Miami's Logan Sargeant Gets Texan With His Favorite BBQ
I will never, ever turn down an opportunity to eat some good Texas BBQ
Welcome to Grand Prix Gastronomy! In 2024, this series is dedicated to cooking the favorite dishes of every driver on the grid.
The Foods That Logan Sargeant Loves
I love Logan Sargeant. He seems like the prototypical American dude from Florida who is Just A Dude, and for some reason, I find that so funny. He also loves some good down-home American food, like a burger. But since we're already making burgers for Grand Prix Gastronomy Season 2, I'm yoinking Logan's answer from his “My First Day” blackboard: Austin, TX BBQ.
I probably should have scheduled Austin BBQ to coincide with F1's Austin race, but I'm selfish. I'm saving the US Grand Prix for something special, which means Logan will be celebrating his home Grand Prix in Miami with a dish that definitely originated somewhere else. I am also enjoying the excuse to make some delicious BBQ at home.
This Week's Recipes
So this week, we're doing things a little differently. As you might have noticed, earlier this week, I dropped a bunch of my mom's smoked meats recipes. While there are tons of different ways to make Texas barbecue, I wanted to share my family's interpretation of it, the way we do it during big family get-togethers.
I've also included a list of the sides and desserts we made for our big BBQ pow-wow, in case you want the full Greater Blackstock Family experience.
Core Recipes:
Smoked meats
Supplementary Recipes:
For Serving on the Side:
Cole slaw
Pickles, pickled jalapeños, and other pickled veggies
Sliced white onion
White bread
BBQ sauce of your choice
Cooking Austin BBQ
The big thing about Texas barbecue is that it takes time, and it can be unpredictable. If you're smoking a large cut of meat, you can generally get a sense of how long it'll take to cook by following general instructions, but the reality never quite works out that way. Maybe it's colder than expected, so it takes more energy for your smoker to stay hot, so it's more arduous, and also it takes longer. Maybe it's less humid in your area than usual, so your meat is smoking way faster than normal.
My mom has smoked a brisket in seven hours, but sometimes that same size and cut of meat takes almost 12 hours to cook. BBQ is a process of reading the environment and adapting — so if you don't get it right the first time, you can guarantee that enough variables will be different the next time around that you might have way better luck. Just make sure you set aside plenty of time to make you meal; you don't want to feel rushed!
I've included my recipe instructions and cooking instructions in the previous post containing the recipes — but if that's not detailed enough to help you come to grips with the meat smoking process, there are plenty of YouTube videos out there to help guide you along!
The Wine List
I actually bought a wine specifically to pair with our Easter barbecue, but my best laid plans fell to the side when my mom offered me a chance to look through her wine stash. See, my parents are definitely not red wine people (in fact, they're mostly just moscato people), but because of my stepdad's profession, they end up with a lot of wine that had been gifted to them that usually just sits around until I decide to drink it. During Easter, I came across a gem, Kindzmarauli from the Dozortsev Collection.
If you've never heard of Kindzmarauli, then you're not the only one. It's a semi-sweet red wine from Kakheti, Georgia made from Saperavi grapes, and it is one of my favorites.
See, I got really into researching the origins of wine a while back, and there are a lot of theories that point to Georgia as the home of fermented grape beverages, which were buried in earthenware vessels called Qvevri. The wine-making process there remains a little unrefined, at least compared to Western wine countries like Italy or France, which is exactly why I like it.
Usually, folks will recommend really bold, full-bodied, tannic reds when it comes to pairing with things like Texas barbecue (and in that vein, I'd pulled a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon as my initial pairing), but I'd love to challenge you to try a sweet red with your smoked dishes next time, especially if you're a fan of sweeter barbecue sauces. It's a really fun departure from the norm, which is helped immensely by the fact that Kindzmarauli is a supremely drinkable wine.
So, What's The Verdict?
Issuing a verdict on what is literally one of my favorite meals ever, prepared by my favorite person ever, kind of seems like an exercise in redundancy. Of course this is going to be one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten!
Instead, I want to take a moment to just reflect on the dishes that are especially delicious because of the person who makes them. My mom's barbecue is one of those things, where I'm just going to love it any time she makes it, because she's the one who made it.
But it's also a fairly new entry into the list of my favorite recipes that my mom makes; she only got a smoker a few years ago, because she'd only just started living in Texas long enough to get curious about making her own brisket. Prior to that, I'd been fawning over her beef stroganoff, her stir fry, and her chicken noodle soup. Any one of those three dishes are just different when she's the one who makes them; even though she's passed on the recipes and showed me how to make them, I just can't make a version as good as the one she makes. Maybe it's not the most gourmet food, or the most achingly prepared dish, or even the “authentic” way to make these things — but that's okay, because my mom made it, and that means everything tastes exactly as it should.
I'd love for y’all to tell me about the dishes your family makes that you just can't get enough of. Does your mom make an incredible pie for every get-together? Does your significant other make the absolute best fried rice you've ever had? Do you have a friend who can make an incredible sauce from scratch no matter how little she has in the kitchen? I would absolutely love to know!
Ready… Set… COOK!
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