- Hello!
We are here in Hudson New York at Back Bar
with our friend Robb Finn.
Robb!
- Hey!
- Robb is breaking down briskets and smoking them
a little bit different than we're used to seeing
in traditional American barbecue.
So, we drove up here to pretty much make
brisket with our friend and then eat a sandwich.
(upbeat music)
What the hell are we doing today with fish and beef?
- We kind of wanted to take barbecue and move it
into a cooler direction.
So our idea was, hey, let's do something
really funky that hasn't been done.
And beef and oyster sauce is this
classic combination in Chinese cooking
that's super popular in American Chinese style cooking.
So I was like, why not just do it
with real oysters and see what the hell happens?
- So we're gonna smoke brisket with oysters?
- Yeah, with oysters that have been poached
and blended into a sambal.
- So-- - Never done that before!
- Okay.
Don't know how we got here but I guess we'll figure it out.
Can we get to work?
- Let's do it!
First thing's first.
We're gonna split the deckle
which is kind of the really fatty sinew heavy piece
right off the top of the flat.
Which is the much leaner part of the brisket.
Just so that way when we're cooking,
we can have them set at two different temperatures
with two different end results.
- Wow, so we're gonna be eating these both together.
- Yeah. - They're smoked
separately, one smoked at a higher
temperature for longer, but then we're gonna
combine them just to get those flavors?
- Yeah, at the very end.
- Wow! - So again, textural contrast,
flavor contrast.
- How has the menu developed?
Has it always been crazy Malaysian style
or how do you guys approach things?
- Over the years we've been more
thinking of it in terms of continent of Asia
as opposed to just focusing on one region
but applying that region's power.
So, it's always the sweet, sour, salty, spicy,
kind of umami blend of things thrown into whatever.
You know, for example the house sambal
we're gonna use to dress one of these briskets
we make with long red chiles, thai chiles,
roasted red peppers, and quince paste.
It's always been this evolution within
ourselves of like,
yeah we could do traditional malayan.
Like, give me a pound of shrimp paste
and a pound of thai chiles and that's sambal.
- So, what's the next step?
- We're doing two different rubs.
The flat's gonna be with the poached oysters
and then the deckle's going to be with our house sambal,
fish sauce, a little bit more of that quince paste
to really lacquer it up.
- Let's get to rubbing this thing down.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(upbeat surfer music)
- Let's make a sauce!
- Two sauces.
So, the longest part's gonna be poaching the oysters off.
And, we got a dozen here that have been shucked
and cleaned and ready to go.
And we're gonna keep them in their own liquor
'cause again, that's all flavor.
And, those bad boys are just going right into the steamer.
So while that's going we're gonna build the other sauce.
This is our house sambal.
This is our little baby.
So next, a little bit of quince paste.
And then, last thing is some preserved horseradish.
And then fish sauce.
(upbeat surfer music)
So, you guys wanna give it a taste?
Again, you'll kinda see how it layers out.
You've got a little bit more funkiness
from the fish sauce, that sweetness kinda punches up
a little more, and the horseradish gives it
that different kind of cutting capacity in the back.
- In our relationship, - Oh.
- Brent brings the sweetness and I bring the funk.
That tastes like the best cocktail sauce I've ever had.
- Yeah!
- That was the idea. - I want a (bleep) ton
of shrimp right now.
- And again, brisket and oysters,
I was like, you gotta have the cocktail sauce.
This is vital.
- So, this is what's going on the deckle
and you've obviously thought about this.
Why is each sauce going with these two different pieces?
- Putting the oyster with the deckle I think
will kinda just get lost in how fatty that piece is.
That's why I was like, alright if we use
the more aggressive kind of stronger flavors
on that fattier, richer piece of meat,
it's gonna stand up much better
and create something more dynamic.
- [Both] Right.
- The other sauce we're gonna do now is roasted green
chiles, cilantro, stem garlic, just pureed with the oysters.
So, it's like you have your beater piece
more or less that's gonna be really heady.
And then, you have your kind of suave,
sexy piece that's gonna have a little more dynamic.
Then, when you're eating them together,
again, you're getting these weird dynamics
of like, wow, that was super vegetal and it's great.
Speaking of weird dynamics.
Ready for round two?
- [Ben] So, we're doin' what's going on the flat now?
- [Robb] Yep!
(exciting jazzy music)
So we got the oysters poached in their liquor.
And, this is gonna be what we use to thin
the sauce out as well.
(sizzling)
So, these are the stems from cilantro.
They're jam packed with flavor
and have quite a lovely texture.
So, that's pretty much right where we want it.
And we're gonna go right back to that blender.
(upbeat surfer music)
- Oh, papa bear! - You get that little bit
of oceanic kick in the background of it.
But the whole idea, it's clean, it's very clear,
it's super fresh tasting.
And that, in contrast with the other one,
if you taste the two simultaneously,
they really work beautifully in unison.
- Totally.
Yeah, this makes me want seafood.
- Yep!
Let's get to rubbing this thing down.
- So, which one are we doing first?
Are we doing the flat or the deckle?
- We're gonna go deckle first.
So, that's gonna get the red sauce.
- So, I'm just like, I'm a dump truck right now?
- Yep. - Alright.
- There's no elegant way to do this.
Just embrace it.
(upbeat surfer music)
- Flip it, flip it, flip it!
Good job, hands.
- [Brent] Oh, it's so good.
- [Ben] Good job, hands!
Rub it in, hands.
(laughing) Rub it in!
- [Robb] That's some good rubbing.
- Okay, woo!
- Cool, so yeah, and then same thing.
We're gonna give this a good rub down
and then let these bad boys sit for 48 hours.
(upbeat music)
So, get this bad boy opened up.
The first one we're going in with is the flat.
This is gonna be a much subtler heat
that's kind of well-maintained but still circulating
on this side so that's where we'll go with the flat.
This is a more intense heat on this side,
so this is where we'll go with the deckle.
Cool, so we close this bad boy up
and we got about 14 hours to kill.
- What do you wanna do for 14 hours?
- What do we always do for 14 hours?
- Drink - Make sausages.
- until we black out?
Oh, okay, yeah we'll make sausages.
- Let's find a half-chicken for this man.
- Indeed.
(laughing)
- That's been 14 hours.
- I really wish I had brought a second shirt
to get through the last two days and 14 hours.
- You smell terrible.
- Alright, cool!
So, pretty much, we got the brisket up.
We're lookin' for just over
190 on the flat. - Yeah!
- Whoa!
- So that's gonna be, as you can see,
crazy juicy and beautiful.
And the deckle comes out and that guy's just a preposterous
mess of meat - Pull it apart.
- pudding and deliciousness.
And you know, 'cause we have to.
- Oh my god, yeah, we have to.
(claps hands)
- [Robb] And then from here, we're gonna start
choppin' it up and getting it going,
and make some sandwiches.
(upbeat surfer music)
Last step is just the final assembly.
So, this is kind of our spin on the classic Chinese mo.
Which is almost like a bao bun
and an English muffin had a baby.
- Cute!
- Yeah, they're adorable!
And then, get them straight on the plancha to cook.
So, we're gonna build this guy as a regular
sandwich and then pull it apart.
Eat it with your hands, eat the inside, eat the bread.
What you do after we give it to you,
we do not care about.
(upbeat surfer music)
- I feel like I'm gonna take a bite of it,
and it's just gonna explode.
Part of the fun is the handful of napkins
you need to bring with you.
- Exactly!
And we only give you one napkin
so that makes it even better.
- Bro!
I'm eating a pancake sandwich! (laughs)
- Now that I'm eating it, my last question is,
how stoned were you when you came up with this idea?
- Scale of one to 10?
The answer is yes.
- All the chiles, all the time, the smoke,
salty, sweet, tangy,
exactly what you said.
It's everything.
So freaking good, man.
- I think kind of curing them separately
and then cooking them separately
really, really helps because, you're right.
When you cook them both together
you lose something from each.
They diminish each other.
But, like, doing them separately.
- And then combining them.
- Yeah, this isn't in any way dry like you
expect from the flat.
It's not overly fatty.
But, both are just cooked exactly right.
- Yeah, texture's perfect.
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] For more episodes like this, click here.
- Get in there!
Yeah!
- [Both] Eat boy, eat boy, eat boy!
Eat boy!
(laughing)
- He looks so upset now!
Come here, aw, what did he do to you?
- (crying) I don't know!