Hmmm...What Do We Have Here? Or: Having a Pitmaster For a Friend is Advantageous

[Purc]

Great. You're set for a while I would think. Now if only your brewery friend had a spare keg or two.

[58limited]

Well, unfortunately the brewery was a victim of COVID and the poor economy and changing drinking habits. It closed 12/31/24. I do have a 64oz growler and 4 cans of his signature stout in the fridge - hoarding it.

[DaveD]

That's... a whole lotta beef! Dayum son, what a score!

[dpearce]

What a score! I need a friend like that!

[LA Pork Butt]

The mortal of this story is make friends with your local pitmaster!

[Alan Brice]

Suuweeeet!!!

[klflowers]

Nice!!! I'm moving in with you.

[58limited]

I stopped by Redbird BBQ today to give them some of the Sriracha that I made last month using Meathead 's recipe from the free side. I talked with Amir, the owner, and things are going great! The burger joint that he plans to open is still happening, just had a delay in financing. He has expanded his hours to evenings on Thursdays and Fridays in addition to his regular hours of 11am- sold out on Th-Sat.

Amir is really pumped: the business is going great and Texas Highways Magazine just announced in this month's magazine that Redbird BBQ has the best boudin on the Texas Boudin Trail (defined by them as extending along I-10 from Houston to the Texas border at Orange). 1701 BBQ in Beaumont has great boudin too.

It is kinda fun watching Amir as he works, you can tell he is living the dream. He is genuinely giddy when he pulls briskets and ribs out to season. Today when I was there it was ribs. He is cooking 40 slabs a day now. He was excitedly showing me the rib racks and how they are thicker and have better marbling than grocery store ribs. He is right, I just bought some from HEB, not as nice as the ones Amir showed me. I joked that I should start buying from him and he said that I should - I hope he is serious, I'll take him up on that offer.

Today, Amir gave me a bunch of 35-38mm sausage casings. They were samples that a vendor sent to him. He said there is nothing wrong with them but he just likes the ones he is already using. From what he and one of his employees was saying when I walked up I think they were going in the trash if I hadn't shown up. Talk about good timing, I'm set for sausage making for quite awhile with these!

[Panhead John]

58limited I’ve always known that the ribs we buy from the grocery just ain’t the same as what these BBQ guys can get. A day or two before the MeatUp would you get a slab for me and I’ll pay you when we get there? Does he get them frozen or fresh? If they’re fresh, I’d like to keep em that way so I can cut a slab in half and freeze the other part. Thanks!

[58limited]

Panhead John He had already trimmed the slabs I saw, they looked like 9 or 10 bone slabs instead of 12 bone. He uses the trim for boudin. I'll ask him if he was serious about selling me a slab or two. I'd like one myself.