Famous Chef Aaron Franklin of Franklin BBQ and Loro on the Art of Barbecue

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Our guest today is one of the most influential pitmasters and chefs in the US, Aaron Franklin, the co-owner of the famous Franklin BBQ in Austin and Loro Asian Smokehouse in Austin and Dallas.   

Coming from the food industry myself, Aaron Franklin is someone I have so much respect for. He was the first pitmaster nominated and won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in 2015.   

If you go to Franklin BBQ in Austin, you will always see a long line of people waiting to get their fix of the one and only Franklin barbecue.     

Aaron Franklin has opened a new Dallas location of Loro Asian Smokehouse, his first collaboration with another famous chef, Tyson Cole, the co-owner and Executive Chef of Uchi and Uchiko Restaurants in Austin.   

We talk about barbecue and Loro, but also about Aaron’s Masterclass, his appearance in the movie ‘Chef’, and the other restaurants he likes to eat at. More recently, there’s an extra addition with the Aaron Franklin new restaurant, Uptown Sports Club in East Austin, along with music maven James Moody.

I admit I was a little nervous before the interview, but I had an amazing time talking to the Boss of barbecue, and I know you’ll enjoy it too!   

“Barbecue is an endless battle. You can never totally nail it.” - Aaaron Franklin

Time Stamps:

00:00 - Introducing our guest Aaron Franklin. 
5:58 - Introducing our sponsor Texas Real Food.
8:00 - How Aaron Franklin likes to be called. 
10:17 - Aaron’s first collaboration with Chef Tyson Cole to open Loro Asian Smokehouse in Dallas. 
11:58 - How the food in Loro will be different from Franklin BBQ. 
14:30 - The application of technology in cooking. 
18:33 - How Aaaron Franklin and Tyson Cole got the idea to work together. 
22:05 - How often Aaron cooks at home. 
27:00 - The pandemic as the potential catalyst for the changes for better in the food industry. 
29:25 - How Aaaron got in love with the art of making barbecue. 
33:40 - What he brought to barbecue that got him the  James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in 2015. 
36:45 - What is the reason that people love Franklin BBQ so much. 
40:30 - Aaron’s advice for people who want to enter the food industry. 
42:10 - Aaron’s experience with shooting the video for Masterclass and doing BBQ with Franklin on PBS. 
47:25 - How he got into the movie ‘Chef’ by Jon Favreau. 
54:14 - What tv shows Aaron likes. 
55:00 - What other food places he likes to visit and recommends.     

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