- I think California barbecue kind of becomes
what California is, a mixture of everybody.
My parents are from Alabama and Texas.
So all of those traditions, I would take that
and infuse that into something special.
That's what we try to do here.
Alabama meets Texas, right here in California.
I am co-owner, Chef Shalamar Lane, of My Father's Barbecue
in Carson, California.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
So we have a Wagyu brisket here, about 13 pounds.
It is the king of Texas barbecue.
We inject our brisket here so instead of the seasonings
just being on the outside of the brisket,
we actually get them into the meat.
We wanted to really have our own flavor.
We have a mixture of Worcestershire,
a small amount of vinegar and house seasoning blend.
So I'm gonna go with the grain
but you can kinda see it puff up.
I try to get as much as I can in there, about 16 ounces,
and you could see the color start to change.
I have Texas in my blood so you can't say it's not Texan.
(Shalamar laughs)
And I have Alabama in my blood
so you can't say it's not Alabama.
It is tradition, maybe not your tradition,
but it's tradition.
Who wants something that tastes like
everybody else's anyway?
I'm gonna season this with our house seasoning first.
The base is salt pepper.
You have some paprika, a little bit of cumin
and about nine other spices and seasonings. (laughs)
We kinda know what beef tastes like,
but what does beef taste like when you add all of these
colors of the rainbow to it?
And this brisket is ready to go.
Barbecue is a male dominated space, but not in my life.
I grew up cooking with my father, but his two sisters,
we barbecued all the time while I was small.
So that's what I saw.
I saw women barbecuing.
So for me, it's very, very familiar.
The color that you see inside is gonna be
the injection and the seasoning.
(upbeat music)
This smoker here is a Buehler from Texas.
We inherited this from the previous owner.
It puts out a really, really good product.
The firebox is here.
We have our thermometer here
and here we're gonna adjust the temperature.
And the airflow will go through here, into the firebox,
and then allow the oxygen to go in
to release the heat into the smoker.
So I usually start the fire with oak
and then I'll add the (indistinct) on
as the fire burns down.
We also use avocado.
It actually gives off a slight flavor.
It's really good.
So these are the rib tips.
These are cut from the top of the spare rib.
In here, you'll find all of those spices
that my father's side of the family
from Bessemer, Alabama, they use.
But in here, you'll find that cracked black pepper
that you'll get in Texas
and you'll find those large granules of salt.
Having all these different spices that you can use just,
why not use them?
So that's what we do.
To keep those traditions are very important
because somebody has to keep them or you'll lose them.
It's important to me.
It's important to my family.
The Southern traditions, they make the best barbecue
because that's what real barbecue is.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
So these are spare ribs.
When I look at my ribs,
I like them to be as evenly cut as possible,
a nice light pink color with a little bit of depth in there,
a lot of fat content.
We do do baby bags and St. Louis sometimes.
But the spare ribs have a lot of fat,
they're really juicy, they cook really well.
These ribs have the most flavor.
I'm gonna cut the skirt.
We actually smoke the skirts.
We season 'em, smoke 'em,
and we use the skirts for ours chopped rib sandwiches.
Try not to waste anything.
With the price of meat, who wants to waste anything?
We have a wet and dry rub mix.
This is a little bit of vinegar, lemon juice,
a little Worcestershire and a little secret sauce.
This will help tenderize the meat, season the meat,
and it'll also help the dry rub to stick to the meat.
The base of the recipes are all family recipes,
and I have spices and seasonings that they did not use.
The new recipe has all been
tested and approved by the family. (laughs)
So we have our big smoker inside
and then we also have another smoker out here.
I think barbecue is just in my blood.
I remember my aunt.
She used to tell me, "You are probably gonna barbecue."
And I would say, "No.
"I'm not gonna be barbecuing my whole life."
What I found is a love for it.
She always said it was in my blood and I believe her now.
I'm gonna close this up and this will take about
two to four and a half hours to cook.
(smoker clanks)
So we have fresh collard greens
and these greens actually came right out of my dad's garden.
We also mix our collard greens with cabbage,
which is something you don't get everywhere.
Traditionally, you would have collard greens
with either ham hocks or some type of pork.
So what we do is use our smoked turkey legs
that we just took off the smoker outside.
I'm gonna drop two of these in the pot,
and this will flavor the collard greens.
And these are about two pound turkey legs
and I'm gonna add this to the pot,
along with some garlic powder, kosher salt,
and red pepper flakes.
I'm gonna add some sliced onion.
So we're gonna let that cook for about 45 minutes,
render all of the fat out of the turkey leg,
all of the flavor, and then we'll add our collard greens,
and for additional 45 minutes
and then there'll be ready to go.
You could smell 'em already.
They smell like home.
Okay, so I'm gonna check in on the ribs.
They been on it for about 45 minutes now,
and we're just gonna see where they're going.
They're still cooking and I'm gonna base those
so that they'll stay nice and tender.
We have some ribs that are in here
that's been in here for about four hours,
and those are almost ready to pull off.
I'll base those now.
Some people base with vinegar and just water.
We actually put our house seasoning into the basing juice.
So not only does it tenderize it,
but it also flavors in it at the same time.
I've tried the spray bottle,
but you see how much juice is coming off of there.
So you're really able to have that juice sit on those parts
that need to be really be tenderized.
All right, our ribs are done
so we're gonna pull these off.
(lighthearted upbeat music)
If my finger can go through there, then they're finished.
When any meat just falls apart,
it's usually overcooked.
So you don't...
At one point, you're gonna start to lose
some of the juiciness
and you don't wanna render too much of the fat off
because the fat it gives the meat flavor.
Barbecue is special because you just, you build on it.
It builds families.
People come together because of barbecue.
There's something special about barbecue
that I think touches everybody.
It's hard to explain, but you feel it inside.
The main thing that I would like the customers
to walk away with is feeling like they've eaten somewhere
where the person that prepared the food cared about it.
Right now, we live in a society where everybody's
trying to make money.
"Hey, let's throw some Cheetos on it.
"If somebody eats it then great."
But when you really care about the food
and you take the time and you put the effort in it,
it means something.
Hands have touched that just like the ground we walk on.
Somebody built this.
Somebody took their time.
Somebody's back was broken
because they took the time to do this.
I hope that when people walk into my restaurant,
they walk away with the feeling of love
and know that somebody cared about their food
and we wanted them to be happy.
It meant something to us that they came here
and they were happy eating the food.
That's what's important to me.