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How to Reheat Brisket?

Brisket has quickly become one of the dominant players in the BBQ space. The growing popularity of backyard bbq’ing and barbecue restaraunts has led to to many folks trying their hands at cooking brisket. There are innumerable blogs, videos, classes about smoking brisket. A less talked about practice is how to reheat it.

Brisket

1. Wrap entire brisket in plastic wrap
2. Put 3/4 of an inch of water in a large pan.
3. Place wrapped brisket in pan
4. Place aluminum foil over the entire pan, make sure all sides of the foil are tight
5. Place in oven at 350 degrees
6. Depending on the size of the brisket this could take between 20 minutes to 1.5 hours
7. Temp the brisket – 165 degrees means you’re done
8. Enjoy!

Understanding what brisket is isn’t necessarily required to reheat it, but we find it helpful. A brisket starts as a very large piece of meat. It comes from the pectoral muscle of cattle. It is composed of two distinct sections. The point and the flat. The flat as the name suggests is the portion of the brisket that’s flat. It’s the skinnier section of the meat. The point is about halfway up the flat, it’s much thicker in size and contains quite a bit more fat. Whenever ordering brisket from a restaraunt this knowledge can come in handy – if you prefer fattier meat ask for the point. If your prefer leaner ask for the flat.

Brisket has been historically viewed as a tough, cheap piece of meat. That is until the discovery that it becomes more tender than a great fillet if cooked properly.

Saddleback’s Recommended Reheating Process – MEAT

We recommend using Servsafe procedures when reheating food. This will help eliminate any chance of sickness and also leads to what we feel is the best end product. Use this as your cheat sheet anytime you have leftover BBQ, whether it be from Saddleback or your backyard. These are methods we’ve developed over the years that have proven to consistently give delicious results.

Brisket

1. Wrap entire brisket in plastic wrap
2. Put 3/4 of an inch of water in a large pan.
3. Place wrapped brisket in pan
4. Place aluminum foil over the entire pan, make sure all sides of the foil are tight
5. Place in oven at 350 degrees
6. Depending on the size of the brisket you’re reheating this could take between 20 minutes to 1.5 hours
7. Temp the brisket – 165 degrees means you’re done
8. Enjoy!

Enjoy a more complete blog here: https://www.saddlebackbbq.com/how-reheat-bbq-brisket

Baby Back Ribs

1. Wrap your rack of ribs in aluminum foil
2. Place in oven at 350 degrees
3. Check after 15 minutes – looking for 165F
4. If not done after 15 minues, check every 5
5. Enjoy!

Enjoy a more complete blog here: https://www.saddlebackbbq.com/how-reheat-baby-back-ribs

Pork Shoulders/Pulled Pork

• If you’re reheating a whole shoulder, or large portion use the same steps as brisket. If reheating a smaller portion, or a portion that has already been pulled, use the method below.

1. Place in pork in frying pan on medium heat
2. Add small portion of water to bring back some moisture
3. Can suppliment with your favorite BBQ Sauce!

Enjoy a more complete blog here: https://www.saddlebackbbq.com/how-reheat-pork-shoulders-pulled-pork

Sausage

1. Wrap sausage link in plastic wrap
2. Place sausage in deep pan with about 1/2 inch of water
3. Wrap pan in aluminum foil, maling sure the edges are tight
4. Cook for 15 minutes, looking for 165F, if not done check every 5 Minutes

Chicken Thigh/ Chicken Breast

1. Place Chicken in deep pan
2. Fill pan with water, the water should cover about half of chicken
3. Tightly wrap pan with aluminum foil
4. Place in oven at 350F
5. Check after 15 minutes, looking for 165 Degrees

Beef Ribs

1. Wrap the beef rib entirely in aluminum foil
2. Place in the oven at 350F, Check after 15 minutes – looking for 165F
3. If not done place back in checking every 5 minutes

How to Reheat Baby Back Ribs

Cooking the perfect rack of ribs is challenging enough. Now, imagine trying to reheat them and still have them taste just as good. It’s tough, but we believe we have a solution that works. At Saddleback, we take a contrarian approach to ribs. We don’t believe they should "fall off the bone," and this philosophy actually helps when reheating. The ribs will have more room to cook without becoming overdone.

Our Process:

1. Wrap the rack of ribs in aluminum foil.
2. Place them in the oven at 350°F for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the ribs from the oven and check for an internal temperature of 165°F.
4. If they haven’t reached 165°F, return them to the oven and check every 5 minutes.

We’ve conducted multiple blind taste tests with this process, and we’ve been unable to tell the difference between freshly cooked ribs and reheated ones. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

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It’s been a tough year for High School Graduates. We wanted to do something to help. With the assistance of our Fans, we selected 5 local graduates to honor with Billboards!

We were so impressed by the graduates that we are also giving each of them $100 cash & a $100 Gift Card.

Please join us in congratulating the entire class of 2020!

• Christian James Lenon – Holt 2020- Billboard Location: Corner of Waverly & M99.
• Asia Jones – Mason 2020 – Billboard Location: Abbot & Linden.
• Juan Morales – Everett 2020 – Billboard Location: Cedar & Hazel.
• Gillian Herber – Charlotte 2020 – Billboard Location: I69. At I69 & I96 Interchange. By Canal & Millett.
• Justin Dykstra – Charlotte 2020 – Billboard Location: I69. At I69 & I96 Interchange. By Canal & Millett.

The billboards will begin running May 5th, 2020! Read the story of each graduate here.

*Billboard locations were selected by the graduate. The graduate and their mothers all agreed to participate in this celebration.

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This is a list of locally owned restaurants in Lansing Michigan that are open for carry-out, curbside, or delivery service. If you know of more restaurants that are open, please submit them here: https://forms.gle/HhKdTmPNBqdNpK9t9

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UPDATE: You All Are Amazing! In less than 24 hours, our customers have donated more than 50 FREE Kids Meals to children impacted by the School Closings starting on Monday. Thank you!

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please let any kids that you know that may be impacted that we will be giving away at least 50 free kids meals starting Monday at 11 am at both locations!

Michigan Schools will close Monday and sadly that means some kids may go hungry. There are nearly 1,000,000 kids in Michigan that receive free or reduced school lunches. They rely on this food. We are doing two things to help.

1. Any customer can DONATE a FREE Saddleback BBQ Kid’s Meal to a child in need for $5. Every school day, we will tabulate how many kids’ meals were sold and giveaway those meals starting at 11 am until they run out.*

* If you Donate a Free Kids Meal to a child, we will collect $5 to cover some of the cost. The following school day, we will tally up the number of Free Kids Meals that were purchased and provide those to kids starting at 11 am on a first come first serve basis. You can order in the restaurant or online. To donate a free meal for a child, go to our website and click “Order Online”. Then select the “Give A Free Kid's Meal!” option. We will provide your free meal to a child the following school day.

https://www.saddlebackbbq.com/saddleback-bbq-online-ordering

2. During the statewide school closing, any child with a parent will eat for 50% off.**

** To qualify just use the promo code: ‘4THEKIDS’. You can place your order online or in-store. Parents must purchase a regularly priced Meat, Sandwich, or Taco to get 50% off any kid’s meal for each of their children. Limit 2 kids meals per order. Eligible Monday - Friday 11 am to 4 pm beginning 3/16/2020 and ending when the kids return to school. Only available when Saddleback BBQ is Open.

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We encourage our fellow locally-owned restaurants to join this effort. If you do, we will gladly add your name to this list! Please put your restaurant’s details in the comments. Or tag your favorite restaurants that you would like to see participate in this offer.

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Believe it or not summer is coming. That means Oberon is back!

Oberon Day 2019 is March 25, 2019 starting at 11am at Saddleback BBQ Okemos! 

We'll have three different types of Oberon from Bell's Brewery on draft. We're offering: Mango Habanero Oberon, Überon (barrel aged Oberon), and Oberon! We'll be offering flights so you can try all 3! 

*Weather permitting we'll be opening the patio for the first time of the year!*

RSVP on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/752182238486891/

Food Specials for Oberon Day 2019 at Saddleback BBQ Okemos! Available for Pre-Order Online NOW! 

• Oberon Chicken Sliders 
• Smoked Turkey Beer Cheese BLT
• Honey Uberon Brussels Sprouts
• Esquites (Street Corn off the Cob)

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OUR SYSTEM

Saddleback BBQ has two locations, both utilize a continued service style of dining. This is a growing trend in the restaurant industry and we expect it to continue to expand.

When customers walk in the door they are greeted and handed menus. Quickly after they are given the option to either find their table or to place their order at the front desk. This allows customers to dine on their own schedule. If you are in a rush, or very familiar with the menu, there may be no reason to go to your table before placing your order. If you want time to talk with your friends and family, you’re more than welcome to do so, and we encourage it.

After placing your order up front, we’ll get your fountain drink or a ticket will be sent to the bartender to prepare your adult beverages. You’ll be given a number to put on your table to identify you. Any Saddleback employee can assist you in any way you see fit. You are not chained to one waiter or waitress. All of our employees are fit to serve you.

We see this as a major improvement to traditional restaurant service. You can add on alcoholic drinks, or any other items you may want without leaving your seat. The essential differences between continued service and normal dine-in service is your initial order is made up front and any employee can help you any step of the way.

OUR REASONING

We made the decision to go with continued service for several reasons:

Technology - we use Toast Go tablets to take our orders. This gives our front of house employees the ability to take an order for any customer in the restaurant from anywhere. The reason continued service was not popularized in the past is due in large part to the fact that the available technology would not have allowed it. Thankfully technology has come a long way and we attempt to utilize it.

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Continuity - Saddleback in REO town was our first location, opening more than three years ago. We’ve now expanded to two locations. One mistake we made when opening our second location in Okemos was that we did not keep everything consistent between the two restaurants. In the beginning, Okemos had a traditional waiter and waitress service. We later made the decision that it’s important to keep continuity between our two locations, especially if we plan on expanding in the future.

Although the switch to continued service has led to a very small amount of negative feedback, which we greatly appreciate and listen to. Our most recent Net Promoter Score (a metric used to determine how likely your customer base is to refer a friend) was 79, on a scale from -100 to 100. For reference McDonald’s has a -8 and Apple has a 72. (Learn how to measure Net Promoter Score at your Restaurant.)

We are continuing to improve and grow into this new service style, and looking for ways to make this a smoother experience for everyone involved. We are in the business of giving the customer the best dining and service possible. Thank you so much!

Saddleback is honored to win Best BBQ restaurant in The Towne Courier People's Choice Awards for 2018!

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We are proud to announce that the readers of Lansing City Pulse have voted Saddleback BBQ Okemos the best New Restaurant in the greater Lansing Area! Thank you!

We were proud to be awarded Best Small Business in Michigan by the Small Business Development Center. (SBDC)

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Saddleback Okemos Smoker

Well, I have to say that the people of Okemos have spoken, they love BBQ. It has been our pleasure to bring our brand of Craft BBQ to that side of town. The outpouring of support has been truly amazing and if I do say so myself I thought we did a pretty good job of bringing the same quality that everyone expects in REO Town to Okemos.

Here is a confession though. It has not been easy. You would think the new smoker would cook the same as our old one in REO based on the fact that it’s the same model, just bigger. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

In our old smoker, we can manipulate the hot zones to our advantage and we thought they would be located in a similar spot. Also, we thought we had a reasonable expectation of how long things would take to cook. Well, that was naive on our part. Which goes back to something that talked about in our first blog. Know your smoker. They are all different, no matter what, and you have to spend time cooking on it to get the best results.

The first day we cooked on it started out pretty well, except a few hours in the doors started to warp and the doors no longer sealed properly. Heat and smoke were pouring out around each of the doors and we could not get a temp above 175 degrees. Not good. To top that off we had a new shipment of wood that we had received earlier that day and it was pretty green, not our usual seasoned cherry that we prefer. That was a very long and stressful day.

Good news is that after two weeks of cooking on the new one we have identified the hot zones and we can place briskets and pork shoulders in the proper place to ensure the best end result. The point side of the brisket should always face the hottest spot since it is usually thicker and has more connective tissue that needs to break down. On a pork shoulder, the side that has the bone exposed needs to be also facing the hottest spot since that is what also takes the longest to get done.

We have also learned that the Okemos/Haslett like their ribs. We used to think that we were ballers when we sold 24 ribs on a Saturday during the summer in REO. Ha, that would maybe make it through lunch. Ribs have always been one of our signature items and also an item that people judge the quality of BBQ on so the fact that they have been so popular is a pretty exciting thing for all of us.

Thank you, everyone, who came out to see us this first week. It has been quite a ride and we are excited to bring Craft BBQ to the east side of town