Where I"m from people literally put pork in a crock pot, pour in a bunch of store bought corn syrup "barbeque sauce" and call it barbeque. I've been eating q all over the country for decades and about a decade ago I realized if I wanted real q at home I was going to have to make it myself. Now look, when it comes to brisket I don't care if it's super tender if it's also super fatty and flavorless. There's plenty of that going around, and when people right "It was so tender" it makes me wonder where they're coming from and if they can tell real q from something roasted in an oven and covered in sauce. I trim my briskets so I can get the rub right on the meant for a better bark and get more smoke penetration. I know this is devil's talk to some of y'all, but seriously *plenty* of comp winners trim theirs down quite a bit. I also don't use sauce, I've always felt good q just doesn't require it. Typically at home I'll eat brisket on a bun with some sliced onions and a little Tabasco, that's it. When I make ribs I'll serve a little sauce on the side since folks are accustomed to having sauce but most won't do more than dip a small bit in it. The whole idea is if you make it right, it's the magical combination of meat, rub, smoke and time that does it all. So that's how I like my brisket, and now y'all know where I'm coming from. And that's exactly what I got at Mikeska's. I dropped in at an odd hour and it wasn't too busy, and the two young folks helping me behind the counter were very kind, attentive and professional, and when she pointed out the condiments area to me and I found sliced white onions and sliced pickled jalapeno's along with plenty of jars of Tabasco ( the One Hot Sauce to Rule Them All). I was in heaven, it felt just like eating in my back yard, but without being exhausted from minding the smoker and without the mosquitoes. Was it falling apart ? Nope, I had to cut it with a knife, but man it had fully developed flavors. Nice deep banding, great bark and a very flavorful savory rub .... it was so good all I did was sprinkle some Tabasco on it, have a little bit of jalapeno and onion and eat some brisket. Not a lick of sauce required, just meat, smoke and rub talking to me. By contrast later that night I had brisket elsewhere that was falling apart, but was surrounded by a good half inch of fat so no smoke got to the meat, no rub, and everything just tasted like fat. I ended up throwing out more than I ate. It make me appreciate the brisket I got at Mikeskas all that much more. I understand if you eat here a lot you're gonna hit good days, bad days, etc. If you eat a ton of brisket all over the place you're gonna have your own opinion on what you like. But for me everything just hit on all points and I was happy as a pig in mud. I don't go handing out 5 stars easily but this meal earned it.
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