– Big Red injects a little humor into their new ad campaign for the “Big Red BBQ Bottle.” The ad is just disturbing.

– Beef experts believe 2014 might be a make-or-break year for the US beef industry if herd numbers don’t improve rapidly.

– They’re farming insects in Spain to make up for what they believe will be a diminishing supply of traditional proteins. Smoked crickets anyone?

– The Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth is on vacation, and will be closed until Sunday.

NM Brisket
Neiman Marcus brisket

– Neiman Marcus is now selling whole Texas briskets. You can order it straight from their website and have it delivered to your house for just $142! For comparison, you can get a similar sized brisket from Snow’s BBQ in Lexington for a little more than half that.

– New York food writer Robert Sietsema stops by Snow’s for his first visit.

– For some reason the Weather Channel is writing about food, and they say Texas brisket is an enemy to good health. Craig Hlavaty provided a response we can get behind.

– Jamie Oliver instagramed a photo of his buddy’s new pit that was designed to look like a giant lightsaber.

Jamie Oliver Smoker
Lightsaber smoker photo from Jamie Oliver

– A New York investment banker spends years and way too much cash in developing his own stash of American jamon in the iberico style.

– John T. Edge goes to Puerto Rico to track down lechón or pit cooked pig. While there he drives along the government designated “Ruta del Lechón” – Road of Pork.

– Paul Qui, the chef at Austin’s Qui restaurant, shares his fantasy recipe for smoked prime rib.

– Del Norte Tacos in Godley, an honorable mention from Texas Monthly’s barbecue list, is featured in 360 West magazine along with Loco Coyote in Glen Rose and Natty Flat Smokehouse in Lipan (starting on page 84)

– Dean Fearing, chef at Fearing’s in Dallas, has invited Chris Lilly from Alabama’s Big Bob Gibson BBQ to come and cook in Dallas. The event is at Fearing’s on 8/18.

 

– Aaron Franklin drinks a lot of espresso and would rather eat sushi than barbecue these days. Here’s a video interview.

– Here’s a funny look at the multiple emotions felt during a visit to Pecan Lodge as told through multiple gif’s.

– That line might get a little easier to handle after some changes made by Pecan Lodge today. They’ve added a new register.

– Pitmaster Evan LeRoy of Freedmen’s in Austin went to the Carolinas and ate some barbecue, or “barbecue” as he calls it in his tweet. That’s just the start. Let’s just say he’s not a fan.

 

– LeRoy is not alone. Stephen Colbert, a South Carolina native, hates on North Carolina barbecue at around the 4:00 mark in this video. He says “Who makes barbecue sauce with vinegar? That’s what you use to clean a toilet, and by toilet, I mean Charlotte.”

– A number of Texas pitmasters are headed to New York for a barbecue competition at the International Chefs Congress. Jason Dady of Two Bros. BBQ Market in San Antonio, Ronnie Killen of Pearland’s Killen’s BBQ and Denton’s Bill Milroy who leads the Texas Rib Rangers barbecue competition team. Sadly for the contestants, the winner gets a Southern Pride gas-fired rotisserie smoker.

– A couple of Texas BBQ joints were featured on the Cooking Channel’s “Man, Fire, Food.”

– Get your tickets to the Carnivore’s Ball in Austin on 9/15. It will feature barbecue from Texas Monthly Top 50 pitmaster John Mueller.

– And finally, a dark story about grandma feeding grandpa to the hogs.