Meat

Are unlicensed teachers affecting student performance in Texas?

After the worst-ever wildfire disaster for Texas agriculture, there’s now an effort to help ranchers who lost large numbers of pregnant cows.
A year after the mall shooting in Allen, what the data reveals about gun violence there more broadly.
A new report documents how unlicensed teachers are becoming fixtures in many Texas schools.
Organizers of the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet County are now offering partial refunds to attendees because the event ended a day early.
Also, just how smart is artificial intelligence getting? Commentator W.F. Strong tried a little experiment.

In Texas, you can be forced to sell your condo

Eight months after the school shooting in Uvalde, Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez announces a package of gun safety reforms. Will Texas Republicans take it up?

A decades-old Texas is law forcing some condo owners to leave their homes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first lab-grown meat product for human consumption. But will consumers bite?

After conquering the hearts of many a Texan, Willie Nelson and Family take Sundance.

And a PolitiFact check of President Biden over whether wages are keeping up with inflation.

Texas Standard: January 4, 2022

As Texas students return to a post holiday footing some are finding it’s not ‘back to the classroom’ just yet. The latest pandemic spike punching holes in back to school plans. We’ll talk with a panel of education reporters with the latest from across Texas. Also, beef prices skyrocketing, but that money’s not making it back to Texas cattle ranchers. Now the Biden Administration’s stepping in: what Texas rancher’s have to say about the Feds’ new plan. And a new Texas law takes effect trying to put renters on an even footing with homebuyers when it comes to knowing if you live in a floodplain. All those stories and more today on the Texas Standard.

Texas Standard: May 18, 2021

The Supreme Court to hear a challenge to Roe vs Wade in a case from Mississippi. How that decision may affect efforts to change abortion laws in Texas. Also, Governor Greg Abbott calls for an early end to federal unemployment relief extended during the pandemic fight. And if it claims to be “beyond meat” on the package, is it breaking Texas law? It might be under a proposal under consideration by Texas lawmakers. Also the difficulty removing so-called bad apples from Texas policing. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: April 29, 2020

Tho COVID-19 seems to be receding in larger Texas cities but a rise of cases in smaller cities has those on the front lines getting hit especially hard. We’ll hear more on a Coronavirus outbreak among first responders in Abilene. Meanwhile in the biggest county in Texas, certain neighborhoods finding themselves most at risk. We’ll hear what they have in common and what’s being done. Also its not your imagination: why fire ants do seem to be getting nastier. And the Texas actor who’s found a role as home state cheerleader during this crisis. Matthew McConaughey and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: November 15, 2019

A show of resilience in El Paso: for the first time doors re open at the site of the August mass shooting at a WalMart, we’ll have the latest. Also, the Supreme Court hands a rare victory to plaintiffs trying to hold gunmakers liable in mass shooting cases. And how to make democracy better? Smarter ballots. We’ll hear one professor’s big idea. Plus the week that was in Texas politics from the Texas Tribune and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

Brisket

Not all meat dishes can inspire a poem. Brisket has no trouble.

The Texas Crutch

By W.F. Strong

I like that Texas is so famous for certain things that those things carry the Texas brand all around the world. Like Texas toast, for instance. Or Texas Hold ‘em poker. The Texas two-step. Texas-style brisket. And even within the specialized world of backyard chefs, the brisket has a sub-specialty technique known as the Texas crutch. This technique allegedly originated in Texas, and therefore carries the Texas name throughout the barbecue world.

I’m going to teach you about this technique over the next three minutes. It may come in handy this summer when you are slow-smoking a fine brisket over the required 15 hours and suddenly need to hurry it along without ruining it. This is merely a suggestion. I know all too well that you don’t mess with Texas and you sure as hell don’t mess with a Texan’s brisket. So I go gently forth with this option.

Suppose, for instance, that you have invited people over to the house to eat at 8 p.m. You remember saying, “Y’all come on over for brisket at 8 p.m. and y’all bring the neighbors. Plenty for everybody.” But now it’s 5 p.m., the brisket has stalled and you realize it won’t be ready until probably 10 p.m. or later. Time for the Texas crutch.

The point of the Texas crutch is to speed up the cooking without losing the holy grail of tenderness. So what you do is get some foil or butcher paper and fashion it into a big, sturdy boat that will hold liquid. Put your brisket in the boat and then pour about a half a cup of apple juice into the boat – not over the brisket because it will rinse off the rub. Some people use bourbon or beer or red wine, but apple juice is preferred because of the enzymes that work diligently to tenderize the brisket.

The next step is to cover the brisket completely with foil or butcher paper and put it back to cook. Crank up the heat to about 250 degrees or 275 degrees, and let the apple juice and heat work their dual-action magic until the core of the brisket is 200 degrees, or twice the outdoor temp of the average Texas summer. Then take it off and let it rest an hour. Now you will have splendid, tender, awesome brisket that all those friends and neighbors will rave about and beg for seconds. The only problem is they will want you to do it again next week.

I love knowing about the technique and using it when I must, but I love even more knowing that in the book on brisketology, there is a chapter called “The Texas Crutch.” I enjoy knowing that the Texas name is on things that travel ’round the world, serving as a kind of advertisement for our culture. It’s our one-of-a-kind branding. And that branding is priceless. A manager at H-E-B told me that products sell much better if they have the Texas star or Texas flag or “Made in Texas” on them. And that branding works just as well in the Mexico H-E-Bs as it does here at home. And if we could trademark the Texas name and symbols, license and sell them, I’m sure we could make enough each year to buy a brisket for every family in the state for what I would call National Texas Brisket Day. Might need some beer and ice cream to go with it. Wonder who could help us out with that?

Texas Standard: July 23, 2018

The endangered species act, now on the endangered list? Activists and environmentalist sound alarms, we’ll learn more. And as we fast approach the anniversary of Harvey and plunge further into hurricane season, rescue efforts underway for the National Flood Insurance program. We’ll hear what’s happening, and why they’re underwater. Also, ranchers balk at a plan to brand lab-grown protein “clean meat”…what’s in a name? Some say a multi-billion dollar industry. And journalists abandoning social media does it matter? All this and so much more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: October 27, 2015

To BBQ or not to BBQ is that the question? How the new report on meat and carcinogens might actually change public policy. Also- sanctuary city policies will not be tolerated in Texas says Governor Greg Abbot in a letter to Dallas County’s sheriff…we’ll hear about the implications. Plus- losing bets on big oil- it’s not just the energy companies that have taken a hit, but everyday investors who say they were mislead. That story and it’s not just your imagination…the political ads that are following you. All those stories and more on todays Texas Standard: