Burnt ends are a Kansas City thing. Years ago Arthur Bryant's used to chop the scrap, overcooked, hard exterior pieces of brisket and serve them for free to customers waiting in line. The meat was thought to be too overcooked or tough to charge customers for it. At some point, people started calling those morsels burnt ends. There was also a short supply because only the scrap portions of briskets that couldn't be eaten without chopping first were served for free. It soon got to a point that people were asking for burnt ends. So, Arthur Bryant decided to start charging customers for it.
Today, restaurants cut the "point" or "deckle" portion of briskets in to cubes after cooking the brisket whole. Then, they either add more rub or sauce or both to the cubes and put them back in the smoker for a couple of hours and then serve them as "burnt ends." But, today's burnt ends are not what was originally served.
All that being said, Aaron Franklin's burnt ends are like what was originally served at Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City. Aaron removes the outer portions of brisket that are overcooked, coarsely chops them and serves them on his "Tipsy Texan" sandwich. He serves the "point" portion of brisket in slices just as he does the "flat" portion. The point portion he calls "fatty" brisket and the "flat" portion he calls "lean" brisket. This is because the point has a higher fat content and a lot more beefy flavor than the flat.
Nowadays, this is how I eat the brisket point (deckle). It's the choicest part that I dig into first.
No fake KC burnt ends for me.
