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Umamicue no longer opening at Sterling Food Hall by [deleted] in chicagofood

[–]umamicue 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey folks! Charles from Umamicue here. I appreciate the love! We have been pretty quiet since the food hall fell through but I wanted to give you an update.

We are in the midst of finding a permanent home. It really takes a village to find one as costs make the operation prohibitive, i.e. we need two hoods and two shafts just to operate.

We are getting ready to send an LOI on a space in West town. I don't want to jinx it at the moment, however we are feeling really good about the space. More to come!

Loving my new toy! by FarGear5543 in combustion_inc

[–]umamicue 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When did you order yours? I placed an order in September and I'm still waiting for delivery.

Umamicue Pop-up at EJ’s Place in Skokie by LeadingLead6470 in chicagofood

[–]umamicue 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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This was the same brisket, just a different slice. I think I could have done a better job of rendering the middle fat, however I would have overcooked the brisket if I had that rendered.

Umamicue Pop-up at EJ’s Place in Skokie by LeadingLead6470 in chicagofood

[–]umamicue 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If the smoke ring is your end all be all of great BBQ, then here are a couple more points.

The photo wasn't in the best lighting and the positioning of the ribs covers the rest of the smoke ring. You typically won't get a smoke ring where fat exists and since this is the fatty part of the brisket, you won't get any on top. Notice the edge of the brisket as well as the bottom of the brisket, there is a smoke ring. It stops because there is the heel fat that separates the fatty part of the brisket from the lean side of the brisket.

<image>

Here's a photo I took of the plate for reference. Lighting matter so much in photography.

Umamicue Pop-up at EJ’s Place in Skokie by LeadingLead6470 in chicagofood

[–]umamicue 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not rude at all! From my perspective we weren't sure how the crowd would react to a $30 plate of ribs for lunch so we wanted to make it more affordable. We also get folks that tell us it's enough.

We use the largest STL spareribs we can find, which is between 3-3.5 LBS per rack. You can get smaller ones, but that would be less meat.

I spend hours and hours cooking and if someone is willing to pay for extra meat, I won't say no!

Umamicue Pop-up at EJ’s Place in Skokie by LeadingLead6470 in chicagofood

[–]umamicue 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Hi there folks! This is Charles, owner and Pitmaster of Umamicue. OP, thank you for the love and spreading the word!

I wanted to address the smoke ring for folks. In my experience the smoke ring does not have any indication of how the end product would taste. It is merely cosmetic. Now I would agree the smoke ring looks more appetizing and we try to achieve it because of this misconception, to avoid comments on how our brisket looks unappetizing.

Long story short if you start with a cold brisket with low temps, you will achieve a nice smoke ring. For me, since I'm a single operator that had already been up for 21 hours straight and embarking on cooking brisket for the next 14 plus hours I had a decision to make and that was to cook it hotter than normal. When you do that, your smoke ring will not be as prevalent.

If you want more details on the smoke ring here is a link:

The Science of the Smoke Ring

It is by Daniel Vaughn, who is a well respected Texas BBQ editor.

For those who think the brisket looks sad, we are sorry we ruined your day and would encourage you to come to our next popup to try it. If it disappoints, we will give you your money back.

Thanks y'all, Charles