
The Specialists: Franklin Barbecue - davidw
http://luckypeach.com/the-specialists-franklin-bbq/#
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chrissnell
I think the market is right for a national chain that serves _real deal_ Texas
[1] barbecue. Rudy's [2] may be that chain but their expansion still seems
really slow. I guess it's just tough to grow pitmasters in new places and
still keep the quality up. Rudy's quality is nowhere near as good as Franklin
(which is about as good as most of the well-regarded South Central Texas
places) but Rudy's has figured out the distribution game enough to expand
outside of the Leon Springs, TX joint where it all started. When I moved from
Texas to Colorado Springs, I was surprised to find that there was a Rudy's in
town and it was always busy. Really busy, like 50-100 person lines at lunch.

Perhaps they will follow In-N-Out's trail and keep up a slow expansion.

1\. Real deal Texas barbecue: slow-smoked over oak. Served by-the-pound on
butcher-block paper with all-you-want white bread and sometimes Texas-style
sauce on the side.

2\.
[http://www.rudysbbq.com/page/locations/all](http://www.rudysbbq.com/page/locations/all)

~~~
kyrra
My friend started a BBQ joint[0] a couple years back, I'll try to add some
insight from what I learned talking with him (this is all second hand
obviously). (1) Quality of meat, (2) quality of the cooker, (3) wood used, (4)
temperature/time spent cooking the meat.

For meat quality, as the article calls out, you want to buy from good
suppliers. Franklins gets this right, and I believe Rudy's does as well (they
have some of their own farms). Side note: with the explosion of BBQ in Austin
and Texas area, prices of meat has been going up (probably screws with quality
you can get too).

My friend's joint actually bought Franklins old cooker when he started up. He
had a new one built later that can hold more meat for a given footprint. The
newer cooker also did better at having more even temperatures throughout the
cooker (since the woodbox is at one end, making sure the heat circulates
properly can be difficult).

Wood quality is interesting and difficult as called out. For the restaurants
outside of Austin (ones in Lockhart), they can get a ton of land for cheap and
can dry/season all the wood themselves (they have a year+ worth of wood on
their lots out there). Places in Austin will need to either have their own
land outside the city or source from different places to get the right kind of
wood they currently need.

Temperature is what differentiates places like Franklins (and Blue Ox) from
places like Rudy's and restaurants. Franklins will be cooking the brisket they
serve for 12+ hours. They cook at a lower temperature, as the final goal is
145 degrees, so they run their cooker at something like 180-200 degrees (I
forget what they set it to. Also, this is the temp at the point where the meat
is, not the woodbox itself). While places like Rudy's will cook at a much
higher temperature so they can have meat ready in 4-5 hours of cook time.

[0] [http://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-ox-bbq-austin](http://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-
ox-bbq-austin)

~~~
tmuir
The end goal temperature of the brisket may be 145, but that's after resting.
It's going to come off the smoker somewhere around 190-200. Many people swear
by 203. The reason brisket and pork shoulder are the cuts of meat used for
barbecue is their high amounts of connective tissue. If you pulled a brisket
from the smoker at 145, it would be nearly inedible, as the tissues really
only begin to break down around 160.

[http://www.scienceofcooking.com/meat/slow_cooking1.htm](http://www.scienceofcooking.com/meat/slow_cooking1.htm)

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archagon
I haven't had a chance to try Franklin's, but man, his YouTube videos really
made me appreciate the work that goes into a good BBQ:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/BBQwithFranklin](https://www.youtube.com/user/BBQwithFranklin)

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xellisx
I've had Franklin's, but it was a couple hours old by the time I had any.
Let's say I don't have memory of it being good or bad. Stiles Switch on the
other hand, left a really good impression on me with their brisket.

~~~
MicroBerto
Stiles is the most underrated joint in town. Glad to see them getting more and
more respect lately.

Those Texas Frito Pies... Oh my

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madengr
Ya'll come to KC for real BBQ.

~~~
bluthru
Oh boy here we go...

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stackus
Franklins is tasty but what made it the mega-hit it is today is the wait
times.

"I waited 2 hours yesterday."

"I waited 3 hours and they ran out of brisket!"

"I got up and in line before dawn and wasn't even 15th in line!"

People talk about the incredible wait times they or a friend have experienced
and certainly someone else in the conversation or nearby has a similar story
to share. It fuels a Frankslin's must be the absolute best kind of mythos.

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MBlume
I think you might be getting something backwards somehow

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sukilot
Not really, this is rather standard "exclusivity" marketing

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financeguy
While I've not eaten at Franklins due to time requirements when I've been in
Austin, I have made the short trek to Lockhart, Tx and had the best Bar B Que
experience of my life at Smitty's. Post Oak smoked burnt ends were like
buttery ambrosia of the gods. (I live in Fort Worth, have eaten at Rudy's,
Blacks, Saltlick, etc.)

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pnut
Yeah, I waited in line for 2 hours one day to taste the holy Franklin
sacrament - lo and behold, no better than Salt Lick.

And as a bonus, no hipsters.

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colbyh
Salt Lick and Franklin have fundamentally different approaches to brisket.
Totally cool if you don't have a preference, but it's sort of like saying
programming language X is no different than language Y.

Franklin dudes have been grinding for years and I'm so stoked that they are
starting to get national recognition outside of foodies and chefs.

~~~
andrewem
Can you elaborate on their differing approaches to brisket? I've been to Salt
Lick in Driftwood - though it's been a while - but not to Franklin.

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delucain
I'm not an expert, but I've had both (and dozens of others), I smoke my own
brisket, and I feel like I have a decent understanding of it. Salt Lick mops
their brisket with a mustard based sauce. They smoke their meats indoors over
a direct heat, open pit. Franklin uses a "domino rub" of just salt and pepper
(for brisket). They're dry smoked (no sauce) in closed, indirect heat, offset
smokers (the wood is in a chamber to the side of the grills). Franklin can
control the temperatures of his smokers MUCH better than Salt Lick can. You
can taste the meat and smoke better on a Franklin brisket. Salt Lick has a lot
more sauce flavor though, and the mopping does add moisture but not
tenderness. I have a very strong preference to Franklin's. I think his is the
best brisket I've ever had, but that being said, it's not so much better that
I want to wait in line for 4 hours (It's a guaranteed wait of 4 hours whether
you show up at 7AM or 10AM, but show up after 1, and they're sold out) more
than once a year or so.

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dreamfactory2
Try La Barbecue, smaller queues and now rated higher than Franklins

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delucain
They're on my list for sure.

