Beef

Barbecue for Breakfast? Meet Brisket Scones

Most of us eat barbecue for lunch or dinner. But breakfast? Not so much. Except if you happen to be visiting my house, where I often fire up the grill for our morning meal.

Which brings me to a breakfast dish I bet you’ve never had—unless you’ve been to State Road restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard. State Road is a longstanding Raichlen favorite—the sort of place that had a wood-burning grill before it was fashionable for restaurants to have wood-burning grills. (And an owner-chef—Jackson Kenworth—who knows how to use it.)

Jackson serves some illuminating dishes for brunch. Like hash made with house-cured corned beef and the eggs Benedict ride on smoked brisket instead of the usual Canadian bacon.

So I was only half surprised to find brisket scones on State Road’s brunch menu. “I came up with these scones while thinking about how much I missed the brisket in Texas,” says pastry chef Lindsey McCloskey. “The mix of local woods from the island gives our smoker a taste you can only find here on Martha’s Vineyard.”

The restaurant smokes its brisket low and slow, as tradition calls for, then chops it to add to the scone batter. Of course, you can bake it in the oven. Better yet, “bake” it in your pellet smoker, or set up your gas or charcoal grill for indirect grilling.

Coffee’s on. Wake up and smell the brisket!!