A local (great) BBQ place was just reviewed in our local weekly The Metro Times (Shark’s BBQ, 4845 Rochester Rd., Troy, MI) - his pulled pork and brisket are BY FAR the best in town - he said that one secret is that he smokes for 6 hours, pulls them off, puts in fridge overnight and then back in the smoker for another ~4 hours the next day. He uses old fashioned wood burning smokers. The texture of his meat is sublime. Anyone ever heard of this technique???
Double fire BBQ?
- Thread starter Don Irish
- Start date
Timothy F. Lewis
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Never heard of that method, sounds interesting. I’ve never been there but now I might have a reason to go over that way.
JRAiona
TVWBB Gold Member
I was thinking the same thing Bob.
J Hasselberger
TVWBB Pro
The Salt Lick, in Driftwood, Texas cooks their brisket like that. I'm not sure of the time/temp targets, but they partially cook briskets in large smokers, then tightly wrap them in thick plastic wrap and into the fridge they go. The open pits in the restaurant finish them, heavily basted in Salt Lick barbecue sauce. They do between 100 and 200 briskets on a busy weekend, so they need an inventory of cooked briskets that can be reheated on demand.
If you've never been, The Lick is huge. There is parking for over 1,000 cars, The wait can be a few hours, but there's a great shady grove with tables and live music, so the wait can be entertaining. It's BYO, so fill the cooler before you come. (You can buy wine and buckets of beer in the on-site Salt Lick Cellars tasting room.) The brisket is reliably ok, but the sausage and turkey are very good. It's a unique experience, so don't pass it up on a Central Texas barbecue pilgrimage.
Jeff
Dustin Dorsey
TVWBB Hall of Fame
I was going to chime in with the Salt Lick thing. The bummer is that they are cooking the barbecue mostly on the gas-fired pits and then finishing it on those open pits that you see. It's a good experience. The beef back rib was really good. I really like the sauce, but there are better places to go, imo. I don't think my wait was that long. I went way back when we all didn't know who Franklin was. The Salt Lick was all over Food Network and the Travel Channel.
J Hasselberger
TVWBB Pro
Yeah, Dustin, they have their own way of doing things. We live just about 20 minutes from The Salt Lick and frankly, don't go there very often. There are some very good reasons to go, however. The sausage is delicious. The turkey breast is some of the best in the area (I Think it beats Franklin's.) On Sundays they serve some of the best Prime Rib I've ever had. (The scalloped potato side is incredible.) Out behind the Salt Lick Cellars tasting room, they built two big outdoor wood-fired pizza ovens and a big shady deck. On Thursday nights they serve excellent pizza accompanied by live music. You need a reservation a week in advance.
Thurman Roberts, the Salt Lick founder, planted vineyards on the expansive property and grows some fair Sangiovese. Duchman Cellars, down the road a few miles, makes Salt Lick wines, and uses some Salt Lick grapes for its own labels. The sprawl from Austin is creeping steadily towards Driftwood, but it still has that "middle of nowhere" feel.
Jeff