Barbecue

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.”
Central Texas barbecue owes its origins to the meat markets and grocery stores opened in the 1800s by German and Czech immigrants, who brought with them a style of smoking meat over wood with a simple preparation of salt and pepper. “Whatever fresh meat they couldn’t sell, they would smoke and sell as ‘barbecue,’” Katy Vine wrote in her 2012 story “Of Meat and Men.” “As demand grew, the markets evolved into barbecue joints, though the style of service didn’t change much. The meat was still sliced in front of the customer in line and served on butcher paper.”
The most famous of these meat markets became part of a canon—Louie Mueller’s in Taylor, Kreuz Market and Black’s in Lockhart, and City Market in Luling. The late 1990s brought on a subtle change to this lineup. After Kreuz Market’s owner, Edgar “Smitty” Schmidt died, the siblings who inherited the business parted ways. As a result, Kreuz Market moved to another part of town and the original building became Smitty’s. It made the “Best of the Best” barbecue in Texas Monthly’s 2003 round-up (the first in a series supervised by food editor Patricia Sharpe).
The front-runners had become so familiar that when the Texas Monthly staff hit the ground in 2008, for another “Top 50” review of barbecue joints, they were surprised by a completely unknown newcomer: Snow’s BBQ, in Lexington, “a small restaurant open only on Saturdays and only from eight in the morning until whenever the meat runs out, usually around noon.” A year later, in Austin, a little trailer called Franklin BBQ opened, causing such a fever that by the time it opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the spring of 2011, people slept on the ground overnight for a spot in line.
A shift was underway, highlighted by Vine’s 2012 story: “Whereas the legendary spots of yore had been primarily rural, now the widespread hunger for sublimely smoked meat, coupled with the boon of instantaneous buzz and feedback, made it possible for urban upstarts to enter the scene.”
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Snow’s Queen
On Saturdays Tootsie Tomanetz cooks barbecue the old-fashioned way for legions of loyal fans. That doesn’t mean she’ll ever give up her day job.
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How Tex-pats in China Celebrate Fourth of July
With beer, live country music, and, of course, Texas-style barbecue.
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A Brief History of Black Market Brisket
There has been a recent uptick in the number of meat thefts, but it’s nothing new.
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Confessions of a Fat Bastard
The joys and perils (but mostly joys) of being the nation’s first full-time barbecue editor.
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The Texanist
Our estimable advice columnist on bad barbecue vs. no barbecue, rodeo bullfighting, and dogs at bars.
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GQ Names Qui Best New Restaurant of the Year
And La Barbecue, another Austin establishment, also made food critic Alan Richman’s list of the best new restaurants of the year.
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The Soul of a Pitmaster
For more than a quarter century, Roy Perez has been tending the fires at Kreuz Market and posing for photos with barbecue aficionados. It’s given him a lot of time to think.
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Barbecue on the Big Screen
Barbecue has shared the screen with some of Hollywood’s biggest heavyweights, like Elizabeth Taylor and John Travolta.
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The Genesis of the Barbecue Joint
Sifting through old Texas newspapers, I found the first mention of commercial smoked meat from the Brenham Weekly Banner, which announced that a Bastrop butcher “keeps on hand at his stall a ready stock of barbecued meats and cooked sausages.”
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Mr. Bewley’s Handmade Barbecue Pits Are Hotter Than Ever
Since 1960, A.N. Bewley Fabricators has been bending, slicing and welding steel for high-quality barbecue pits that can easily cost $20,000.
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The Importance of Wrapping Brisket
How to “hold your meat” and make a brisket taste fresh for hours.
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“The Kings of BBQ: Barbecue Kuwait” to Air on KLRU
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 …
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BBQ Anatomy 101: Know Your Brisket
From packer cuts to Certified Angus Beef, all you wanted to know about that succulent, juicy, tender, and tasty brisket you tear through at your favorite barbecue joint.
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VIDEO: NBC News With Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn
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.
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San Antonio Mayor Castro Lays Down Granary ‘Cue on Spurs
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!
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And Now, Some BBQ Saber-Rattling
Our June issue, which comes out next week, will settle once and for all the question of Texas BBQ v. all other forms of BBQ.
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Welcome to the World Wide Web of Barbecue
Things have changed dramatically since we published our last list of the state’s top fifty barbecue joints, in 2008. Not only has there been an unprecedented flourishing of new joints (sixteen of the places on this year’s list were not open …
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2013 BBQ Fest Gets Real With Announcement of Official Date
Mark your calendar, and start your fasting now. The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is on . . .
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ICYMI: Our Favorite Responses To The Hiring of Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn
Is it the best job in America? From the New York Times to Bon Appetit, everybody seems to think so.
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We Have a Barbecue Editor
We’ve created what may be the most coveted job in the state and hired the best person for the position: Daniel Vaughn, a.k.a. BBQ Snob.
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NYC Food Critic Moonlights as Satirical Publicist
Robert Sietsema, the Village Voice’s food critic, thinks New York can now be considered a “‘cue capital.” Isn’t that cute?
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Our Guide to Central Texas Barbecue
You can’t go home and tell your friends that you came to Central Texas and never ate any barbecue. It would be like going to SXSW and not listening to any music. But there are so many briskets and so little time! How do you sort it all out? No worries, here is our opinionated guide to the best of the best.
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SXSW Debates BBQ For Yahoo!
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.
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Where There’s Smoke, There’s Ire
Two grease fires destroyed Louie Mueller Barbecue’s 1959 brick pit in Taylor this past weekend—just as John Mueller’s new trailer opened in Austin.
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The Prodigal Beef Rib Returns
He’s back: John Mueller makes dramatic return to Central Texas barbecue scene with the John Mueller Meat Co. in East Austin.
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The Legend of BrisketLab Continues
Daniel Delaney is attempting to do world-class Texas brisket in New York. Our Daniel Vaughn thought he could pull it off, and now Wayne Mueller has agreed.
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BBQ Snob Takes Manhattan: The Verdict
Daniel Vaughn’s top picks for where to get good BBQ in NYC. (And a few places one should avoid.)
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Bringing Brisket to New York the Right Way
Daniel Delaney, a Brooklyn-based blogger who professes a deep and profound respect for Texas barbecue, bought a 200-pound smoker and a truckload’s worth of Texas post oak to start Brisket Lab in his home state.
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A Q&A With Katy Vine
The senior editor on writing about Aaron Franklin and John Mueller, eating brisket five days in a row, and mastering a barbecue pit.
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Of Meat and Men
John Mueller was the heir to one of the great Texas barbecue dynasties. Aaron Franklin was an unknown kid from College Station who worked his counter. John had it all and then threw it all away. Aaron came out of nowhere to create the state’s most coveted brisket. Then John rose from the ashes.
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Ode to Slaw
I love living in Texas, but I believe we underestimate our coleslaw, which is usually served in a little cup, off to the side of the meat. I contend it is capable of more responsibility than that. In Mississippi, where …
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Ode to White Bread
There was a time in this country when you could eat a wonderfully flavorless slice of this substance and not feel like a villain. But that time is long ago, back in the days before iceberg lettuce, white bread’s vegetable …
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Ode to Potato Salad
Potato salad is one of my four favorite vegetables, right up there with tuna salad, deviled eggs, and slices of Velveeta. You need a mustardy tang and some starch to balance the overpowering sweetness of barbecue sauce. That’s where the …
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Ode to Sausage
President George W. Bush will leave Washington, D.C., the city where I, a boy from Houston, now reside, every bit as divided as it was when he first hit town. This is too bad, but a far bigger disappointment is …
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Ode to Ribs
The waitress says the man at Table Three is making noises. You’d think she would be used to grunting when the sun goes down at Melvin’s Rib Château, but this one’s whispering amen into his marinade, getting sauce all over …
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Ode to Pulled Pork
Though I am proud to claim Texas associations, I am from the South. So when it comes to barbecue, my first thought is not of brisket but of pork. Does a pig have brisket? It may be hard to find, …
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Smokin’
Don’t miss your ’cue: We pick the top joints in Texas for brisket, ribs, sausage, and all the sides. Plus, the godfather of barbacoa, the biggest free feast in the state, and more.
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Holy Smoke
For photographer Wyatt McSpadden, the barbecue joints of Texas are soot-stained temples of meat and their pitmasters solemn keepers of an old-time religion.
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Pit Stops
Where are the best places to eat barbecue in Texas? Six years ago we published a highly subjective—and hotly debated— list of our fifty favorite joints, and now we’ve gone back for seconds. Ten intrepid souls drove more than 21,000 miles in search of 2003’s worthiest ‘cue. Here’s what they came back with: the top 5 and the next 45, plus honorable mentions, great chains, and meat by mail.
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The World’s Best Barbecue is in Taylor, Texas. Or is it Lockhart?
A Cityslicker’s Guide to the Pits.
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You Can Take the BBQ Out of Texas . . .
MANHATTAN Hill Country Barbecue Market Last year, word of a new barbecue restaurant spread through New York’s Texas-expat community. Usually, this kind of thing doesn’t cause much of a stir. We see a lot of “Texas barbecue” joints up here …
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Ode to . . .
Ode To Brisket When you’re a food writer, people are always asking about the best meal you’ve ever eaten. I know they’re expecting tales of an unforgettable lunch at Michel Bras or a poetic kaiseki meal in Kyoto or a …
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PITS: The Encyclopedia Entry
The traditional way to prepare Texas barbecue is in a pit, the more smoke-infused and grease-encrusted the better. The word “pit” harks back to the days when meats were cooked over smoldering coals in an earthen pit or trench, especially …
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Lockhart: Kreuz Market
The old Kreuz Market was like a one-room chapel. The humble brick building off the courthouse square in Lockhart had turned out divine smoked meat since 1900. But just as churchgoers nowadays worship in larger halls, so too does the …
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Lockhart: Smitty’s Market
Don’t bother going in the front door. You’ll end up in the parking lot behind the boxy brick building anyway, doing the Smitty’s shuffle: At peak hours, the lines invariably stretch out the back door. Patiently, you inch your way …
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Luling: City Market
You’ve come for wholeness, for satisfaction deep within your soul. Your searching has brought you here, to the company of fellow pilgrims in the snaking line. Slowly, you advance across the tile floor, past the knotty-pine walls, and up to …
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Taylor: Louie Mueller Barbecue
Forty-nine years of post oak coals in the pit have smoke-cured the building, which previously housed a ladies’ basketball court and a grocery market. Louie moved in with his barbecue business in 1959; his son, Bobby, took over more than …
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Authentic Texas Barbecue . . . Outside of Texas
Can you take barbecue out of Texas and still call it Texas barbecue?
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
For all the stories that we publish in TEXAS MONTHLY, there are always more that we don’t publish, usually because we run out of space and time. In a state that spans 261,232 square miles and contains 25,145,561 people, it’s …
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Diffee Does the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest
What one man overheard at this year’s celebration of the best pitmasters in the state, righteous smoked meats, and passionate ’cue lovers.
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Smokin’
Can your backyard brisket taste as good as the meat you’d get at your favorite barbecue joint? Bill Karau, a native of Pittsburg, thinks so. There’s only one catch—you’ve got to use one of his pits.
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The Meating
Three friends, seven years, untold pounds of barbecue pork chops and prime rib, and a single tradition that elevates the experience above mere food.
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Hot Sauce
How the Stubb’s barbecue empire outlasted the death of its namesake—and proved that spice guys sometimes finish first.
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Virtual Vittles
From chili to chiles, there’s a heaping helping of Texas food on the Internet, including cookoff schedules, mail-order info, recipes, and restaurant reviews. Dig in.
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A Goode Idea
How the owner of Goode Company in Houston took the three basic Texas food groups—barbecue, Tex-Mex, and burgers—and built an empire.
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The Barbecue Brothers
The six Mikeska boys may share the same family name, but each has his own ideas about the nuances of Texas barbeque.