There's a new generation of pitmasters in Texas, and many of them aren't satisfied with simply doing things the same old way. (Though fear not, staunch traditionalists: plenty of them are.)
The Beaumont restaurant serves Central Texas–style barbecue, including impressive brisket and painstakingly developed sausage.
Set just outside Fort Worth, T&D serves up solid staples and flavorful surprises—and its pitmasters haven’t even found their footing yet.
But the real winner is a burger that almost didn't make it on the menu.
The legacy of Smith McArthur Jr., the man who built the joint from the ground up, is carried on by his children.
Thanks to a recent expansion, the Austin joint now regularly offers a Carolina barbecue pork tradition in the heart of Texas brisket country.
The jalapeño cheese sausage will win over fans of the Austin BBQ joint and newcomers.
Meet the masters behind this meat art form. You'll never overlook those links hanging in your favorite market again.
The #roadsausage list consists of small-town joints that have been around for decades, all serving a version of the simple, classic BBQ comfort food.
Italian sausages and charcuterie are the meat of the matter at the new restaurant from the owners of Lucia.
A Plano couple is feuding over what kind of bread product should encase a hot link.
Move over, fruitcake. Turn sausage into the hallmark of your next holiday party.
Welcome to the golden age of Texas barbecue.
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
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.
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
Smoked sausage is a pillar of Texas barbecue. We talk a lot about the staggering sausage varieties—pork, beef, fine-grind, coarse-grind, hot guts, jalapeno-cheese, macaroni and cheese—but what’s discussed less frequently is what we stuff those fillings into: the casings.Last week I went on a barbecue tour with Greg Mueller of
When a process is notoriously complicated and unpleasant, people tend to trot out a time-worn idiom: you don’t want to know how the sausage gets made. While the saying is especially useful when it comes to any political bureaucratic dealing, it’s a bit derogatory and it slightly diminishes the art of the craft,
When we marvel at the endurance of family-run barbecue joints in Texas, it becomes noteworthy when one hangs on for four—hell, even three—generations. So if someone deciding to make a living in the same way as their great-grandfather is pretty rare, but in the middle of Dallas, there is a business that’s
The sausage wrap is underrated. It’s too simple to get much attention, but it deserves more than bottom-of-the-menu status. At its most basic, a sausage wrap is a link of sausage wrapped in a single slice of white bread. You can call it a wrap, a roll-up, fold-over, or sandwich.
Making sausage ain’t easy. There’s the trimming, grinding, seasoning, stuffing, and then the smoking. For barbecue joints, buying a few boxes of cheap sausage from your food distributor is a tempting prospect when compared to the hours required to make your own. But Texas is a place where smoked sausages are a
Sausage. It’s one of the signatures of our state’s barbecue style, but the time intensive process of grinding, stuffing, and smoking sausage fell out of favor when barbecue left the meat market. With the rise of commercial sausage makers, many barbecue joints were (and are) happy to purchase their sausage
The Guinness World Record for the world’s longest sausage, from the UK, checks in at just over thirty-six miles. The longest smoked sausage, from Germany, was 1,581 feet, 5 inches, but the longest smoked sausage in Texas (probably) was on display yesterday at Meat
The Rabrokers have been selling their family recipe German sausage out of Westphalia Market since 1963. The tiny town of Westphalia sits between Zabcikville and Lott on Highway 320 (about twenty minutes east of Temple), and the market is a great reason to take a detour. They make several kinds
Last week I spent some time in West Texas eating barbecue. I’ve done a few tours through the area already, so I know not to get excited when I see “German sausage” on a menu, but I had a temporary memory lapse. The prospect of finding a coarsely ground and smoky beef
As one third of the Texas barbecue trinity, smoked sausage has important stature in Texas. Central Texas has its beef sausages, East Texas has got hot links, and you’ll find plenty of smoked boudin along the Louisiana border. In Houston, they have it all as J.C. Reid and Michael Fulmer
The sausage section at our local Kroger is well-stocked with dozens of sausages. Several weeks back my wife brought home a gift of the latest option: Nolan Ryan Beef Brisket Sausage. It was introduced to Kroger shelves back in July, and as Nolan Ryan Beef CEO Charlie Bradbury
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 that he has not spent a farthing of his political
Ode To BrisketWhen 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 beluga extravaganza on the banks of the Volga, but what always
6 ounces venison link sausage, finely diced (pork sausage may be substituted) 8 flour tortillas, 6 to 8 inches 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro 1 jalapeño chile, seeded and minced Salt and pepper to taste 2 ounces vegetable oilCook sausage and drain fat.On 4
Mouse over for captions, or click for full-size image. See ya next year (or tomorrow at your favorite joint)!
Make that 22 pitmasters. Since Bertram Smoke Haus made our Top 50 in 2008, a lot has happened with the joint northwest of Austin. Pitmaster and owner Jim Wallace moved out of his original location, a 100-plus year-old former mercantile and lumber store, for a bigger
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Wayne Mueller, 46, of Louie Mueller
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog.Today we bring you Joe Arriago, 33 of
Editor’s Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we’ll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog. Today we bring you Cliff Payne, 58, of Cousin's
It's been a long time in the making (a VERY long time in the making): John Mueller, sometimes called the black sheep of the Taylor smoked meat family, is almost back in business here in Austin. Mueller, who used to have
Watching lawmakers bicker over the state budget in Austin reminds us of the old adage about what politics and sausage have in common. Fortunately for sausage, its approval ratings are through the roof. “It’s become easier to stuff sausage at home, since more places are selling small grinders and stuffers,”
Thousands of drivers a day pass through Giddings along Texas Highway 290 on their way between Austin and Houston. They would all do themselves a favor if they stopped right in the center of town to sample the fine meats smoked at City Meat Market. This is a true meat
He has moved from pig skin to pork sausage, but he's still trying to score.
Recipe from Texas Home Cooking by Cheryl and Bill Jamison1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 pound andouille sausage 1 medium onion, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 2 celery sticks, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon each dry mustard, filé
All kids like frankfurters, but many parents are uneasy about the ingredients in store-bought wieners. Here is a simple recipe that will please all parties. Two people can complete the procedure in 45 minutes. These sausages won’t be as pink as the purchased variety because they contain no nitrates. If
This recipe is one of several featured in the article The Missing Link by Linda West Eckhardt [Dining In, August 1978].French bistros in New York have lately offered as an appetizer saucisson a l’ail, a hearty garlic sausage. The french stuff them into large beef casings, but you may use
This recipe is one of several featured in the article The Missing Link by Linda West Eckhardt [Dining In, August 1978].Middle Easterners added their twist to sausage making by skewering sausages and cooking them on a brazier inside their tents.3 lbs lean lamb 1 cup chopped parsley 1 cup minced
It comes as no surprise that when the French turn their attention to sausage the results are elegant. Don’t confuse this version with Louisiana’s Cajun-style boudin made from rice and pork scraps. The ingredients of the original French version are pristine and subtle.1/4 lb bacon fat 3 cups onions,
For people without a grinder or stuffer I recommend this spicy salami. The seasonings in it are so heady, I’d have to class this sausage as strong.4 lbs ground hamburger beef 1 t garlic powder 1 t onion powder 1 t ground cumin 2 t chile
Another popular sausage indigenous to Texas is turkey sausage. The most famous purveyor of this local delicacy is Inman’s in Llano. They case theirs fresh, then barbecue it. If you do the same, your sausage will be somewhat drier than if you smoke it first. Smoking also produces a more
Sausage making has come to be one of the prime activities of the deer season in Texas. One of the best recipes I’ve found is a German link sausage, smoked to give it added resonance. Don’t be shocked by the quantity in this recipe. It assumes you are on good
