The Texas BBQ Forum

I imagine he's not divulging too many of his real secrets to the rest of us.

One of Franklin's secrets is he wraps in butcher paper towards end of cook, then holds the briskets in the same butcher paper. I also read somewhere that the paper he uses is soaked in beef tallow from the previous day's cook. That may be the ticket.

I thought he used the previous days butcher paper to start his fires..

Also heard he uses natural angus beef, Meyers brand. One day I'll get to try his stuff.

js-tx wrote:I thought he used the previous days butcher paper to start his fires..

Also heard he uses natural angus beef, Meyers brand. One day I'll get to try his stuff.

I'll try to dig up the link to the article that talks about the tallow soaked butcher paper.

Meyers brand is is correct, and it all comes from Montana. Someone once stated the meyers beef is from texas, but it's not. I think all this info was from the same article.

Found it:

First of all, he uses Meyer Angus beef, which is humanely raised in Montana without hormones or antibiotics. The fires in his pits are started using only post oak wood and butcher paper drenched in the tallow that covered the previous day's brisket. Then, after seasoning the ribs with (of course) a secret spice mix and putting them in the smoker, Franklin grabs a lawn chair, checks his e-mail, and usually works on the New York Times crossword puzzle for an hour. Once the meat is done, he wraps it in foil or butcher paper and sets it aside for that day's service.

Guess I skimmed through it too fast, yep he starts his fire with the tallow soaked paper. But the beef is from Montana.

Link to article: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/slideshows/2011/07/aaron-franklin-barbecue-best-restaurant-in-america#intro

I had a friend who won several comps with brisket rubbed with Tony Chachere. I tried it and found it a little spicy on the bark. Nowadays I use Fiesta from HEB or I pick up a jar from my friends at Dozier's BBQ. Theirs is made and sold on premises and is pretty simple but consistent.

I saw a couple of the Meyer all natural briskets at heb in Houston off 290. It was like a big wet noodle. I bet that thing comes out super tender. But it was over $5 a pound


-Nick

$5 a pound! Wow, that makes me feel a little better about paying his prices.

As an odd aside, I had to buy an emergency Brisket at the Walmart in the Uptown area of Dallas & the guy stocking meat told me the Food Trailer purveyors are by far the largest purchasers of their Excel Choice Grade offerings.

here is a discussion, I posted several links that shows his process

http://www.texasbbqforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17127&p=154119&hilit=franklin+bbq#p154119

Hope this helps,
Weldon

WBBQ wrote:here is a discussion, I posted several links that shows his process

http://www.texasbbqforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17127&p=154119&hilit=franklin+bbq#p154119

Hope this helps,
Weldon

Maybe I'm completely in the dark/ wrong here... but he must be cooking the brisket off of a T-Rex.

jtilk wrote:

WBBQ wrote:here is a discussion, I posted several links that shows his process

http://www.texasbbqforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17127&p=154119&hilit=franklin+bbq#p154119

Hope this helps,
Weldon

Maybe I'm completely in the dark/ wrong here... but he must be cooking the brisket off of a T-Rex.

Probably a misquote or maybe his guages need some calibrating.

Here is a video featuring one of the newer pits utilized at 11th Street. I know they scrapped or modified at least one custom larger volume pit as they made the move to their knew location because it was not performing up to expectations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8ik9C6 ... ata_player" target="_blank

Damon54 wrote:Here is a video featuring one of the newer pits utilized at 11th Street. I know they scrapped or modified at least one custom larger volume pit as they made the move to their knew location because it was not performing up to expectations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8ik9C6 ... ata_player" target="_blank" target="_blank

iirc, Aaron did his own pit and even learned to weld to get it right. However, it still never worked out, and that was when he acquired that big tank pit you see in the video. It was supposed to increase his output substantially, so I'm not sure what has happened since they still sell out early. It could also be that he doesn't want to 'mess with success' at this point. They have a reputation of producing outstanding BBQ, and have the lines to show for it. If they had enough brisket for 8hrs of operation, then the lines might space out, and it wouldn't be such an event. That is part of what happened to Salt Lick. It was always a destination, and required 1-2hrs in line on Friday or Saturday nights. Now they have expanded the seating and food capacity so much, you can get in shortly, and it isn't the same anymore.

Like others have said, I'm sure Aaron has secrets, but I do trust that it is mostly just S&P on the rub. The flavor is only part of the equation though. The tenderness and texture is also a key part of BBQ, and he nails that part about perfectly. I know he cooks for a long time, uses higher quality meats, and also 'holds' in the warming ovens for a while. Whatever process he uses, it seems to work just about perfectly.

El Ropo wrote:One of Franklin's secrets is he wraps in butcher paper towards end of cook, then holds the briskets in the same butcher paper. I also read somewhere that the paper he uses is soaked in beef tallow from the previous day's cook. That may be the ticket.

That was the one thing I noticed when I went to Franklin's, the parchment paper. I tried some of that last week on a brisket. Test was 4 hours smoked on a 3 lb brisket, then wrapped in parchment paper, then foil. Continued cooking another 4 hours. I was impressed on how well the juices held in, and the paper was well saturated, looked like it did at Franklins.

Overall not bad, but needed to leave the brisket in another couple of hours probably. But it was getting too late in the evening to leave it alone...something called work the next day was sort of problem by late Sunday night

Next time around, will try to get the brisket started a few hours earlier. Got delayed Sunday morning....oh well...

Bryan in Bryan

So he uses parchment paper and butcher paper?

js-tx wrote:So he uses parchment paper and butcher paper?

No As far as I know Franklin's uses Butcher paper. I'm pretty sure that scotchale sub it with parchment actually not a bad idea if you don't have a source for butcher paper