Find smoke – find fire

Cooking one brisket is one thing, cooking 500 kilos is another,” says David Carter, with typical understatement. “But when you pull it off, it’s the Rolls Royce of BBQ.”

Carter is no stranger to pulling off the impossible: when starting up Smokestak, he worked round the clock on 140-hour weeks.

The result? The kind of brisket customers come back for. Carter uses top of the range meat: “you’ll get the best results with grain-fed USDA approved beef, well-marbled with fat,” he says.

Then it’s seasoning time. Carter recommends “freshly cracked black pepper and handfuls of Maldon sea salt – these don’t just add taste but texture too.” Cover the meat with oil “so the seasoning really sticks,” says Carter, “and really go nuts with it.”

Carter’s brisket gets laid fat-side down on a heat of 250 Fahrenheit for 12 to 13 hours. “It’ll have a dark ‘bark’. Wrap it in foil and cook it another few hours to break down the collagen.” 15-16 hours in total should do it. “There’s a small window when it’s ready: you need that hot knife through butter feeling.”

The result is a meaty, salty, smoky, tender bit of BBQ: slice and serve in a bun, with pickled red chillies that have the heat and tartness to cut the richness of the beef. Oh, and a bottle of Sol.