Finally got in after years of waiting into Camp Brisket which is put on by Foodways Texas and the A&M Meat Science Department. Let me say that these guys do it first class, a great 2 day program that can accommodate someone who has never smoked a brisket, just as well as someone who has done 100s and is looking to refine their technique. I like to think of myself as a fairly experienced bbqer, but I'm always looking to get better/increase my knowledge and this class was a great tool for it.





You'll learn everything from meat grades, trimming, fire management, slicing, and more. And if you leave hungry, it's your own fault, lots of brisket was consumed.





Grades has been something that has come up a lot on this board over the years when talking about about getting better at Brisket. Well a 71 person blind taste test (that's how many attendees were there this year) showed that for the most part the higher the grade, the better the brisket (we were grading on a 1-9 point scale. Tenderness, flavor, juiciness, overall like we're 4 categories).

Here were our results. Wagyu obviously the most surprising, they did note wagyu finished first place in last year's camp brisket so not sure what the deal there is, but interesting nonetheless.


We also taste tested 4 different smoke profiles (pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite), and lastly did a comparison of wrapped in foil vs unwrapped.

Just a ton of knowledge in the room. They had everyone from: Ms Tootsie, Aaron Franklin, Arnis Robbins (Evie Maes), Bryan Bracewell (Southside Market), John Brotherton, Russel Roegels, Sunny Moberg (builds amazing pits many of these folks use), Dr Savell, Dr Griffin, and Ray Reily all from A&M, Tuffy Stone (competition guy from Virginia with lots of wins), and more. I got a chance to talk with many of them individually as they're all super nice people and very gracious on answering questions and passing on knowledge.



Snows does still use all select briskets Ms Tootsie told us, I also got some tips on pork steak as theirs is phenomenal.

For anyone interested it's not a short road to get there, so many people want to get in there's a lottery system and most people don't get in until year 4 or 5 of trying. You have to be a Foodways Texas member to get into the lottery drawing.

Wow! That would be an awesome experience!

Jealous! When you having the OB over to taste test what you've learned?

Howdy agfan2013, can you tell me the results of the 'We also taste tested 4 different smoke profiles (pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite), and lastly did a comparison of wrapped in foil vs unwrapped." Would love to know, I have been using oak w/ pecan chunks and going unwrapped (do not tell my wife I am unwrapped)!

I was there, as well. It was pretty damn cool to look over to the side of the classroom and see Tootsie!

So this was my second Camp Brisket. I was also there in 2015. I went back through my notes back then and here were the results of the grading back then:

Lunch Results
1. wagyu/Prime
2. CAB/Choice
3. Select

I postulate that I didn't grade my wagyu higher at this camp because I got a bad cut. I had prime and then choice as my top 2.

It was funny to see the Snake Rivers Farms crew's faces when they placed third (they brought the wagyu).

I personally find my best value/taste profiles with CAB (upper choice) at home. If prime is on sale, I'll buy it, though.

agfan2013 said:

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Here were our results. Wagyu obviously the most surprising, they did note wagyu finished first place in last year's camp brisket so not sure what the deal there is, but interesting nonetheless.

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Mark Fairchild said:

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Howdy agfan2013, can you tell me the results of the 'We also taste tested 4 different smoke profiles (pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite), and lastly did a comparison of wrapped in foil vs unwrapped." Would love to know, I have been using oak w/ pecan chunks and going unwrapped (do not tell my wife I am unwrapped)!

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Maybe BSD can double check me since apparently he was there too, but I think it was: Hickory, Pecan, Oak, Mesquite, in that order, but 1-3 were all very close and basically interchangeable they said and the only one that primarily stood out was mesquite being not as preferrable. It definitely had stronger taste that I wasnt as fond of. I think my own rankings were: pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite.

As to the wrapped vs unwrapped part, that was at the very end and they didnt take up data on it. Was more of just to show folks the difference and they didnt claim a winner or loser. I will just say from my experience I liked the unwrapped one better as the taste on the foil wrapped one was a bit off (you'll hear people say it has almost a pot roast like taste just a bit).

BSD said:

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So this was my second Camp Brisket. I was also there in 2015. I went back through my notes back then and here were the results of the grading back then:

Lunch Results
1. wagyu/Prime
2. CAB/Choice
3. Select

I postulate that I didn't grade my wagyu higher at this camp because I got a bad cut. I had prime and then choice as my top 2.

It was funny to see the Snake Rivers Farms crew's faces when they placed third (they brought the wagyu).

I personally find my best value/taste profiles with CAB (upper choice) at home. If prime is on sale, I'll buy it, though.

agfan2013 said:

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Here were our results. Wagyu obviously the most surprising, they did note wagyu finished first place in last year's camp brisket so not sure what the deal there is, but interesting nonetheless.

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Yeah I looked back at their faces and didnt think they were super pleased at all. My own rankings in order were: top choice, prime, select, wagyu, choice. my choice and select were point slices as opposed to flats from the other briskets so I think that affected my ranking of select, but yeah that wagyu just didnt impress me. I've cooked two myself at home and one was just average and the other was really good, so in a sample size of two its been very different results.

BSD said:

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I was there, as well. It was pretty damn cool to look over to the side of the classroom and see Tootsie!

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This is how I know I have no business being in that room.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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This is how I know I have no business being in that room.

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This is the exact reason you should be in that room!

She is so sweet. She took pics with just about everybody. I didn't want to bother her so I just did the creepy pic from across the room.

Funny story: I saw Tootsie walking into the hotel Friday night so I held open the door for her and exchanged formalities (she saw my name tag still on). I sat down in the lobby near the front desk as she was checking in. The girl at the desk says "oh, you are here for Camp Brisket…did you learn anything?" I proceeded to laugh a bit.

agfan2013 said:

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Maybe BSD can double check me since apparently he was there too, but I think it was: Hickory, Pecan, Oak, Mesquite, in that order, but 1-3 were all very close and basically interchangeable they said and the only one that primarily stood out was mesquite being not as preferrable. It definitely had stronger taste that I wasnt as fond of. I think my own rankings were: pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite.

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Correct. My original piece of post oak smoked sample didn't have a bark so it was pretty flavorless. I actually thought it had been wrapped the whole time. I turned in my scorecard before someone at the table told me there's was pretty good so I went back and got another piece. Originally I had pecan, mesquite, hickory, oak but then moved oak about mesquite after I went back. I usually like hickory but it was a little too much this time around. I was surprised at my mesquite ranking. It was certainly stronger than pecan but not as much as hickory. It just goes to show that brisket isn't an exact science.

Their oak was post oak. Understandable. I have a bottomless pit of heavy live oak at the ranch. Many dead standing trees from oak wilt years ago. When you cut one down, all bad wood falls off, leaving gray wood that will make a chainsaw spark and smoke after a while of cutting. It burns differently that our post oak (we are fortunate to have both) - hotter, longer, cleaner.

So cool!

BSD said:

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Funny story: I saw Tootsie walking into the hotel Friday night so I held open the door for her and exchanged formalities (she saw my name tag still on). I sat down in the lobby near the front desk as she was checking in. The girl at the desk says "oh, you are here for Camp Brisket…did you learn anything?" I proceeded to laugh a bit.

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So I was wondering if I talked or interacted with you since it was 71 of us and I didn't meet everybody, but I remember you telling that story at the Equine Center (maybe Friday night?) at some point to a few of us standing around either on a break or in line for for brisket or something so we must have met. I wore a white pullover sweater Friday and a green carhartt jacket Saturday and was at the back middle table at the equine center for all of the Saturday stuff.

Always wanted to go but never got around to it. Should have gone while we still lived in college Station.

Just saw your profile. You're out of Bryan? Then yeah my buddy from CA and I talked you at dinner Friday night.

jayelbee said:

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What the hell is top choice? Gray area between low prime and high choice?

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They used top, high, and upper choice interchangeably. The top 1/3 of choice is what we were eating.

Is that used or marketed by any store for the regular consumer?

Proc92 said:

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Is that used or marketed by any store for the regular consumer?

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You won't find a usda label that says "upper choice", the label will still say just choice. But yes you can find brands at the store that are selling this quality, Readfields in B/CS carries chairman's reserve.

The brisket they used was chairman's reserve platinum which if you look at their brand is what they claim upper choice. It's more of a brand thing than an actual usda grade, but the company is claiming they're highly selective in their meat and only sourcing briskets in the higher choice range.

Sort of I guess? Grading is done with a camera these days so I'm sure some sort of value is assigned to each carcass for a marbling score. There is a lot of room in each of the usda grades of select, choice, and prime (i.e. one select can look fairly different from a different select) and so somebody goes in and cherry picks only the ones that score in the top 1/3 of choice.

And don't bend briskets in the store, it's not a sign of how tender it will be.