– Thrillist has ranked every state based on their food and drink options. Texas scored a #2 ranking based mainly on our great barbecue.

– Texas Barbecue Week starts this Sunday, and there’s some good eating to do around Texas barbecue joints.

– John Raven, the Commissioner of Barbecue shared a message for Barbecue Week including such opinions as “The Austin Trailer Trash Barbecue has grown to unreal proportions,” and “cook-offs are where the new
products and techniques are invented and refined. You won’t find a single barbecue joint with a research and development department.”

– J. C. Reid of the Houston Chronicle discusses tradition vs. progress in the world of Texas barbecue.

– I think “best-ever” is going a little far for baked ribs:

 

– Eater Austin collects the early word on Terry Black’s BBQ in Austin. 

– El Paso’s Off The Grill barbecue truck has won the 2014 BBQ Truck of the Year. 

– Candace Brooks of Houston’s Harlon’s BBQ is interviewed by CocoaFab. 

– A couple of Brits talk about what makes for good American style barbecue. There’s not much in here to argue with, but they sure make Cookshacks sound fancy. I also found this comment a bit strange: “[W]e both loved the whole Deep South dirty Americana smokehouse thing.” 

– Hill Country BBQ in Washington DC was closed for a few days for some health department violations. 

– This is how North Carolina treats their oldest operating barbecue joint:

 

– Kansas City is famous for burnt ends. Here’s how they came about, and where to find them now.

– If you’re looking for barbecue options in Atlanta, Eater has a map for that.

– Zagat asks, sauce or no sauce?

– A little bit of Texas barbecue in Paris at The Beast.

– Not a great rating for Underwood’s:

 

– Hays County BBQ in San Marcos was profiled by their local paper. 

– La Barbecue is moving later this year, and adding a new pit. 

– Will Buckman of Corkscrew BBQ in Spring and Ronnie Killen of Killen’s BBQ in Pearland share their barbecue tips. 

– Corkscrew BBQ is getting a new pit, which means a lengthy closure for them. They will close on August 3rd, and will not reopen until August 26th. 

– Franklin Barbecue is back open after a little construction. Here’s a look at their new pit room. 

– Aaron Franklin talks about the expansion to Austin’s KUT. On why he doesn’t charge more for his barbecue: “I feel that we’re charging as much as we can, and that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg to produce that, but it’s just not worth any more. I would feel guilty charging somebody more than we do.” 

– This Philadelphia blogger thought Franklin Barbecue was worth the wait. 

– Meat vs. Meat: 

 

– Toronto now has a vegetarian butcher shop featuring Yam Chops and Coconut Ba-Con.

– The tiniest grill you’ve ever seen.

– From Forbes: Team Carbeque’s goal was to “build a race car that makes slow cooked traditional barbecue while it drives.”

– Traveling with a lit pit can be hazardous to your truck.

– If you’d like to hear me talk to the CBS Evening News about being the Barbecue Editor…

– Watch a step-by-step tutorial on how to break down a hog with Morgan Weber of Houston’s Revival Market.

– There’s a big BBQ Cook Off in Pasadena, Texas this weekend:

 

– Nightline highlights the great Texas style barbecue in Brooklyn at Hometown Bar-B-Que and Delaney Barbecue. 

– Here’s a photo gallery of Hometown Bar-B-Que in Brooklyn captured at 2:00pm on a Sunday by Daniel Kreiger. 

– Chuck Eats the Street, a show on the Cooking Channel, will air their Austin episode tonight which features Stiles Switch BBQ. 

– Mark Evanier on how reading all these barbecue lists are a little like looking at a Playboy. 

– This list of Texas BBQ joints from Gear Patrol has plenty of the usual suspects, but at least one big surprise:

 

– Myron Mixon did a Q&A session on Reddit this week. He shared more than I expected, and he’s never been to Franklin Barbecue.

– This article from Indian Country claims that South Carolina is the birthplace of American barbecue.

– Eleven grilling disaster videos from Eater.

– 425, people:

 

– A Fort Worth Star Telegram profile of Bailey’s Bar-B-Que in downtown Fort Worth. 

– Along with this photo gallery, Eater Houston does a Q&A with Ronnie Killen of Pearland’s Killen’s BBQ. 

– Another lengthy and well-written profile of Pecan Lodge in Dallas. This one comes from Eater in their new column called Smoked that profiles barbecue restaurants.

– A DFW.com review of Pecan Lodge: “Each bite, upholstered in fat, topped with peppery crust, made it hard to imagine getting brisket any other way.” 

– There’s going to be some barbecue at the Taste of Dallas this weekend:

 

– There’s a new California-style taco truck in Grapevine, Texas called So-Cal Tacos. They’ve been smoking some brisket.

– There’s a rumor in the Waco Tribune that Salt Lick BBQ is eyeing a new spot in Waco.

– President Obama came to Dallas for $10,000 per plate barbecue, and Austin’s John Mueller catered it.

– You can now buy $250 tickets for a dinner at Franklin Barbecue in Austin on September 20th with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

– From Samuel Jones of Skylight Inn: “There’s a time when barbecue wasn’t cool. It was in the armpit of the culinary world.”