BBQ Pro Tips by Tom Peters

Tom Peters is the owner and pitmaster of Holy Que Smokehouse, a straight-up Texas BBQ joint located right outside Peddler’s Village in Lahaska. Despite Covid restrictions, Holy Que opened in November 2020 and is already making waves in Bucks County and beyond, especially with Texan transplants. You’re not going to find any sauced-up meats or crafty flairs in this joint. BBQ is a regional thing and they specialize in “pit to plate”, traditional Texas ‘que, relying only on smoke, salt and pepper, and a lot of time. 

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🔥 Pro Tip 1: Patience is your friend!

Patience is key when smoking a brisket. Like the old saying goes, “if you’re lookin’, you ain’t cookin”. When you get the urge to open your smoker and show off the goods for the 100,091’th time, heat is lost and it can take forever to get your smoker back up to temp. Smoking meat takes consistent temps in order to get the best results. Fight the urge, grab a beer and let time do the work.

🔥 Pro Tip 2: Use High-Grade Meat

When smoking a brisket, only buy full packers that would fit in your smoker without touching the walls. Try and keep the meat grade at Choice, Certified Angus, or Prime. Full packers with great fat content and marbleization will help your brisket from drying out. And TRIM TRIM TRIM! Make sure you create some smooth lines and lose the thin parts of the flat. There are hundreds of videos on line to help you learn trimming but in the end, nicely trimmed briskets with around 1/4 inch of fat always render much better.

🔥 Pro Tip 3: Don’t Dread The Stall

The dreaded stall. We all go through it and we all can go crazy waiting for the temp to break. There are crutches you can find online to help get you through it but fight the urge to do a thousand of them at once. Each cook will be different and in the end, time and time alone will always get you through EVERY stall. 

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🔥 Thank you, Tom! 🔥
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Get more BBQ Pro Tips:
Pitmaster Mike Strauss
Chef Keith M. Taylor
BBQ Expert & Author Ray Sheehan
Pitmaster Jim House