Smoke gets in your eyes, hair, and clothes. To deal with it, some San Antonio–area pitmasters shave their heads and have hampers dedicated to work clothes. They still leave the shower smelling “like wet wood.”

Curry Boys BBQ in San Antonio draws national attention:

Bumbershoot Barbecue in Argyle hired a new pitmaster who plans to add some dishes to the menu but keep the smoking process the same. 

The Evan Grant burger, featuring sliced brisket from Zavala’s Barbecue in Grand Prairie, is competing in Rodeo Goat’s battle of the burgers. 

Heim BBQ will provide free bacon burnt ends if new Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim joins the 40-40 club this season. 

The dining room at Goldee’s Barbecue is open:

Goldee’s gets yet another glowing review, this one from D Magazine, for a menu that is “simple and true to Central Texas barbecue.” 

Smoke Sessions Barbecue in Royse City, the home to some of the strangest and most unexpected barbecue bites of my career, is done with the food truck and on to a brick-and-mortar location that opened over the weekend. 

Smoke-A-Holics BBQ in Fort Worth will soon debut a second location inside Crockett Hall, just a few miles from its original location. 

Zavala’s Barbecue in Grand Prairie was closed for weeks after winter storm damage. It’s now back open for regular hours: https://twitter.com/zavalasbarbecue/status/1380892984615579648

Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q sells a full barbecue menu at Hop & Sting Brewery in Grapevine. Our taco editor was especially taken with the barbecue birria tacos. 

Smoking a great brisket requires planning. Pitmaster Russell Roegels of Roegels Barbecue Company in Houston created a brisket timeline to guide your next cook. 

Blood Bros. BBQ in Bellaire, fresh off the announcement of an upcoming Las Vegas location, is taking on another venture. The owners will partner with pastry chef Alyssa Dole on Luloo’s Pantry, a new “bodega bakery” complete will barbecue sandwiches; it will open this fall. 

Unfortunately, Hutchins BBQ in McKinney will be down for the count a while longer:

Order smoked wings for delivery from forty-plus Wing Boss locations, and those wings will be prepared in a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurant. 

If you’re looking for an entry-level job in barbecue with a decent starting wage, the Bill Miller Bar-B-Q chain is implementing a $12 per hour minimum for all workers across their 77 locations. 

Beaumont is better known for juicy links than for brisket, but a new Central Texas–style barbecue joint is adding beef rib to the discussion:

Wilber Shirley, who opened the legendary Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro, North Carolina, has died at ninety. 

Raleigh Magazine in Raleigh, North Carolina, has dubbed the city BBQ Town in an article about recent barbecue openings. 

The Carolinians are arguing about barbecue sauce again. Should it be mustard, ketchup, or just vinegar? 

BBQ for Dummies is finally here:

A federal judge sided with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union in determining that unlimited line speeds in pork processing plants are unsafe for workers. 

KCBS barbecue cook-offs traditionally include four categories of smoked meat. To expand the contestant pool, they’re now organizing single meat contests. 

In his newsletter, Robert F. Moss researches the oldest barbecue joint still operating in the U.S.

Did this Oklahoma brisket spend three days in the pit?

The above photo certainly qualifies as “meatposting,” a term for “the practice of posting pictures of meat on social media with captions that glorify its consumption.” Whatever your feelings on photos of piles of meat may be, it does make a pretty good hashtag. Here’s to #meatposting. 

Regardless of Lincoln Riley’s brisket fail, I might just have to see an Oklahoman (or five) about some barbecue: