Looks like Aaron Franklin has a book out soon


 
I just finished the chapter about fire. We know he does not really like charcoal cooking and is not a fan of webers but I found it interesting reading his chapter about fire. He talks about an efficient fire etc. and goes as far as saying he always keeps a flame going in his off set fire boxes. If there is no flame the wood is smoldering and putting off smoke that does not taste as good. Considering we all cook with a WSM and wood chunks basically smolder do ya'll buy into that thinking?
 
Yeah Tommy, that's exactly what I was thinking too.

I admit, the guy is a BBQ genius and his Q speaks for itself. I admire his tenacity and his commitment to excellence. I have completely read the book and found it enjoyable. But I also noticed his "bias" towards his pits and offsets in general.

But I'm kinda with you on this Tommy...I don't buy into his way of thinking about fire. Now mind you, he is speaking from a "purist" point of view, which if you ask me is a loose/broad term in and of itself. But folks have been running charcoal cookers for a loooooonnnngggg time, have won several competitions and have put out some amazing Q with them...The Weber Smokey Mountain included. I understand his thoughts about not having a "clean" fire/smoke. But that "clean/thin blue" smoke is achievable in a WSM and many if not all charcoal cookers so I just don't think I can get "onboard" with his way of thinking on this. Maybe I'm misinterpreting his comments or taking it out of context...but I'm damn proud of my WSM's and the Q I put out on them. So I will not be deterred. This is Sparta!!! /Spartan kick
 
Dale Matlock said:
Yeah Tommy, that's exactly what I was thinking too.

I admit, the guy is a BBQ genius and his Q speaks for itself. I admire his tenacity and his commitment to excellence. I have completely read the book and found it enjoyable. But I also noticed his "bias" towards his pits and offsets in general.
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well said Dale. I have never cooked on an offset where i ONLY used wood. I'd imagine it would be horribly hard to control temp but I haven't done it! I have not finished the book but I have enjoyed it so far. I enjoy a different perspective from an expert. With that being said I am going to hang onto my WSM!
 
I've had my book now for a couple weeks now, and am envious of all you who are mid thru it or have finished. I'm a bed reader, and for some reason, this book puts me to sleep quickly! It's not that I find it boring at all, in fact I find it very interesting, where I wouldn't mind trying a outset smoker a couple times. Maybe it's just the size of the letter fonts that quickly make me tired, but it sure works better than a cup of herbal tea!
 
Bought the book on Friday and finished it on Sunday and have to say it was a good read on my Kindle. It's not the typical book full of recipes that I will never use, but has some good information on some things that most other books don't delve into deeply enough. It had me at the Academy Sports in my town looking at the Old Country Pits thinking whether I wanted to make the plunge back into offset bbq world. However, I'll stick with my WSM. I have cooked on an offset a few times and I respect anyone that can keep a clean burning fire going for 15 hours in them. You find out quickly that smaller split logs are the way to go to maintain even temperatures. Offsets take a lot of work and a lot of wood.

As to the smoldering fire in our WSM's, it's not a problem as long as the smoke is very thin or bluish. Read Mike Scrutchfield's original recipe for BRITU and he mentions this. There is also a great interview with Mike on YouTube where he gets more in depth in to how far he would go to get a clean cook on the WSM. Things like no bark on the wood chunks, a clean WSM for each cook and natural briquettes were factors that he thought gave better tasting bbq.
 
Barry McCorkle said:
Bought the book on Friday and finished it on Sunday and have to say it was a good read on my Kindle. It's not the typical book full of recipes that I will never use, but has some good information on some things that most other books don't delve into deeply enough. It had me at the Academy Sports in my town looking at the Old Country Pits thinking whether I wanted to make the plunge back into offset bbq world. However, I'll stick with my WSM. I have cooked on an offset a few times and I respect anyone that can keep a clean burning fire going for 15 hours in them. You find out quickly that smaller split logs are the way to go to maintain even temperatures. Offsets take a lot of work and a lot of wood.

As to the smoldering fire in our WSM's, it's not a problem as long as the smoke is very thin or bluish. Read Mike Scrutchfield's original recipe for BRITU and he mentions this. There is also a great interview with Mike on YouTube where he gets more in depth in to how far he would go to get a clean cook on the WSM. Things like no bark on the wood chunks, a clean WSM for each cook and natural briquettes were factors that he thought gave better tasting bbq.
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I've got the Old Country from Academy. They are good and well designed for the price but I use the Wsm way more often. Cooking with logs is fun but for long cooks it's a beating. I started out with the offset. Initially I was using charcoal with wood chunks. You really have to stick burn on that thing though. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. I've done super long cooks on the offset and you have to add new lit charcoal ever hour to an hour and a half. Probably the same with sticks. That's something I'm rarely willing to do to eat great bbq as often as I want.
 
I would assume cooking on a small backyard offset its really tough to maintain an even temp. As Dustin mentioned he would have to add lit charcoal every 1.5 hours. I am not an expert but I assume that cooking on a huge offset cooker like Franklin has at his restaurant makes maintaining temps easier. On a small backyard offset 1 split would spike temps where as a huge offset one split would not make as much of a difference which would lead to more steady temps. That's my theory at least!
 
I had a New Braunfels Bandera at one time, and boy could I turn out some fine smoked meat.
If you like creosote that is.
The learning curve was larger than I wanted to learn.
 
I started out with an offset when I wanted to do more than grilling. Fought with that sob for a year and gave it away. Although I do have a lot of respect for someone who can keep a steady temperature on a small offset. Wasn't until I found this forum years later and built a mini that I got back into it.
 
Barry McCorkle said:
There is also a great interview with Mike on YouTube where he gets more in depth in to how far he would go to get a clean cook on the WSM. Things like no bark on the wood chunks, a clean WSM for each cook and natural briquettes were factors that he thought gave better tasting bbq.
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Had never seen those videos. Thanks for mentioning!

 
I got the book this month for my birthday. Out of curiousity, I went straight to the brisket section. I also paged through it and read portions that caught my eye.

I will read it front to back when I finish my current book.

What I have read so far is consistent with what I have read about Franklin in other articles, and in the You Tube videos.

It is interesting to me that many people here already picked up on his comment that smoldering wood chunks are bad. I did too.

I agree with many of you that it can't be so bad if so many people really like what is cooked in that manner. I do believe that a wood-only fire is probably the best way to go. But for my backyard cooks, the payoff is just not there.

So what I come away with, is questions about the "thin blue" smoke I read a lot about. I have to admit that I am probably a novice, and I feel better when I see a steady flow of white smoke. If I don't see that, I worry that I am not "smoking", and that I could be using the oven inside my house.

What I would like, is to learn how to create the right smoke environment in my UDS, and, how to verify it during the cook (visually, by smell, etc.).

Is there a thread somewhere that I can read about this?
 
I also was very intrigued about his comments about meat. He explains the different grades, and why he chooses "ethically raised" beef. He illustrated his committment to high quality meat by telling a story of when he couldn't get the meat he wanted. He had to settle for lower grade brisket. He wasn't proud of it, and a food critic showed up and was not impressed.

He says he uses prime grade - which is supposed to be above even the best "choice" meat.

I have contacted Creekstone and Snake River. Top 1/3 Choice was going for at least $10 per lb. Locally here in Charlotte, NC, I can't find any brisket better than regular "choice". Even then, they say it is whatever they get in.

So I really wonder how much of his results are due to the meat quality. Has anyone smoked a prime grade brisket? It seems like it would be many times better just because of the grade of meat.
 
Dave Pasma said:
Has anyone smoked a prime grade brisket?
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I cooked a Prime brisket recently and it was quite good, but I've cooked lots of Choice briskets and enjoyed them, too. If you can get your hands on a USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef (CAB) brisket you'll be doing alright.
 
The more I think about it the more I am thinking one chunk of wood smoldering in a WSM is different than a huge all wood fire big enough to regulate temps in a 1,000 gallon industrial size smoker smoldering... As wood burns it has to smolder. The first splits of wood in a 12 hour cook eventually die. Just like a campfire every sq inch of wood is not flaming all the time. typically the flames are concentrated in the middle of the fuel source.

Maybe he thinks too much smoldering wood puts out a bad taste. This is a topic that needs to be discussed in an advanced BBQ theory course!
 
Tommy B said:
The more I think about it the more I am thinking one chunk of wood smoldering in a WSM is different than a huge all wood fire big enough to regulate temps in a 1,000 gallon industrial size smoker smoldering... As wood burns it has to smolder. The first splits of wood in a 12 hour cook eventually die. Just like a campfire every sq inch of wood is not flaming all the time. typically the flames are concentrated in the middle of the fuel source.

Maybe he thinks too much smoldering wood puts out a bad taste. This is a topic that needs to be discussed in an advanced BBQ theory course!
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I find it hard to believe the combustion part of the cycle produces significantly different smoke than the smoldering part. or at least not enough to matter with low and slow. but what do I know?
 
Those are the videos, Chris. Really good information from the master and it's so cool for him to share his hard earned experience. I am forever indebted to his BRITU recipe that he first furnished to Ray Basso.
 
Barry McCorkle said:
Those are the videos, Chris. Really good information from the master and it's so cool for him to share his hard earned experience. I am forever indebted to his BRITU recipe that he first furnished to Ray Basso.
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It's a blast from the past to watch this interview. Mike is responsible in large part for me getting into Weber smokers. I remember reading about his successes on The BBQ Forum and thought, "Well, if a WSM is good enough to win a BBQ contest, it's good enough for me in the backyard." And the rest is history. :wsm22:
 
I got my copy of the book 2 days ago. Am thoroughly enjoying it at a leisurely pace.
It's making me want to build a small stick burner.
Probably should slap myself around a bit for a while....
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the book. One takeaway was his restaurant schedule. He pulls his briskets off at midnight for lunch service the next day. What?!?

I remember a forum entry about how to get your briskets to be jelly-like and someone suggested a 4 hour rest instead of 1 hour which is now what I usually do. Well, what about an 11-13 hour rest like at Franklin BBQ? How does he do it? Is it sitting in a low temp oven still wrapped in his patented pink butcher paper for that long? I don't think it will hold it's heat for that long in the standard wrapped-in-towels-in-a-cooler method.

Thoughts?

joe
 
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