My family moved down to Texas a while back because they were done with Buffalo. I have a business, a home, and good connections up here that I value, so I did not follow them there. Why work so hard to grow a local company just to leave it? One thing that is awesome about having family in Texas is all the damn BBQ I eat when I go down there. They are in Austin, so I’ve had the luxury of trying Franklin’s BBQ, the Saltlick, Rudy’s and a few other off the beaten path BBQ joints that are all doing it right. As a guy who likes to smoke stuff and grill, Brisket is the be all end all. If you can successfully smoke a brisket and have a product at the end that is anything like what you can get in Texas, then you are a master. I still have yet to conquer the brisket – I’ve gotten close, with my brother and a couple times on my own accord, but here’s why: The cost of brisket in New York is outrageous! Even in the big box stores or the restaurant depots, you’re looking at a minimum of $5 a pound. But that pales in comparison to what I saw today:

Let me zoom in for you:

YEAH – $9 a pound! I can get a strip steak roast cheaper than that! You can buy a fully cooked, perfectly cooked brisket for half that cost per pound down in Texas when they go on sale at the H-E-B !

You want to talk about spending that kind of money for a small as f*** brisket and then you end up screwing it up!? yeah- that’s why I haven’t mastered it yet. My friends laugh at me when I say I’m going down to Texas to visit my family and smuggle back some brisket. What they don’t know is that I’m serious – I buy  a packer cut every time I go, freeze it at my parent’s house, then put it in my checked luggage! I’m serious! for $1.69 a pound – are you shitting me? I’m lucky if I can get a pork butt for $1.69 a pound up here.

Anyways – the moral of the story: Texans, don’t take your brisket pricing for granted..  ever.. you bastards.