‘Low and slow’ is NOT the way to go for BBQ master Aaron Franklin, plus more cookbook season revelations

Breaking barbecue rules, last-minute pies, and Lego Nancy Silverton. I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week’s Tasting Notes.

A barbecue miracle

Barbecue master Aaron Franklin slicing brisket at the 2019 L.A. Times Food Bowl.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

At the risk of sounding like “The Great British Baking Show” presenter Noel Fielding announcing, “It’s biscuits week,” I am happy to say, “It’s cookbook week!” Or, to be more accurate — cookbook season.

This is the time of year when we look for cookbooks to give as gifts for the holidays and when we desperately turn to cookbooks (and, yes, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram tutorials) for advice on something new to serve during this hectic time hosting family and friends. (Speaking of tutorials, may I suggest our Thanksgiving recipe and video tutorials that cooking columnist Ben Mims and video producer Cody Long put together.)

For those of us who still love to page through actual cookbooks — see our staff picks for our favorite 2023 cookbooks — this week has been particularly exciting in Los Angeles. That’s because Ken Concepcion and Michelle Mungcal, the couple behind the Chinatown shop Now Serving, ended their busy season of author interviews and signings with three knock-out events.

On Sunday, Texas barbecue master Aaron Franklin came straight to Now Serving from his guest appearance at the original Hollywood location of Briana Valdez’s HomeState — where as Stephanie Breijo shared on our L.A. Times Food Instagram feed, people lined up before 6 a.m. for breakfast tacos made with Franklin’s revered brisket. He was interviewed at the shop with his co-author Jordan Mackay by the great barbecue writer (“Smokestack Lightning”) and filmmaker/TV producer (“The Chi,” “Treme,” “The Man in the High Castle”) Lolis Eric Elie.

The discussion focused on Franklin and Mackay’s newest book, “Franklin Smoke: Wood, Fire, Food,” but was really a chance to geek out on home barbecue techniques and to bust a few longstanding traditions.

Early on, Elie pointed out, “You two seem to have changed religions since the first book [‘Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto’]. You started in the church of wood barbecue, but now you’re making charcoal.”

Franklin told Elie that there are times when — for grilling versus smoking — “I’m not going to burn down you know, like two trees where the wood is cooked for 20 minutes.” He still doesn’t like most of the “junky” charcoals out there, “but now that I’ve been around charcoal more,” he writes in the book, “I’ve softened a bit on its value.”

Franklin also writes, “I’ve evolved in my brisket thinking.” Which is why, despite providing a seemingly definitive brisket recipe in his first book, he’s sharing his newest brisket ideas (“tighter and more precise”) in “Franklin Smoke.”

The thing that really got my attention — in addition to Franklin saying how much he loved cooking at 2019’s L.A. Times Food Bowl — was a tossed-off comment he made to Elie about his barbecue forebears who preached the religion of low and slow. While Franklin certainly hasn’t switched sides to “hot ‘n’ fast,” as you’ll read in his brisket chapter of the new book, he revealed that slow and not-so-low could be what makes his brisket so acclaimed.

“When I started, the temperature was, oh gosh, like 200 degrees. I did that a bunch and was like, these [briskets] just suck. I started creeping a little bit hotter and then one day I let the fire get a little too hot and took a nap. I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s too high.’ But I’ll be damned that brisket was tender. This was the last backyard barbecue we had before we opened our trailer. I remember pulling six briskets off the cookers and thinking they’re gonna be burned. I was so bummed. Then I opened them and was like, ‘Oh, yeah! I gotta figure out what just happened.’”

Who makes the best peanut butter cookie?

Mozza chef-owner Nancy Silverton with Friends & Family’s Roxana Jullapat, who made the peanut butter cookie that inspired Silverton to write her new cookbook.

(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)

Tuesday night, Now Serving invited Times cooking columnist Ben Mims to interview Mozza chef and owner Nancy Silverton about her new cookbook “The Cookie That Changed My Life and More Than 100 Other Classic Cakes, Cookies, Muffins and Pies That Will Change Yours.”

The conversation was terrific — check her book for the recipe that turned the lemon-bar-hating chef into a convert. But there were two highlights. Before the talk, Louis Rodriguez Jr. brought his 6-year-old son Aleister to meet “his favorite chef.” He even built a Lego Millennium Falcon with a Lego Silverton at her mozzarella bar in the center of the ship. Aleister’s favorite Mozza pizza? Burrata and squash blossoms.

Mozza chef-owner Nancy Silverton rendered in Legos at her mozzarella bar on the Millennium Falcon constructed by 6-year-old fan Aleister.

(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)

Best of all, Roxana Jullapat of Friends & Family was in the crowd to hear that it was her peanut butter cookie that got Silverton’s competitive juices going and inspired her to write the cookbook in which she sought out the best recipes for baking classics. I now want to have Jullapat and Silverton have a peanut butter cookie bake-off.

Finally, on Thursday night, the last Now Serving event of the week was held at Majordomo Media’s test kitchen space at the Row DTLA. Chris Ying, head of creative for Majordomo Media, interviewed author Fuchsia Dunlop about her newest book, “Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food.”

One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation was their discussion of “the idea of harmony,” which Dunlop said, “goes back more than 2,000 years. … There were many ancient texts that use art of the cooking as an allegory for the ultimate government.”

“Having a little bitterness,” she said, isn’t a bad thing for food or governments. “People criticizing your government was a good thing because it helped to create balance. The role of cook and the ruler is to bring harmony.”

Zines for the holidays

L.A. Times Food cooking zines “L.A. in a Jar” and “12 Days of Holiday Cookies.”

(Los Angeles Times)

While we’re talking cookbooks, you might be interested in two new cooking zines from L.A. Times Food that would make excellent stocking stuffers. “12 Days of Holiday Cookies” includes pink rugelach and citrusy gingerbread palm trees with equipment and cooking tips. And “L.A. in a Jar,” the great series on preserving fruit by our cooking columnist Ben Mims, has now been collected into a zine that you can use throughout all four seasons. And Food’s senior art directer Brandon Ly designed colorful tea towels, sweatshirts, hats and T-shirts in the theme of Food.

Also …

1. The Food team has put together a guide to the best L.A. bakeries for last-minute holiday pie orders.
2. And assistant food editor Danielle Dorsey compiled the best L.A. restaurants for a Thanksgiving takeout feast.
3. Jenn Harris devotes her weekly column to her new favorite restaurants run by Black owners.
4. And even though it was highlighted last week, if you’re desperate for something new to serving at Thanksgiving, it’s worth checking out Betty Hallock’s story featuring chili-crisp-enhanced turkey and more recipes from Fly by Jing founder Jing Gao.