BBQ schmo to BBQ pro

Hill Country

In order to have each menu item ready for the lunch rush, the cooks load about 50 briskets into one of the three Texas-size smokers before closing the night before. Here, Pete’s getting ready to take the temp of the cuts that have been rotating in the smoker at around 225 degrees. Once they’ve reached an internal temp of 176 degrees, he’ll pull them and let them rest—at 180 degrees they’re ready to serve.

The three Ole Hickory commercial smokers Hill Country employs can accommodate about 3,000 pounds of meat total—in other words, you could smoke a whole car in this kitchen (assuming it was engineered with beef parts).