Memorial Day is the observed start of outdoor cooking season, so it’s time to start thinking about combining meat, smoke and fire. Fortunately, we’ve got some good news for you.
The first tidbit is a new series of classes from the barbecue geniuses behind BrisketU. I told you about this Houston-based group earlier this year and subsequently took one of their brisket cooking classes. I can only recommend it if you like drinking beer, eating some great food and soaking up some serious knowledge on how to cook the most temperamental of beef cuts. In other words, I wholeheartedly recommend their classes to just about everyone I meet!
BrisketU actually offers many different curricula other than just brisket, and they’re planning to roll out their second offering in Nashville at the end of June. Acknowledging that Tennessee is more of a pork state, their next series of classes will focus on cooking ribs. However, they are focusing on more than just spare ribs, baby backs and St. Louis-style pork ribs. They’ll also cover three different varieties of beef ribs (plate, short and chuck) as well as lamb ribs.
I spoke with BrisketU founder Jon Kane about the new offering and came away really excited about the opportunity. “It should be even more approachable than the brisket class,” he shares. “We appreciate the porkcentricity of Tennessee, and I’m from North Carolina so I understand the pork focus.”
They have taught this class for three years but have recently reworked the curriculum a bit. Kane knows that people approach ribs differently than they do brisket. “Most people think they’re pretty good at cooking ribs, and very few people will complain at a cookout if you give them less-than-perfect ribs,” he explains. “It’s not like brisket, because if you mess that up, it can be basically inedible. We still see people struggling with technique and consistency when they’re cooking ribs, so that’s what we focus on.”
Ribs are such a broad category that a single technique doesn’t work for every rack. Cooking a full rack of spare ribs can take double the time compared to baby back ribs. The class kicks off with an explanation of the different types of ribs and how to prepare them for smoking or grilling. When the price of ribs escalated so quickly last year, Kane added lamb ribs to the mix.
“Lamb ribs are a lot cheaper,” he says. “They're the most popular item in Australia, and they have the benefit of cooking much faster.” The class covers several different techniques for cooking ribs, including wet KC-style baby backs and Memphis dry-rub preparation. And if you’ve ever wanted to know how to cook those huge "dinosaur" beef-plate ribs, they’ll cover that, too.
The class is about the same length as the brisket edition, so figure about three hours. But the good news is that they can actually finish a full cook during that duration, so you’ll end up getting plenty of samples to eat. Kane advises students to come hungry. This also means that they can spend more time around the grill as opposed to in the classroom like in the brisket class, so it’s an even more hands-on experience.
The BrisketU classes have focused on breweries as event sites, and they’ll continue that with RibsU. They are also planning to add distilleries to the schedule as soon as they work out the logistics. You can expect to see some old favorites on the new schedule, with breweries like Mill Creek, East Nashville Beer Works, TailGate and Mayday returning after strong showings during the first round of brisket classes.
The first two ribs classes on the schedule will be June 25 at East Nashville Beer Works and June 26 at Mayday in Murfreesboro. They will be posting more dates on the website soon. As a bonus, Kane appeared on NewsChannel 5's Talk of the Town earlier this week, and he shared a recipe and procedure explanation for some Asian-inspired ribs that you can check out on the show’s website, just in time for Memorial Day. Lelan Statom seemed very excited, so that’s enough of a recommendation for me!
The second bit of smoky news is the return of Cochon 555 Heritage Fire, the day-long event that teams up local chefs, heritage pig breeders and wineries to create snout-to-tail meals that feature the benefits of moving beyond commercial pork. A panel of judges tastes five dishes from each chef to pick a winner, but all the attendees also get to sample the exact same offerings. This is very different from most competitive cooking events.
I’ve been lucky enough to judge at several Cochon 555 events in the past (and hope to again — hint, hint!) and I can vouch for how much fun these festivals are. It’s also admirable how the chefs use almost every part of the pig to create their dishes. Participating chefs are still being announced, but the early lineup includes some local favorites.
Cochon 555 Heritage Fire is coming to the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel on Sunday, June 26, and your tickets include all you can eat and drink all day long plus other entertainment. The $99 general admission ticket gets you in at 5:45 p.m.; the $150 VIP option offers early admission at 5 p.m. Skip breakfast and lunch, and you’ll totally get your money’s worth.
