Brown sugar, white sugar, and honey are all common sweeteners in the pitmaster’s arsenal. They’re great in a pork rub or on chicken to accelerate the browning of the skin. In fact, sugar might be the most popular ingredient in commercial barbecue rubs, which is why I was excited to learn
Sometimes all it takes to seduce me into a high-mileage gamble on a barbecue joint are a few meat photos on Facebook. Unless you’re taking the circuitous route to nearby Wichita Falls, Windthorst, Texas isn’t really on the way to anywhere. But a mere five-hour round trip from home isn’t a bad investment for
– Kelly Yandell began homeschooling her son this year, and created BBQ Thursday as part of his curriculum. He passed with flying colors.– A new look at BBQ around the country: We expect BBQ to be a bargain, which is why many spots start with
Established barbecue families are easy to romanticize, but Mike Smolik is a realist. He’s the latest to carry on the 88-year-old Smolik barbecue legacy, but he’s not letting family traditions dictate his every move. A big, new barbecue hall out along the interstate in Mathis was a bold step, and plenty has been changing in the
The image above is probably the most well-known in Texas barbecue. A photo of, or with, the iconic pit at the Salt Lick is on par with braking for our state’s bluebonnets along the highway. This particular photo fetched me nearly 3,000 likes on Instagram. My best image of a Franklin
Last year, Leonard Botello IV decided he wanted to open a barbecue joint. The big hitch in his giddyup? He needed a smoker. He started searching for a workable, used pit, and pretty soon “a Klose pit came up on Craigslist in Cleveland,” he recalled. Ohio, that is, not Texas. According
– Rougned Odor’s punch earned him free barbecue for life in Ft. Worth: .@RougnedOdor EATS FREE at Heim BBQ t-shirts on sale now at https://t.co/qOWi3feEt7 all proceeds go to Joey Bats jaw re-alignment surgery… — Heim Barbecue (@HeimBBQ) May 16, 2016 – Looking for meat
“It needs more dust,” I said. Tuffy Stone, whose Cool Smoke barbecue team is one of most prolific in the country, was about to close a styrofoam box full of pork shoulder that was bound for the judge’s table. Our team, most of which I’d first met the day prior, surrounded
Tootsie Tomanetz has been cooking barbecue for fifty years, an art she didn’t start practicing professionally until she was in her thirties. When she began her career in Giddings, offset smokers weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. Then, barbecue was cooked directly over wood coals, and that’s the
It’s May, the month that celebrates the best of spring, the kickoff to summer, and, for barbecue aficionados like myself, a 31-day-long celebration of barbecue. That’s right. In this age of every trend getting its own day or month, May has been reserved for barbecue, a fitting designation given that Memorial Day is the unofficial start
– King Ranch chicken in tube form: As seen at @tmbbq fest: the recipe for @evanleroy’s Smoked King Ranch Sausage https://t.co/vh5OnHUtGO pic.twitter.com/7bYdgkGkEr — Jess Pryles (@jesspryles) May 8, 2016 – Dai Due in Austin is now offering an option to order a
Joe Cotten’s Barbecue was once the pride of Corpus Christi, or Robstown, to be more specific. Founded in 1947, the joint’s mesquite-smoked barbecue and their tomatoey sauce helped define the local style of smoked meats. The joint was legendary, and legends are hard to replace. Since it tragically
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
To the people of Corpus Christi, I’m sorry about your barbecue. I tried just about every joint in the city a couple of weeks back, and there wasn’t much good news to report. There was one bright spot, though: Julian’s BBQ.With a black cowboy hat, a black shirt, and a red
– “The whole house is still redolent of smoke. If there’s a better scent, I have yet to encounter it.” – Ruth Reichl– These are the up-and-coming pitmasters across the country according to Thrillist, most of which are cooking Texas style.– Ladies and gentlemen, Tootsie Tomanetz:
Owner/Pitmaster: Off the Bone Barbeque; Opened 2009Age: 70Smoker: Wood-Fired Rotisserie SmokerWood: Pecan and MesquiteOff the Bone was once a tiny joint in a neighborhood without much of an identity. Since it opened seven years ago, The Cedars has grown into a destination, and the barbecue joint has grown with
Last year, Aaron Franklin made history by being the first pitmaster to win in the Best Chef category at the James Beard Awards. He’s back at the awards ceremony in Chicago this year with the dish that got him the 2015 prize. Franklin packed up twenty
Emilio Soliz began his barbecue career in a good spot. As a young man, he was the pitmaster at Two Bros. BBQ Market when they were named to the Texas Monthly Top 50 joints. Soon after, Anthony Bourdain visited and snapped a photo with Soliz—his reputation was on the rise.
– How do you define what “real” barbecue is? The pitfalls of defining true ‘cue https://t.co/q6NPfAX00t via @HoustonChron. Thanks JC for taking us on that trip! Thanks for so much. — Pizzitola’s BBQ (@PizzitolasBBQ) April 23, 2016 If you’re a barbecue cook, you probably use
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
Pitmaster: Two Bros. BBQ; Opened 2009Age: 28Smoker: Indirect Heat Wood-Fired PitWood: OakA few years ago, Laura Loomis didn’t think much of Texas barbecue. Neither cooking nor eating it was a big deal in her family, and she admits to never really having a favorite joint growing up. She doesn’t remember eating
Even if the 300 migrants first given land grants in Texas didn’t make it to Blanco, Old 300 BBQ is still a good lesson in Texas history. The Hill Country joint is dubbed in honor of those original settlers; their names adorn the walls and modified Texas battle flags are etched into
– “If there was a state meat, surely it would be brisket.”: – The Dallas Observer wades into the barbecue sauce or no sauce debate.– Conde Nast Traveler has chosen their list of the fifteen best barbecue cities in the country.– Luke Russert is wrong on
Karl Kuby Jr. (left) and Karl Kuby Sr. (right) outside of Kuby’sOwner: Kuby’s Sausage House; Opened 1961Age: 84If you’ve had breakfast at Kuby’s Sausage House in Dallas’s Snider Plaza, chances are you’ve seen Karl Kuby Sr. canvassing the dining room looking for kids so he can pass out his
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
Ronnie Weiershausen is a rare breed. Although most every barbecue joint out there is using an offset smoker or a rotisserie, Weiershausen still prefers the old-fashioned way of burning oak logs down to coals to feed the pits at Ronnie’s BBQ in Johnson City. The smell of fat dripping onto the
Hacking a brisket reheat.
– How Jon Favreau lured Bill Murray with a smoked brisket: Watch: Jon Favreau smoked Bill Murray a brisket to prepare for ‘The Jungle Book’ https://t.co/I8aJc2JMJx pic.twitter.com/sPvR5kTP4l — Eater (@Eater) April 7, 2016 – Eater Austin takes a good look at the current
I recently documented my love for the rib sandwich, so when I learned there was a company selling boneless racks of ribs, I had to order them. It seemed these ribs from Ohio-based Bubba’s Q would be the perfect alternative to the deconstructed rib sandwich.Al “Bubba” Baker, a
– “It’s funny with barbecue, because the most beloved barbecue places in the South, by and large, serve the shittiest barbecue.” – Alton Brown– Is wood versus gas really the debate? Wood or Gas? Maybe That’s the Wrong Question https://t.co/cseOEPtYDn @mossr @BBQsnob
Rio Grande do Sul is the Texas of South America. Or at least that’s how Evandro Caregnato describes the Brazilian state. And he should know. He grew up there, and it’s where he lived when the founders of Texas de Brazil restaurant asked him to move here in
Bodacious Bar-B-Que in Longview was the first stop on a barbecue road trip, and founder/owner/pitmaster Roland Lindsey, a barbecue veteran forty years my senior, boasted: “I can cook a brisket in three hours.” I called his bluff. I walked out the door promising to loop back through Longview on my
I grew up with an aversion to beef offal. My mother would basically force-feed us beef liver, and I couldn’t stand the stuff. I still can’t, but when I asked a rep from 44 Farms about cuts they had a hard time selling, beef heart was near the top
It was one of those rare times I wasn’t looking just for brisket. The possibility of a well-smoked burger on Coach’s menu was the draw. It reminded me that I’d never had a good one, and this joint just west of Waco might be the breakthrough. Certainly, a patty of smoky
– Nick Solares of Eater descended upon Austin, and found Valentina’s to be the sleeper barbecue hit: One day, five barbecue joints https://t.co/mW0jvwcvzR pic.twitter.com/thOIWHj2pa — Eater Austin (@EaterAustin) March 24, 2016 – The Houston Chronicle tells a thing or five to the barbecue newbies
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
Perhaps you’ve seen it on a menu and have been too embarrassed to ask if what you’re ordering is a sandwich full of bones. That’s understandable. “Rib sandwich” does sound like a dental episode waiting to happen, and while yes, it does have bones, it’s often the best deal at a Texas
John Speights hosted a lamb barbacoa party in Houston over the weekend. For those curious about cooking barbacoa the traditional way, inside a hole in the ground, Speights (@JCSpeights) and Jay Rascoe (@GunsandTacos) documented the entire event, from lamb procurement to completion, on Twitter. I’ve compiled
Just a few months after opening in early 2015, Dallas’s Back Home BBQ pulled a barbecue mulligan: They shut it down. The already renovated Chinese restaurant got re-renovated. A new patio and sign were installed, and the menu was overhauled. When it reopened last November, pitmaster Carl Anderson began cooking with
– Get your burnt ends right here: Burnt ends have become a modern-day barbecue delicacy. When you want some, here’s where to go in DFW.https://t.co/25SkdB2YAW — Dallas Observer (@Dallas_Observer) March 21, 2016 – A Barbecue Showdown is coming to the Fort Worth Food &
A barbecue joint in Paris, France? The notion sounded odd a couple of years ago when I first met Thomas Abramowicz, owner of the Beast. But the shock has worn off, and it seems I’m the last barbecue hound to visit. After so many words and photos from the likes of
Jon Flaming is an artist based in Dallas with a love for Texas barbecue. His past work has focused on small-town Texas as well as the oil and gas boom in the state, but he has now shifted his focus to the
– A new film from the SFA about Patillo’s Bar-B-Que in Beaumont:Blood Is Blood from Southern Foodways on Vimeo. – Thrillist ate their way through Austin and compiled this list of the best barbecue in the city.– Food & Wine examines the fantastic barbecue
Randy Witt bet on a cursed location in the small town of Rosenberg for his first restaurant. He had run a successful catering business with his wife, Shauna for sixteen years before jumping into the restaurant business. “This building has been a barbecue joint for thirty years,” Witt told me, but the
Cooking barbecue like the masters is something plenty of us aspire to do. Thousands of videos and cookbooks have been published on the matter, but the best way to know the quality you’re aiming for is to experience it firsthand. Take a bite of a beef rib in Taylor or snap into
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
Gary Vincek seems to do it all. He doesn’t run a just a barbecue joint, a sausage factory, a meat market, a processing facility, or a bakery. As owner and pitmaster at Vincek’s Smokehouse, he and his crew provide the Southeast Texas town of East Bernard with all of those things.
– Brian Williams doesn’t know much about Texas barbecue, but Rachel Maddow was there to correct him.– The Texas candidate dives into KC BBQ: “Is it better than TX BBQ?” a KC reporter asks as @tedcruz tries the Z Man. “You can be honest,
Owner: Mikeska Brands Texas Bar-B-Q; Founded 2008Age: 56Smoker: Brick SmokehouseWood: Oak wood with oak and hickory sawdustTim Mikeska has had enough with running restaurants. He’s traded it in for the wholesale sausage business, and now his family’s Czech sausage recipe can be enjoyed in Texas, New York, Connecticut, and all over
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
