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Texas BBQ


Washpark

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16 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

There’s a big difference between knowing how to run a business, and how to run the restaurant business.   

I'm listening to the audiobook of Kitchen Confidential for the third time.  I love to cook, and I'm already hesitant to consider working in a kitchen after I retire since it seems like a way to ruin a perfectly good hobby.  But if I did ever decide to get into that business, I would most certainly want to work for someone else, and probably would aspire to be a dish washer or, at most, a prep cook.  The stress level any higher up the brigade sounds like it would kill me quick.  

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I know myself.  I'm not fast.  My family and friends are patient when it comes to eating well-prepared food thankfully.

Edited by dcbc
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11 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I'm listening to the audiobook of Kitchen Confidential for the third time.  I love to cook, and I'm already hesitant to consider working in a kitchen after I retire since it seems like a way to ruin a perfectly good hobby.  But if I did ever decide to get into that business, I would most certainly want to work for someone else, and probably would aspire to be a dish washer or, at most, a prep cook.  The stress level any higher up the brigade sounds like it would kill me quick.  

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I know myself.  I'm not fast.  My family and friends are patient when it comes to eating well-prepared food thankfully.

I turned a losing money mom & pop bbq shop into an absolute machine in 9 months, and got out because my investors refused to upgrade any equipment, refused to let me bring on a second full time person who would've enabled me to quadruple the amount of catering business I was doing, and wanted me to shut down any semblance of advertising.  They were good businessmen, just 100% didn't understand restaurants the way I did/do.  I was working 100+ hours/week and barely had time to eat, let alone do anything resembling living life.  

 

When I came to them asking for the number to buy them out, they gave me 2 weeks to get it done (this was on the day before thanksgiving, so really 10 days to get it done).  I came back 2 weeks later with an offer and an investor backer who was himself a very successful restauranteur, and we asked them until Dec 31 to get the legal docs drawn up.  They refused.  I threw them the keys and told them good luck.  They lost about 80% of their business overnight and sold it at a terrible loss about 8 months later.  Oh well, you want to be the gander, don't kill the fucking goose laying the golden eggs.  

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16 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I'm listening to the audiobook of Kitchen Confidential for the third time.  I love to cook, and I'm already hesitant to consider working in a kitchen after I retire since it seems like a way to ruin a perfectly good hobby.  But if I did ever decide to get into that business, I would most certainly want to work for someone else, and probably would aspire to be a dish washer or, at most, a prep cook.  The stress level any higher up the brigade sounds like it would kill me quick.  

.

I know myself.  I'm not fast.  My family and friends are patient when it comes to eating well-prepared food thankfully.

I thought about the same thing, but read Michael Rhulman's The Making of a Chef, and quickly changed my mind. I love to cook, but it literally kills people who do it for a living. Maybe if I could get on with someone who does private catering, but would never do a restaurant. 

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4 minutes ago, Mo Horn said:

I thought about the same thing, but read Michael Rhulman's The Making of a Chef, and quickly changed my mind. I love to cook, but it literally kills people who do it for a living. Maybe if I could get on with someone who does private catering, but would never do a restaurant. 

I just think sitting still in retirement might be worse for me.  Fortunately, I have a job I can do long-term, low stress, with plenty of time for me and me/family.  So cooking for them and myself certainly will scratch the itch and not result in my hating it.

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3 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I just think sitting still in retirement might be worse for me.  Fortunately, I have a job I can do long-term, low stress, with plenty of time for me and me/family.  So cooking for them and myself certainly will scratch the itch and not result in my hating it.

I didn't cook a brisket for almost 3 years after I got done with it, and it's one of my favorite things on earth to do.  I don't even do it as much as I'd like to anymore because I'd rather hang with my little girls.  I'd do it again someday, but only in the right atmosphere and only with my dime.  

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7 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

I didn't cook a brisket for almost 3 years after I got done with it, and it's one of my favorite things on earth to do.  I don't even do it as much as I'd like to anymore because I'd rather hang with my little girls.  I'd do it again someday, but only in the right atmosphere and only with my dime.  

That's the reason I stopped brewing beer and the reason I stuck with the WSM and added a temperature controller.  I don't have to babysit something for the better part of 18 hours (unless I want to say I have to do so for some needed me-time ;) ).  

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5 hours ago, luke duke said:

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Interesting that ribs are 22% cheaper than the beef, while the ham is 18% higher. The best smoked ham I've ever had isn't even in the same ballpark with the best brisket.  Then again, who knows what the market was for pigs those days?

Edited by slorch
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On 10/26/2023 at 9:07 AM, dcbc said:

I'm listening to the audiobook of Kitchen Confidential for the third time.  I love to cook, and I'm already hesitant to consider working in a kitchen after I retire since it seems like a way to ruin a perfectly good hobby.  But if I did ever decide to get into that business, I would most certainly want to work for someone else, and probably would aspire to be a dish washer or, at most, a prep cook.  The stress level any higher up the brigade sounds like it would kill me quick.  

.

I know myself.  I'm not fast.  My family and friends are patient when it comes to eating well-prepared food thankfully.

the TV show of the same name is worth a watch. starring a young Bradley Cooper as Bourdain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Confidential_(TV_series)

not streaming on a normal website so hvae to sail the high seas i think

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21 hours ago, NoName said:

the TV show of the same name is worth a watch. starring a young Bradley Cooper as Bourdain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Confidential_(TV_series)

not streaming on a normal website so hvae to sail the high seas i think

It’s interesting since Cooper went on to make the movie Burnt which seems pretty similar. 

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The sauce absolutists get tedious sometimes with their virtue signalling. All of these things can be true:

  1. Good BBQ doesn't require sauce to taste good.
  2. Unless absolute bottom tier, BBQ is worse when it is served slathered in sauce.
  3. BBQ sauce is designed to complement the taste of smoked meat, and the occasional dipped bite, or sammich with sauce, is not some heretical crime against God's law.

I don’t know what the fuck “virtue signaling” in bbq is, but otherwise agree.
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3 hours ago, tigol said:


I don’t know what the fuck “virtue signaling” in bbq is, but otherwise agree.

People who make a big point of how they would NEVER EVER eat sauce and any plate shown with sauce or anyone having sauce with Q is some heathen akin to putting ketchup on a $100 bone-in tomahawk ribeye. 

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17 minutes ago, utee94 said:

And a little sauce on a foldover sandwich made from flat or point, is quite tasty.

Agree....

 

.....so uh, anyone ever spread down a layer of potato salad on the bread first, or am I just too crazy & fat? If the potato salad isn't too consistently big chunky, I'll throw down a layer, then piece of brisket, pickle, onion and sauce. I've never been into the pickled jalapeno + bbq sammy thing, but I'll consider trying that.

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Great bbq, no sauce. Except my Pops’ brisket and the family sauce recipe. Just the way I grew up eating it (put the sauce on rice).

Other exception for me, as others mentioned, is a sandwich. Half the time I go eat bbq I will make a mini sandwich with the white bread. The sauce is a great binding agent and adds some flavor and moisture to the white bread.

Mustard based sauce is good for dipping sausage.

I’m not a sauce hater, just not a sauce lover either. And yeah, well smoked fatty brisket should not need sauce. I won’t slap you if you put some on it though.

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7 minutes ago, TXSooner518 said:

If you don't like sauce, you just, you know, don't eat sauce. People who insist on trumpeting the above are trying to make sure everyone else knows how cool and "BBQ PURIST" they are or whatever. 

My fav had always been how purist'y the folks at Kreuz used to be, especially on the travel food shows. "And we ain't'a serve no sauce by god because bbq don't need'n any sauce!!!! *next scene* "And this is our traditional pepper sauce..."

Remember when we finally went I mentioned to The Wife that "be prepared, they don't have sauce." Sure enough, they had sauce by then, lol. 

Edited by UncleBuck
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4 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Great bbq, no sauce. Except my Pops’ brisket and the family sauce recipe. Just the way I grew up eating it (put the sauce on rice).

Other exception for me, as others mentioned, is a sandwich. Half the time I go eat bbq I will make a mini sandwich with the white bread. The sauce is a great binding agent and adds some flavor and moisture to the white bread.

Mustard based sauce is good for dipping sausage.

I’m not a sauce hater, just not a sauce lover either. And yeah, well smoked fatty brisket should not need sauce. I won’t slap you if you put some on it though.

Pretty much how I am, but always, to each their own. The sauce is for the sausage, maybe even mix a little with the potato salad and beans.... until the foldy/sammie, then I put some sauce on that. Cuts into the bread, plus let's not all pretend that a lot of us didn't grow up eating chopped BBQ sandos with sauce on it, so it's there in the DNA somewhere. 

Edited by UncleBuck
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Pretty much how I am, but always, to each their own. The sauce is for the sausage, maybe even mix a little with the potato salad and beans.... until the foldy/sammie, then I put some sauce on that. Cuts into the bread, plus let's not all pretend that a lot of us didn't grow up eating chopped BBQ sandos with sauce on it, so it's there in the DNA somewhere. 

I prefer sliced brisket sandwiches. However, in my shitty opinion, it’s not a chopped beef sandwich if it’s not sauced. To me that is like ordering a pizza and telling them to hold the cheese. It is integral to a chopped beef sandwich.
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Just now, Patricio Swayze said:


I prefer sliced brisket sandwiches. However, in my shitty opinion, it’s not a chopped beef sandwich if it’s not sauced. To me that is like ordering a pizza and telling them to hold the cheese. It is integral to a chopped beef sandwich.

Yes, of course.  Originally the chopped beef was just the trimmings mixed with sauce, and cooked down.  That's why it's so greasy, it's mostly fat.

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