– Louie Mueller BBQ in Taylor will be closed on Mondays for a couple of months:

 

– Wayne Mueller heads to Houston on February 2nd to serve barbecue at a block party at the St. Arnold Brewery. 

– Houston food writer J. C. Reid went to Red Hook, NY and found some great barbecue. 

– 3 Stacks in Frisco will soon undergo renovations to eliminate its serving line and become a full service restaurant.

– Brad Thomas Parsons wrote a book about Bitters. He loves his cocktails, but his year-end wrap-up makes it look like he’s an aspiring barbecue editor. 

– Win a weekend with NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. Per the video, there will be BBQ, but will he do the cooking?

 

– Johnny Fugitt is traveling the country looking for the 100 best barbecue joints. Word from a Dallas BBQ joint is that he’s coming to Texas, and seeking some steep discounts. 

– “Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus” will drive up pork prices in 2014. 

– A Pennsylvania based blogger uses lots of quotation marks and ALL CAPS to say some nice things about how well Texas promotes its own barbecue joints. 

– Alton Brown likes the foil:

 

– During a visit to Austin, Dallas Morning News food critic Leslie Brenner bailed on the lines at Franklin Barbecue and la Barbecue, but found some great smoked meat at Stiles Switch. 

– The Austin Chronicle named their Top 10 BBQ joints in Austin. Franklin Barbecue was number one, and Freedmen’s Bar was curiously missing. 

– A few days after announcing the list, the Austin Chronicle held an invite-only beef rib competition. Micklethwait Craft Meats was the winner. Notably absent from the competitors were Aaron Franklin and John Mueller. 

– A not so accurate map of barbecue in the Southeast. It’s a start anyway:

 

– A “US smokehouse style concept” will open in England with the name 160 Degrees Fahrenheit.

– The Q Grill will open in England later this month. They plan to serve “American style BBQ.”

– Houston food writer J. C. Reid is traveling to England to sample the American style barbecue.

– Here’s how his tour started:

 

– McDonald’s has committed to using “sustainable beef” by 2016. They just haven’t defined what sustainable beef means.

– Smithfield is encouraging it’s pig suppliers to ditch the use of gestational crates.

– Select grade beef has a hit a record high price for the past four days in a row.

– That rising cost might be a big reason that chicken is now more popular than beef in the American diet.

– A great quotation from a Texas legend:

 

– Grilling guru Steven Raichlen provides his list of the ten best BBQ joints in the country. Franklin Barbecue in Austin made the list, as did the Granary and Two Bros. BBQ Market in San Antonio.

– Scott’s BBQ in South Carolina lost its pit room to a fire in November. Pitmaster Rodney Scott is on a fundraising tour of the South called the “Rodney in Exile Tour.” Here’s a full schedule.

– Nineteen year old Lemon’s Bar-B-Q in Brownwood is profiled in the local paper.

– Randy White’s BBQ in Frisco has a shared history with Texas Monthly top 50 BBQ joint Hutchins BBQ in McKinney.

– Schmidt Family Barbecue in Bee Cave brought in another smoker to handle demand:

 

– Men’s Health Magazine wants to let us know how to eat healthy at the barbecue joint. From the list, I’m guessing they haven’t had burnt ends. Also, rotisserie chicken isn’t quite barbecue.

– The Smoking Ho reviewed Dickey’s, and didn’t hate it as much as he expected.

– Man claims to have killed Bigfoot after luring him in with a rack of ribs nailed to a tree.

– Expect to see Myron Mixon’s new logo on your grocery store shelves in the near future:

 

 

– A Florida man was killed because he wasn’t slicing his barbecue properly. Seems an excessive punishment.

– Smoke your own bacon.

– Arrogant Swine on the importance of asking for “outside brown” while eating barbecue in North Carolina.

– Are there other reasons to travel?