An Occasional Thought or Photo

In 1989 I was given a one-year rotational assignment as an operations manager in AT&T's equipment business in the Chicago Loop.  It was supposedly a rounding experience.  Coming from the long distance services side of AT&T, this nuts and bolts world of installing and maintaining telephone equipment inside a customer's business was a culture shock. I was in the middle of an IBEW union shop where everyone (1) came from Chicago's south side and (2) had to have a first name that ended in "y" or "ie."  My boss was Eddie.  I worked with Mikey, Jimmy, Randy, Denny, Tommy, etc.  For the first and only time in my life I became Stevie for a year.  You wouldn't find any of these extra letters on our business cards, but their use in conversation, both in second and third person, were constant. More importantly, I learned about a place called "Outside."  When I was a kid, my Mom would send us outside when we were too rowdy to be inside....

At a recent meeting of the advancement community of The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, Dean Rashid Bashir recommended we read Abraham Flexner’s essay “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge” to understand the importance of our college’s research enterprise, so I did. Flexner’s essay was published in Harper’s Weekly in 1939, in the eve of World War 2.  His opening statement is alarmingly applicable today: Is it not a curious fact that in a world steeped in irrational hatreds which threaten civilization itself, men and women—old and young—detach themselves wholly or partly from the angry current of daily life to devote themselves to the cultivation of beauty, to the extension of knowledge, to the cure of disease, to the amelioration of suffering, just as though fanatics were not simultaneously engaged in spreading pain, ugliness, and suffering? Flexner promotes basic research for its own sake, resisting the urge to say they every project ...

Those were the words of Aaron Franklin in his 2015 book Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto .  After smoking briskets for several years, I can relate.  Each whole brisket or flat has its own characteristics, but one thing is common:  with plenty of time and attention, a tough piece of meat is transformed into pure heaven.  I have followed Franklin's techniques since reading the book three years ago, but I am now sufficiently comfortable with the subject to begin branching out into my own variations.  I documented the whole process on my last brisket to provide a step-by-step view.  If you want something authoritative, though, go get Franklin's book. I was thrilled this year to find out that our local meat shop was now selling whole briskets in the bag (also called packers).  We were hosting a potluck for up to 19 people on a Sunday evening in June.  I like to have about 1/2 pound of brisket per person after trimming, but befor...