Never in the annals of American barbecue has brisket — great brisket — been so widely available. Once the province of Texas and Kansas City, world-class brisket now turns up at Hometown Bar-B-Que in Brooklyn; at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, S.C.; and at Smoque BBQ and Green Street Smoked Meats in Chicago. Once deemed a low-value cut (Tootsie Tomanetz, the 84-year-old pitmaster at Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Tex., remembers grinding it to make hamburgers), brisket now commands top dollar at meat markets and barbecue restaurants. Its status was affirmed in 2015, when Aaron Franklin, of Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Tex., won a James Beard award for best chef in the Southwest. Yet brisket remains oddly off limits for one large segment of the population: home cooks.

Source: New York Times May 24, 2019 11:40 UTC