slow down.

If there was an opposite of fast food, it might be barbecue. 

Yet another reason it's difficult to serve to the masses. At least done right. Yeah, you can cook ahead of time and keep it warm until you serve it, which is pretty much the only way it can be done. But there isn't any cook-to-order necessarily, aside from toasting the bun and then constructing a big ol' sammich. 

The beauty within barbecuing is slowing down. It's not a short-order atmosphere, no wait staff hanging tickets or shouting table orders, none of that.  It's a different ballgame. 

Barbecue needs patience.  You HAVE to slow down--you can't rush this shit. There has to be slow, steady precision involved in each piece of meat, because each piece of meat is different. The fire has to be perfect.  The temperature must be maintained without any precipitous fluctuations in either direction on your temp gauge. Smoke must be a certain smoke, created by combustion. Clean. Convection. 

It's a really satisfying and gratifying process, but it takes a really long time. Over the years, folks have built machines that smoke the meat for you.  Amazing inventions that I honestly do not have much experience with at all. Gigantic indoor smokers that BBQ restaurants use made by Southern Pride or Ole Hickory are the norm, and make it tons easier to maintain and deliver a consistent product daily. Maybe one day, if I decide to cook for the rando masses, I'll go that route.  It's a hell of an investment, but one that I'd guess would pay off quickly. 

Pellet smokers have evolved from these beasts, and serve a swell purpose on the patios of suburbia, where setting it and forgetting it make you the pitmaster you've always wanted to deem yourself. Good job, padre. 

I can't bring myself to plugging in a smoker in order to cook. I would miss the satisfaction of creating damn good food inside of a rustic hunk of metal with a fire that I built burning inside of it with wood from a tree that cut down.  It's primal.  And it's a large part of the reason I enjoy BBQ so much. The process is exhausting, but so worth it. 

Regardless of your set up, time doesn't change. You simply cannot speed up a brisket cook by cranking the fire to 400 and expect a solid finished product. I've tried quick cooks, and although there are some tricks involving moisture--both inside and outside the meat, various wrapping, and resting methods, it just doesn't hold up to a slow cook. 

The finished product is the money shot.  It's why we cook barbecue.  But don't disregard the process. Prepping meat, building fires, having a cup of coffee, maintaining fire temps, creating clean smoke, seasoning, spritzing, splitting wood..........all done slowly. 

Just slow down.  Enjoy the process.  Enjoy the work. Your food will turn out better and you will receive rad accolades from all that eat your slow-smoked hunks. 

​-earl