A barbecue lunch feels like a major investment these days.
Beef prices rose from last year by over 11%, according to the June Consumer Price Index. Anyone who’s gone out for some brisket this month can tell you, the prices have suffered too.
Many headlines declare a state of emergency for Texas barbecue. Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor of Texas Monthly, recently wrote a plea to pitmasters to consider alternatives to brisket in the face of rising beef costs.
He sat down with the Standard to discuss his article, the rising prices and the reality of brisket’s grasp on pits across the state. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Let’s start with the squeeze: How serious is the rise in beef prices when it comes to barbecue restaurants? Why is brisket taking so much of the blame?
Daniel Vaughn: Well, beef prices are up, as we’ve all seen at the grocery stores. But the problem with Texas barbecue in particular is we’re really relying on brisket, and the brisket prices have just outpaced that rise in price for beef.
So, brisket is just even more expensive. But, as Brian Bracewell at South Side Market says, he’s like: “Barbecue is not expensive. Brisket is expensive.”
Ah, we’re too focused on a single cut of meat, perhaps?
Yeah, I think so. In the ’60s and ’70s, Texas barbecue really changed from being focused on a half a beef coming into the meat market, to ordering boxed beef. So, you could order individual cuts. And that’s really where we saw that shift towards just those individual cuts, like brisket and in some cases shoulder clod.
But, nowadays, it’s all about the brisket and it’s all about the brisket at every Texas barbecue joint, and every Texas-style BBQ joint across the country. These days, we’ve just got so many more places ordering brisket by the box than we’ve ever had before.
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I gather that, according to what you’ve been reporting for Texas Monthly, some pitmasters are now turning to tri-tip, beef cheeks, flat iron, some of these other cuts. Which of those are producing food that might persuade even a brisket loyalist to branch out?
Well, I mean, I’ve had some great tri-tip out there. Space Kat BBQ in Austin does a really good version.
And the thing about tri-tip — it seems a little counterintuitive because it is more expensive per pound than brisket — but the thing about tri-tip is it cooks a lot quicker, so there’s a lot less labor that goes into it. And because you’re only cooking it to about a medium doneness, and you’re not really having to trim it much, your loss on it is so much less than a brisket.
So, a brisket, you might be serving 50% of the starting weight of that brisket by the time you get it trimmed and smoked, whereas a tri-tip, you’re probably going to serve more like 90% of that by the time it’s trimmed and it’s smoked.
Wow, all right. Well, that’s it. So when you order at the counter, you ask for tri-tip?
Well, you’re going to have to check the menu, because there’s not a ton of places that are serving it.
And that’s really my plea here, is that if these Texas barbecue pitmasters want the price of brisket to go down, we’ve got to cut into the demand of it, right? We’ve got to cut into the demand by looking at different cuts of beef.
And some of them are adding the tri-tip, some of them are adding beef cheeks as well. Beef cheeks, if you’ve never had them, sounds maybe not that appetizing.
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It sounds gross, frankly. I don’t like the idea of beef cheeks. It grosses me out. I’ve got to get my head around that, it’s just one of those things.
Well, I mean, we could give it a different name if you’d like. I mean, look at what “sweetbread” the name has done for the thymus gland.
I don’t even — see, you’ve just ruined that for me. Thanks a ton. All right…
But again, if you’ve ever had a beef cheek, then you know that it’s incredibly rich in gelatin. It’s like eating a mini fatty brisket.
It is good, it tastes fantastic, but there’s just no getting around it… But here’s the thing, I mean, your plea seems to be more toward the people who run these joints. But customers arrive with expectations, and I’m wondering how tough it’s going to be for a restaurant owner to say to the customer, in effect, we’re going to serve you a different version of Texas barbecue.
Yeah, well, you know, Mimsy’s Craft Barbecue in Crockett has had this issue. They’re only serving sliced brisket now on Saturdays. So, their customers do come in throughout the week, asking for brisket, and they just don’t offer it.
It’s such a loss. It could be a loss leader for them, except it’s really just a menu loser for them. So, they’ve got it just once a week.
And I mentioned Brian Bracewell earlier at Southside Market. He is producing videos speaking directly to his customers, just saying: “Listen, we’ve still got brisket, and you can pay this price for it, or for half the price you could get our sliced pork instead.”
So, you know, trying to push pork, trying really to push any other protein.
You know, Texas barbecue was in a sense born from necessity and improvisation, when you look back at history. I wonder if there’s not a silver lining here, these high prices ultimately making barbecue places more varied, maybe more interesting altogether.
I mean, to me, Texas, what makes it unique is it’s the beef state, but it doesn’t have to be brisket. I think Texas barbecue is bigger than brisket.
