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Smoked in Texas

BBQ|
January 30, 2018

Koko Ramen

Quick study Cade Mercer’s pitmaster background brings the smoke to this Japanese staple at his new food truck in Waco.

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BBQ|
March 27, 2017

Stuffed Chicken Legs at Baker Boys BBQ

In Luling, Wayne Baker grew up on the basics of barbecue. Brisket, ribs, and beef sausage came wrapped up in butcher paper at City Market, the favored barbecue joint of his youth. “I didn’t really know a barbecue plate existed,” he told me at his barbecue joint, Baker Boys BBQ in Gonzales.

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BBQ|
February 7, 2017

Smoked in Texas: Gut Pak at Vitek’s

The Gut Pak is to Waco what rings of smoked sausage are to Lockhart. It’s part of the city’s barbecue identity. A Gut Pak is smoked sausage, barbecue, beans, and cheese, and a few other items piled high atop a mess of Fritos, making this the huskier cousin of a Frito pie.Sometime in

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BBQ|
January 24, 2017

Smoked in Texas: Oysters Gilhooley at Gilhooley’s

Oyster shells crackled under the car tires as I pulled into Gilhooley’s in San Leon. The parking lot is paved with them, and a pile taller than me rose like a dune at one end of the parking lot. A storm was rolling into the small town on the Gulf

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Seran-wrapped year-old brisket.
BBQ|
January 19, 2017

The Year Old Brisket

After thousands of barbecue meals, I’ve never been struck ill by smoked meat. Maybe it’s the long cooking time, or the preservative qualities provided by a layer of wood smoke, or maybe I’ve just been lucky. Either way, I put that streak to the test over the weekend.“How long can

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BBQ|
January 10, 2017

The Zeke Sandwich

After an incredible championship game on Monday night, this season of college football is (sadly) behind us. But that means we can now focus solely on the NFL playoffs, in which the Texans are still alive and the Cowboys look to avenge Dez Bryant’s “non-catch” from a 2015 game

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BBQ|
November 7, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Texas Twinkies at Hutchins BBQ

Leftover brisket is a fact of life for most barbecue joints, but how they use it says a lot about their commitment to quality. It’s far better suited for fortifying pinto beans than to be back on the slicing block for day two. I’ve eaten fine chopped brisket sandwiches, tacos,

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BBQ|
October 26, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Bacon Burnt Ends at Heim BBQ

Burnt ends aren’t just for brisket anymore. And let’s get something out of the way, Kansas City barbecue fans: don’t get too sanctimonious about proper burnt ends only coming from a brisket; I’ve had ham and sausage burnt ends in your city.Beef belly burnt ends were the special last week

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Tacos from BBQ on the Brazos in Cresson.
BBQ|
October 18, 2016

Smoked in Texas: BBQ Tacos at BBQ on the Brazos

Combining barbecue and tacos is a damn-near perfect culinary Texas creation. In fact, it is the barbecue tacos at Valentina’s Tex-Mex BBQ in Austin that has made this one of my favorite joints in the state. I’ve often wished that more tortillas were stuffed with smoked meat, so I was happy to find another

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BBQ|
October 10, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Smokehouse Burger at Lakewood Smokehouse

Until recently, every smoked burger I’ve eaten has resulted in a contradiction of the palate. Smoky beef seasoned with salt and pepper hits all the positive taste receptors, but to trigger those you have to chew on a patty as dry as mesquite. It doesn’t take long to overcook

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BBQ|
September 27, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Dry-Aged Brisket at Killen’s Barbecue

The experimentation never seems to end at Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland. Some days you can do a side-by-side taste test of different beef rib varieties, on others owner Ronnie Killen and pitmaster Manny Torres are serving flights of various smoked briskets. And when I stopped in last week they

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BBQ|
September 20, 2016

Deep-Fried Barbecue in San Angelo

John Young is now settled in his native West Texas, but he took a circuitous route to get back there. He sold his barbecue joint in Sachse, northeast of Dallas, in 2001 and moved to Philadelphia for a corporate job, and then five years ago he moved back to San Angelo and

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BBQ|
September 12, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Smoked Corn at Kerlin BBQ

Kerlin BBQ in Austin has been known for their ribs and brisket since opening in 2013, but Bill and Amelis Kerlin really made a splash with their smoked-meat kolaches. Those have been so much of a hit that soon  they’ll have a dedicated kolache truck. I must admit that the

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BBQ|
September 1, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Breakfast at Smoke

Barbecue for breakfast in Texas usually means an old time smokehouse that happens to open early. Whether it’s a ring of sausage and a Dr Pepper at Smitty’s in Lockhart or the whole menu at Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, you can find breakfast if you look hard enough (though the

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BBQ|
June 28, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Chicken Wings at Green Mesquite

Green Mesquite has been a fixture in South Austin since Tom Davis opened the place in 1988. The restaurant now has three locations, but the original on Barton Springs Road has all the charm of a real joint and one of the coolest neon signs in Texas. There’s an even better one inside—a glowing red

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BBQ|
May 9, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Stuffed Potato at Smoke to the Bone BBQ

Gregory Johns didn’t learn to cook barbecue from his family, books, videos, or from a mentor. He taught himself through trial-and-error. As he told me, “You burn some meat, you get it right next time.” His journey began in 1998 when he purchased a steel barrel smoker. Eight years later, Johns

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BBQ|
April 26, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Pollos Asados Los Norteños

It was the smoke that stopped me. The juice and fat from fifty-some-odd chickens mixed with mesquite charcoal to form a steady stream of smoke high above the roof line of Pollos Asados Los Norteños in San Antonio. I was scouting another barbecue joint and had stumbled upon the popular spot

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BBQ|
April 18, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Pulled Pork at Chico & the Fox

A barbecue truck in Austin is nothing new, but there’s plenty about Chico & the Fox that is unconventional. They don’t serve sausage, ribs, or even brisket. This truck is dedicated to pulled pork. You also won’t find a rustic smoker out back. Everything is smoked in an electric Masterbuilt

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BBQ|
March 29, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Sausage at Big Creek Butcher Shop

Coming around the bend on Craik Street in Marlin, it’s hard to miss the huge black letters set against a white background announcing your arrival at the Big Creek Butcher Shop. Look closer and you’ll see a pile of pecan wood and a steel smoker. You might even notice the gate and cattle

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BBQ|
March 7, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Smoked Brisket Tacos at Plantation BBQ

It’s become a fairly common sight in Texas: smoke rising from a little trailer parked in a gravel lot alongside the highway. But the Plantation BBQ trailer in Richmond was running a trailer long before it food trucks were de rigueur.Richmond is southwest of Houston, about forty minutes from downtown, but

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BBQ|
March 1, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Sausage at Galvan’s Sausage House

After more than thirty years of doing laundry for the local school district, Clemente Galvan Jr. chose a second career: barbecue. It hasn’t been easy. The pit room at Galvan’s Sausage House has burned down twice, most recently in 2014. He works long hours at the small restaurant along Highway 90 in

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BBQ|
February 17, 2016

Mel-Man Sandwich

The Mel-Man sandwich is the product of a barbecue epiphany. The East Texas specialty, which consists of brisket and sausage chopped together instead of layered on top of each other, is named after a man who once hated barbecue. It’s big, hard to eat, and best with plenty of barbecue

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BBQ|
February 10, 2016

Smoked in Texas: The Hillbilly Pacifier

Hans Muller is a second-generation baker in Fort Worth, but he’s no stranger to smoking meat. His lunch menu at the Swiss Pastry Shop includes a smoked cuban sandwich, the Fort Worth Cheese Steak made with smoked prime rib, and he’s now working on a recipe for homemade

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BBQ|
February 1, 2016

Smoked in Texas: Beef Short Rib at Provisions

Barbecue and other smoked foods are making their way into fine dining faster than I can spit out liquid smoke. Often smoke is used as just another layer of seasoning, or maybe the barbecue is portioned and presented with a flourish on the plate. Not so at Provisions, the

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