Jordan Jackson once ran the pits at one of the best joints in the state—Bodacious Bar-B-Q, in Longview—but he says the drinking and the pressure were too much. Now he’s working for Aaron Franklin as he starts to rebuild his life.
Plus: Cananda misunderstands Texas barbecue.
The honor comes as his business struggles to break even during the pandemic.
Texas Monthly adds and updates approximately sixty restaurant listings to our Dining Guide each month. There’s limited space in the print issue, but the entire searchable guide to the best of Texas cuisine is at your fingertips online! Below are a few highlights from the new restaurants reviewed in our April 2020
Take care of your pit, and it will take care of you.
Aaron Franklin’s new Austin welding shop says it will get the first batch to customers by Memorial Day.
Pitmasters should stop using the term to justify cooking in dirty smokers.
Plus: Your chance to buy an Aaron Franklin backyard smoker.
The Saturday-only special of beef short ribs outdoes everything else on the menu. Just be prepared to pay big bucks.
This year's crop of smoked-meat cookbooks includes everything from an 18th-century recipe to the latest techniques for unusual dishes.
The Austin pitmaster spills seemingly all the secrets to making his phenomenal brisket in a new video series.
Plus, Texas Tech is to competitive meat judging what Alabama is to college football.
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, the celebrated Austin pitmaster discusses the first ten years of Franklin BBQ, the psychology of expectations, and next week’s Hot Luck Fest.
Plus: the best steak that Aaron Franklin ever ate.
The meat whisperer and the book whisperer have teamed up again, and this time, it’s all about steak.
Along with Jordan Mackay, the acclaimed pitmaster writes the definitive guide to steaks, which is out now.
In April, the pitmaster and Jordan Mackay will follow up their barbecue best-seller with recipes and tips for grilling their favorite cuts.
For year two of Austin's food and music festival, which starts Thursday, the pitmaster walks us through the fun.
The bavette exemplifies Aaron Franklin and Tyson Cole's ambitious collaboration.
The long-awaited collaboration between two of the state’s biggest names in food opens April 4. Here’s a sneak peek.
Co-founder Aaron Franklin says he's excited about the four-day food and music extravaganza, happening this May in Austin.
Aaron Franklin, Tyson Cole, and Jack Yoss come together to form a culinary dream team.
Franklin Barbecue—arguably the most famous barbecue joint in the world—was hit by a major fire that destroyed its pit room and damaged other parts of the building. We chatted with co-owner Aaron Franklin about life after the fire.
Four years ago, Franklin Barbecue was our hands-down pick for best barbecue in the state (i.e., the world). A couple of years later, Aaron Franklin published a best-selling cookbook and won a James Beard award for best chef in the region, a first for a pitmaster. He’s the most famous
This just in: Texas Monthly’s curated BBQ Collection of made-in-Texas artisan goods.
Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck festival will debut in Austin in a couple weeks. Despite Franklin’s involvement, this isn’t strictly a barbecue festival, but smoked meat fans needn’t worry. There are still plenty of talented pitmasters coming to Austin for the highly anticipated food festival. The Hi Lo and Al
Although he runs Franklin Barbecue out of Austin, Aaron Franklin is known worldwide for his barbecue. Franklin’s smoked meats are respected by his peers and revered by critics, and he has a James Beard Award to prove it. He has shared his knowledge through his show, BBQ With Franklin, and his
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
How much does Feast Portland tell us about the food festival Aaron Franklin will be starting in Austin next year?
How is thirteen-year-old Desmond going to save for a car now?
With all the candidates thus far who have entered the 2016 run for president, the logos and mottos abound. Our new crop of Texas Monthly interns figured that none of the candidates matched the qualifications of one Aaron Franklin, proprietor of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, so they made some alterations to the
Aaron Franklin did it. Last night the owner and pitmaster at Austin’s Franklin Barbecue became the first ever pitmaster recognized in any “best chef” category of the annual James Beard Foundation Awards. (See this earlier post for more on the significance of the win) For the
Aaron Franklin is giving us the keys to his barbecue kingdom. Some of his meat smoking secrets have already been leaked via his YouTube series BBQ With Franklin, and more is to come with a new PBS series of the same name, but his upcoming book
If you live on the outskirts of Austin, your suburb might be the new target for barbecue joints looking to open in Travis County. That is if prospective restaurateurs see a new resolution from the Austin City Council as too onerous. It requires that barbecue smokers (and other wood-fired cooking devices)
Barbecue’s reputation in the culinary world has turned a corner. Last week the nominations for the New York based James Beard Foundation’s annual awards were announced, and a pitmaster was among the names that were otherwise a roll call of haute cuisine. Under the heading “Best Chef: Southwest”
Pitmaster, pit builder, television star, dad – these all define Aaron Franklin of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue. By next year you’ll also be able to call him an author. Not only was his new television series with KLRU announced two weeks ago, but now comes
Aaron Franklin of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue is getting a TV show. If you’ve enjoyed the BBQ with Franklin series on Youtube, then you’ll be happy to know that there’s a lot more coming. KLRU produced the popular web series, and this year they’ll shoot ten episodes with Franklin
Owner/Pitmaster: La Barbecue; Opened 2012 Age: 35 Smoker: Indirect Heat Wood-Fired Pit Wood: Post Oak I talked to John Lewis over the phone while he was making preparations at La Barbecue to open up the following day. John Lewis became the pitmaster at La Barbecue on November,
When I’m watching a brisket being sliced, a few things make me shudder, like the aggressive purr of an electric knife, the whine of a deli slicer, and, the worst offense, watching the fat cap being discarded (but we’ll save that for another column). I’ll concede that there are several ways
For three days this week I was a student at Beef 101, an intensive course taught by the Texas A&M University meat science staff, led by Dr. Davey Griffin, Dr. Jeff Savell, and Ray Riley. The class covers everything about cattle, from the time
Can you get the same quality barbecue from a gas-fired rotisserie?
For one night last week, Franklin Barbecue was transported from Austin to New York. Texas Monthly brought Aaron Franklin and his kitchen manager, Braun Hughes, to cook a little barbecue in the pit of Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan. Tickets for the event sold out in less than a
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 to a military base in Kuwait to create a
Aaron Franklin Owner/Pitmaster: Franklin Barbecue in Austin; opened in 2009 Age: 35 Smoker: Five steel offset smokers made from 1000 gallon propane tanks that are 5/16” thick. Wood: Post oak. Some seasoned, some green. Last week, I sat down with Aaron Franklin over a tray of ribs and brisket at
The best barbecue joint in Texas is only four years old. This is an unusual development, but one that will surprise no one familiar with Franklin Barbecue, which, since opening in 2009, in a trailer off Interstate 35, has built a cult following for its meats. Has any other restaurant
It's already two days into SXSW Music. It's crowded. The schedule app is overwhelming. But the festival is what you make of it. 13 personal rules from Texas Monthly Senior Editor Jason Cohen, whose first SXSW was in 1991
You may remember last October when John Mueller was shut out of his well-regarded JMueller BBQ trailer on South First Street in Austin. He wasn’t happy about it, to say the least, but stayed quiet, plotting his return. That
Brisket, anyone? KLRU debuts its new web series, "BBQ with Franklin."
