Ray Riley discussing USDA beef grading at Camp Brisket
The tenth Camp Brisket, a joint venture between Foodways Texas and the Meat Science program of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, was held on January 7-8 , 2022 at the Rosenthal Meat Center and the Thomas G. Hildebrand, ’56 DVM Equine Complex. About 100 participants embarked on a journey to learn more about the ultimate challenge preparing that most difficult dish of Texas Barbecue cuisine, the brisket.
Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, Jade Cooper, and Jeff Savell
This year’s Camp Brisket was coordinated by Texas A&M University meat science educators, Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, Jade Cooper, and Jeff Savell, and who were assisted by graduate students and undergraduate students including Sydni Borders, Kylie Burriss, Ben Crockett, Shelley Curry, Julie Diebel, Ayleen Gonzalez, Reid Harris, Katie Kendrick, Lauren Lee, Ian Lovell, Karlie Lowe, Thachary Mayer, Mirjam Pearman, Trent Schwartz, Cory Sinkule, Tori Teegarden, and Anna Welch. Special thanks to Thomas Larriviere, McKinney, Texas and to Lauren Larriviere, Hays Middle School and Jackson Larriviere, Rock Hill High School, Frisco, Texas for their help in conducting the camp. These great folks ensured that the needs of the briskets, pitmasters, and guests were attended to through the camp.
Davey Griffin and Jade Cooper going over data
Marvin Bendele, Foodways Texas, welcomed the participants to Camp Brisket. Greetings and introductions are part of the beginning of each Camp Brisket. Getting to know each other is one way to create community that is so important when we conduct these workshops. With each camp, this process takes longer, but we know that many people enjoyed getting to know who all was there.
Brisket procurement and trimming
Before Camp Brisket starts, work begins on procuring the briskets representing different types and grades, trimming them, and applying the salt/pepper seasoning (we used a 4:1 volume of course pepper to Kosher salt). John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, led the brisket trimming and seasoning effort.
Ayleen Gonzalez
Vacuum packaged briskets at Camp Brisket
Brisket use and anatomy
The first talks were by Jess Pryles, cook, writer, and TV personality, on the difference between restaurant and competition brisket, and Davey Griffin, on the anatomy and trimming of a brisket.
Davey Griffin
Davey Griffin talking about where brisket comes from
Davey Griffin describing beef brisket anatomy
Cooked brisket slicing
Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue and Jeff Savell talked about and demonstrated proper cooked brisket slicing.
Aron Franklin slicing brisket at Camp Brisket
Aron Franklin slicing brisket at Camp Brisket
Tasting different grades of brisket
The first tasting test we did was for different grades of brisket. We obtained five different grades/types of briskets for use in this demonstration: Snake River Farms’s American Wagyu, Prime, Tyson’s Chairman’s Reserve, Choice, and Select. These briskets and the remaining ones used for the camp were trimmed to have no more than about 1/4 inch of fat remaining anywhere. Each brisket was seasoned with a 4:1 ratio by volume of restaurant-style coarse-ground black pepper and Kosher salt. The briskets for the grade/type demonstration were cooked by John Brotherton of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue on his offset smoker. We used oak logs as the source of heat and smoke.
John Brotherton and Israel “Pody” Campos seasoning briskets
Seasoned briskets beginning the smoking process
Briskets for Camp Brisket
Each grade/type of brisket was sliced so that each participant received a lean portion to rate on a ballot. When completed, the ballots were tabulated by the students to determine whether the participants could tell the difference in the grades or types of brisket. The winners? Chairman’s Reserve, Prime, and The Snake River Farms’ American Wagyu were at the top. Each year, this taste comparison usually results in Prime and Wagyu near the top and Select being near the bottom in ratings. There are perceivable differences in eating quality among different grades and types of briskets, and those interested in producing the best cooked briskets possible need to be aware of this.
Camp Brisket 2022 overall liking ratings
Students serving different grades of beef brisket
Reid Harris, Julie Diebel, and Karlie Lowe
Beef grading discussion
Ray Riley and Jade Cooper gave a beef grading demonstration talking about the USDA beef grades so that the participants would know more about the various labels and brands associated with the meat they purchase.
Jade Cooper and Ray Riley describing beef marbling scores
Ray Riley describing beef quality grades
Ray Riley and Jade Cooper talking about beef grades and briskets
Jade Cooper discussing beef grading
Friday night dinner
We moved to the Hildebrand Equine Complex for the rest of the program. We were blessed to have food from two groups involved with dinner that night. Israel “Pody” Campos from Pody’s BBQ, Pecos, Texas and friends prepared great food along with Homer Robertson, world champion chuck wagon competitor, who provided bread pudding and apple crisp for the crowd. The food was enjoyed by all!
Israel “Pody” Campos serving food at Camp Brisket
Homer Robertson, Joe Riscky, Tuffy Stone, and JArthur Garcia
Overnight smoking at Camp Brisket
The next brisket comparison was to smoke briskets overnight using the four primary woods — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Multiple pits were used for the overnight cooking. We used Prime briskets, trimmed and seasoned as mentioned before, for the comparison, and briskets were put on the smokers Friday afternoon so that they would be ready to serve around lunch time on Saturday.
Davey Griffin checking briskets
Chuck wagon breakfast
Saturday morning became a time for a great chuck wagon breakfast of biscuits and gravy and breakfast tacos made with sausage and brisket from Homer Robertson, JArthur Garcia, Joe Riscky, Joel Phillips, Misty Roegels, and some of the students. Thanks to everyone for such a great breakfast experience enjoying the chuck wagon breakfast.
Joe Riscky, Homer Robertson, and JArthur Garcia
Jackson Larriviere and Joel Phillips pouring campfire coffee
Lauren Larriviere and Thachary Mayer making gravy
Pit discussion
Participants had a chance to see the different types of pits that were used to cook with. In addition to the pitmasters who were in attendance for the camp, Coy Christoffel, Pitts and Spitts and Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC demonstrated various products from their companies.
Davey Griffin describing his barbecue pit
Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue
Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products LLC
Coy Christoffel, Pitts and Spitts
Patrick Reardon
Pit design and maintenance panel
A pit design and maintenance panel was composed of Arnis Robbins, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Jason Pruitt, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; and Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts; Sunny Moberg, Moberg Smokers with Davey Griffin as the moderator. Each panelist added his own take on what types of pits/cookers they preferred and what they did to make sure they were used to their best ability.
Barbecue Pit Design and Maintenance Panel at Camp Brisket.
Barbecue Pit Design and Maintenance Panel at Camp Brisket
Ryan Zboril, Pitts and Spitts
Arnis Robbins, Evie Mae’s BBQ, on Barbecue Pit Design and Maintenance Panel
Davey Griffin, moderating the Barbecue Pit Design and Maintenance Panel
Smoke tasting panel
Lunch that day was the tasting of the briskets prepared using the four different smokes — oak, hickory, mesquite, and pecan. Each participant received a small slice of brisket from each smoke and were asked to rate it on 9-point scales. Students tabulated the results, and there were no differences among the four woods for sensory panel ratings. In 2019, participants found no differences in preference for the four different smokes used. Most other years, either oak or hickory wins this competition, but we are amazed that there are really few differences in how the participants rate these briskets cooked with different woods/smokes.
Tuffy Stone slicing briskets
Students serving food at Camp Brisket
Pitmasters slicing briskets at Camp Brisket
Ben Crockett, Reid Harris, and Thachary Mayer serving food
Seasonings and barbecue science
Ryan Heger, Adams Extract and Seasoning, spent some time going over different seasonings outside of the normal use of salt and pepper. Jeff Savell discussed some of the science behind meat and barbecue and fielded questions from the crowd regarding a wide array of topics.
Ryan Heger, Adams Extract and Seasoning at Camp Brisket
One of the topics was whether postmortem aging was necessary for Texas-style briskets. Our works shows that postmortem aging does not improve tenderness of briskets.
Life as a pitmaster panel
One of the most highly regarded parts of Camp Brisket is the final panel, moderated by Jeff Savell, which featured Arnis Robbins and Nathan Pier, Evie Mae’s BBQ; Bryan Bracewell, Southside Market and Barbeque; Russell Roegels, Roegels Barbecue; John Brotherton, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue; Israel “Pody” Campos, Pody’s BBQ; Tuffy Stone, Stick Burner/ Chef, Richmond, Virginia; Luis Rivis, Rivs Smoke & Grill; and Tootsie Tomanetz, Snow’s BBQ. The title of the panel was “Life as a Pitmaster,” and it gave each person a time to reflect on their path to where they are now, the challenges and opportunities they each face, and why in this crazy world of barbecue, they love this business so much.
Life as a Pitmaster Panel. Front row: Russell Roegels, Tuffy Stone, Israel “Pody” Campos, and Luis Rivis. Back row: Bryan Bracewell, Nathan Pier, Jeff Savell, John Brotherton, Arnis Robbins, and Tootsie Tomanetz.
Send off meal
The final meal was a comparison of wrapped versus unwrapped briskets. We did not conduct another taste test as most participants are facing “brisket fatigue” at this point, and are ready for something fairly light as they depart.
We end Camp Brisket for this year and know that many people from all walks of life have come together to bond over barbecue in general, but with the common goal of how to tackle the challenge that is the brisket! Thanks for Misty Roegels and Debra Reardon for coming to the camp along with their husbands.
