
Why You Should Avoid BBQ Restaurants Even if They Have Halal Beef
Some of the top barbecue restaurants in the nation use happen to use Halal certified beef. While this excites many because they can get real deal barbecued beef, we recommend that you avoid these places due to cross-contamination with pork and non-Halal meats in order to keep Halal.
This mainly has come to light with restaurants that source Creekstone Farms beef. Since their beef is so popular, many specialty restaurants will source it for their steaks and burgers. While Creekstone beef is Halal certified, most kitchens that serve it are not. This calls for extra caution on the part of the person ordering it to obtain the Halal beef in a Halal way, namely to be cooked separately from surface that cook pork and non-Halal meats.
With barbecued beef, however, it’s practically impossible to find a set up in which the beef isn’t cooked in an environment intimately shared with pork and non-Halal meats. Here’s why.
Shared cooking area with non-Halal meats
![Aaron Franklin, owner of Franklin BBQ where beef is smoked in shared chambers with non-Halal meats like pork. [Photo: Chris Ford / flickr]](http://muslimeater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/franklin_bbq_chris_ford.jpg)
Aaron Franklin, owner of Franklin BBQ where beef is smoked in shared chambers with non-Halal meats like pork. [Photo: Chris Ford / flickr]
Take Franklin BBQ for example, the famous place in Austin, TX considered one of the best barbecue spots in the nation. While they serve Halal certified Creekstone Farms beef brisket, it shares cooking and prep surfaces with their pork ribs, shoulder, and sausages.
“While we do use Halal beef, we do cook our briskets in the same cookers as we cook our pork products,” says Stacy Frankling, wife of owner Aaron Franklin, in an email. “The briskets are placed on the same grates as the pork.”
Shared cutting boards

Beef brisket sliced at Green Street Meats in Chicago, IL on the same cutting boards as non-Halal meats. [Photo: Kari Skaflen/WTTW, Check Please!]
To get around the cutting board issue, Franklin suggests buying a whole chilled and vacuum sealed brisket to warm up at home. Additionally, Green Street Meats in Chicago says, “we will absolutely cut it with a clean knife and board.”
While we really appreciate both restaurants’ willingness to accommodate as best they can (we really do, thank you!), it doesn’t solve the issue of the briskets being smoked on the same grates as non-Halal meat.
Halal alternatives
![Chopped N Smoked, a fully Halal Texas barbecue food truck in Sugar Land near Houston [Photo: Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP & Matthew Bell/pri.org]](http://muslimeater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/chopped-n-smoked1.jpg)
Chopped N Smoked, a fully Halal Texas barbecue food truck in Sugar Land near Houston [Photo: Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP & Matthew Bell/pri.org]
![Tom’s BBQ in Memphis, TN, where Halal beef ribs are cooked completely separately from pork. [Photo: State Of Q]](http://muslimeater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/toms_stateofq.jpg)
Tom’s BBQ in Memphis, TN, where Halal beef ribs are cooked completely separately from pork. [Photo: State Of Q]
Too far for you? Get someone to open a fully Halal barbecue joint in your city, or get some brisket and wood to smoke some meat yourself.
Just consider avoiding places that smoke non-Halal meats while you do.
[Mixed order at Franklin order photo from Food Network]