A reset week after our busiest cook yet — plus a few random thoughts on lagniappe, ribs, sides, brisket prices, and learning to make better barbecue.
Whew. It’s been a busy summer for Ship’s Backyard BBQ.
With the launch of the website and online ordering, last weekend was our busiest cook yet. And our little group keeps growing — the original text thread is now pushing 40 people.
So this week, Ship’s is going dark.
We’re taking a week to reset, clean, work on a few recipes and continue developing the website. We’re hoping to have a few new limited-time offerings for you to try next weekend. And the marketing team is hard at work kicking the website up a few notches in both content and style.
In the meantime, a few random thoughts from the pit...
As many of you know, an order from Ship’s almost always includes some lagniappe.
Lagniappe (pronounced LAN-yap) is a Louisiana term meaning “a little something extra.”
Maybe it’s a rib. A slice of turkey. A chunk of beef cheek. Something you didn’t order and might not have tried otherwise.
That’s our way of broadening your BBQ knowledge — and occasionally getting you to try something you weren’t quite ready to order for yourself. We hope you enjoy it.
For those of you concerned about your carbon footprint, we’re always happy to take back serving ware to clean and reuse for another order.
Or keep it and use it yourself. We have plenty.
And if you aren’t so concerned about that whole carbon-footprint thing... do as you will.
Up to now, we’ve been using a traditional St. Louis-style cut for our pork ribs. It produces a pretty, uniform slab.
But lately we’ve been leaving just a little more meat on them — and that’s how they’ll come from here on out.
They’ll look a little bigger because they are a little bigger. There’s some tasty meat there that used to become sausage trim.
From now on, it’s going into your belly instead.
We’ve been noodling over adding some sides.
If you’ve eaten with us on the deck, you’ve probably had the cowboy pinto beans, apple coleslaw, and a few other things that occasionally make an appearance.
Adding sides creates an entirely new logistical wrinkle. Naturally, that intrigues us.
Have a favorite BBQ side? Text Ship individually — not the group thread. We’d love the inspiration.
It’s official. Ship’s Backyard BBQ is now a Colorado business. The LLC is formed and the Ship’s Backyard BBQ trade name is secured.
Actually, it’s not quite as impressive as it sounds.
We wanted access to Restaurant Depot so we could source things that aren’t always easy to find — read: BIG beef ribs and whole turkey breasts — so we had to become official.
Still, we’ll take it.
Beef prices continue to be a challenge.
We try to gobble up every quality brisket we can find for $100 or less. That’s becoming practically impossible.
So when we turn the lights back on next week, Ship’s brisket price will be going up a bit.
As a reminder, we’re doing all of this for essentially our cost. The household CFO will happily confirm that Ship’s Backyard BBQ is far from a profitable enterprise.
But it’s a ton of fun. And we genuinely enjoy the logistical challenge of figuring out how to execute really good food for a growing bunch of friends and family.
So we keep cooking.
A few of you have asked about learning to make good barbecue yourselves.
One of the longstanding traditions in Texas BBQ is that there really aren’t many secrets.
Recipes are shared. Techniques are taught. The difference is in the execution.
So if you’re interested in learning more, let us know. If we can cobble together a small group, maybe we put together a group cook and spend a day working through fire, meat, seasoning, timing and technique.
And in the meantime, we’re always happy to answer a question or share a tip.
We’re going to clean some equipment, work on the website, play with some recipes and give the smoker a little rest.
Then we’ll turn the lights back on. Hopefully with a couple of new things for you to try.
Thanks again for allowing us to cook for your family.
— Ship
No cook is scheduled during the reset week. In the meantime, poke around the site and see what usually comes off the pit.