Which Is Better for You Pulled Pork or Beef Brisket
Dan Gentile
Barbecue is a controversial nutrient, but nothing in the catechism of smoked-meat history lights the fires quite like the age-old question of beef vs. pork. Although "combination plate" is always a skilful reply, we asked a console of barbecue luminaries to weigh in on which is the superior barbecue meat and why.
Not surprisingly, this fell largely beyond geographic battle-lines. Texans and those heavily influenced past the Solitary Star State went beef (with one notable exception), and the rest of the Deep and mid-South voted grunter. Read on to learn what the pros think, then go out your ain thoughts in the comments.
The case for beef
"After beingness in the charcoal-broil business for almost of my life in Texas, I would definitely say that in Texas we spell charcoal-broil "b-east-e-f." Other people in the country may spell barbecue "p-o-r-k," just if you ask whatsoever Texan what they're gonna have when they say barbecue, they will say information technology's beef. 25 1000000 Texans tin't be wrong." - Kent Blackness, Blackness'south Charcoal-broil (Lockhart, TX)
"Beef brisket is the heart of Texas charcoal-broil. Beef is less forgiving than pork, which makes it more than challenging for pitmasters to perfect. Between brisket and beefiness curt ribs, they always bring a good bull fight for the melt. A perfectly cooked brisket or short rib tastes just every bit good every bit a well-marbled prime ribeye."- Doug Pickering, D.W.P. Grill M.D. (Dallas, TX)
"In my stance, beef is harder to execute and shows the skill of the pitmaster... much more than pork. With that beingness said, I don't retrieve barbecue is totally about the choice of beef or pork, but more often about the quality of the animal, the choice of cutting, and execution of the cooking process." - Tiffani Faison, Sweet Cheeks Q (Boston, MA)
"Beef, because cows don't wallow in their ain due south**t. I grew up eating beef. In Texas, pork is new to the game. I simply like beef meliorate. It's more than flavorful. That's why when I do cook pork, I glaze it upwardly. You don't have to do that with beef."- John Mueller, John Mueller Meat Co. (Austin, TX)
"Ferrari vs. Lamborghini, Bordeaux vs. Burgundy, blonde vs. brunette. Which is all-time comes downwards to personal preference, merely when comparing the two best barbecue meats on the planet and having to choose, for me, it's beef. Charcoal-broil beefiness is more than desirable, transcending, and quite bluntly magical, considering of two things: collagen and fatty.
"Genetic factors in cattle, and the fact that it is typically raised to an older age, means it has inherently more collagen. When cooked correctly, this collagen converts into gelatin. The gelatin and fat create a magical combination of mouthfeel, flavour, and that stick-to-your-ribs feeling. You can hit beefiness hard with wood burn down and it's resilient in the commencement, but at a certain point you lot really need to know how to back off and handle it correctly. So many people accept a hard fourth dimension cooking with it considering it requires a more witting effort. Don't get me wrong, pork is incredible, merely I accept not heard of people waiting six hours in line for it. At least as of nonetheless. Accept y'all?" - Adam Perry Lang, Serious Barbecue (Los Angeles, CA)
"Brisket gets all the attention here in Key Texas. It is a tough and ornery piece of meat. Done right, you end upwardly with a piece of buttery, perfectly-rendered bovine beauty. Done wrong, you have a piece of meat that is and then tough that you lot could pull a truck with it. I prefer to smoke brisket, because I love the challenge of doing something virtually folks just tin't exercise." - Bill Dumas, Smokey Kingdom of denmark Smoked Meats (Austin, TX)
"Although I take a love thing with cooking both, it's beef for me. At that place is no smell quite similar white oak and beef wafting through Red Hook every morning.I retrieve something magical forms when fat renders in beef. It creates this sugar-similar bawl that you lot just don't get with pork." - Billy Durney, Hometown Bar-B-Que (Brooklyn, NY)
"To me this is like asking which is more of import, air or h2o. We need both! Pork is a fairly neutral-tasting meat that provides a great canvas for the flavors of barbecue. The smoke, the spice, the sweetness, the tang... all assimilate beautifully with pork, which is why you'll run across it in virtually every barbecue shop in every part of the land. Even areas with a rich beef history will characteristic pork ribs or pork sausage, even if they don't practice traditional pork BBQ seen in other regions. Pork may exist the quintessential BBQ meat.
"But beef, with its inherently rich flavor, brings something special to the equation. It has a depth of flavor that stands on its own, merely which is transformed into a delicacy when properly infused with fume and layered with spice. In some parts of the country like Due north Carolina, beef may not even qualify every bit barbecue. But there'southward no denying the virtues of a well-smoked brisket, beef rib, or even tri-tip. Beefiness barbecue is simply astonishing!
"My favorite charcoal-broil cuts are beef. In my listen, swell brisket is as good equally barbecue gets. But, that said, when I walk into a barbecue joint, I'm getting the combination platter!" - Barry Sorkin, Smoque (Chicago, IL)
The case for pork
"I would say pork. The practice of cooking whole hogs was easier than doing a whole steer or cow, and traditionally y'all could use more of the sus scrofa's parts. Aye, people have grilled steaks for years, just in terms of true barbecue I but experience the pig reigns supreme. From whole shoulder to ribs to pork bellies, fifty-fifty smoked loins and tenderloins. The price of beefiness was prohibitive for many to even use it in charcoal-broil. Brisket used to ever exist a very cheap cut of meat, simply the rest of the cuts were ever out of the mutual person's upkeep." - Ken Hess, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Que (Decatur, AL)
"For taste, I actually adopt pork. Since it can be more mild, it's the perfect vehicle for flavour, and it has more marbling than beef, unless you're using something like Wagyu. There's also much less of a chance that you'll mess it up, because information technology's easier to cook. That said, the perfect slice of brisket is usually more exciting than pulled pork, but in terms of what'south superior, I've gotta say pork. Only, the real question for me is the quality of the meat." - John Lewis, La Barbecue (Austin, TX)
"I'm from Mississippi, then I tin can cook all of them, but when it comes to sanctioned barbecue competitions, beef normally just has one category and pork has two or 3 (ribs, shoulder, whole hog). The Memphis BBQ Network doesn't even acknowledge a beef category. So figure who's the boss.
"Despite their dearest of beefiness, Texas actually has more wild hogs than whatever other state. One thing that beef has the upper hand on though is that cow s**t definitely smells amend than pig southward**t."- Brad Orrison, The Shed BBQ and Blues Articulation (Bounding main Springs, MS)
"For me information technology seems obvious that pork is the best meat to barbecue. Pork shoulder is a big, square piece of meat beautifully shaped and marbled on the inside with a serious fat cap on top. This is what God intended a piece of charcoal-broil meat to expect similar. When you cook it in the pit low and deadening over a wood burn down, the fat cap renders and cocky-bastes the pork while the internal fat melts and tenderizes the meat in a fatty torrent. At the same time, the outside slowly browns and accepts the smoky flavour while drying and caramelizing into an intensely flavored bark, much like the development of a roux.
"When cooked properly, the whole affair will fall apart with the slightest push. Y'all discard the bone and the remaining fat cap, so pull the meat into chunks or shreds. As you pull the meat, you toss information technology all together combining the soft, unctuous within meat with the smoky, salty exterior bark and the combination is the thing that foodie dreams are fabricated of." - Ray Lampe, "Dr. BBQ" (Saint Petersburg, FL)
"To me, pork charcoal-broil is king. Whether it'southward cooked in Southern Illinois, Memphis, Kansas City, or the Carolinas, it e'er has a singled-out regional flavour contour that depends on the wood, dry rub, and sauce. Ribs, bellies, shoulders, hams, tenderloins, the whole hog itself -- all make outstanding charcoal-broil. Don't become me wrong, I like beefiness ribs and I similar brisket. Simply the pig? At present that'due south a holy creature."- Mike Mills, 17th Street Barbecue (Murphysboro, IL)
"Start, I just think smoke takes to pork better than it does to beef. Secondly, I think pork is the original barbecue because ribs were ever a byproduct of the choice meats during the quondam days. The slave owners ever relegated those cuts. Information technology began predominantly as an African American product, and the South and East were settled far earlier than Texas was. I think pork is original, pork takes to smoke better, and that'due south what we do at the Rendezvous. That'due south not to say that both aren't good. I don't want to become into a state of war with Texas, but my choice is pork."- John Vergos, Charles Vergos' Rendezvous (Memphis, TN)
The undeclared
"Barbecue is a food that is defined by geography, so I think the beef or pork question is determined past where yous grew up. I'm not one of those guys that says my barbecue is superior to everyone else'southward. I've had really neat barbecue and actually terrible charcoal-broil of all styles, including some of the all-time beef there is.
"So, I am of the opinion that barbecue should be the all-time meat yous can afford to purchase, cooked the purest way possible. Obviously, pork is my favorite because it's what I was raised on, and it'southward besides how nosotros make our living, just to say ane is better than the other is just a matter of stance and personal preference. And then I've got to stay neutral."- Samuel Jones, Skylight Inn (Ayden, NC)
"Comparing beef and pork is like white wine and red wine. I love them both, very much, and I rarely plow either one down!" - Mike Emerson, Pappy'south Smokehouse (St. Louis, MO)
"Texans or Carolinians would have no problem answering this question. Only here in Kansas Urban center, to inquire such a question is like asking a mother which kid is her favorite. Which is superior for barbecue, pork or beef? The answer is yes." - Doug Worgul, Oklahoma Joe'due south Bar-B-Que (Kansas City, KS)
Conclusions
To call this debate based on a simple tally of votes would exist disingenuous, only, for the record, beefiness had eight supporters, while pork only had 6, plus three 'Qers saturday squarely on the fence.
The full general consensus was that beefiness is a more hard meat to cook, but this fact was divisive equally to deciding whether it makes for a superior meat. Some pitmasters savour the claiming of beefiness, others see it's temperamental nature as more of a error. The same dichotomy exists over whether information technology is better to have a subtler vessel for which to convey smoke and sauce (pork), or if the intrinsic gustatory modality of the meat itself should be most historic (beef).
In terms of history, at that place is an argument to be fabricated for grunter as the original barbecue meat, simply much similar whatsoever other merits of pork, that reasoning renders into a steaming pile of fat as soon equally you hitting the Texas border. Perhaps Doug Worgul put it best when responding that the correct answer to the question of beef versus pork volition e'er exist "yes".
Dan Gentile is a staff writer on Thrillist'due south National Food and Drink squad. He resides in Austin, TX, so on the question of beef vs. pork, he stands with the steers. Follow him to Internet beef at @Dannosphere.
Source: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/barbecue-debates-what-s-better-beef-or-pork