[Steven] Cooking brisket is like playing chess: easy to learn, but difficult to master.

Salt, pepper and wood smoke are the only ingredients you need for barbecued brisket.

But without a skillful hand, you'll wind up with beef that's as tough as proverbial shoe leather.

Today we explore brisket in its many manifestations.

From classic Texas brisket...

It's like if beef were butter.

The fat just melts right over.

[Steven] It just melts right into your tongue.

...to Korean barbecue.

I can't believe I'm eating brisket that was cooked for all of 30 seconds.

From traditional old-world meats.

[Jake] This is grandma style brisket; slow roasted in a gravy, and for hours and hours and hours.

[Steven] ...to cutting-edge Japanese ramen.

The smoky brisket, the vibrant Asian flavorings, this is a perfect marriage of Japanese cuisine and Texas barbecue.

From San Antonio, Texas, I'm Steven Raichlen.

Welcome to Planet Barbecue.

[opening theme music] [announcer] Steven Raichlen's "Planet Barbecue" is made possible by... [narrator 1] This is the Big Green Egg, where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at BigGreenEgg.com.

[narrator 2] Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

[music] Shun Cutlery handcrafted in Japan.

[narrator 3] Father's Cooker, multi-fuel, multifunction.

[narrator 3] Argentine Beef proudly supports "Planet Barbecue."

[narrator 4] Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

[announcer] And by the following: [Steven] It's the toughest, orneriest cut of beef.

Without it, there would be no Texas brisket, Irish corned beef, or Jewish pastrami.

It represents only 3% of a steer's edible meat, but it towers over the world's food scene.

And any self-respecting barbecue buff better know how to cook it, and who serves the very best.

Today we're talking brisket.

If barbecue is a religion, this is its mecca.

And if there's one man responsible for the brisket renaissance, it's the owner, Aaron Franklin.

[Aaron] That's an incredibly efficient fire.

[Steven] It's a freezing morning, but people have been lined up for hours.

At 11 o'clock, the doors open and we're about to enter brisket paradise.

It's 10:59.

Well, good morning.

[Man] Thank you, sir.

[Aaron] Long time no see.

Yeah, shoot around there.

Nathan will get you at the end.

[Steven] Aaron began his barbecue journey like everyone else: with a humble backyard cookout.

This evolved into the original Franklin Barbecue trailer, which opened off the interstate in 2009.

[Aaron] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Grab whatever you guys want.

No big deal.

[Steven] What is it about brisket?

Why does it tower over all other barbecue?

You know, the fact that it's kind of an intimidating piece of meat kind of makes it like-- You know how much labor goes into it, you know how much work goes into it, how long it takes.

And when you get a really good piece of brisket, it really means something.

[Steven] At Franklin Barbecue, the journey to great brisket begins with the trim.

You're trimming more than most guys trim briskets.

[Aaron] Yep.

For us, it's kind of a delicate balance of the real estate on the cookers.

Okay.

So, if they're too wide, we can only fit three deep, but if we trim them a little bit, then we get a whole other row in there.

So, it's kind of for the greater good-- [Steven] I gotcha.

[Aaron] --that we lose a little bit more upfront.

[Steven] They come in at what weight?

[Aaron] Optimal weight for us is 15 pounds.

[Steven] Okay.

[Aaron] And then we'll likely trim off about five.

That stuff goes into sausage.

After it cooks, by the time we cut it on the board, we'll probably sell four and a half to five pounds of it.

[Steven] Wow, so that is a 66% [Aaron] It's pretty bad.

[Steven] --shrink rate.

How many briskets do you go through a week?

[Aaron] I'd have to pull out a calculator, but it's hovering around the 40 to 45,000 pounds a month.

[Steven] So what's on your rub?

[Aaron] Salt and pepper.

It's about half and half, and then we add a little bit of pepper as the shaker kind of gets more empty.

[Steven] Anything under?

Mustard, vinegar under?

[Aaron] No.

Sometimes we splash a little bit of water on there if we need something to stick.

We don't use any slathers or anything.

[Steven] This brisket is smoking for how long?

[Aaron] Probably about 14 hours.

Briskets go on about 10 in the morning.

Maybe about midnight is hopefully when the first couple start to trickle off, and they'll, you know, two or three at a time they'll come off for the next few hours.

You said the first couple come.

You're not just putting a whole load in and taking a whole load out?

[Aaron] Everyone's different.

We wrap them in butcher paper about seven, eight o'clock at night.

[Steven] So the wrap seals in moistness.

[Aaron] Mhmm.

[Steven] But because it's paper, it allows the meat to breathe.

[Aaron] Well, so it breathes a little bit until it becomes grease soaked.

In that case, it kind of forms a good seal.

It helps the brisket cook a little bit faster.

It retains a lot of moisture.

Also, it helps the brisket from getting over smoked.

What do you think are the most common mistakes with brisket at home?

The two mistakes that I hear most often are people become impatient.

Duh.

It takes forever.

I always just, by rule of thumb, give it 12 hours.

Okay.

Gone.

But then you have to calculate carryover.

Just because you pull it off the cooker doesn't mean it's ready to slice into.

I mean, it looks pretty when you cut a piece of meat right off of it, but it hasn't rested.

So you would let it rest for how long?

Till it gets down to about 140.

[Steven] So 140 is the ideal temperature.

[Aaron] Yeah, but if it's 200, I mean, that might take really four hours.

Our briskets aren't even going into the warmer till maybe five, six in the morning.

I'm going to go ahead and take the liberty-- [Steven] Okay.

[Aaron] --to share that with you.

[Steven] Fantastic, so.

[Aaron] That's a pretty good piece right there.

Mm.

Oh my God, so.

First thing, I'm getting richness.

I'm getting-- It's like if beef were butter.

The fat just melts right over.

It just melts right into your tongue.

Beautiful, salty crust.

Beefy.

[Aaron] Mhmm.

[Steven] So this is from the point, the top piece.

[Aaron] Right.

This is the point.

To say we're looking at like lean slices, this is something from the middle of the brisket.

You know, holds up under its weight, but pulls apart.

[Steven] Okay, so that's an important principle.

So it holds up under its own weight.

It doesn't fall apart.

Because that would be overcooked, But I can pull it apart gently with my fingers, a feather-like touch.

This piece, mm.

This is kind of how-- More about the meat, more about the beef.

Definitely more about the beef.

Extraordinarily rich and buttery.

Yeah.

Which for the lean part of the brisket is pretty amazing.

It's pretty cool.

Mm.

Aaron, this is just fantastic.

Fantastic brisket and you're a fantastic human being.

Aw, shucks.

Thank you.

Put her there.

Okay.

Cheers, guys.

There is certainly no shortage of barbecue in Texas, especially unique barbecue.

This is a first in my barbecue career: a brisket chocolate chip cookie.

Our next stop is Kemuri Tatsu-ya, or Smoke Shack, literally.

What sets this restaurant apart on the Austin barbecue scene is its skillful blending of traditional Japanese cuisine with Texas barbecue.

Japanese cuisine and Texas barbecue.

How do they come together?

I mean, because at first glance, it seems like they would have nothing in common.

I think that's the beauty about Texas barbecue is essentially it's very simple.

You know, you have meat, very simple seasonings, you let the smoke do the flavoring.

That's kind of almost essentially the same philosophy as Japanese cooking.

It's very pure.

In a sense, where they meet is this simplicity and purity of flavors.

Yeah, I think that's the core, you know?

It's really playing with the idea of, yes, we have the main core components.

Now what can we do?

Is smoke a big part of Japanese cuisine?

In the context of whole Japanese cuisine, it's not mentioned too much.

But the core and the soul of Japanese cuisine, which is dashi, that has smoked elements.

And dashi is a broth, right?

Dashi is a broth that we use-- For sauces and stews and dipping sauces.

Yeah, and braising liquid and all kinds of stuff.

So, you cannot start a Japanese restaurant or anything without knowing how to make dashi.

[Steven] Let's talk about a few of the dishes.

One that intrigued me is your brisket ramen.

[Tatsu] To make the stock, we actually smoke the bones.

[Steven] You smoke the beef bones.

[Tatsu] Yes.

It's very clear stock, but it has like a light smoke flavor in the back.

[Steven] Next in the bowl are the boiled ramen noodles.

To that a flourish of chili oil, a dash of black pepper, and fresh scallions.

Then pickled mustard greens... ...marinated bamboo shoots... ...and some bean sprouts.

Next in is half of a soy cured egg... ...a couple slices of house barbecued brisket... ...and it's all topped off with a sheet of nori seaweed.

Another dish that caught my eye on your menu are the hot pockets.

Now, I know what a hot pocket is in America, but what is a hot pocket for you?

[Tatsu] So we fry tofu and it forms a nice crispy layer of skin.

It creates a pocket inside.

You know, I figured we could stuff it with brisket and smoked cheddar cheese.

I thought they would make great little snacks, you know?

[Steven] Insane.

[Tatsu] You know, in Japan, we usually eat stuff with sweet rice and stuff, and we marinate the tofu and stuff like that.

All right, here we have our hot pockets.

Okay.

And then this is our Texas ramen.

Oh, man.

Fantastic.

Thank you, Tako.

Enjoy.

[Steven] First the hot pocket.

You can see it's the perfect finger food.

Mm.

This is fantastic.

Crisp, cheesy crust, the melty picante cheese inside, the smokey brisket, the tender tofu.

This is the sort of hot pocket I could eat every day for the rest of my life.

Now, ramen is one of my all-time favorite dishes, and this one looks incredible.

So, I always like to start by trying the broth.

Mm.

The broth is a little sweet, very meaty, very rich, and there's an underlying smoke flavor; the result of smoking the beef bones.

And now the various ingredients.

Of course, I want to start with the brisket.

Mm.

Wonderfully tender brisket.

Rich, melting.

Do I get a little whiff of sesame?

Maybe from the crust?

The noodles, of course.

Mm.

And a soy cured egg.

The smokey brisket, the vibrant Asian flavorings.

This is a perfect marriage of Japanese cuisine and Texas barbecue.

New York City is the next stop on our brisket adventure.

And there is no better place to start than the legendary Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side.

[Jake] Hate it, right?

[Steven] Oh-- [Jake] It's terrible, yeah.

There's a reason we don't sell any of that.

It's not our most popular thing.

[Steven] Jake Dell, you are fifth generation owner of Katz's Deli.

You guys have been here for 130 years.

That's correct.

What's the secret to your success?

It's right there.

It's in that bite.

It's all the food.

Doing the best pastrami, brisket, corned beef, pickles, doing it all the old-fashioned way and sticking to the old traditions that everyone wants to come here for.

This is an old-fashioned grandma style brisket.

Okay.

You know, slow roasted in a gravy for hours and hours and hours.

Second only to your grandmother.

And I'm totally fine being second place in this situation.

[Steven] So, I'm guessing this is brisket flat.

[Jake] Exactly right.

Versus pastrami, which is a navel cut.

The process on this, is it braised, is it boiled?

It's essentially a braised process.

And it's different than, say, a Texas brisket, right?

We're not smoking this brisket.

We're smoking the pastramis, because traditionally, that's what we always did here.

[Steven] The color of this is absolutely extraordinary.

What gives this the color?

[Jake] All we're doing is we're taking this same cut of brisket, and instead of braising it, instead of doing all these things, we're going to take that big, whole, raw brisket and we're going to dump it in a salt bath.

And we're going to cure it and we're going to let it pickle for four weeks, and then four weeks later that's what we got.

Four weeks.

So, you have a lot of time and money-- [Jake] I got nothing but time.

--tied up in these products.

[Jake chuckling] [Jake] So we'll go through about 2,000 or 3,000 pounds of the brisket every week.

About 7,000 or 8,000 pounds of the corned beef every week.

And as much as 20,000 pounds of pastrami every single week.

[Steven] Holy cow, as it were.

All right, I got three meats here.

I got brisket, I've got corned beef, pastrami.

Which meat are you, Jake Dell?

That's my favorite.

Pastrami is my favorite.

You're a pastrami guy.

On rye with a little bit of mustard.

It's the classic.

You can't go wrong with that.

Thin or thick?

See, misconception.

Okay.

Misconception.

Thin or thick is a byproduct of a more important question-- What's the more important question?

--which is, how long do you cook that pastrami?

How long do you cook that pastrami?

Forever.

[Steven] Okay.

So, it's everything that can be done to a piece of meat gets done to that piece of meat.

We're smoking as much as 72 hours.

It's boiled for four plus hours.

It's steamed for another half hour.

It's so juicy, so tender that if you tried to put it on a slicer, it'll just crumble right there.

It'll fall apart.

The hand carving comes because you can't use the slicer.

And guess what?

When you cut by hand, it's naturally going to be a little bit thicker than when you use a slicer.

What about fatty versus lean?

[Jake] Fatty.

Hands down.

But for those that feel uncomfortable saying fatty, say juicy.

[Steven] So that's the euphemism for fatty.

[Jake] Yeah.

You know, it's juicy.

It sounds-- [Steven] Politically correct.

[Jake] Yeah, exactly.

[Steven] And finally, hot or cold?

Hot.

That's not a question, that's a fact.

There's the right way to do it, and that's it.

There's no debate.

All right, got to ask you the question.

When Harry Met Sally.

[Jake] Of course.

Yeah.

Where was Meg Ryan sitting?

So, if you'll notice over our shoulder over there about halfway down, there's a sign hanging from the ceiling that says, "Where Harry met Sally."

That was the table.

We used to keep a sign right on the table-- Fantastic.

--saying, "This is the table where Harry met Sally."

And then people kept stealing that sign.

[Steven] Okay.

[Jake] So then we go, "All right, we'll hang it to the ceiling.

No one can steal it now."

[Steven] Were you here for that?

[Jake] I was very young.

And that actually originated because Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, who was the director, and Nora Ephron, who was the screenwriter, were Katz's regulars.

And they were sitting here eating lunch one day, talking about this movie that was in the works and they were kind of thinking about.

And so, "Oh, we got to get Katz's in here, but we don't really have--" And Nora said, "I'll write a scene, I'll write a scene."

And there you go.

The rest is history.

[Steven] So that's how it happened.

Jake Dell, thank you so much.

I wish you another 130 years and then some.

[Jake] Oh, appreciate it.

Thank you.

[Steven] The final stop on our brisket tour is a Korean barbecue restaurant that cooks brisket in a way I never thought possible.

Mike Sim, you are the executive chef of Baekjeong here in New York.

And today we're talking about brisket.

[Mike] Yes.

[Steven] Now I'm extremely intrigued, because in most of the world, in Texas barbecue, in Eastern European Jewish cooking, brisket is cooked low and slow for a long time to tenderize the meat.

But here at Baekjeong, you actually direct grill it fast.

Yes.

Almost like it was a tender steak.

Right.

How?

[Mike] Well, we cut it into sections.

We're going to use something called a meat glue.

Okay.

And then roll it up and then we freeze it.

Let's take a look.

[Mike] So first we remove some of this fat over here because there's definitely a large point of fat.

Now from here, just turn it over to get an idea of where we're going to cut.

General direction is basically pretty much up and down, north and south.

[Steven] Slightly on the diagonal.

[Mike] Yes.

[Steven] And there, if you'll show everybody, this is, in essence, a pretty lean piece of meat, but just with this quarter inch layer of fat.

[Mike] That is correct.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] About the same size maybe.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] So we want to combine these layers of fat with some of these that aren't as fatty and more leaner.

These two look like a nice piece.

So, when we cook it together, you'll have a nice lean and some fatty flavors in your mouth.

Now what is this?

This is called meat glue, or technically transglutaminase.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] And this is what helps proteins bond together.

[Steven] I've seen a lot of brisket preparations, but I have never seen this before.

Yeah, I'm sure you haven't, because most of it's just water or you know, braises and stuff like that.

So keep it together and close.

[Steven] Fascinating.

[Mike] So what this does, eventually it'll keep sticking nicely.

If you ever have little wet fingers and you put a little, they'll stick just like that.

[Steven] How long does it take for the glue to work?

[Mike] Ideally, it'll take about overnight, but we want to get this as frozen as possible so that when we slice, it'll come out as thin as possible.

[Steven] Are you freezing it all the way through?

[Mike] Yes, sir.

[Steven] Till it's solid?

[Mike] Till it's absolutely solid and the glue in there is nice and bonded.

[Steven] Okay.

Now that's incredible.

So, in effect, you've created almost a roast, a cylindrical roast-- Exactly that.

[Steven] --out of the brisket.

Okay.

Wow.

[Mike] This is the log.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] Got it all set.

Just trim off a couple of pieces.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] And now we just start to do the plating.

[Steven] Look at that.

And the slices roll up automatically.

[Mike] Yep.

It curls up.

Yep.

[Steven] And look at this incredible marbling.

And Mike, the reason you freeze this is to enable you to slice it paper thin.

Exactly.

[Steven] Wow.

So, that's the brisket.

This is?

[Mike] That's the bone-in short rib.

[Steven] Kalbi.

[Mike] Kalbi.

Exactly.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] Starting from here, we have a Kirby cucumber kimchi.

A pickled beet daikon wrap.

That brings an acidity to the food, so it balances it out with all the fat that we have on the table from the meat.

This is our root starch jelly.

We actually suspended some vegetables like carrots and zucchini in there to give it some crunch and different texture.

Over here we have the typical Korean banchan, a side dish which is kimchi.

And over here we have a soft tofu with a chili soy dressing.

[Steven] Fantastic.

Now what you have in front of you-- [Steven] Yeah.

We have three different ways to dip the meat.

We have the salt.

The salt and sesame oil.

And over here we have our special sauce.

[Steven] Special sauce.

Pretty hot.

[Mike] We don't want to put it too hot or it's going to stick to the grill.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] His years of experience will tell him that.

Let's just put it when it's just right.

[Steven] I've been to many Korean barbecue restaurants where the customer gets to do the grilling.

[Mike] Right.

Why do you have the server do the grilling?

Some people might overcook it, might undercook it.

And that's why we have servers who are trained and know when to serve the meat and how to cook it right so that you get the best experience you can when you come here.

[Steven] Okay.

Tell me about Korean barbecue.

I mean, obviously Koreans are obsessed with barbecue like we are, but it's very different.

What Americans consider barbecue is with sauces or dry rubs.

Ours is more about the flavor of the meat and we accompany it with our own dipping sauces.

Traditionally we use sesame oil and salt.

But as we've come further and throughout the years, we started marinating our meats with our ingredients such as soy sauce and sugar and chilies and onions.

Please show me how to eat this.

[Mike] Okay.

We can do anything, but it's all about balance of flavors.

[Steven] Balance of flavors.

Very important.

[Mike] Because of the fatty and the leanness of the meat, we want to balance it out with something acidic or something sweet or something spicy.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] So we'll take a little bit of this wrap.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] And I also like to use a little bit of the radish wrap.

[Steven] So that's a pickled radish.

[Mike] We'll take some of this.

[Steven] Okay.

Now, I like the sauce.

I definitely like the sauce here.

I also like the sesame oil.

But I'm going to go for the sauce here.

[Steven] Okay.

[Mike] We'll just dip a little bit.

[Steven] Dip it in the sauce, okay.

[Mike] And drain it.

Put that there.

And we just wrap it up and down the hatch.

[Steven] In one bite.

Wow.

I'll try it with a piece of kimchi.

[Mike] Good choice.

[Steven] Okay.

And then I'll take some beef.

And with my beef, I'm going to dip it in the salt and sesame oil.

[Mike] That's also a very traditional wrap.

[Steven] Okay, so I'm going kind of traditional here.

And I want to sample it kind of by itself.

So I'm going to wrap it up.

Mm.

This is fantastic.

I can't believe I'm eating brisket that was cooked for all of 30 seconds.

Right.

[Steven] Super tender.

Beefy, briskety, rich, fatty.

And yet it's almost like a minute steak.

[Mike] Yep.

Exactly right.

I would almost say that this is barbecue health food.

I mean, you have lettuce, you have vegetables.

Right.

We're really eating a relatively small amount of meat compared to all the other ingredients.

[Mike] Absolutely.

So in a way, it's a very healthy way to eat meat.

It is.

It is.

It's not overly meaty.

Everything's to balance it out.

We don't want to overdo one or the other.

They go hand in hand.

And beautifully.

[Steven] Incredible.

Chef, thank you so much.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much [in Korean].

Your welcome [in Korean].

[Steven] Whether direct grilled in minutes or smoked for the better part of a day, brisket is a dynamic cut of beef that always leaves you wanting more.

Thanks for watching.

See you next time.

[announcer] For recipes, books, and more live fire cooking, visit StevenRaichlen.com.

You can also follow Steven Raichlen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Steven Raichlen's "Planet Barbecue" was made possible by... [narrator 1] This is the Big Green Egg, where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at BigGreenEgg.com.

[narrator 2] Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill.

Crafted in America for over 80 years.

[music] Shun Cutlery handcrafted in Japan.

[narrator 3] Father's Cooker, multi-fuel, multifunction.

[narrator 3] Argentine Beef proudly supports "Planet Barbecue."

[narrator 4] Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

[announcer] And by the following: [Nico] Aaron, could you do us a huge favor and clap one more time?

[Aaron] Heeey!

[Steven] That's a good one.

Come-- Gotta do it again.

Sorry.

I lost my focus.

[Aaron] You can come through, Christian.

It's okay.

Hold for that guy.

[Matt] And take a little taste.

Okay.

[Jake] This is the hardest part of a job, right?

[Matt] Look over at Jake.

[Steven] Mm.

Oh, I'm sorry.