Southeners, is brisket better homecooked or in restaurants generally?

27 comments

1. I’m curious as to why you’re just asking southerners. I know that brisket BBQ is a specialty in since southern states, but brisket can be cooked in many other delicious ways that aren’t unique to the South.

2. Some restaurants can do it extremely well, almost perfect, but homemade is always a contender when you can make one. For me personally, I can’t find good BBQ since I moved to Chicago, so homemade is always better.

3. I prefer homeade bbq but there are a few bbq restaurants that I like (they are local, not a nationwide chain). Fun NC bbq fact: the Pawn Stars had bbq from NC shipped to Vegas for the Old Man a few times

4. Are you talking about Texas brisket? There is a lot of bad brisket in restaurants, so I’m inclined to say home cooked. There can be bad home cooked brisket too, but brisket takes such a time and effort commitment that people generally know what they’re doing.

   And I asked for that distinction because Reddit keeps telling me that Texas isn’t part of the south. The part of the south I’m from, corned beef brisket is more common than Texas brisket. Store bought is probably better since I don’t think anyone makes that at home anymore.

5. Every person will tell you their brisket is better than anything in any restaurant.

   Everyone that cooks brisket as their profession knows they are dead wrong (except those few black swan home cooks that just make amazing brisket).

   So unless you are practiced cooking brisket and just know how to nail it a restaurant of decent quality is going to do it better.

6. Can go either way. Lots of bad to mediocre restaurants but that’s also true of home cooks.

7. I’ve had great brisket twice. Once at home which was an accident and when I judged a BBQ contest.

   Most places just have dry brisket and if it’s not dry a lot of times it’s bland flavor.

   Now I just don’t eat BBQ brisket at a restaurant since if it’s bad it’s a waste of money.

   Now brisket made other ways like in a stew or pho is good.

8. Do you mean bbq brisket? Homemade is a complete toss-up and depends on the skill of the person doing the smoking. Finding decent brisket is easy at most dedicated barbeque restaurants, which there are a ton of.

9. Here in Texas, generally you go to a dedicated BBQ restaurant for excellent brisket. It’s possible to do at home but realistically there’s not a lot of people with a proper pit that stay up all night monitoring the temp.

10. The only place I’ve had good brisket from was a food truck and at a Lockhart smokehouse in Dallas over in the bishop arts district

11. As with most traditional foods, homemade is almost always better.

12. I’ve had home-cooked brisket and it was always OK. Then I tried actual factual brisket at The Salt Lick in Texas, which was amazing. Currently, my only local option is the brisket sammich at Buc-ee’s, which is pretty damn tasty.

13. Almost always, in a restaurant. Unlike other foods, BBQ can’t quite be replicated on standard home equipment. Unless you’re a serious hobbiest with a dedicated smoker, you’re probably trying to jerry-rig a smoker on your own property.

    Also, doing a brisket right is really labor intensive, since they require hours of monitoring.

    Lastly, it’s so easy to find a good brisket anywhere in Texas. You can ask a local or Texas Monthly and find one that’s going to be good 99% of the time.

    It’s the one food where I tell people, don’t even bother to do it at home, it’s basically never worth it.

14. why are you asking “southerners”? they don’t own brisket or BBQ.

15. It really depends on how well of a cook you are. Good brisket takes work and I honestly don’t have the patience to make it.

16. Home cooked is generally a good rule of thumb for any southern dish, including brisket.

17. Depends on the person. Personally I prefer homecooke dbut man are there some good local restaurants with brisket

18. Both are really good! Especially Rudy’s! They have fresh brisket ready to serve, and to complement it, have some Rudy’s beans!

    Homemade you can but your own spices on it!

    L’Chaim!

19. The best brisket in the world is at San Marcos BBQ in San Marcos, Texas.

20. Cooked or smoked?

21. Restaurant objectively

22. Oh, be careful bud, you might spark a war over who has the better brisket. See, there’s the best kind of brisket that grandma makes, and everyone elses

23. Restaurant- but it has to be bbq specifically

24. Restaurants because I do not know how to make one. I am very sorry.

25. There’s no shortage of mediocre barbecue restaurants, but a good one will blow nearly any home cook out of the water.

26. What restaurant and what home are we referring to?

27. I spent a bunch of time in south Texas over the last year and the best brisket I’ve ever had was homemade (by a guy that won competitions) and the worst brisket I’ve had was also homemade by different dude who couldn’t control his heat. Most restaurant brisket (including from Blacks BBQ) was closer to the best but not quite as good.