Brisketeers, students bring science to barbecue
Smoked meat was nowhere to be identified in the middle of Aggie Park. Surrounded by barbecue booths as element of the Troubadour Festival, the central tent had anything various in thoughts.
Alternatively, meat scientists and their students in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Animal Science brought cuts of brisket, beef and pork ribs, and pork butt on ice with banners outlining the retail cuts.
When festival goers enjoyed their fill of a assortment of barbecue samples, some stopped in to ask inquiries about the meat on show.
The Troubadour Festival in Aggie Park attracted thousands of guests all through the day for each meals and music. Texas A&M students educated guests on several cuts of meat. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Michael Miller)
Teaching the science
Jeffrey W. Savell, Ph.D., vice chancellor and dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences, knew the setup supplied anything one of a kind to guests.
“We do not want to be the barbecue cookers,” he stated. “We want to be the persons who recognize the educational side, the technical side and the scientific side of barbecue.”
Savell is a single of Texas A&M’s 3 brisketeers alongside Ray Riley, Rosenthal Meat Science and Technologies Center manager, and Davey Griffin, Ph.D., professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service meat science specialist, each in the Department of Animal Science.
Savell sees worth in taking element in festivals like this.
“Texas A&M plays a vital part at these events in educating the public about meat science and meals security, when simultaneously facilitating student development. It is a fantastic chance for them to demonstrate their understanding by speaking to the public,” Savell stated.
Moving toward the future
Kaylee Greiner completed her master’s degree in meat science and meals security in May perhaps. She also coached the Texas A&M national championship meat judging team last year.
Greiner jumps at the likelihood to share her understanding.
“Getting to teach other persons, watching them get inspired and have that passion for meat science has actually created me passionate about what I’m performing, and has additional created me assume that I’m performing anything that is worthwhile,” she stated.
Greiner was a single of 12 present or former students on hand to answer inquiries about the cuts of meat prior to them.
We do not want to be the barbecue cookers. We want to be the persons who recognize the educational side, the technical side and the scientific side of barbecue.
Jeffrey W. Savell, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor and Dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences
Obtaining the ideal tools
Griffin desires to show the house cook quick strategies to make leaps and bounds in the excellent of their items.
“Let’s educate persons about the meals items they’re working with and assistance them far better recognize what that does for creating far better barbecue,” he stated.
Griffin values the university’s part as an unbiased supply of facts, and he requires that duty seriously, particularly when it comes to meals security.
“You want to know what your temperatures are, and you want to know they’re protected,” he stated. “People will go out and commit thousands of dollars on a pit, but not have a superior thermometer.”
And that is only a single of the pieces of facts he passes along.
Griffin stated basically providing meat sufficient time to rest prior to cutting can make the solution ten instances far better.
Dozens of restaurants supplied samples of their barbecue at the Troubadour Festival, when students and faculty members from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Animal Science provided barbecue education to supplement the meals. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Michael Miller)
It is the pits
Smoke from barbecue pits filled the air with a gray haze when Texas A&M students pointed out the variations in between a trimmed and untrimmed brisket to inquiring minds.
“A lot of persons do not recognize that this is all science,” Griffin stated. “They assume, ‘we’re just going to get a piece of meat, place it on a fire, drink a small beer and have a superior time.’”
“There’s a small much more to it than that,” Griffin stated with a smile. “There’s science behind almost everything.”
