Lardo, Texas
June 22, 2010
See that nice layer of smoky fat. It's like brisket butter. Serve it with plenty of raw onions and a fresh tomato, cucumber, cilantro salad salsa.
We’ve been obsessed with smoking brisket since returning from a recent barbecue tour through the Hill Country around Austin, Texas. We’ll write about our home Texas barbecue shenanigans later (it’s a long, happy story). For now, here’s one important thing we didn’t expect to learn.
Lardo, Texas style.
Sure, we enjoyed plenty of the brisket the traditional way, moist, greasy chunks of meat downed with lots of dill pickle chips, sliced onions, and fresh saltines. But, one night for a quick snack, we ate the brisket cold right out of the fridge. When it’s cold and hard, you can cut it paper thin. Whoa. It could have come right out of a fancy salumeria. Salty, peppery crust, buttery smoky fat, tender delicate meat.
Can’t you imagine a pricey restaurant first coarse of thinly sliced smoky brisket, instead of the usual trendy house-cured pork product, elegantly presented on a rectangular plate scattered with slightly undercooked fava beans? Would cost you at least 12 bucks. Ours was Walmart brisket for $1.98 per pound. And you can have as much as you want, not just three slices.
The creamy fat is unbelievable especially with the signature Texas salt and pepper rub. That simple rub becomes a tasty black helmet of a crust after only a couple hours in a smoker and a few more in the oven. It’s Lardo, Texas!
Key is to cut it paper thin like you would prosciutto right out of the fridge.
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July 17th, 2010 at 12:37 am
[...] like the chilled salumi-like brisket in our previous Lardo, Texas, less, more powerful meat on a plate has made us rethink the whole “everybody gets their [...]