In Wyatt McSpadden’s book Texas BBQ from 2009 there are two evocative early-morning photos of the tall smokestack at Mack’s Split Rail Bar-B-Que in Mineola. Other than these photos, I hadn’t seen or heard much about the place and wondered if maybe it had closed. On a trip to Tyler
Every month we bring you a profile of a photographer who has captured the people, the food and the spaces that make up the world of barbecue.Jody Horton – Austin, TexasOriginally from Charleston, South Carolina, Jody has called Austin, Texas home for more than
Fred Fountaine is arguably Texas barbecue’s most influential pitmaster—and you’ve probably never heard of him. For forty years he cooked the barbecue at Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, and during his tenure, he helped bring national acclaim to Texas barbecue.Fountaine, who grew up in Massachussetts, lived in Rhode Island after
– Say it with me. “Whiskey-Flavored Pigs.”– Twelve great examples of barbecue on scripted television shows.– Another Rudy’s is coming to Houston:@BBQsnob for the Que News. 59 and Grand Parkway sugar land / ft.bend county pic.twitter.com/vq7GUJhVDE — Pappa Charlies BBQ (@pappacharlies)
Owner/Pitmaster/Chef: The Granary; Opened 2012Age: 31Smoker: Wood-Fired Rotisserie SmokerWood: Live Oak There isn’t another barbecue joint in Texas with as many menus to deal with as The Granary. They have a lunch menu with traditional barbecue items and a rotating daily lunch special that
A accolade from two years back brought me to this renovated Sonic on the east side of San Antonio. A local media outlet (I don’t recall which one) wrote that Ed’s Smok-N-Q served the best brisket in the city. That claim in San Antonio doesn’t carry quite the weight as the same
A few months ago the Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE) released a sixty-six page report on meat consumption around the globe called the Meat Atlas. In their words “the report presents a global perspective on the impacts of industrial meat and dairy production, and illustrates
As of yesterday, pitmaster Emilio Soliz is gone from Two Bros. BBQ Market in San Antonio. He broke the news over Facebook and I caught Soliz on the phone.“I’m nervous, but excited.” He’s planning a new venture in San Antonio which he hopes to have open soon. Right
As you read this, Texas Monthly’s editor, Jake Silverstein, is moving the last few items out of his office. He has traded his view of the Texas Capital building for that of a Duane Reade and is moving to the New York Times Magazine. We’ll miss that guy.And I personally owe him
– Kitchen scientist Greg Blonder designs what he feels is the ideal smoker – the Janus Smoker.– Here are a few more less-than-ideal grills that will work if you don’t have a lawn.– A functional Biblia Definitiva Do Churrasco (The Bible of Barbecue) comes out of
Pitmaster: BBQ Pitmasters (2010), Sugar & Smoke (2012), Chopped (2012)Age: 43I visited Sugar & Smoke restaurant in Fredericksburg in early 2012. That’s the first time I was introduced to Nicole Davenport. The menu was long, with only a few items of true barbecue. When I asked
I was looking for a jerk chicken restaurant just south of the Trinity University campus in San Antonio when I drove past a brightly painted converted service station. I hadn’t planned on visiting Hot Spot BBQ that day, but when the jerk chicken shack was locked down tight, I made
Title: Charcutería: The Soul of Spain Author: Jeffrey WeissPublished: Surrey Books, 2014In recent years we’ve seen the publication of several high profile books on charcuterie and salumi. From them you can learn the finer points of curing meats in the French or Italian traditions, but recipes from Spain
Arguably the most beloved figure in Texas barbecue is Tootsie Tomanetz, a septuagenarian pitmaster who’s been tending the fires at Snow’s BBQ since it opened in 2003. She was first discovered by Texas Monthly in 2008, stooped over the hot smoker on the outskirts of Lexington,
– A Texas Ranger tweets that he prefers North Carolina barbecue and rightfully catches the ire of fans.– The Rangers don’t serve North Carolina barbecue at the stadium:Dinner is served in center field! BBQ is always a Texas favorite! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/SCDSPkN38u — FSSouthwest Girls (@FSSWGirls)
Photo by Robert J. LermaOwner/Pitmaster: Buzzie’s Bar-B-Q, opened 1993 (current location since 1997)Age: 54Smoker: Wood-fired smokerWood: Live OakI had just started a phone conversation with Harold “Buzzie” Hughes. “Let her rip potato chip” was his way of getting our interview kicked off. Buzzie is a man of steadfast opinions on
This review comes from Texas Monthly’s Food Editor Pat Sharpe who found this little barbecue trailer during her travels through Victoria.The first sign that today was not my day was when I screeched up in front of Kevin Broll’s barbecue truck a mere nine minutes before closing time—that was pretty
Texans will take on Australians in a barbecue cook-off next month in Houston. As part of the Houston International Festival, whose theme this year in Celebrate Australia!, ten top Houston restaurants will prepare their finest barbecue, and compete for the title and bragging rights of
Image courtesy of the Houston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle has hired a weekly Barbecue Columnist. Food writer J. C. Reid has posted his first article Love of Barbecue Starts Early which will appear in tomorrow’s print edition. You might remember Reid from the Houston Barbecue Festival which he
The international food scene is seeing a trend in opening authentic, American-style barbecue joints.“We aren’t just selling food, we’re selling American culture. Eating at our restaurant is an American experience.” That’s what Craig White told CNN a few years back when the news outlet profiles his Tokyo barbecue
– A real barbecue feud is brewing in Austin. An outpost of Black’s BBQ, operated by Kent Black, will open near the UT campus just as Kent’s brother Terry plans to open Terry Black’s BBQ on the south side of town.– Thrillist provides several mostly helpful tips on
Steve Olson from one of many NAMP videosOwner: Hidden Canyon Farm in Lyons, New YorkAuthor: Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS)If you’ve ever purchased a cut of meat then you’ve been impacted by IMPS. IMPS, or the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications are the guidelines for most
For weeks 4-T’s Bar-B-Q courted me via Twitter. They would regularly send out photos of their brisket or of the Friday-only burnt ends. All of this was with the intent of getting me to drive the twenty minutes east of Dallas to try their barbecue in Forney. When I finally
Every month we’ll bring you a profile of a photographer who has captured the people, the food and the spaces that make up the world of barbecue.Daniel Krieger – New York CityI first met Daniel Krieger by literally bumping into him at Black’s BBQ in Lockhart. He was trying to
– Beef prices (especially for brisket) are going up, but there are a few alternative cuts for smoking.– Leslie Brenner of the Dallas Morning News slammed the original Lockhart Smokehouse in Bishop Arts a few years back, but she loves the new
Owner: The Beast: Maison Deviandes Fumees, opened 2014Age: 31Smoker: Wood-fired rotisserie smoker (once it’s delivered)Wood: OakI was in line for the bathroom at Hill Country BBQ Market in New York when a man who recognized me approached. He wanted to know if I could find a Texas pitmaster
Post Mountain BBQ is in a tough spot. This tiny barbecue joint has its back to busy Highway 281 that bisects Burnet, and it’s a half block off the town square. Unless your keen eye picks up the small sign hanging out front that reads “BBQ,” you’d probably miss it,
To say Melissa Cookston has been successful on the barbecue competition circuit is an understatement. As she describes in the introduction of her new cookbook “I am the winningest woman in barbecue, and frankly, it’s not even close.” But, as she also points out, there
The fifth season of BBQ Pitmasters will premiere tonight on Destination America at 8:00pm Central. Georgia smoked ham will be the focus, but next week the show is full of Texans. “Lone Star Smoke War,” will air on Saturday, April 19 at 8:00pm Central and will feature three teams
Two weeks ago Cranky Frank’s Barbeque in Fredericksburg finally bit the bullet. They raised their prices for barbecue and posted a sign on the door explaining the change to their customers. Not two days later I received a question over Twitter with a photo of the sign.@bbqsnob
– The Houston BBQ Festival was held on Sunday. The BBQ Geniuses from Texas A&M enjoyed their time, there were plenty of photos shared, and there were some pleasant surprises too.– Beef prices just keep going up. We’ve
Title: Commissioner of Barbecue, PhBAge: 76“Allow me to introduce myself. I am John Raven. I am the individual who has done more for barbecue than anyone else.” Those were the first three sentences in a letter I received about a year ago. It was the first letter I received
Robert Payne has worked as a butcher in the past, and more recently for the Butter Krust bread bakery. His wife, Penny, was also in food service at a local school cafeteria. Three years ago, they both decided to retire and open up a barbecue joint in Burnet. They chose
One Attendee’s Plan of AttackAmidst the rain and overcast skies in Houston yesterday, there was a barbecue festival. The second year for the Houston Barbecue Festival was held at Reliant Park, and twenty local pitmasters gathered to share their barbecue bounty with an estimated two thousand guests.
– April Fools Day was on Tuesday, and there were some tricks played in the barbecue world. The Sidedish blog announced a new BBQ Explosion flavor of Orbit gum based on Pecan Lodge’s barbecue. Delaney Barbecue in Brooklyn said they were changing their name to TofuTown.
Pitmaster: Jasper’s Bar-B-Q, opened 1915 (or 1918)Age: 52Smoker: Gas-fired rotisserie smokerWood: Pecan and OakAbout six weeks ago I sat down with J. D. Bost at Jasper’s Bar-B-Q in Waco. He’s the general manager of this nearly century-old barbecue restaurant on Elm Street started by an Italian immigrant. Since the
On my first visit back in October, I thought that Billy Woodrich of Billy’s Oak Acres was smoking the best brisket in Fort Worth. It was smoky, moist, and perfectly tender showing some real skill from whoever was tending the pit. Since then, my opinion has wandered back and forth
Billy Durney is a native of Brooklyn, so it wasn’t difficult to choose the small Red Hook neighborhood in which he opened his barbecue joint, Hometown Bar-B-Que. He called it “Hometown” because this is where both his grandmothers settled
If 2013 was the year of the new barbecue joint, 2014 will be the year of barbecue expansion. Some legendary Texas barbecue stalwarts who for decades were happy to be one-offs are looking to write their sequels. Southside Market (1882), in Elgin,
Public Service Announcement – This twitter account exists:I’ve seen bigger lines for the girls bathroom on dirty 6th. Shortest wait all week guaranteed. #protip #bbq #atx pic.twitter.com/ZvMUEN22oP — Franklin BBQ Line (@FranklinBBQline) March 25, 2014 – Zagat Austin provides this list of
Owner: Local Yocal Farm to Market in McKinney, opened 2010Age: 37Matt Hamilton grew up on a ranch in southern Oklahoma, but just a few years back he was using his college degree in the corporate world. It wasn’t until 2009 that he decided to go full bore into the ranching
It was Saturday morning and I had snuck away briefly from a conference I was attending to check on a barbecue lead in Caldwell. My web searches brought up none of the details of the joint. From searching on Google’s street viewer I found the building and a couple of
We’re coming to Brooklyn this week, and we’re bringing some pitmasters with us. Texas Monthly is holding our second annual barbecue pop-up at the new Brooklyn location of Hill Country Barbecue Market this Thursday evening. Three of Texas’s best will be providing some of their specialty
This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home … and this little piggy got chronic diarrhea and died. That’s no nursery rhyme. It’s what has happened to five million piglets since April of 2013 when the nearly one-hundred-percent fatal Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) first started
– Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que is coming to Downtown Austin where they aim to become the Hopdoddy of barbecue.– Jimmy Kimmel came to Austin, and he loved the food – especially the BBQ.– Stephen Naron had an epic barbecue trip through Austin which he entitled
Owner/Pitmaster: Mama E’s BBQ & Home Cooking, opened 2006Age: 61Smoker: Wood-fired offset smokerWood: Pecan, Oak, PearErnestine Edmond has cooked most of her life. She learned about killing and processing chickens from her mother, and her mother-in-law taught her about cleaning a fresh hog. She’s never looked at chitterlings the
My visit to Petty’s BBQ was just a stop out of convenience. I came to Killeen to eat at another barbecue joint up the street. Big LL’s BBQ opened earlier this year just a mile away from Petty’s, and in a news story the owner announced “I don’t have
Kimmel opening with slightly hidden BARBEQUE signJimmy Kimmel came to Austin for SXSW and he gave Austin’s food scene a week’s worth of boosterism in front of a national television audience. Not only was there significant name dropping of all restaurant types, but barbecue was mentioned in
Every month we’ll bring you a profile of a photographer who has captured the people, the food and the spaces that make up the world of barbecue.Matthew Shelley – Dallas, TexasI started shooting weddings back in 2004. Weddings are heartbreaking, uplifting, exhausting, and always exciting. I love the pressure and
For what is called the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que cook off, the event at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HSLR) is more spectacle than barbecue holy grail. Most of the quarter million visitors look longingly into private parties from the wrong side of the ropes. There’s a public
