped make Barbecue Summer Camp successful.
Participants were from Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
Pit design and maintenance
The camp led with the first panel on Pit Design and Maintenance. The panel was led by Davey Griffin, professor and extension specialist at Texas A&M University. The panel consisted of John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, Brett Boren, Brett’s BBQ, and Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts. The panelists talked about the pits they use or have used, proper design for creating good, clean smoke, and how to get the best performance out of them. In addition, the panelists discussed proper break-in, maintenance, and cleaning to get maximize performance.
Meat safety and thermometers
Davey Griffin gave an overview about food safety and proper food handling. One item of special emphasis was to discuss the issue of small particles of wire brushes breaking off and getting ingested. There have been a number of cases of emergency surgery due to the presence of these metal fragments in food, and Davey recommended using great care when cleaning grills and grates so as to not introduce these physical hazards into cooked products.
Davey also talked about how to calibrate thermometers. His recommendation is to be sure to use the best and most accurate thermometers possible so that proper cooking and cooling temperatures can be met.
Friday lunch
We were pleased to have Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ, College Station, provide lunch for the participants. Chad Wootan with Cooper’s visited about the history of the company, where expansion had occurred, and some of the challenges of the business during the COVID-19 time period.
Rubs and marinades
Ryan Heger from Adams Flavors, Foods & Ingredients once again gave a great overview of the different types of seasonings available along with current trends in food. Ryan discussed the importance of shelf-life of particular products such as black pepper, and he spent a great deal of time talking about how to add heat to flavors without exceeding what people might enjoy eating.
Ryan provided a variety of seasonings for the participants to experiment with, and the students assisted them in seasoning briskets, pork Boston butts, pork baby back ribs, and beef chuck short ribs that would be cooked either overnight (briskets and pork butts) or the next day (pork baby back ribs and beef chuck short ribs).
Barbecue wood and smoke panel
One of the more popular panels at Barbecue Summer Camp is the one on barbecue wood and smoke. Texas is known for having four basic woods for smoking: oak, hickory, pecan, and mesquite. Panelists included Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque, Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue, Tom Perini, Perini Ranch Steakhouse, and Homer Robertson, Robertson Chuck Wagon. Each panelist gave their thoughts about their favorite woods to use in smoking meats with most of them using post oak because of its availability in the part of the state they are cooking in. Tom Perini does cook with mesquite because of where he is located, and he described the process of burning logs to produce coals to cook with.
Preparing the pig for cooking
Ray Riley prepared a basic salt. sugar, water brine to inject into the pork side that Russell Roegels would cook the next day. Ray demonstrated the use of a stitch pump to inject the brine into the pork side.
Dinner and refreshments
Bryan Bracewell and the crew from Southside Market and Barbeque provided an outstanding meal of brisket, baby back ribs, and their famous hot guts beef and jalapeño and cheese sausage for the evening. The meal was topped off with the choice of blackberry cobbler or peach cobbler along with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.
Whole hog cookery
Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue, cooked the pork side on his specially designed pit.
Discussion of overnight cooking at Barbecue Summer Camp
John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, showed the participants how the briskets and pork butts were cooked in the Bewley Smoker, nicknamed Bertha.
Beef anatomy overview
Davey Griffin and Ray Riley spent the morning going over the various cuts that come from beef along with a USDA beef grading overview. Ray ribbed a carcass in front of the participants, which always creates quite a photographic frenzy for those wanting to capture the moment on their cameras or phones.
Beef cutting room demonstrations
Lunch: heavy tasting – meat market style
A typical market-style lunch of smoked meats, cheese, onions, pickles and bread were served to the participants. Individual cooked briskets and pork butts seasoned by the participants the day before were sliced or pulled with the teams of people who seasoned them having the first chance at sampling the cuts. Each team talked about the type of seasonings they used and how they thought the products turned out.
Barbecue Summer Camp would not be as successful as it is without the help of the pitmasters who cook and slice the products the participants season. Thanks go to John Brotherton and Russell and Misty Roegels, Roegels Barbecue, for this valuable help.
Pork anatomy overview
Davey Griffin presented an overview of pork carcass anatomy and terminology.
Pork cutting room demonstrations
Various cuts of pork were displayed in the teaching cutting room of the Rosenthal Meat Center. Graduate students talked about the cuts, and Trent Schwartz, Thachary Mayer, and Sydni Borders conducted cutting demonstrations for the participants.
Saturday night dinner with 1775 Texas Pit BBQ Catering, Roegels Barbecue pork, and beef and pork ribs
Saturday night’s meal was 1775 Texas Pit BBQ Catering, Roegels Barbecue special cooked pork, and the participants beef and pork ribs. Each group had the chance to sample the ribs they seasoned. The pork and beef and pork ribs were outstanding.
Poultry sessions
Sunday morning was devoted to poultry, and the activities were led by Chris Kerth with preparation and cooking/smoking demonstrations led Meat Science students. Fajitas, homemade sausage, spatchcock chicken, drumsticks with mayo/spices, were prepared by the participants.
Craig Coufal, Associate Professor & Extension Specialist in the Department of Poultry Science, gave an overview of the poultry industry to the participants and answer questions regarding poultry production and marketing claims.
Summary
The eleventh Barbecue Summer Camp came to an end with everyone leaving full of knowledge and barbecue! Thanks for all of the participants, speakers, pit masters, and students who were involved in another outstanding camp!
Smoking Ground Beef Patties
Color and Food Safety Considerations When Smoking versus Grilling Ground Beef Patties
Dr. Davey Griffin, Professor and Extension Meat Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Several barbecue companies have been featuring specials such as smoked hamburgers to expand their menu selections. Dr. Davey Griffin recently wrote “Color and Food Safety Considerations When Smoking versus Grilling Ground Beef Patties” to help chefs and consumers understand what differences to expect when smoking ground beef. Internal pink color associated with a traditional smoke ring can oftentimes be mistaken for the ground beef being undercooked and perceived to be a food safety risk. See the entire publication at: ASWeb 121 Smoking Beef Patties.
Camp Brisket, 2020 edition
The eighth Camp Brisket, a joint venture between Foodways Texas and the Meat Science program of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, was held on January 10-11, 2020 at the Rosenthal Meat Center and the Beef Cattle Center at the O.D. Butler Animal Science Complex. About 70 participants from around the U.S., Australia, Norway, South Korea, Mexico, and Canada embarked on a journey to learn more about the ultimate challenge preparing that most difficult dish of Texas Barbecue cuisine, the brisket.
This year’s Camp Brisket was coordinated by Texas A&M University meat science educators, Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell, and who were assisted by graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff including Wade Baty, Sarah Bludau, Hayden Blumberg, Brenyn Burkholder, Kyle Caldwell, Shelley Curry, Morgan Foster, Forest Francis, Ashley Fuqua, Clayton Garrett, Kaylee Greiner, Ayleen Gonzalez, Madison Matlock, Kalee McCann, Holly Sanders, Trent Schwartz, Stayci Seaquist, and Ryan Yeatts. Special thanks to Eric Hamilton and Thomas Larriviere for helping with the camp. These great folks ensured that the needs of the briskets, pitmasters, and guests were attended to through the camp.
Marvin Bendele, Foodways Texas, welcomed the participants to Camp Brisket. Greetings and introductions are part of the beginning of each Camp Brisket. Getting to know each other is one way to create community that is so important when we conduct these workshops. With each camp, this process takes longer, but we know that many people enjoyed getting to know who all was there.
Two important members of the Texas Barbecue community were in attendance for the beginning of Camp Brisket: Kerry Bexley and Tootsie Tomanetz of Snow’s BBQ. We appreciate that they were able to come for a short time before they had to go back home to begin cooking for their Saturday opening.
Brisket procurement and trimming
Before Camp Brisket starts, work begins on procuring the briskets representing different types and grades, trimming them, and applying the salt/pepper seasoning (we used a half and half mix by volume of Kosher salt and course ground pepper with 3/4 cup applied to each brisket). We were blessed to have John Brotherton, Dominic Colbert, and Alanmykal Jackson of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue of Pfluegerville and Alton Matthews of The Dawgfatha’s BBQ working with Davey Griffin and our students to get the briskets ready to go. Daniel Genho of Bettcher Industries brought some of the Bettcher Whizard knives for everyone to try out to see how they liked using these trimming devices rather than hand knives.
Brisket use and anatomy
The first talks were by Jess Pryles, cook, writer, and TV personality, on the difference between restaurant and competition brisket, and Davey Griffin, on the anatomy and trimming of a brisket. John Brotherton joined Davey in showing the participants how he trims briskets before cooking. We thank Jess for arranging support from Kingsford Charcoal for providing products for the camp.
Knife selection and cooked brisket slicing
Proper knife use and sharpening was covered by Jeff Savell before a demonstration by John Brotherton on slicing cooked briskets was conducted.
Tasting different grades of brisket
The first tasting test we did was for different grades of brisket. We obtained five different grades/types of briskets for use in this demonstration: Prime, Chairman’s Reserve, Wagyu, Choice, and Select. These briskets and the remaining ones used for the camp were trimmed to have no more than about 1/4 inch of fat remaining anywhere. Each brisket was seasoned with 3/4-cup of a half and half mixture (by volume) of Kosher salt and restaurant-style coarse-ground black pepper. The briskets for the grade/type demonstration were cooked on Russell Roegels of Roegels Barbecue pit with John Brotherton of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue and others managing the cooking cycle. We used oak logs as the source of heat and smoke.
Each grade/type of brisket was sliced so that each participant received a lean portion to rate on a ballot. When completed, the ballots were tabulated by the students to determine whether the participants could tell the difference in the grades or types of brisket. The winner? The Wagyu won, with the other grades/types being rating similarly. This was the same findings from last year. Each year, this taste comparison usually results in Prime and Wagyu near the top and Select being near the bottom in ratings. There are perceivable differences in eating quality among different grades and types of briskets, and those interested in producing the best cooked briskets possible need to be aware of this.
We thank A BAR N Ranch for providing the Wagyu briskets again this year for the taste comparisons.
Wood and Smoke panel
There was a Wood and Smoke panel in the afternoon featuring Daniel Vaughn, Barbecue Editor of Texas Monthly magazine as the moderator, Daniel Bennett, Diva BBQ; Dr. Nick Nickelson, The Meat Board; Homer Robertson, World Champion Chuck Wagon competitor and Fort Worth Fire Department leader; Kevin Kolman, Weber Grills; and Jeff Savell. Post oak is the featured wood for Texas Barbecue based on its abundance and how the smoke complements beef. The panel discussed the topic of using properly seasoned wood to smoke with and how important it was to getting a clean fire that imparts the good aspects of the smoke onto the product. The positives and negatives of the other woods most commonly used in smoking — hickory, mesquite, and pecan — were discussed.
Beef grading discussion
Ray Riley gave a beef grading demonstration talking about the USDA beef grades so that the participants would know more about the various labels and brands associated with the meat they purchase.
Friday night dinner
We moved to the Beef Center for the rest of the program. We were blessed to have two great people involved with dinner that night. Brad Doan and family with 1775 Texas Pit Barbecue provided the main meal with brisket, sausages, and wonderful sides and with Homer Robertson, world champion chuck wagon competitor, provided bread pudding and apple crisp for the crowd. The food was enjoyed by all!
We thank Frank Mancuso and Ryan Skillman from Saint Arnold Brewing Company for providing the great refreshments for the meals. We also thank Fontana Coffee Roasters and R.C. Tortorice for providing coffee and tea for the weekend.
Overnight smoking at Camp Brisket
The next brisket comparison was to smoke briskets overnight using the four primary woods — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Multiple pits were used for the overnight cooking. We used Prime briskets, trimmed and seasoned as mentioned before, for the comparison, and briskets were put on the smokers around 8 pm on Friday evening so that they would be ready to serve around lunch time on Saturday. Kevin Kolman from Weber Grills started four Weber Smokey Mountain cookers with chunks from the four woods as part of the demonstration.
We thank Larry Lewis from A.N. Bewley Fabricators for providing two of his units for the overnight cook along with Pat Reardon and Davey Griffin.
To add fun to the evening, a major cold front blew through the area around 10 PM on Friday night with strong winds and rain. The overnight crew survived, but Camp Brisket is well known for having major weather events during the camp.
Chuck wagon breakfast and pit discussion
Saturday morning became a time for a great chuck wagon breakfast of biscuits and gravy and breakfast tacos made with sausage and brisket from Homer Robertson, Ty Robertson, JArthur Garcia, Joel Phillips, and a review of the different types of pits we used to cook with. Thanks to everyone for such a great breakfast experience eating in the cold and enjoying the chuck wagon breakfast.
Pit design and maintenance panel
A pit design and maintenance panel was composed of Arnis Robbins, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Wayne Mueller, Louie Mueller Barbecue; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; Sunny Moberg, Moberg Smokers; Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts; with Davey Griffin as the moderator. Each panelist added his own take on what types of pits/cookers they preferred and what they did to make sure they were used to their best ability.
Seasonings and barbecue science
Ryan Heger, Adams Extract and Seasoning, spent some time going over different seasonings outside of the normal use of salt and pepper. Jeff Savell discussed some of the science behind meat and barbecue and fielded questions from the crowd regarding a wide array of topics.
Smoke tasting panel
Lunch that day was the tasting of the briskets prepared using the four different smokes — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Each participant received a small slice of brisket from each smoke and were asked to rate it on 9-point scales. Students tabulated the results, and briskets smoked with mesquite and pecan were rated among the highest, those smoked with hickory were among the lowest, and those smoked with oak were intermediate. Last year, participants found no differences in preference for the four different smokes used. Most other years, either oak or hickory wins this competition, but we are amazed that there are really few differences in how the participants rate these briskets cooked with different woods/smokes.
Life as a pitmaster panel
One of the most highly regarded parts of Camp Brisket is the final panel, moderated by Jeff Savell, which featured Arnis Robbins; Bryan Bracewell; Russell Roegels; Wayne Mueller; John Brotherton; Domenic Colbert; Alanmykal Jackson; and Todd David, Cattleack Barbeque. The title of the panel was “Life as a Pitmaster,” and it gave each person a time to reflect on their path to where they are now, the challenges and opportunities they each face, and why in this crazy world of barbecue, they love this business so much.
Send off meal
The final meal was a comparison of wrapped versus unwrapped briskets. There was no difference between wrapped and unwrapped briskets. Most participants are facing “brisket fatigue” at this point, and are ready for something fairly light as they depart.
We end Camp Brisket for this year and know that many people from all walks of life have come together to bond over barbecue in general, but with the common goal of how to tackle the challenge that is the brisket! Thanks for Misty Roegels, Mallory Robbins, and Debra Reardon for coming to the camp along with their husbands.
6th Texas Barbecue Town Hall Meeting held
Pitmasters and owner/operators from some of the leading barbecue establishments throughout Texas participated in the sixth Texas Barbecue Town Hall Meeting, which was held at the AgriLife Center and the Rosenthal Meat Center on Monday, December 9, 2019.
About 60 people were in attendance, and participants received updates on livestock and meat markets for beef, pork, chicken, and turkey by David Anderson, professor and extension economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, tips about effective marketing from Rachel Cutrer, Ranch House Designs, and a beef grading and beef cutting demonstration by Davey Griffin and Ray Riley.
The meeting was sponsored by the E.M. “Manny” Rosenthal Chair in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, and Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell served as hosts with assistance from students, Sarah Bludau, Ayleen Gonzalez, Caitlyn Harmon, Brogan Horton, Lauren Lee, Steven Mancillas, Sterling Pieniazek, Addie Rankin, Brittany Shipp, Trent Stolowski, and Wilsey Wendler. Special thanks to Kelly Yandell for coming to the meeting, visiting with folks, and taking and sharing photos.
David Anderson
David Anderson gave a market update and shared with the participants what was going on in the beef, pork, turkey, and chicken markets. Anderson stated that the beef market remains strong, but the pork, turkey, and chicken markets are showing both high supplies and weaker demand. Factors such as African Swine Fever will continue to play a role on the worldwide supply of pork.
Rachel Cutrer
Rachel Cutrer gave some interesting points about how to effectively market your barbecue business. She gave great examples using some of the barbecue establishments at the meeting about good use of logos and colors, websites and social media, and email lists.
Lunch by Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue and Daniel Vaughn
Thanks to John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue and Daniel Vaughn for preparing fajitas and pork for lunch.We greatly appreciate everyone who helped prepare and serve the lunch for the town hall meeting.
There was time before and after lunch for visiting with old friends and making new friendships. Thanks to Kelly again for taking some of these great photos.
Beef grading and beef cutting demonstrations
After lunch, the participants moved over to the Rosenthal Meat Center for a demonstration of beef carcass quality and yield grading and for a beef top sirloin cut-out demonstration. Davey Griffin and Ray Riley led this exercise and answered questions about both topics.
We thank everyone who came to the town hall meeting, and we look forward to working with the the great folks who prepare Texas Barbecue.