BBQ Tour help request

They also have a new location in Bastrop--might be closer than Elgin depending.

 

Brilliant. I didn't know you could skip for a relatively small order.
T

 

Don't need to over eat. Q reheats reasonably well IMO. We cover with a damp paper towel and then reheat on a low setting in the wave.
T

 

Now for the eternal question regarding BBQ............ with sauce or without? Personally I like mine a tad spicy if I do add sauce. Save room for a slice of pecan pie or warm peach cobbler.

 

I see y'all from Tennessee (used to live in Memphis), where sauce is the standard. Texas beef barbecue - no sauce. Some of the old school joints still refuse to serve any. [emoji3]
T

 

As someone mentioned, some of the BBQ places do not serve sauce, some don't even have sides. For those that do serve sauce, most are tomato based, however, if you make it to Salt Lick in the Austin area, their sauce seems to be more mustard based.

 

Yep, I'm living in BBQ Hell in TN now. Not a fan of pork BBQ, so I make my way back to Texas for real BBQ and real DP.

 

My $.02 on eating BBQ.

Brisket: Ask for the burnt ends. It will usually include a lot of fat, but it has ALL the flavor. It includes all the rub, all the smoke. It's the only way I eat it. Think of it as the 'crust' of the brisket. If you get 'lean', it usually means less flavor and is frequently dry. Dry usually means you need sauce. See below.

Ribs: Never get beef ribs, ever. Baby back only.

Sausage: Varies from place to place. Some is good, some is very good. I eat it when I run out of brisket, if it's great brisket.

Sauce: If it needs sauce, it's not BBQ. Kreuz doesn't serve sauce. None. It's posted on the walls. A few bites and you'll understand why.

 

I agree usually but good beef ribs are the exception. For example, the beef ribs at Gatlin's in Houston are definitely worth it.

 

True, brisket is tough to do right. But, in Texas, if you can't do very good brisket, you'll be out of business pronto. So, in my experience, it's hard to find bad brisket here.

Beef ribs, on the other hand, are extremely tough to do well. Lots of gristle. High bone to meat ratio. Tougher to source. I cheat. I braise. Heavy smoke for an hour or so. Then braise again, this time covered in foil. It's meh, at best to be perfectly honest. F-chatter Kurt (Nurburgringer) IIRC has posted pics and details on his beef ribs. Worth a search.

T

 

Good point here, LA is from the family that trained Franklin, IIRC.

Luling has Central Market, not far from Lockhart but taking you south...

I have a project in Huntsville, so I hit the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church when in town, but again, rather "out of the zone".

I also hit the Central Market in Giddings, on the way to check my Austin region projects.
No "line" there, just a fine old pit and cooks working hard!

Another place I don't pass, is Peter's in Ellinger.
Alan Peters is another no nonsense pit master, and he hires some cute locals, to chop it up!

 

Lyndons, in Houston, is some Arkansas guys, Old Man and his three sons, they have brought Pulled Pork into the Houston scene, and the juke box is Top Shelf.

My take on sauce is "yes", but lightly, so as not to cover the taste of the rub.

One compliments the other.

 

Jim, normally I'd agree with you on this. But you need to try the beef ribs at Pecan Lodge. They are tasty!!!!

 

An update on Burns BBQ in Houston.

Not sure of the current info but they closed the first location, in Acres Homes, and opened at 7117 North Shepherd

 

Beef ribs at Louis Mueller in Taylor are the best I've ever had. Everything else there is awesome too.

 

8 BBQ spots in the greater Austin area behind me, tomorrow's finale is the big 3 down in Lockhart. Full(ish) report and pics coming when I get back home and can type it up on my computer rather than this iPhone.

 

I am looking forward to your big report! Here in the Woodlands I like to go to Cork Screw in Old Town Spring. They do beef ribs and whole chickens on Saturdays only. They are the best I have had.

 

Chicken?!? That's a vegetable in Texas!
[emoji3]
T

 

You might be right but my mama always told me to eat my veggies! So I must be keeping her proud.

 

First, a big Texas-sized "THANK YOU" to all that helped with advice in this thread.

I’ll start with some overall observations and questions from my four days in Austin and driving to/from Houston and touring around the Austin area:

- While I'm sure many things are bigger in Texas, the undisputed "biggest" is the 50 pump gas stations! Do 50 people really all need gas at the same moment in time at the same exact place?
- After driving the hill country and seeing all the large and fancy “ranch” gates along the highway, is the new version of "all hat and no cattle", "all entrance gate and no cattle"?
- Is road construction the largest employer in Texas? Seemed so with road work virtually everywhere.
- So many BBQ shacks. But even more taco shacks and trucks and campers. Infinite numbers...sounds like another trip idea!


Day 1 – Tried to go to Franklin, bailed on the 3-hour wait, and got out of Austin:

- Started at Franklin BBQ at 9:45. Opens at 11:00. Lady came and said I was “3 hours” from ordering where I stood. So I said “see ya”, and went to:

- Louie Mueller (Taylor) - wow. Texture is perfect. No strings, no mush. No excess water. Flavor is mild but good. Not chewy at all. Reminds me of pork belly in texture. The beef rib is “something”. Too big for words (or eating) and too big for wallet ($38 for one rib). Good smoke and very beefy taste and chew. I’d call it a combination of braised beef with smoke and more salt.

- Southside Market (Elgin) – Brisket was yucky – mushy and bland. Like it was injected with water. Sausage was only ok. Very greasy. Surprisingly bland.

- Opie’s (Spicewood) - dark bark. But stringy and a bit chewy. Strongest smoke flavor. Sausage was ok, needed more seasoning, had a bit of heat. Beans get special mention. I kept going back to them.

- Cooper’s (Llano) - deep smoky flavor. Hard to cut and a bit stringing. Chewy, but not too chewy. Good sausage. Good seasoning, pop in the skin.


Day 2 – Austin City Limits BBQ Royalty

- La Barbeque - great brisket, finally the right texture again. Hot sausage...by far hottest of the trip. Very nice people.

- Micklethwait - good brisket, decent sausage (very spicy). Solid. Great homemade pickles. Very nice people.

- Kerlin - good brisket, meh sausage. First pork rib of the trip was very good. Even better homemade pickles. Very good sauce. Nicest people of the trip (gave me a free pork rib when I didn’t order one, insisting I try it…I’m glad they did).

- Franklin – So the day before the lady said “around 1pm the wait should only be 30 minutes and we likely run out of things at 3pm”. So, I showed up at 12:30 and waited about 45 minutes. I’m very glad I did. Good brisket, best lean cut yet. Sausage not good. Pork Rib was solid. They gave me a pile of free pulled pork because they wanted me to try it even though I didn’t order it. Was “okay”. Sauces are excellent (really excellent, perhaps the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever had).


Day 3 – I can’t eat anymore BBQ! Ugh, beef coma. Can’t do another day. So, I take the day off to see Star Wars Rouge 1 in IMAX 3D.


Day 4 – To the Temple’s in Lockhart

- Kreuz - decent cheddar jalapeño sausage. Lean Brisket was very dry. Moist was a bit stringy.

- Blacks – same as Kreuz.

- Smittys - had to stand in a very hot very smoky room on a mid-80s day. I don’t know if they just started the fires or what, but it was filled with smoke. I left and came back and it had cleared a fair bit. Then I waited in line. Meh brisket and sausage, decent pork rib. Tried my first side of the trip, above average potato salad.


Overall BBQ Impressions:

- There is good brisket in Texas! (I’ve never had what I would call “good” brisket anywhere prior to this trip).

- But there is awful brisket in Texas too. Texture is the hardest gate to pass. Needs to be tender but firm. Not Watery nor mealy. Not stringy. Fat must be rendered and melted, not hard or gloppy.

- The sausages were universally bland and all way, way, way too greasy. Somehow all of the sausage making knowledge did not leave Europe with the immigrants (there is better sausage on pretty much every corner of central and Eastern European cities).

- I focused. I only ordered a slice of Moist and slice of Lean brisket and a sausage at each place. I avoided turkey and chicken. I also avoided sides except for pickles, bread and sauce (I did finally try the potato salad at my very last stop).

- Turns out sauce can be a good thing. Especially with the dry and somehow bland lean cuts of brisket. Some sauces weren't worth the squeeze. But a few were; franklin’s 3 sauces were among the best I've ever tried. There were a couple of others worth squeezing, notably Kerlin.

- Now I get it! Plain old white bread does go with BBQ! At first I said no. But then I learned the genius of making a brisket, sauce and dill pickle sandwich. It can save bad brisket (or mediocre brisket anyways).

- Beef ribs - try it. Once. Then order pork ribs (with sauce). I had to try 1 beef rib on the trip and that, of course, had to be at Louie Muellers.


The winners:

- Best brisket: Louie Mueller, Franklin, La Barbeque
- Best sausage - La Barbeque (very spicy), kreuz jalapeño cheddar
- Best side – Homemade pickles at Kerlin and Micklethwait
- Best sauce - Franklin (the “middle one&#8221 and Kerlin


Grand Award Winners (aka "places I'd go back"):

- La Barbeque
- Louie Muellers
- Franklin (only if the line is short)

 

Great reviews.

Agree with winners, minus Franklin.

Glad you enjoyed and yes there is some bad BBQ in Texas that some people would have no clue how to differentiate good from bad.

Did you not make it Snows?

 

Sadly, "no". Day 3 was supposed to be Lockhart, and Day 4 (Saturday) was then going to be Snow's and perhaps a place in Giddings, Smithville and points east as I went back to IAH to fly home. I moved Day 3 (Lockhart) to Day 4 and dropped Day 4. I highly doubted I could get up and get way out to Snow's that early in the morning anyways

 

Any recommendations around Ft Worth, especially on the west side?

 

I'd drive down to Hard Eights in Stephenville, or out to Hashknife in Peadenville.
T

 

If you like Hard Eights (which I do) there's one in Roanoke and another in Colleyville. Also just opened one in The Colony.