H-E-B now sells Killen’s brisket — how does it stack up?
Fully cooked, the beef is geared to the time-pressed barbecue lover
The craft-barbecue movement is already fraught with enough perfectionist anxiety that it’s hard to imagine one of the state’s great pitmasters lending his or her name to a commercially produced brisket. That you can find in a supermarket. Precooked. But that’s just what Ronnie Killen has done in a move that is at once foolhardy and virtuosic. The classically trained chef turned pitmaster who threw the local barbecue scene into high gear when he opened Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland in 2013 has partnered with Texas supermarket giant H-E-B for a fully cooked beef brisket that is targeted to about 50 stores in the Houston market. If the public takes a liking to this pre-cooked smoked brisket, H-E-B will consider broadening its availability in Texas.
A few stores in the Pearland area — clearly Killen’s turf with restaurants including Killen’s Steakhouse, Killen’s Barbecue and Killen’s Burgers — got a jump on the product before the wider rollout
this week. H-E-B said it has sold extremely well; it obviously has big hopes for the distinctly local collaboration.
Killen is excited about his H-E-B brisket, but he is the first to say it’s not the same product that barbecue connoisseurs stand in line for at his Pearland smokehouse. “It’s not going to be like you’re taking it off the pit,” he said. “This is for people who don’t have 12 to 15 hours to cook a brisket.”
So what exactly is the Killen’s/H-E-B product? It’s a USDA Choice-grade brisket — Choice has less marbling than the grade just above it, Prime — that has been rubbed with salt, pepper and a few other spices, then pit-smoked for 15 hours using pecan and oak.
The cooking is not done at Killen’s but at J Bar B Foods in Waelder, a respected co-packer and food-service manufacturer. The cooked briskets are cut in half so that both the fatty and lean parts of the whole brisket are in one portion that is shrink wrapped and sold in the refrigerated-meats section of the grocery store.
The brisket portions that are sold at H-E-B weigh in at about 4 to 5 pounds and are priced at $12.99 per pound. That price is about half of what craft-barbecue fans are paying at famous barbecue joints in Texas. Killen’s Barbecue charges $23 per pound for its brisket; the Pit Room, $19.50; Roegels Barbecue Co., $19.50; Pinkerton’s BBQ, $20; Feges BBQ, $20. By comparison, Franklin Barbecue in Austin charges $25 per pound.
True, the top barbecue joints use Prime and wagyu brisket, which commands a higher price (not to mention wood and labor). H-E-B intentionally chose Choice because it is leaner and to keep the pricing more affordable.
“It really is aimed at the customer that doesn’t have the time and experience dedicated to cooking a brisket,” said Melissa Cavanaugh, H-E-B’s business development manager, cooked meats. “We’ve trimmed it, seasoned it and put it on a pit for 15 hours. We wanted to make sure we stayed true to the craftsmanship of classic Texas brisket using traditional methods of craft barbecue and natural smoke.” Naturally, I had to try it myself. I cooked two briskets (4.42 pounds and 4.91 pounds) in a conventional oven following directions on the package, which calls for briskets to be wrapped in foil fat-side up with ½ cup water and cooked for 35 to 50 minutes until heated thoroughly in a 375-degree oven.
The briskets emerged juicy, with a respectable bark. Fragrant, too, smelling of pepper, light smoke and even a little sweetness. I wrapped my briskets in pink butcher paper, the kind pitmasters use to hold briskets that have been cooked, and then in foil before slicing them an hour later. (H-E-B carries pink butcher paper.)
Slicing brisket is a true pitmaster skill. There was no art whatsoever to my slicing. But no matter: The brisket was fairly moist and easy to cut. In terms of taste, the brisket had
big, beefy flavor. It wasn’t intensely smoky, though. And though some tasters remarked that the brisket was less tender than the silken fatty-end cuts from Killen’s, overall, it was a satisfying experience.
“It’s basically built for time,” Killen said. “You don’t have to worry about charcoal or wood, or about seasoning and smoking.”
He said the brisket isn’t aimed at barbecue aficionados who worship at the temples of Snow’s BBQ in Lexington or Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor (both of which ship briskets nationwide). Instead, it’s a product that should appeal to local fans who have neither the time or inclination to smoke a brisket; for busy moms and dads who want to serve a good barbecue meal to the family; or for tailgaters who want to impress friends on game day.
The brisket collaboration has been a year in the making. “We really want to grow brands and partnerships with great Texas people,” Cavanaugh said. “The partnership with Ronnie makes sense. He’s well known and has a great brand and a great product.”
And more coming: Killen and H-E-B are currently working on packaging Killen’s Barbecue sauces.