Maple & Motor’s Jack Perkins opening The Slow Bone Barbecue joint in Dallas

When EscapeHatch contributor Josh Newton ran into Maple & Motor burgermeister  Jack Perkins a couple of weeks ago, Perkins revealed that he would soon launch a barbecue joint. Josh says Jack was to give him more details, but the word is now out:  The Slow Bone is slated to start serving brisket, ribs and all the fixins in late February, says Teresa Gubbins over on Culture Map. 

Perkins told TG he’s going to use the ‘high heat” method that’s popular right now on the competitive barbecue circuit, rather than the traditional “low and slow” approach. So instead of a long, slow cook at 225 degrees for hours and hours, Slow Bone will smoke above 275 for a shorter period of time, then let the meat tenderize as it cools.

I’ve cooked great brisket both ways. The keys, I’ve learned from talks with Justin Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Aaron Franklin (Franklin BBQ) and Bill Karau (Karubecue), are to use a high quality hunk of meat and practice really good fire management. Keep the fire steady, give it plenty of oxygen so you create good quality smoke, and cook the brisket till you can poke it with a stick, somewhere close to an internal meat temperature of 200 degrees (Franklin says his briskets often top out at 203F).

I smoked this brisket for about 11 hours the low-and-slow way.

Low and slow or high heat? Both work fine

Ribs, pork shoulder and sausage aren’t as finicky as brisket, so they come along for the ride at whatever temperature the pit master chooses.

“We could open a Vietnamese noodle house — or whatever,” Perkins told Gubbins. “If you know how to run a restaurant, it doesn’t matter what you do.”

Hmmm. So much for passion.

The Slow Bone is taking over the the former BW’s BBQ space across from Nick Badovinus’ Off Site Kitchen on Irving Boulevard.