Travel & Food - The Most Expensive BBQ In America! 4 Hour Queues!.

This is Texas, Austin, Texas. Behind me, Franklin Barbecue. Now this is famed for being the best barbecue in Texas and the most expensive one in Texas. It's been known that the queues go back five hours, five hours. So I thought, hang on, it doesn't open till 11. What time is it now? 8:08. So I got here nearly three hours before it opens. There's a queue. There's people here already. I thought I was mad getting here three hours beforehand, but I'm so pleased I have now. they have chairs so you can sit down have a chat everyone's having a chat with each other they're all excited and i'm excited as well as always let's give it a go you're waiting three hours it better be good my name is gary leo leo hi hi from the uk you from the uk yeah you've been here before once once good as it was all the way in the end over there over there yeah right i got here like 10 30 10 30 yes and i they told me you might not get food i said okay i'll wait it's okay wow wow i was lucky is it good it's interesting it's best i came here just to barbecue last time i was in texas and i thought it was the best wow well i'm glad i'm here early then yeah right wake me up okay when the when it opens so have y'all considered what you're gonna i certainly have heard your conversation with these chaps so we're going for the beef rib okay uh the brisket your pork spare ribs of course uh yep pork pork yep turkey definitely they've missed out on the turkey they did honestly and then sausages yeah the jalapeno one huh getting busy getting there i expected it to be a little bit longer when i got here this morning but we're getting there well surprise me, i can't believe it eight o'clock there's more people i was like what what's going on man yeah that i really that was considered slow when i pulled up and went okay let's see how today's gonna go wow so this is good no well excellent all right thank you very much you have a lovely day take care bye-bye so there you have it what the lady's doing she's not going around taking the order she's just taking an inventory because again they just need to understand exactly when the queues are getting much longer so they can actually tell people who weren't sensible, who didn't get here at an early time, what's going to be left and what's going to be available. So that's really clever. That's really, really good. What they're doing, they're continually coming out. Guys, help yourself to water. Whatever you do, keep hydrated because it is really humid and it is hot. Three hours has gone so quickly. Their company has been fantastic. I've got to be honest, I think the beer certainly helped. But look, the door's open now. Here we go. Let's get in here queue is massive now it's all the way down the street these guys have been super cool though i mean really really cool guys great company it's all getting exciting i've never queued three hours for a meal let alone a barbecue here we go here we go and keep going keep going we're in hey okay now come on inside i don't need to be grandma you can't be hailing the whole outside That's it. Close that door. You can come in, but you got to close that door to save the AC. You got to save the AC and then poor people have to wait outside now, as I say, in the humidity. However, the air conditioning is on here. Brilliant. So we're all going to line around, queue up, away you go, place your order, pay for your order, grab a table and munch away. Singing away here. Now, this is why Franklin is the most expensive. It's about, you pay by the pound so you see it here it's about three pound or three dollars dearer than uh terry blacks but uh weekends only beef rib it's a weekend rib time but yeah so the prices are up there but what's come down on the plate the first guy that he's he's not mom he's diving in there it looks absolutely incredible so the queue doesn't lie the locals know the people in the no, no, Hungarianos, nothing, I know nothing, except to join the queue early. Hiya, how you doing? Can't wait. We'll definitely go for the beef rib. We have, that works, thank you. One pound. Okay, here's a couple of slices of your brisket there please. Okay. Yeah, pulled pork, quarter of pulled pork, a couple of your ribs there as well please. Yeah, that's great, thank you that's it a quarter of the turkey and a jalapeno sausage there please let's look at this i will say Aaron Turner is one part on every brisket that is this delicious oh well you're a star thank you that is juicy heaven the bark i'm gonna give you a slice of the meat and then i'm gonna slice you off a piece of the fatty. That's perfect. That right there, my friend, is going to be a load of a cow. I've been told this is the best. Yeah. Well, that is superb. That is superb. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. You're a star. Thank you. Yeah. Can I have your coleslaw, please? And potato salad. Yeah. Two small ones, please. I'll have a Coke there, please. And two of your, two lagers there, please. I've got tea. Do you want me a lager that's made just for Franklin's, you decide uh yeah that's great thank you so much really appreciate it thank you i don't recall all that lager is made specifically for Franklin's only so you won't find it anywhere else that's lovely thank you very much and that's it that's it thank you perfect it came to 131.62 okay can i have a receipt there please London for Monday thank you for coming out we'll be right over here i think i might have to insert oh yeah we have an insert it'll be right in the front i really appreciate your help thank you okay all going on here we go let's grab a table here we go let's bring it all over here let's do this now we're still sitting with our friends here Leo and Titi double cheers now for them putting up with me all morning boys there's a beer for you both thank you so much cheers thank you cheers let's hope we enjoy yeah straight in here so we've So we've got bread, beef rib. Now that is a pound of beef rib. That is not tender, is it? That is not falling off the bone. That is a worry. That's not a worry. I'm a worry. Then we have the turkey over here. So a couple of slices of the turkey. Come here. A couple of slices of the turkey, bosh, bosh. Everything's so juicy. Brisket, pulled pork. Now she's done the two types of brisket, as she said, one with the fatty end and one with the super lean end. Then we've got the two pork ribs and sausage, sausages. Jalapeno sausages. Where do I start? Oh, hang on, I've had a salad, coleslaw, got bread. I don't think bread's gonna be part of the issue here. Straight into the brisket. Now I had it there at the counter, the brisket. Oh, would I risk it for a brisket? Damn right I would. Amazingly tender, beautiful bark on the outside. It's smoky, it's juicy, it's salty as well. Mm. Love it. Thank you. Doesn't win the prize for the best, because I have been to the very, very best, but I'm not complaining at all about that. Come on, knife, where are you? Hello. Then back in here to the brisket again. Oh, no, it's not. That's the beef. Where's the other bit of the brisket? There we go. Now, this is the fatty part. So the fat, okay, will make it even more juicy. I mean, take a look at this plate or this tray. Look how much juice is in here. Can't stop. It's really good, but there is a lot of salt in there. It's kind of not as clean as I've had in the past, but it is very, very tender, juicy, and if this is back in the UK, I'll be giving this a 10 star, 11 out of 10, but I've had some of the best known to mankind, but it's still damn good. Turkey time. Christmas has come early. How do they get the turkey so good? I mean, that is the question. Again, it is so juicy. You can actually taste the turkey, it's been smoked, but you get the turkey taste. But if I had that at Christmas, way, way. Christmas has come early, as I say. That's really good. Pulled pork time, first disappointment. Take a close up here. That's a little bit dry. Doesn't look it. Well, it does look it, actually. It is a little bit on the dry side. So that's not a star. That is not the star of the show. Sausage. Now, I've had my issues with sausages, because what I find is so packed full of meat that I'm really struggling. However, there's jalapeno in this one, and there's some cheese as well. Beautiful color to it. You see where that's been smoked. Beautiful glossy color all the way around. Oh, here we go. Here we go, here we go, here we go. Now take a look here. Cheesy is oozy. Spicy, grimy. That has really, really caught me out. The jalapeno is really quite strong. The cheese is trying to help, but it's not quite powerful enough to really help. It's packed full of pork. The skin is really, really tight as well. But I'm going to tell you something, that's one of the best sausages I've had. Even though the spice has pulled me out, that is one of the best sausages I've had. It's not too, it's not like that. It's kind of a little bit open. Okay, so I'm not just getting lots of heavy meat. I like that. We're saving this till last. Let's refresh the old palate a little bit into the coleslaw. Now I've loved the coleslaw over here. The sides have been fantastic, especially in the barbecue places. That's not as sweet as I've had elsewhere. I think that's because there's no carrot in there, but it's refreshing. And that's really refreshing on the palate. Wow. Now, it's drum roll time, because this is what the barbecue's all about. The beef rib and the spare ribs. Where do I go first, guys? Into the rib. Look at that coating on the outside. So obviously they put their seasoning on there, their rub, rub-a-dub-dub, to four on the top, sensational. There's no other word for it. Look how much I've had of that, and I'm saying it's sensational. It is so tender, it's outrageous. See, pulling away from the bone, what's made that without a shadow of a doubt, excuse me, I'm almost dribbling here, is so, so juicy, it's tender. The rub has made it sensational. Lots of black pepper in there, a little bit of cayenne. It's not over salty, so for me that works brilliantly. Some of the best ribs I've had. That part of the rib is the best rib I've had. I'm not just saying it, I love that rib. Will you marry me? You're the only thing that will marry me. That rib is great. Now this is it, this is where all the money is. This is the money shot. I am going to slowly turn this over so you can see the bark on the outside. Whoa, whoa. Do that every video, I've got to change it. Lots of fat in there, but the juiciness. And that's what it's about. Take a close up here, look at this juice. Way, way, pull it away. Slowly, slowly Gary, slowly. That is spot on. Again, the crust is adding a layer of texture to it all because the meat itself needs to... No, you work away. Take a look here, just come in close. Look at this, how the meat is just falling and pulling away the beef. Now it's on the bone, so the bone is helping been an intense beef flavor to it. And that's absolutely spot on. But the meat itself is slowly cooked in the pits. I love the fat. This is slightly more expensive than other barbecue houses, like the Terry Black's. This is better than Terry Black's in a heartbeat. No issue whatsoever. Instead of salad, last but not least, come back to that, got a different kind of taste. I'm trying to figure out what the actual, maybe come back to that. Let me, let the brain work it out. I've had a lot of flavours here. So, what I'm gonna do, we're gonna share it. Hold it, hold it. Now, gentlemen, what do you reckon? This is unbelievable. The beef brisket is just, look, it falls apart. It's outrageous, isn't it? Absolutely outrageous. I thought the turkey was great. The brisket and this are my favourite. Yeah, I found that a little bit dry. Yeah, the sausage is a little bit dry too, but this is a staple of the meal. But the other thing, the jalapeno and the sausage really was like, wow, that's fighting. But I actually, that's one of the best sausages I've had for a long time. Really? Yeah, I really enjoyed that. I found the others just too meaty, if you like. I thought I'd be complaining about a meaty sausage. Or the brisket, didn't you? The brisket and the rib were brilliant. Guys, sorry to serve you any more. Couple of more beers, yeah? This is a man after my own heart. GT's about one second behind. and i'm sitting here drinking a coke what a muppet mexican coke is that mexican coke yeah different sugar and uh clean all right yeah it's a different bottle as well cheers i'm gonna get a beer what we're gonna do it's gone a little bit of a tour tc's with us again okay he's our new bestest friend but look at the queue down here it still goes all the way back there all the way through all the way up and around and around around these guys are gonna been waiting a good couple of hours and it keeps going down the street as well we'll go in we'll see what it's all about good to meet you as well quiz on in here i'm going to just feed this fire real quick whoa see if we can get it back up and running uh okay so i am Matty i'm the newest addition here i started december go ahead and call me Pick ready hey um uh we're cooking 108 briskets today uh over the five smokers so we loaded around 9 30 this morning it's going to be about a good like 16 hour cook we're gonna come in and probably between seven and eight we're gonna pull out those briskets they're gonna put some tallow on there that's just our rendered beef fat yeah uh so do a ladle of tallow if you want to get a picture i'll open it up back up we're gonna ladle some tallow we're gonna wrap it up in some paper and then we're gonna put them back in the smoker cook them another two and a half to three and a half hours depending on where they're at when we wrapped them um with that being said we're not using like thermometers or anything we're just like it's all by feel so um that's why i've heard it described think about picking up a cat that's asleep well i gotta say we've eaten and your touch is really good so don't change it so this post oak here uh aaron's great about sustainability i love this i love about my job here uh aaron doesn't want to be chopping down trees just to burn them these are all foraged for so uh branches that have fallen trees that have just given up and died someone's out there foraging them they're gonna cut them down they're gonna let them dry out for a couple years and then they're going to bring it to us. Winter, we'll go through about a pallet a day. Summer, a little less because it's somewhat hotter in here already. Yeah. And we're not feeding the fires as much. We also have very high standards for animals. You know, they actually adhere to English standards, which from what I know is like the best standard to have when you're talking about ethical treatment of animals. So we're not giving them poisons. You know, they have a pretty happy life. They just have like kind of one bad day and then they come see us. Yeah, that's about it. Yeah, what a really nice guy. Thanks a lot, thanks mate Have a drink on me tonight. Okay, you have a drink on me. Thank you. That's very kind, very kind. Yeah, so so what do you want me to do Yeah, get it all going for you. Yes, rock and roll. Let's rock and roll brisket The guy's pit master legend. There we go. Anyone who can survive this heat, superstar. Let's go outside So here outside Franklin Barbecue, the queues are still going all the way down. Been here over an hour and a half Loved it, really enjoyed it Um, very quickly, the brisket, $12.60, pork ribs, $17, pulled pork, $8, turkey, $8, beef rib, $44, special link, not too, oh, that sausage, maybe? $6, potato salad, $5, slaw, $5, Mexican Coke, $3, the two lagers for the two boys, guys, legends, love ya, $13, subtotal, $121, plus tip, $157.96. It's slightly dearer than near enough any other barbecue place, but I tell you what, It's busy for a reason. Sustainability, that's part of their culture here The quality was absolutely fantastic. Not everything was perfect, but I tell you what, I've no issue with the price there We both really really enjoyed it. What marks would you give it, me? Myself and I I'm giving it a nine maybe even nine and a half out of ten. I really enjoyed it It was worth the wait. It was an early start Early to bed early to rise makes Gary happy chappy until next time. Bye. Bye It's a long wait guys, but it's worth it.