Since moving to California a year and a half ago, we’ve eaten west coast barbecue a couple of times.
Here’s the gig…Californians get a raw deal about a lot of things. You know, nicknames like “Land of the Fruits and Nuts” and infamous spreads in the National Enquirer. But most Californians are super-nice folks, just like you and me. However, one thing they have no business doing is cooking barbecue.
Last year, I attended a holiday party at Tech Guy’s office. When I asked about the beef (decent, but not amazing) I was eating, the woman who organized the event informed me she’d discovered the cut—tri-tip—in Texas.
Huh?
I’d never heard of tri-tip until I hit the west coast. Texas brisket and this stuff are not the same cut of meat. They don’t taste the same and don’t have the same texture. Apparently tri-tip is a cut from the bottom sirloin and brisket from the front pectoralis muscle. And by all rights, brisket is a tougher cut of meat than tri-tip. So tri-tip is much yummier, yes?
Photo from: http://www.williamsonhousesauceforums.com
Uh…nuh uh.
To produce a tender barbecue brisket, you have to be a patient cook (or know one). With tri-tip, I hear you can just slap it near a heat source, and it’s good to go.
Californians, y’all just hang onto the tri-tip because we’re doomed if you ever discover the beauty of Texas-cooked brisket. We don’t have room for all y’all’s Mercedes sedans in the Brisket Barn’s parking lot :-).
For those uneducated in the ways of Texas barbecue, here’s the perfect menu for a tasty meal: A chopped brisket sandwich, some mustard potato salad, fried okra, pickles, white bread, spicy tomato-based bbq sauce, peach cobbler and a cold Shiner beer.
Is it lunchtime yet?
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Today is Girl Scout Day. I don’t know about you, but I plan to celebrate by munching on a couple of Thin Mints stashed in my freezer. Are you a Thin Mints or a Samoa lover?
Can you believe these innocent looking little gals hustle over 200 million boxes of cookies each year?
