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City BBQ - Giddings TX

Spring Chicken
Spring Chicken Posts: 10,255
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
This is a followup to yankee fan's post below: http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1032888&catid=1 in which I linked to City BBQ in Giddings, Texas.

I went back to City BBQ's site and read about it and how they cook brisket. I found this part interesting:

"Birkelbach and his staff begin their days around 5:30 in the morning when the fire in the smokers is stoked and the first briskets put on to cook. During the day he'll cook several hundred pounds of brisket, sausage, pork butt, pork ribs, chicken, pork chops, pork steaks, and several different kinds of beef steaks thick enough to remain juicy in the extreme heat of the smokers.

He prefers using smaller briskets because they have less fat and tend to be more tender. Birkelbach also likes to cook them fast to add to the tenderness. The meat that is the mainstay of any Texas barbecue house is cooked until it is almost done and then it is placed in a pan with water and barbecue sauce on the grill to finish it off. Depending on their size, the briskets can be ready by about nine o'clock. The main lunch run begins about 10:30am and ends around 1:30pm."


So he stokes his fire and puts the briskets on (I'm guessing no earlier than 6:00 AM) and the briskets can be ready about 9:00 AM. Three hours!!! That's amazing, especially considering how tender and tasty they are.

He didn't say anything about trimming the briskets but my guess is that he doesn't trim. In fact, he didn't mention anything about rubs or marinades or injections. Just throw 'em on and cook 'em at high temperature for three hours. Then in a pan of water and bbq sauce.

I've gotta try that.

Spring "Soon To Be In The Sauce" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Comments

  • Watch out in Giddings for speed traps for anyone planning a visit. They are notoriously bad about that there. My father drives through there twice a week and often sees Smokey on the side of the road.
  • This also reminds me of the posts (below) on Myron Mixon's briskets. One was at the tail end of one of your late night forum checks, which I read because it was 8am where I was at the time.

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=881959&catid=1

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=490220&catid=1#

    Let us know how your egg-periment goes.
  • Yes, I know about driving in or around Giddings so I drive as slow as the car in front and back of me.

    Spring "Got There As Slow As I Could" Chicken
  • LFGEnergy
    LFGEnergy Posts: 618
    Along the same lines of things that make you go hhmmm....Roy Perez (Pitmaster and BBQ Icon at Kreuz's Market in Lockhart) cooks shoulder clods, not briskets, and his cook time is in the 4 hour range.

    My favorite Kreuz's Market story was the old location off the square in downtown Lockhart (now Smittys (edit)), when you walked in the back door, in the middle of a blazing Texas summer afternoon, and Perez and the ladies behind the counter would be sitting in the cooking room with the pit fire about 5 feet from the bench they were sitting on, sweating like...well you get the picture. I wonder if that is what made the meat so incredible!!!! While the new place is nice, the old location was a true Texas classic!
  • I remember that post.

    Spring "Memory Like A uh A uh I Forgot" Chicken
  • Someone on the Forum posted about Shoulder Clods a while back and I made a mental note to ask my butcher about clods. Must have slipped my mind. Happens a lot lately.

    Thanks for the reminder. I'll do some searching and see if I can bring it up again. For some reason I'm thinking it may have been AZRP who posted it.

    Spring "Don't Kick The Clods In A Cow Pasture" Chicken
  • LFGEnergy
    LFGEnergy Posts: 618
    If you can figure out how he gets that much flavor into a shoulder clod in 4 hours, and make it as tender and delicious as he does, well....you are a much smarter cook than I :unsure: :silly: !!! Seriously, I am not an experienced brisket cook. My efforts have been somewhere between pretty good, and just OK.
  • aem
    aem Posts: 146
    I'm in the middle of reading "Republic of Barbecue". A few of the shops they talk about use the fast method. In addition to Kreuz's, Coopers in Lampasas. Personally, I don't care for Coopers but maybe I went there on a bad day.
  • We haven't tried hitting the BBQ spots on the "Trail" but maybe one day we will 'Head 'em up and heard 'em out.'

    I know there are some really good BBQ places out there that haven't made it to the trail yet, and some of the old places that have lost their way. I'm sure it will still be pretty good though.

    The book sounds interesting.

    Spring "Map In Hand And BBQ In My Heart" Chicken
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    aem wrote:
    In addition to Kreuz's, Coopers in Lampasas.

    Isn't Cooper's in Llano? We drove through Giddings on the way to the ranch last time (we usually go a different route) and I tried to get the wife to pull over and stop, but she didn't. :(

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • aem
    aem Posts: 146
    Yeah, I was wrong. It's Llano, not Lampasas.