Category Archives: Uncategorized

Smoking Ground Beef Patties

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Color and Food Safety Considerations When Smoking versus Grilling Ground Beef Patties Dr. Davey Griffin, Professor and Extension Meat Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Several barbecue companies have been featuring specials such as smoked hamburgers to expand their menu selections.  Dr. Davey Griffin recently wrote “Color and Food Safety Considerations When Smoking versus Grilling Ground Beef Patties” to help chefs and consumers understand what differences to expect when smoking ground beef.  Internal pink color associated with a traditional smoke ring can oftentimes be mistaken for the ground… Read More →

Aggies participate in Texas Monthly ‘Cue Course

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Davey Griffin, Brogan Horton, and Jeff Savell joined Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor, Daniel Vaughn, at the Texas Monthly ‘Cue Course, held on November 2, 2019. This is the third ‘Cue Course offered by Texas Monthly. The event was hosted by Stiles Switch BBQ, Austin, Texas, which served a wonderful meal to the participants and allowed a behind-the-scenes look at the the pits and pitmasters at work. General topics of this year’s ‘Cue Course included brisket grades and anatomy, a discussion of beef short ribs and back ribs, and… Read More →

PBS series, “BBQ with Franklin,” visits Texas A&M University

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The PBS series, “BBQ with Franklin,” featured a segment on the award-winning Beef 101 program in Episode 9, “Pickin’ Beef.” Aaron Franklin, who was a participant in Beef 101 several years ago, came back to campus to show his audience about the cuts of beef, especially those from the rib section, which are quite popular in the barbecue scene these days. Aaron set in on an overview of anatomy by Davey Griffin, was in a beef cutting group led by Leslie Frenzel, and paid a visit to the… Read More →

Aggies participate in General Electric Science of Barbecue Experience at South By Southwest

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Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell participated in the General Electric Science of Barbecue Experience, which was held in conjunction with South By Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 14-15, 2015. The group made two presentations, the first one on the cuts of pork and beef used for barbecue, and the second one on trimming and seasoning of beef briskets. The key feature of the Science of Barbecue Experience was the 12-foot smoker that was used to demonstrate the technical side of cooking/smoking. Evan LeRoy of Freedmen’s… Read More →

The End of Cheap Beef : TMBBQ

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BY DANIEL VAUGHN · JANUARY 6, 2015 That beef is more expensive than it was a year ago is no surprise, and this trend doesn’t look to be easing up anytime soon. As David Anderson, a Texas A&M professor of ag economics, told a room full of barbecue joint owners last month at the university’s first-ever Barbecue Town Hall, retailers should plan on two or three years of elevated pricing. Of the many slides he presented that illustrated the corn, pork, and beef markets, the one on average wholesale prices of beef showed that numbers… Read More →

Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held

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About 20 Texas Barbecue restaurant operators and Texas Barbecue authors/writers participated in the Texas Barbecue Town Hall meeting held at the Kleberg Animal and Food Science Center and Rosenthal Meat Center on Monday, December 15, 2014. Dr. David Anderson, economist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, gave an update on livestock and meat markets, and Davey Griffin, professor and meat specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, gave an overview of the certification and branding meat programs most commonly found in the marketplace. After lunch, participants… Read More →

Whole pig cooking in Texas Barbecue

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The last lecture in Texas Barbecue each year is whole pig cooking at the Savell home. This is always one of the highlights of the semester, and the students enjoy seeing the process of cooking a whole pig in a cinder-block pit. We obtained a smaller pig than our usual ones we have cooked in the past. This pig weighed about 85 pounds and was much easier to handle and cook compared to the usual 150- to 200-pound pigs we usually get to cook. We had planned to… Read More →

Lamb and goat barbecue

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Lamb and goat are not high-volume meat products in the U.S., and they are most commonly consumed by various ethnic groups where tradition and culture drive the preferences for them. Although both lamb and goat may be used in Texas Barbecue, lamb may be most often used in West Texas, and goat, especially cabrito, would be prepared most often in South Texas. For class, we prepared lamb and goat three different ways: spit-roasted goat, crown rack of lamb, and rotisserie-roasted rosemary lamb leg. The spit-roasted goat was placed… Read More →

Creative Sausage Making workshop scheduled for October 11-12, 2013 | Meat Science

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Creative Sausage Making, to be held on at the Rosenthal Meat Center on the campus of Texas A&M University on October 11th-12th, 2013, was developed by the processed meats experts at Texas A&M AgriLife after numerous requests for a basic sausage course that would allow a “first timer” to be successful, or a “seasoned” veteran to pick up some new tips. The hands-on workshop will engage participants in important aspects of sausage making from meat selection, ingredients, casings, stuffing, equipment, processing and final finished product. Participants will manufacture their own sausages (smoked and fresh sausage) and have an opportunity to take… Read More →

Brisket “Stall” Demonstrated During Camp Brisket

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One of the most frustrating and confusing events that occurs when smoking meat products is the time period when the meat seems to just quit cooking. The temperature levels off and will not elevate regardless of how hot the pit temperature (which is the first thing that most inexperienced barbecuers will do). During our recent Camp Brisket, we were able to demonstrate the “stall” that larger meat cuts go through during smoking. Actually, the stall has been scientifically documented to be evaporative cooling that is occurring around the… Read More →