Southern Pride makes gas-fired commercial smokers, which burn a little wood for flavor, and offers cooking tips to its customers.
For one of its larger machines, the XLR-1400, which has a capacity of 72 briskets, the recipe for "Texas style brisket" says cook 12 to 14 hours and use a total of two 4-inch by 12-inch logs.
That's for a "heavy smoke" taste, the recipe says.
A couple weeks ago, we got into a good discussion on this blog about real Texas barbecue and whether it could ever be cooked with gas. We still say no and offer Southern Pride's recipe in support.
More than 850 pounds of brisket, 12 hours, two sticks, lots of gas. That's not Texas BBQ.
Baby J McKenzie, who runs Baby J's in Palestine, told us on a recent tour that he uses a cord and a half of wood a week.
What Baby J uses in a week would supply an XLR-1400 -- cooking once a day, 365 days a year -- with "heavy smoke" flavor for about a year and a half.
Photo by Chris Wilkins