Food & Drink

Elevate Your Cooking Skills & Techniques

Make The Most Of Your Ingredients

Refine Your Beef, Chicken, & Meat Dishes

Teaches Texas-Style BBQ

Aaron Franklin

Meet your new instructor: Aaron Franklin, a Central Texas barbecue legend. In your first lesson, the award-winning pitmaster takes you inside his famed restaurant, Franklin Barbecue, explaining the techniques and recipes you’ll learn in the class.

1. Introduction

Introduction

Building and managing fire is key to barbecue mastery. In this chapter, Aaron demonstrates his technique for constructing clean fires, explains how to analyze smoke, and unpacks the anatomy and science of an offset cooker.

2. Fire and Smoke

Fire and Smoke

For your first cook, Aaron takes you step-by-step through his recipe and technique for smoking tender, flavorful pork butt: from seasoning and wrapping through shredding into tender morsels of pulled pork.

3. Smoke: Pork Butt

Smoke: Pork Butt

Though best known for his brisket, Aaron is a stickler when it comes to ribs. Learn his tried-and-true process for trimming, smoking, and slicing saucy, moist spare ribs in this intermediate-level cook.

4. Smoke: Pork Ribs

Smoke: Pork Ribs

Wood, and the smoke it creates, is the primary flavor agent in barbecue. In this chapter, Aaron takes you through a woodpile, explaining how to assess a piece of wood and how to choose the right pieces for different phases of your cook.

5. Wood

Wood

When Aaron isn’t cooking low and slow at Franklin Barbecue, he’s often grilling at home. Here, he shares his method of incorporating direct and indirect heat for seared steaks and charred broccolini in a meal quick enough to make any night of the week.

6. Grill: Steak and Broccolini

Grill: Steak and Broccolini

Is grass-fed beef superior to grain-fed? Fresh better than frozen? Aaron shares his tips for assessing beef quality and how to buy the best meat for your needs.

7. Beef Quality and Selection

Beef Quality and Selection

In the first of our five-chapter series on the Texas barbecue staple, Aaron shares his signature method for shaving and shaping briskets for an even and consistent cook.

8. Prep: Brisket Trim

Prep: Brisket Trim

Phase one of our brisket smoke involves building a fire, applying slather and rub, and cooking the meat undisturbed. Learn Aaron’s technique for seasoning evenly and developing clean flavors in the critical first hours of your cook.

9. Smoke: Brisket Part I

Smoke: Brisket Part I

In the second phase of our 12-hour brisket smoke, Aaron shares his techniques for spritzing, getting a derailed cook back on track, and pushing through the stall while maintaining a clean and steady fire.

10. Smoke: Brisket Part II

Smoke: Brisket Part II

Learn Aaron’s technique for wrapping brisket, checking for tenderness, and assessing when to pull and rest your meat in the final phase of our brisket cook.

11. Smoke: Brisket Part III

Smoke: Brisket Part III

Aaron walks you through his detailed, cut-by-cut process for slicing your brisket to minimize waste and maximize balance and flavor.

12. Finish: Brisket Slice

Finish: Brisket Slice

Learn how to make the MasterClass-exclusive recipe for the balanced, tangy-sweet sauce Aaron uses in his lesson on ribs.

13. Prepare: Sauce

Prepare: Sauce

Years of working exclusively on offset smokers has given Aaron a sense of what to look for—and avoid—when buying and modifying the cookers. Learn Aaron’s tips so your smoker functions at its peak.

14. Offset Smokers

Offset Smokers

Aaron’s journey began with a botched brisket cooked on a $99 smoker. Follow the unlikely path Aaron took to become a pitmaster, and learn what sparked the birth of the most famous barbecue joint in the country.

15. Aaron’s Journey to Pitmaster

Aaron’s Journey to Pitmaster

In this bonus chapter, Aaron traces the roots of barbecue culture in Texas from European immigrants to World War II vets, highlighting how brisket—a tough, difficult-to-cook cut of beef—became the region’s signature smoked meat.

16. Bonus Chapter: How Brisket Became King: The History of Central Texas Barbecue

Bonus Chapter: How Brisket Became King: The History of Central Texas Barbecue

Aaron Franklin Teaches Texas-Style BBQ

variant_1

Enjoy 7 days free

The promo may be over, but your opportunity isn't. Dive into the full experience, worry-free, with our 7-day money-back guarantee.

The offer has ended

Amount charged now

Your 7-day free trial starts today

Proof you've trained with the world's best

Leadership and Decision Making Under Pressure

Get this certificate.

Proof you’ve learned from the best.

Brand Strategist

Ana M. Gómez Sanabria

Founder

Karl Baron

Service Design & Design Strategist

Meghan Preiss

R&D Manager

Morten Refsgaard Drost

Chief Technical Advisor

Doug Needham

Service Manager

Ólafur Már Símonarson

Get 50% off an annual membership of MasterClass

Congratulations, you purchased an annual standard membership of MasterClass. A confirmation has been sent to your email. You will now be able to access 200+ classes in addition to your Certificate course.

You're all set!

Build practical AI skills that matter. Learn how to think with AI, make better decisions, and prove you’re ready for what’s next.

AI as Your Copilot (4 min)

Prompting: Speak So AI Listens (8 min)

Step inside The Moonshot Factory to see how teams prototype new concepts in hours, pinpoint the riskiest part of any idea, and turn bold thinking into real-world breakthroughs.

This Is Where Bold Begins (12 min)

"What If" Before "What Is" (8 min)

Learn from five former SEALs, including Medal of Honor winner Command Master Britt Slabinski (Ret), and hear how they tackle issues, recognize stress early, and use quick resets to regain composure.

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

Intro to High-Stakes Leadership (10 min)

Strategic Readiness Starts With You (6 min)

Pre-enroll and save 20% on this Negotiations course. Available Summer 2026.

ni-preenrollment

Pre-enroll and save 30% on this AI Strategy course from NVIDIA. 

nvidia-preenrollment

From TIME ©2022 TIME USA LLC. All rights reserved. Used under license.

Times

Wirecutter

Reviewed - USA Today

Smoke and Fire

Aaron's Smoked Brisket

Smoked Pork Butt and Ribs

Grilled Steak

Teaches Indian Cooking

Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur Jaffrey Teaches Indian Cooking

With Emily Wines

Emily Wines

A Sommelier's Snob-Free Guide to Wine

Teaches Cooking Techniques III: Seafood, Sous Vide, and Desserts

Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller Teaches Cooking Techniques III: Seafood, Sous Vide, and Desserts

Teaches Modern Italian Cooking

Massimo Bottura

Massimo Bottura Teaches Modern Italian Cooking

Teaches Intentional Eating

Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan Teaches Intentional Eating

Teaches Tracing Your Roots Through Food

Michael W. Twitty

Michael W. Twitty Teaches Tracing Your Roots Through Food

Teaches Modern Japanese Cooking

Niki Nakayama

Niki Nakayama Teaches Modern Japanese Cooking

Teaches Southern Cooking

Mashama Bailey

Mashama Bailey Teaches Southern Cooking

Teaches Mexican Cooking

Gabriela Cámara

Gabriela Cámara Teaches Mexican Cooking

Teaches Cooking II: Restaurant Recipes at Home

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking II: Restaurant Recipes at Home

Teaches Cooking Techniques I: Vegetables, Pasta, and Eggs

Thomas Keller Teaches Cooking Techniques

Teaches Modern Vegetarian Cooking

Dominique Crenn

Dominique Crenn Teaches Modern Vegetarian Cooking

Teaches Cooking Techniques II: Meats, Stocks, and Sauces

Thomas Keller Teaches Cooking Techniques II: Meats, Stocks, and Sauces

Teaches Cooking

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck Teaches Cooking

José Andrés with Special Guest Chefs

José Andrés

Food, Stories, and Connections

Teaches Cooking I

Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking I

Teaches Intuitive Cooking

Roy Choi

Roy Choi Teaches Intuitive Cooking

Gut Health with Leading Experts

David Zilber

Dr. Emeran Mayer

Erica Sonnenburg & Justin Sonnenburg

Gut Health

The Greatest of All Time

Angie Mar

Charles Gabriel

Quie Slobert

Stefano Secchi

Dale Harris

Tony Gemignani

Nancy Silverton

Jeni Britton

Melineige Beauregard

Chris Guinto

Wallace Wong

Anna Leigh Waters

Joy Mangano

GOAT

Menu

What brought you to this class today?

What brought you to this class today?

Skills You'll Learn

Download