National Brisket Day

Brisket comes from the breast or lower chest of the cow, a hardworking muscle laced with tough connective tissue. That toughness once made it a cheap, humble cut, which is exactly why two great food traditions claimed it. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants brought their braised brisket to America, serving it at Passover and Rosh Hashanah as a centerpiece that could feed a crowd on a modest budget.

Meanwhile in Central Texas, German and Czech immigrant butchers took the same cut in a different direction. They laid it over local hardwoods like post oak and smoked it low and slow for twelve to sixteen hours, melting collagen into gelatin until the meat turned tender and deeply smoky. By the late 1950s, Black's Barbecue in Lockhart became known as the first restaurant to build its menu around brisket, and the cut's reputation as barbecue's crown jewel was sealed.

Today brisket is the measuring stick of the barbecue world. Pitmasters obsess over trim, rub, wood, and temperature, and the dish has entered the culinary mainstream: Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin became the first pitmaster to win a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southwest in 2015. From Kansas City's sweet sauces to Central Texas's peppery bark, every region argues its version is best, which is precisely the point.

On May 28, the only wrong way to celebrate is to rush it. Visit a beloved barbecue joint, fire up the smoker, or braise one low and slow at home. However you slice it, brisket rewards the patient, and this is its day.