Comment by joshuakcockrell
9 hours ago
Someone needs to solve barbecue. The entire industry is based on feel and experience. Why can't a beginner replicate Franklin's brisket by following a recipe online?
It's probably because the main measuring instrument (a probe thermometer) doesn't provide any feedback about fat rendering, moisture, etc. Plus, every brisket cut has different fat ratios and thickness, which means a recipe can't guarantee identical inputs like bread baking. I'd love for someone to throw some over the top engineering & experimentation at this.
The hobbyist cannot replicate Franklin’s brisket because Franklin’s knowledge, ingredients, tools, and their corresponding interactions are largely not attainable to the hobbyist. Franklin has better smokers than the hobbyist and knows how to use them better. Franklin also has dibs on the premier runs of Creekstone Farms briskets that the hobbyist can hardly come by.
The hobbyist can approximate that brisket to a reasonable degree. However, that involves smoking a, hopefully not literal, ton of brisket. Given the cost of beef, time to smoke, and effort it takes to meal-plan brisket throughout the week, attaining Franklin-level quality consistently is a tough row to hoe.