07-17-2017, 06:27 PM
@JimmyinSD might find this interesting since he is my Q brother. I have become something of an enthusiast over the years and am constantly looking for validation of my techniques and reviewing against others. Jimmy probabaly knows every time I cook, or at least a good number of times I cook as I usually drop him a text asking him "what was the the how you did that thing with the chicken/ribs/beef etc again?" I reached my pinnacle achievment of validation recently when a friend of my wife's from Austin TX told me that my brisket stood up to anything she had ever had before.
So something that I find satisfying is looking at a list of local BBQ joints and reading the reviews to see things like "AMAZING! BEST BBQ in the MIDWEST" and other such raving reviews, only to try it and find out your own is like 10 times better.
Today I went to a little local hole in the wall called "Smoke In The Pit BBQ" in South Minneapolis... And I mean that's all it was, a hole in the wall your order through and get your food out of. I actually usually take that as a good sign. So I talked to the people running it for a bit.Saw a pic of their pit and sure enough it was a drum.... but sideways. Told them they had their drum knocked over.... I think they were taken aback by a white guy that looked like he could be Andy Griffith's deputy chatting them up about their Q. But they were friendly folks.
Anyway I got a pound of their brisket and a tub of slaw.... Well the brisket was decent. It had moke flavor and there was a bit of a smoke ring but nothing to write home about. It had ok bark for how moist the meat was but you could tell it was sliced and set in beef broth for keeping. I suppose that's how it goes for serving as a restaurant. The only real problem with the product was that every other bite had a big piece of fat in it. I don't mind fat but you gotta trim your fat caps on your brisket. I can imagine if you are a restaurant trying to stretch the product that it would be easy to leave a bit too much fat on but honestly the product would have been markedly improved if there wasn't sooo much fat flavor in there never mind the texture that too much fat provides. Then again there is so much room for opinion in Q as to what people like. But in my opinion fat imparts a flavor of it's own and too much of it takes away from the flavor provided by the meat fibers.
The slaw was a creamy mustardy slaw that for my preference had too much "juice" to it. I like a creamy slaw but not when it is too soupy. This would have been great on a pulled pork sandwich as a topper, but as a standalone was a bit too soupy for me.
Anyway I gave them 3/5 stars in my review. If you are in Minneapolis and haven't been there I would recommend giving it a try. And then after that let me serve you dinner sometime.
So something that I find satisfying is looking at a list of local BBQ joints and reading the reviews to see things like "AMAZING! BEST BBQ in the MIDWEST" and other such raving reviews, only to try it and find out your own is like 10 times better.
Today I went to a little local hole in the wall called "Smoke In The Pit BBQ" in South Minneapolis... And I mean that's all it was, a hole in the wall your order through and get your food out of. I actually usually take that as a good sign. So I talked to the people running it for a bit.Saw a pic of their pit and sure enough it was a drum.... but sideways. Told them they had their drum knocked over.... I think they were taken aback by a white guy that looked like he could be Andy Griffith's deputy chatting them up about their Q. But they were friendly folks.
Anyway I got a pound of their brisket and a tub of slaw.... Well the brisket was decent. It had moke flavor and there was a bit of a smoke ring but nothing to write home about. It had ok bark for how moist the meat was but you could tell it was sliced and set in beef broth for keeping. I suppose that's how it goes for serving as a restaurant. The only real problem with the product was that every other bite had a big piece of fat in it. I don't mind fat but you gotta trim your fat caps on your brisket. I can imagine if you are a restaurant trying to stretch the product that it would be easy to leave a bit too much fat on but honestly the product would have been markedly improved if there wasn't sooo much fat flavor in there never mind the texture that too much fat provides. Then again there is so much room for opinion in Q as to what people like. But in my opinion fat imparts a flavor of it's own and too much of it takes away from the flavor provided by the meat fibers.
The slaw was a creamy mustardy slaw that for my preference had too much "juice" to it. I like a creamy slaw but not when it is too soupy. This would have been great on a pulled pork sandwich as a topper, but as a standalone was a bit too soupy for me.
Anyway I gave them 3/5 stars in my review. If you are in Minneapolis and haven't been there I would recommend giving it a try. And then after that let me serve you dinner sometime.
Is this thing on?
