A Brief History of Black Market Brisket
There has been a recent uptick in the number of meat thefts, but it's nothing new.
Texas barbecue, the classic version of which is found primarily in Central Texas and distinguished by its use of beef brisket and its indirect smoking method, is superior to all other regional varieties of barbecue. This is an incontrovertible fact. However, the state boasts tremendous variety of barbecue styles, from the cabrito pits of South Texas to the sweet tangy ribs of East Texas. Over the years, Texas Monthly has written about them all. In our first barbecue story, “The World’s Best Barbecue is in Taylor, Texas. Or is it Lockhart?” Griffin Smith Jr. wrote that, “at first blush, the East Texas chopped pork sandwich with hot sauce has little in common with the slab of Central Texas beef. . . . The emphasis in Central Texas is overwhelmingly on the meat itself—sauce, if available at all, is usually just a side dip.”
There has been a recent uptick in the number of meat thefts, but it's nothing new.
And La Barbecue, another Austin establishment, also made food critic Alan Richman's list of the best new restaurants of the year.
More than 75 songs to accompany you during a meaty quest.
On Thursday, June 6, KLRU will air a television special entitled The Kings of BBQ: Barbecue Kuwait.The documentary details the experience of five BBQ pitmasters (Myron Mixon, Johnny Trigg, Jaime Geer, Nicole Davenport, and George Stone) and their trip to a military base in Kuwait to create a Southern-style
Also, over at TMBBQ.com, Vaughn has a new review of Smitty's in Lockhart, perhaps the most surprising joint to not make the Top 50.
Bad news, Memphis: not only are your Grizzlies on the way to losing to the Spurs, but you still won't get to eat the world's best barbecue!
Find out who made the cut. And which joint ranks number one.
Mark your calendar, and start your fasting now. The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is on . . .
Is it the best job in America? From the New York Times to Bon Appetit, everybody seems to think so.
Robert Sietsema, the Village Voice's food critic, thinks New York can now be considered a "'cue capital." Isn't that cute?
Carolina pulled pork, Memphis dry rub, Kansas City ribs or Texas brisket? As if there's actually "debate." Video and highlights from Jake Silverstein's SXSW BBQ panel.
He's back: John Mueller makes dramatic return to Central Texas barbecue scene with the John Mueller Meat Co. in East Austin.
According to a story in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a new barbecue restaurant is coming to Austin in 2013. And this is no ordinary barbecue restaurant; it’s backed by Justin Timberlake. Yup, that Justin Timberlake… The Austin restaurant is part of a 30-city nationwide
Dear barbecue buffs, fans, mavens, hounds, fanatics, cognoscenti, nuts, addicts, maniacs, aficionados, zealots, enthusiasts, devotes, groupies, and lovers: Do you have a barbecue destination that you think is worthy of being on Texas Monthly’s “The Top Fifty BBQ Joints in Texas” list? Now’s the time to tell us! Next
Austin’s Franklin Barbecue is making a few changes in the coming months, according to an interview owner Aaron Franklin did with Eater National this week. In the detailed interview, Franklin touched on changing
You can’t talk about great Texas barbecue without mentioning Driftwood’s most famous barbecue joint of all time – The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que. Through the years this Central Texas haunt has gained both fame and popularity for its delicious barbecue meats – well known for their
They went as quickly as they came! Sorry, ya’ll! The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival tickets have officially sold out. The VIP tickets were gone faster than the blink of an eye, and now the general admission passes have all been snatched up as
Do you smother your meats in tangy barbecue sauce? Have you ever planned a road trip just to devour some Central Texas barbecue? Would you stand in a three-hour line for a single serving of brisket at Franklin Barbecue? Well, ready your wallets my fellow
APRIL FOOLS! Breathe a sigh of relief, all you extremist carnivores. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin IS NOT – I repeat, IS NOT – going to host Meatless Monday Vegan Brisket dinners. The TM Daily
Foodways Texas, which was founded in July 2010 “to preserve, promote, and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas," held its second annual symposium in Austin this past weekend. A couple of hundred participants listened to talks on the theme of “Texas Preserved”—a deliberately wide-ranging topic that covered
Make that 22 pitmasters. Since Bertram Smoke Haus made our Top 50 in 2008, a lot has happened with the joint northwest of Austin. Pitmaster and owner Jim Wallace moved out of his original location, a 100-plus year-old former mercantile and lumber store, for a bigger
Editor’s Note: Just two more days until the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival! As you surely know by now, we’ve been interviewing all the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we’re featuring Tom Hale, 59, of TC's Ponderosa in
The luminaries of Texas barbecue are justly revered—from Lockhart's century old Kreuz Market, to Taylor's estimable Louie Mueller Barbecue to the ever-popular Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ in Llano. For the BBQ dabbler these names are familiar, but their pitmasters may as well be Hollywood celebrities
Editor’s Note: Just three more days until the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival! As you surely know by now, we’ve been interviewing all the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we’re featuring Abraham Avila, 42, of Wild Blue BBQ in
Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we're featuring Scott Roberts, "north of 55," of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we’re featuring Gary Vincek, 48, of Vincek's Smokehouse in
Editor’s Note: Just five more days until the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival! As you surely know by now, we've been interviewing all the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we’re featuring Jeremiah McKenzie, 39, of Baby J's
Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we'll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we're featuring Lou Lambert of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we bring youChad Decker, 38, of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Wayne Mueller, 46, of Louie Mueller
Editor's Note: Daniel Vaughn, writing under the name BBQ Snob, runs the Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog and will also be writing about barbecue for Texas Monthly. This is his first column. Texas barbecue is having a moment. It seems like every time I turned around this
As a barbecue trailer in Texas, the Smoke Shack, in San Antonio, has quite a reputation to live up to. Franklin Barbecue has changed the game for all of us, and even Hitler is into their ‘cue. While no one can
Get your general admission tickets to the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival on Wednesday, starting at 10 a.m. But if you are in or around Austin, we can also feed you sooner. Come downtown at lunchtime for the final TM BBQ Hunt, where we’ll pick four winners in
Over at Eater National, their regular “Sound Cheque” interview (musicians talking food) is with Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats, which just released its fifth album, Tripper, on Sub Pop Records. The Portland-based musician says The Salt Lick is “something I basically think about daily.” But
There’s something deliciously naughty about attending a beef grilling event at an exotic game ranch in Texas. Add celebrity chefs, the open flame, and a corridor of wine purveyors to that mix and you’ve got yourself a party. In other words, the Texas Hill Country Wine and
(Ground beef guru Josh Ozersky, from a 2008 Nightline appearance) Wednesday at approximately 4 p.m., culinary event planner Mike Thelin was driving around Austin in search of hardwood briquettes, trying to fill a last-minute request from one of the many chefs participating in the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food
Good Samaritan that you are, if you saw a school bus on the side of the road with smoke billowing from its roof, you’d probably call 911. Now, it might seem counterintuitive, but don’t dial those digits. Pull over, whip out your wallet, and prepare for some of the best
Many years ago, before he moved away from Austin to the Frozen North (the D.C. area), journalist Jim Shahin was one of the people I turned to in times of freelance need. He contributed to food stories for Texas Monthly, but mainly, he distinguished himself by possessing a barbecue fanaticism