Barbeque is a staple of Texas culture, but it can be notoriously difficult for the amateur chef to perfect, especially when it comes to cooking a good brisket. Barbeque lovers Mike Albrecht and Jon Kane saw the need for an accessible class to teach people how to properly smoke a brisket in their own backyard, and BrisketU was born.
“We teach the ins and outs of smoking, one of the hardest things to master, so people can make something they’re proud to serve family and friends,” says Albrecht, one of the owners of BrisketU. “Over 8,000 people have been through the class since it started [in 2016].”
BrisketU holds classes on the weekends in breweries in Houston, Austin, and Bryan. Blackwater Draw in downtown Bryan hosts the local classes, and each attendee gets their first beer free. The $74 cost also gets you professional instruction; Texas course-ground sausage to snack on; hands-on experience; a taste of the end product; and a Pit Side Pocket Guide with charts, relevant information, and space for notes.
“It’s for beginners to restaurateurs,” says Albrecht. “It’s a laid-back class that lasts two and a half to three hours with lots of room for questions. All of us that put it on are Kansas City Barbeque Society certified competition judges, so we know the competition circuit, but that’s not at all the tone of the class. When you graduate [from BrisketU], you get a diploma — suitable for framing for your man cave — that shows you’re a Certified Backyard Pitmaster.”
The class covers all the major topics of smoking: what tools you’ll need, what types of wood are best for smoking, how to trim the meat, how to shop for the best meat, how to apply rubs, how to maintain the proper cooking temperature, how long to cook it, and how to slice it. At the end of the class, you’ll get to taste both the point (moist) and flat (lean) cuts of a brisket they cooked through the night.
“At the end of the class, they should be able to know how to buy the right kind of brisket and to prepare and cook it at a level where they would look experienced and not have any issues,” says Albrecht. “They’ll know everything they need to do to smoke the perfect Texas brisket.”
Though brisket was the first class they perfected, BrisketU has expanded to include RibsU, ChickensU, TurkeyU, WildgameU, and, coming soon, SeafoodU. All have a cooking-school feel, alternating informative slides with a live camera feed centered on the pitmaster demonstrating skills like cutting or trimming and visits outside to the pit.
“We have around 30 in a class usually, but sometimes as many as 40,” says Ablrecht. “We have a lot of fun in class: like as an Aggie, I like to make Longhorns get to the end of the line. I meet so many unique people, so I really enjoy that part of it. We’ve taught chefs and restaurateurs from all over the world who have flown in to take a one-on-one class.”
Since BrisketU is sponsored by Academy Sports and Outdoors, students also get a $10 Academy gift card and the chance to win prize packs of Academy products. The sponsorship has enabled BrisketU to travel all around the country, bringing proper Texas barbeque to the grand openings of new Academy stores. They’ve also gained national recognition through features on Netflix and goop.com and in Food Network Magazine. One of their pitmasters was selected to be on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo barbeque judging panel this month.
“If you want to be able to cook in your backyard without your brother-in-law or neighbor looking over your shoulder and correcting you, if you want to know what to do and do it right, if you want to learn the basics then experiment to find your own way of doing it, this is the class for you,” says Albrecht.
The next class at Blackwater Draw is on April 4 from 11am to 2pm. For more information on BrisketU and to see a schedule of upcoming classes, visit www.brisketu.com.
