Watch This Before Trying Buc-Ee's Famous Brisket
While some fans of Buc-ee's love the shopping experience; it's the brisket that's gotten the most buzz. From heaping whole brisket portions to strategic planning to get exactly what you want – there's a method to the madness of Buc-Ee's brisket.
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00:00While some fans of Buc-ee's love the shopping experience,
00:03it's the brisket that's gotten the most buzz. From heaping whole brisket portions to strategic
00:08planning to get exactly what you want, there's a method to the madness of Buc-ee's brisket.
00:13As we all know, the bar for most gas station food is set pretty low.
00:17Most of us would be happy grabbing a bag of chips and a soda, or maybe a donut if it looks fresh
00:21enough. And we all know to keep our expectations in check when ordering any hot food at most
00:26Buc-ee's, however, is a notable exception. According to Texas Monthly, the chain's co-owner
00:32personally taste-tests proposed new recipes and ingredients before authorizing them for sale,
00:36and Buc-ee's brisket is a case in point. As Buc-ee's operations district manager,
00:40Michael Bui, told CBS 42,
00:42We put a lot of love in it. These briskets are smoked for at least 12 to 14 hours."
00:47Michael Bui also went on to say,
00:49We have a smokehouse that ships it to the stores daily. We put a little bit of salt,
00:53a little bit of pepper, a couple other seasonings, of course, just low and slow.
00:57You know, the Texas way.
00:58As a Texas-based chain, Buc-ee's knows its customers have high standards for brisket,
01:02and plenty of other places to go for a good brisket sandwich,
01:05so maintaining quality is a priority, and Buc-ee's is confident it can deliver.
01:10Buc-ee's culinary director Jim Mills is so confident about the product that he told Texas
01:14Monthly,
01:15I put it, the brisket, up against some of the fancy pants barbecue that's in this part of
01:19the country. While you can always find warm, pre-wrapped brisket sandwiches at Buc-ee's,
01:24dedicated brisket fans know the thing to do is wait for a fresh batch to be brought out and
01:28sliced. As noted by The Ledger, whenever a fresh brisket is brought out, the carver calls out,
01:33in an almost musical chant, fresh hot brisket on the board. And at this point, those in the know
01:38approach the board to watch the carving in action, and prepare to scoop up freshly
01:41assembled sandwiches as soon as they're made.
01:44Texas takes barbecue beyond seriously. According to Feastio,
01:48some fans are willing to wait in line for up to four hours at some of the state's top barbecue
01:52places. For this reason, Buc-ee's knows it's critical to ensure its brisket is made right,
01:57and for this, it was essential that a proven barbecue expert take the lead.
02:00While Buc-ee's culinary director Jim Mills is a veteran of the hotel and restaurant industry,
02:05according to Texas Monthly, he wisely delegated the chain's barbecue operations to prize-winning
02:09pitmaster Randy Pauly, a former firefighter and contestant on the Food Network show Chopped.
02:14Pauly, according to the Houston Chronicle, began visiting barbecue competitions with
02:18his father as a child, and was named the grand champion in his first competition
02:21while still in his teens. The Buc-ee's practice of carving its briskets in-house doesn't just
02:26ensure you get fresher sandwiches. It also offers you options you won't find at a filling station
02:31offering only grab-and-go food that was made off-site. While it's a safe bet that most
02:35brisket-loving travelers passing through Buc-ee's just grab a sandwich or two,
02:39along with some of the store's other famous treats, there's those who are willing to buy more.
02:43"'Fate brought us together, and from the first moment, it was electric.'"
02:50If you really, really love brisket or need to feed a crowd, you can also buy Buc-ee's
02:54brisket by the pound — or even a whole brisket to take home and reheat,
02:57Buc-ee's pitmaster Randy Pauly told Fox 35. Be warned, though, that because this option
03:02is so little-known, even some Buc-ee's employees may be unaware of it.
03:06A commenter on TripAdvisor explained their reaction when they asked for it.
03:10"'When I went to order it, I got the deer-in-the-headlight look.'"
03:12Others reported being told they could only buy it in full-pound increments,
03:16while still others reported being able to buy as much or as little bulk brisket as they wanted
03:20without a problem. So if you're at Buc-ee's and want enough brisket to last a few days,
03:25it won't hurt to ask.
03:26There's no such thing as a truly universally loved food. Because taste is so subjective,
03:31it's possible to put the same plate of food in front of three different people
03:34and get three completely different reactions. Somewhere in the world,
03:38there are undoubtedly outliers who hate chocolate, or bacon, or ice cream.
03:42And Buc-ee's brisket is another example of a well-loved food that some people just don't get.
03:47One person took to Reddit to voice their complaints about Buc-ee's brisket, saying,
03:51"'The barbecue they serve is a horrible representation of Texas.
03:54It used to be absolutely good, but now it's just bad.'"
03:57That wasn't even the harshest of the critiques. Another Redditor wrote,
04:01"'Buc-ee's barbecue' is only good for a five-hour drive where you are starving,
04:05and you want to be disappointed after every bite."
04:07When you think about it, the rules about which foods are appropriate for which meals are pretty
04:11arbitrary. Why are bacon and waffles traditionally breakfast foods, while brisket and meatballs are
04:16not? Even Buc-ee's, which offers hot food around the clock, limits some preparations to certain
04:21times of day. Made-to-order lunch items are only available between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., for instance.
04:26Buc-ee's offers several breakfast items, too. But if you love the idea of brisket for breakfast,
04:31don't worry. You can treat yourself to a freshly made brisket breakfast taco if you
04:35show up between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m. According to Barbecue Bros., you can choose an all-brisket
04:40taco or a brisket and egg taco if you want an extra hit of creaminess and protein.
04:45If you arrive at Buc-ee's craving brisket, you won't have long to wait. And while you can wait
04:49for a fresh brisket to be brought out, carved, and made into sandwiches, if you're pressed for time,
04:53there are almost always hot, foil-wrapped sandwiches ready to go.
04:57So what can you expect when you open one of the sandwiches? All sandwiches are served on buns,
05:02but you can choose between sliced and chopped brisket. The chopped version,
05:05according to The Post and Courier's review, comes mixed with a generous portion of barbecue sauce
05:10and is reminiscent of a sloppy joe. The sliced version comes with a smaller amount of sauce,
05:14which is simply spread on the bun. You can also get these sandwiches in different sizes.
05:19Per This Polk Life, Buc-ee's now has an XXL brisket sandwich that offers an extra
05:23generous portion of meat. If you walked into Buc-ee's knowing nothing about it,
05:27the sight of a carving station in the store could be a bit jarring. Who'd expect to see
05:31whole briskets and chickens being brought out and sliced in the middle of a place that sells
05:35wiper fluid? We get it, it all seems a bit surreal. What makes it even more shocking is
05:40that according to CBS 42, Buc-ee's works with a smokehouse that prepares the briskets and
05:45ships them daily to its stores. So that begs the question, given the briskets aren't even
05:49cooked in-house, why not have the sandwiches prepped off-site as most gas stations do?
05:54Hiring an extra team of people to prep everything on-site seems a bit inefficient and doesn't seem
05:58to make a lot of sense. Still, the carving station has become one of the signature attractions at
06:03Buc-ee's, perhaps because it's so unusual for the setting and Buc-ee's regulars relish the
06:08theater of it all. From the regular chants of fresh hot brisket on the board to the sight
06:12and sound of hot briskets being sliced and chopped, per the Ledger. And for Buc-ee's,
06:16the theater is on point. As Buc-ee's general counsel Jeff Nadallo told The Post and Courier,
06:20"...we've been working to create an interactive, fun experience for our guests that highlights
06:24the fresh quality brisket and other barbecue that we sell."
06:27"...fresh chopped brisket on the board!"
06:31If you're a hardy eater, or an indecisive one, you know how hard it is to feel satisfied
06:35ordering just one thing. If you do, you'll finish your meal either still hungry or with a nagging
06:40sense of FOMO. At Buc-ee's, the dilemma for the hungry and indecisive is multitudes greater than
06:46usual because of the huge assortment of options, which includes everything from spiced nuts to
06:50pudding cups to dried fruit to egg rolls to kolache and sandwiches. Just figuring out what your
06:55options are in the cavernous store will require several minutes of walking and a sharp short-term
07:00memory. If you narrow your choice down to brisket, however, the choices get easier.
07:04During the early morning hours, you'll have a choice from among a couple of varieties of
07:08brisket breakfast tacos per Barbecue Bros. During the lunch hours, you can choose between
07:12chopped or sliced brisket sandwiches per The Post and Courier. The Barbecue Bros., however,
07:17have discovered a sweet spot when you can get the best of both worlds. Get there at the tail
07:21end of breakfast service when the carving team is transitioning between the breakfast and lunch
07:25menus around 10.45 a.m., and you may be able to score both a brisket breakfast taco and a brisket
07:30sandwich. Unsuspecting first-time visitors to Buc-ee's may be surprised to see so much actual
07:35cooking going on inside its outlets. And watching carvers pull out and skillfully slice and chop
07:40whole briskets can be a novel treat for a Buc-ee's newcomer. After all, while most of
07:45us know gas stations as reliable places to grab a bottle of soda, an ice cream bar, or maybe some
07:50packaged cookies or chips, the last thing we'd think to get at most of them is a high-quality
07:54hot meal. But according to Wide Open Eats, the idea of freshly prepared gas station meals isn't
07:59new, nor is it unique to Buc-ee's. Intentionally or not, the extensive food program at Buc-ee's
08:04echoes a much older Southern tradition of gas station cookery. Per the Bitter Southerner,
08:08gas stations in small towns in the Mississippi Delta have often served as the only commercial
08:13entities, and thus as de facto social centers for their communities. Many of these stations
08:17have discovered their food, typically regional specialties such as fried chicken and hot tamales,
08:22to be more profitable than their gas sales. Given that Buc-ee's is known for its low gas prices,
08:26as well as its food per Texas Monthly, it's likely the chain's famous brisket
08:30plays a similar role in its business.
08:34you