Food Truck Sunday





Each Sunday in the summer The Roasterie, a Kansas City coffee roaster, that services espresso bars, coffee  houses, fine restaurants, high end grocers and coffee lovers everywhere holds a food truck brunch in their parking lot on 27th St. just off of Southwest Boulevard. Their iconic logo, a DC-3 is mounted over their building and looks as if has just taken off from the lot. Of course they have their own truck selling fine coffee.  There are also a number of other food trucks selling everything from hamburgers, to BBQ, to Italian fare.  There is also a live performer, making the whole experience a fun way to spend a Sunday morning in KC.  Food trucks are quite a tradition here and have spawned some of the best restaurants in town, when the chef's popularity exceeds the truck's capacity.

 

 

Today I sampled another Kansas City icon.  Burnt end BBQ.  The famous food writer and humorist Calvin Trillin, who grew up in Kansas City, first sang the praises of "burnt edges of the brisket" in his famous love letter to Kansas City BBQ, which was published in Playboy magazine in 1972. These burned edges were simply chopped off the brisket by the counterman at the famous Arthur Bryant's, and shoved over to the side of the counter in a pile.  Anyone that wanted them could take some and pile them on white bread and smother them in sauce, as they were in fact somewhat burned and sometimes dry.  Kansas City BBQ restaurants took full advantage of the article and soon almost every restaurant in town was serving what became "Burnt Ends".  Originally Burnt Ends were the crisp and charred pieces cut from the fattier corners of the brisket after it was smoked.  Most pit masters today produce their Burnt Ends using either part of or the entire brisket.  Brisket consists of two muscles separated by a layer of fat.  The larger leaner muscle is called the flat.  On top of the flat is a smaller fattier muscle called the point.  Most restaurants today smoke the entire brisket and then remove the point from the flat.  The point is returned to the smoker to char it and then it is chopped into pieces to become the Burnt End.  Still other BBQ joints use the entire brisket, chop it all up and proclaim it to be Burnt Ends.  Regardless of method there are some very delicious end results.  Next time you are in Kansas City give Burnt Ends a try.  You won't regret it.

(much of the info provided here on brisket and the process came directly from www.eater.com published by Bonjwing Lee)