Whatever the falafel kabob is, truckers seem to like it. but I don’t know what the hell those bobtails are doing running around in the middle of nowhere.
Travis? Thought sure it’d be Arby…
February 3, 2016 at 8:00 am
MRADShooter
It’s Texas, the bob tails are waiting to hook up to a load of drugs. The trailers are in a field as their “cover load” is being picked or transferred.
Man, some Texas barbecue… it’s 7 AM and I want some!
February 3, 2016 at 2:36 pm
Old Codger
It’s Texas, the bob tails are waiting to hook up to a load of drugs. The trailers are in a field as their “cover load” is being picked or transferred.
Amigo, I surely do hope you wrote that with tongue firmly in cheek. Otherwise, as a dyed-in-the-wool, 2nd generation native Texican, I would find the implication that we here are nothing but a bunch of redknecks, rubes and drug runners to be highly insulting. Is that what sissified, know-nothing, YANKEES think of us here in the Lone Star State?
Well?
February 3, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Chris Muir
chill.we’re all havin’ fun here. and i know dick about trucks, so blame it on me!
February 2, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Tennessee Budd
No offense, Chris. I noticed it on yesterday’s, & once I saw it, it jumps out. Doesn’t affect the story in the least, & that’s the main thing.
The wife is generally the way I am, but even she gets tired of it when watching a combat scene in a movie, & I call bullshit. “It doesn’t work like that, dammit!” “I know, too, but it’s just a movie”…..
I’m more interested in what’s going to happen next. That means you’ve done your job well.
February 2, 2016 at 9:23 pm
Gus Bailey
Fie!
Barbeque and beef are mutually exclusive. But Naomi is more than a bargain.
February 2, 2016 at 9:25 pm
Gus Bailey
Edumacation for you heathens. Barbecue is food. It’s made from PORK. Anything else is just grilling.
February 3, 2016 at 3:00 am
Shonkin
Gus must be from the Carolinas, where they barbecue PORK.
Texas BBQ can (should!) be beef brisket rubbed with salt, black pepper, and red pepper (plus the chef’s secret ingredients), and slowly cooked over a MESQUITE fire (none of that hickory stuff).
February 3, 2016 at 2:44 pm
Old Codger
Thank you, Shonkin. You can barbeque pork (ribs) but for my money ain’t nothing can touch a fine, fork-tender, damned near melt-in-your mouth brisket. I, for one, don’t much care for what sissified, east-coast almost-yankees style barbeque. But I think that barbeque sauce ought to be slathered on the meat while it’s cooking, to.
” Barbecue is food. It’s made from PORK. Anything else is just grilling.”
Yeah, but we’ve got Naomi at the DD.
The question to ask is…. Well, is she Orthodox or Reform?
February 3, 2016 at 7:39 am
Bill G
Mossad.
February 3, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Gus Bailey
BillG beat me to it.
February 3, 2016 at 11:24 am
steveb919
You sure got that right. The whole South eats pork. If it is East of the Mississippi It is Pork. We just squabble about the sauce.
February 3, 2016 at 11:24 am
David M
I’m a HUGE fan of any and all meat (pork, beef, venison, turkey, chicken, duck, brontosaurus, etc.) cooked with a wood fire. I’ll also eat wood fired pizza, and I’ve been known to make smoked baked taters occasionally, maybe a sweet onion also… Woof Fire direct or indirect makes meat yummier (that’s a technical term).
February 2, 2016 at 9:30 pm
Tennessee Budd
Pardon me, Gus, while I step away a bit, to avoid any stray rounds.
As a Tennessean, I tend to agree, but my late father was a Texan, & I’ve lived there. Down there, BBQ means beef.
I do at least know that there are no beans in chili.
February 2, 2016 at 9:33 pm
Chris Muir
yup.
February 3, 2016 at 12:36 am
John M.
No whole kernel corn, either…
February 3, 2016 at 11:38 am
SteveInCO
I can get along with beans but corn is just barbaric.
This arc does seem to indicate though, that ME types have taken to heart the advice I heard someone give them, the easiest route from Syria to Murca is to go to Mexico and walk right in.
Lone Star went from TexMex to TexMuz right under our eyes. Huh.
February 2, 2016 at 9:50 pm
bob in houston
hey now!, that mustard based stuff Earl Campbell’s operation cranks out is some pretty tasty stuff!
February 2, 2016 at 11:33 pm
Spin Drift
Goode Co on I-10. That’s some bar -b-que. Best I ever had was in Sealy Texas, down the street from the Police station. It was run by Koreans who had lived in Tejas for 4 generations (go figure). Pork, beef, links, chicken I’m drooling on the keyboard now. Note of significance is that the best little Whore house in Texas was in Sealy.
Spin
Wiping the slightly apricot tinged sauce from chin
February 3, 2016 at 12:05 am
bob in houston
Yup, Goode Co is great stuff, and some of the best Pecan pie in existance.
February 3, 2016 at 8:31 am
Advo
I prefer the Goode Co. downtown on Kirby to the one on I-10. Sliced brisket on jalapeno cheese bread with their Austin baked beans. The pie is a coin toss between the pecan and the chocolate cream.
I need to get back up to Houston now.
February 3, 2016 at 11:29 am
JH in Texas
Sorry Spindrift, but the Best Little Whorehouse was LaGrange. I can show you the house.
As far as barbecue: Freedmans in Austin; Salt Lick (the real one in Driftwood); Lamberts; John Mueller’s Trailer; and of course Cooper’s in Llano and on I10.
February 3, 2016 at 2:30 pm
FJZappa
Smitty’s
February 3, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Old Codger
Bob’s on Rigsby in San Antonio (after Bob up ‘n died a smart lady bought the place, hired all of Bob’s cooks and reopened it good as ever).
February 3, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Spin Drift
I only know about the place through co-workers at S+S in Houston who were old enough to go there in the 60’s and 70’s. I drove by the closed building everyday we were working in Sealy.
Spin
Yellow Rose of Texas
Blue Bunny IceCream
War Damn Eagle
February 2, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Keith
Now, being born and raised in Texas and just coming back from a long stretch in North Carolina, I simply say that vinegar based BBQ sauces are lower than the devil’s drippings. Someone passed it to me once. I avoided BBQ in NC for the next 4 years.
February 3, 2016 at 8:28 am
Peri
Being a Virginia girl who made the mistake of living in South Carolina for a year and a half, I have to agree with you on NC’s vinegar BBQ sauce. My friend took me to this dive outside Wilmington because it had the “best BBQ in the state.” One sniff inside the place and I knew I wasn’t going to like it because all I could smell was vinegar. After that experience, I refused to eat any local BBQ the entire time I was there.
February 3, 2016 at 11:30 am
steveb919
You must not gone to Wilber’s in Goldsboro, NC. Best BBQ in the world.
February 3, 2016 at 12:33 pm
michael'scaine
Or what used to be White’s barbecue,now on 17 near Hertford,N.C.The CIA boys at Harvey Point took foreign ‘students’ there for a culture shock.
February 2, 2016 at 10:21 pm
Kafiroon
UGG! Totally dislike the taste of falafel. But now some Good Shwarma…
like in Beit Jala, or the mad Russians in Teverya Ilit, Yes!
That’s the difference between rabbit food and meat!
February 2, 2016 at 11:32 pm
Keith
Ah yes, good shwarma is mighty fine. Had my first one in Rhyadh during Desert Shield. Best one I ever had was last year in a small city south of Paris. The neighborhood was not good, but the food was.
February 3, 2016 at 12:48 am
B Woodman
Lucky Sum’bitch. I spent a year in Saudi, arrived the day AFTER the Khobar Tower tank truck bombing, didn’t get to go anywhere that wasn’t duty related.
February 3, 2016 at 1:21 am
Polly Cy
Only relevant by the tiniest, thinnest thread: a couple of our visiting middle eastern scholars were taken out for steaks. After sampling the finest Midwestern corn-fed beef, they told their host and hostess that filet mignon tasted just like camel.
February 3, 2016 at 11:05 am
B Woodman
“. . .tastes like camel.”
Now THERE’s a punchline just waiting for a joke.
Mebee (work with me here. . . ) feed some muzzie a rattlesnake (which I’m SURE is against their halal dietary guidelines), and have “him” say, “. . . tastes like camel”.
Anyone up to the challenge?
February 3, 2016 at 12:55 pm
jetfxr69
BWood, our paths crossed. I was on the flightline the night that bomb went off. Spent the next week getting my friends and airplanes re-/deployed. Small-ish world.
February 3, 2016 at 4:18 pm
B Woodman
Jet, good ta’meet’cha. Glad you made it home.
Welcome to the “I Survived Khobar Towers” Club. Not sure how exclusive it is, but it sounds good enough.
February 2, 2016 at 10:33 pm
Wiccapundit
BarbeCUE (noun) is pork. Anything else: beef, shrimp, chicken, emu, whatever, is barbeCUED (verb, past tense). And the Mecca for barbecue is Memphis, Tennessee.
Mecca, wow. Did I really go there?
February 2, 2016 at 11:33 pm
Tennessee Budd
Memphis is where you go for blues. You get the blues there because they don’t have decent barbecue. Mecca is a good comparison; they don’t know how to do barbecue in Mecca, either.
Memphis isn’t really Tennessee, anyhow, it’s East Arkansas. I bet they do really good rice.
February 3, 2016 at 8:22 am
Boobie the Rocket Dog
Memphis BBQ has an undeserved reputation for taste but a well-deserved reputation for risking one’s life to get some.
Until I get to Texas I’ll back Maurice’s in Columbia, SC, as the best I’ve had. Pretty sure they invented mustard BBQ sauce for pork.
Oh yeah! I always had the hair standing up in those Memphis ‘hoods’.
February 3, 2016 at 11:58 am
John D. Egbert
Obviously you haven’t been to Marlowe’s, couple of blocks south of Graceland. They’ll pick you up in a pink Caddy and take you home again after. Best thing about their ribs is that they aren’t sloppy with sauce. The fries are done right and the beer is cold. What’s not to like?
February 3, 2016 at 1:43 pm
Kafiroon
Agree TB. My brother lived there for many years and always took us out for “The Best BBQ in the World”. I always ended up telling him it sucked. Loved the music.
February 2, 2016 at 11:41 pm
S Hooks
As a relative newcomer here, the sensible thing would probably be for me to stay out of the “Que Wars”, but then, nobody who knows me would accuse me of good sense. 😉
However, as a native Tarheel AND a dedicated “Texan By Choice”, who has lived in and loved both places, I feel qualified to state unequivocally that both styles are terrific, drippings and all. It’s not an either/or issue for me; it’s all good!
February 2, 2016 at 11:47 pm
Chris Muir
this.heh.
February 3, 2016 at 12:02 am
Pamela
It’s not BBQ unless you get to lick something off your fingers.
February 3, 2016 at 3:29 am
RegT
I’m really tempted to comment on that, Pam. (Never heard _that_ called BBQ – unless her name was “Barbie” 😉
February 3, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Pamela
RegT
Licking ones fingers is a sign of great BBQ. It means the sauce has proper adherence to the meat with just the right amount of sticky.
As to the other, I’m one of the straightest women you are ever likely to meet.
Hey H_B
I always seem to have to fight the cats off from the bones.
Looking all sorrowful pleading FEED ME.
February 3, 2016 at 6:42 am
H_B
And you get to form a bone-pile while eating.
February 3, 2016 at 12:55 am
B Woodman
I see that they’re on a name basis now. Not “redbeard” or “biker dude”, now it’s Travis.
And what’s wrong with the devil’s drippings? It’s all good for BBQ.
February 3, 2016 at 7:45 am
GWB
Heck, I’m pretty sure there actually is a bbq sauce somewhere called Devil’s Drippings. I seem to recall it being very good. Made the top of my head melt and slide right down over my eyes – like good Thai food. Tasty, too.
Both pork and beef make good barbecue, as at least one person here has said. I tend to prefer brisket myself over pork, but it’s less easy to do well. As for mustard-based BBQ sauce, it tends to mask the flavor of the meat, just as most sauces do. It’s great on grilled burgers and on french fries.
February 3, 2016 at 1:38 am
Ed Woods
I stopped in Ganado, TX to gas up the scooter about 30 years ago and had a bit of BBQ. Well, actually I stuffed myself till I couldn’t move. It was a mom & pop spot in an old house. She was Mex and ran the place, he was greasy and cooked. Lord, did he cook! BBQ goat, pork, beef and anything else that slowed down enough to be cooked. Apple pie. peach pie and pecan pie. Made me just want to stay.
February 3, 2016 at 2:42 am
JohninMd.(Help!?!!)
Well, the familia _is_ in Texas…..Texas means beef, so brisket is Boss……with feral hog on the side. Works for me, this Prune Picker likes both!
February 3, 2016 at 3:31 am
RegT
Ever had BBQ’ed armadillo (famous East Texas roadkill)?
February 3, 2016 at 2:57 pm
Old Codger
Never had ‘dilla nor ‘possum but I had some nice diamondback fillets, once. Tasty. Cabrito ain’t half bad, neither.
February 3, 2016 at 7:39 am
Brasspounder
Had some BBQ ‘dillo cooked up by a Navy buddy who was a Florida cracker. Armored pig, he called it. Made for some fine Q.
February 3, 2016 at 10:34 am
Zhodanius
Are you a grognard, Brasspounder? Looks like wargame leader counter (not quite Squad Leader, tho…)
February 3, 2016 at 3:30 pm
S Hooks
The neat thing about barbecued armadillo is it comes in its own serving bowl.
February 3, 2016 at 7:46 am
Bill G
Sounds like Travis, with that fine old name, is in for a while at least.
And this Yankee is staying out of the Que Wars.
February 3, 2016 at 11:05 am
OpenTheDoor
Down heah, bob-a-coo is whole hog, everything else is just grillin’.
Brisket, isn’t that what yankees use to make pastrami and corned beef?
Catsup based sauce is what is drained from carbuncles on the devils big ol’ butt.
Texas grillin’ is OK, just keep that Eyetalion gravy away from it.
When WallyWorld kicked Maurice out for the Rebel flag, bought cases of Gold dirt cheap. Friends got Maurice’s for Christmas.
February 3, 2016 at 11:10 am
B Woodman
Had to look that up. Maurice’s Gold BBQ Sauce. Looks interesting.
February 3, 2016 at 11:12 am
B Woodman
I’m up to try to eat almost anything, just so long as it doesn’t try to eat me back first.
February 3, 2016 at 3:02 pm
Old Codger
Good philosophy. Once, before the missus and I hooked up (going on 44 years, now) I had a gal ask me what I like to eat. I replied with a grin and wink,”Pterry near anything that won’t eat me first and a coupla things that will”. Whereupon I licked my mustache and grinned.
(Why do you think they call it a “flavor saver”?)
February 3, 2016 at 3:04 pm
Old Codger
Ah that’s “Pretty near anything”. Wish I could type. 😉
February 3, 2016 at 11:17 am
Spin Drift
A couple of weeks ago we went up to Tuscaloosa to visit the Crumson Tide Law School for the pretty urchin. The locals said that we had to have some ‘que at a place called Dreamland.
Now we were there before the evening rush and the place was empty. Places that have “good” food are always full so this was a first indicator. The second was when the waiter said that the pork ribs were ‘naw off the bone good. He wasn’t lying, they were what my GranPappy used to call a “fine chew.” They also had a vinegar based sauce, luckily we asked for it on the side. At least the pecan pie was tender.
So people if you find a good ‘que joint only tell your good friends. And this is a thought for Chris, maybe you should bottle some DD ‘que sauce and sell it over the inter-tubies.
Spin
War Damn Eagle
February 3, 2016 at 11:19 am
JBubba57
Lived in NC and GA. Live-event whole roasted pigs there not only had different style sauces used, but the come-and-get-it-while-it’s-hot process had a different name: pig pickin’s vs. pig pullin’s. Does TX have a different name for it, too?
February 3, 2016 at 4:00 pm
S Hooks
The only terminology I ever heard in Texas was “pig roast”. In Louisiana they call it a “cochon de lait” (milk pig) because they prefer a very young, tender pig. At that time, though, in Texas, when folks wanted to have a barbecue party, with a crowd and live music, etc., the main menu item was always beef.
I left Texas in the early 1990’s to return to North Carolina. While there, however, another Tarheel buddy and I once decided we’d throw a pig pickin’ for our friends. I could not find a butcher or meat-packing plant that could provide (or even knew what I was talking about!) a whole split-pig Carolina-style. we wound up having to use pork shoulders and Boston Butts. It was good, and everyone enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a “pickin” where you could walk by a pull off a hunk of good Que. I don’t know if the situation has changed since then, as far as cooking whole pigs as the featured menu item.
February 3, 2016 at 12:46 pm
Phil Snyder
Texas BBQ is Beef. Southeastern BBQ is pork.
Why settle? Both are good. God created the concept of “AND” for just such dilemmas.
February 3, 2016 at 1:58 pm
NotYetInACamp
Nice truck.
Nice hog.
Nice people.
Nice food.
People traveling to Japan.
.
Peace and harmony at the DD.
Peace on Earth.
What could go wrong? 🙂
February 3, 2016 at 5:06 pm
John Greer
You just had to go out of your way and anger the gods didn’t you.
February 3, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Patrick Culver
Thelma’s bbq, just outside of downtown Houston is just, plain, good…The place is in a warehouse district but located in a house with the cooking pit out back.
February 3, 2016 at 4:21 pm
Wiccapundit
Tennessee Budd: That’s why the Muddy Mississip’ is there – the other side of the river is a different world entirely.
John D. Egbert: For those who don’t want their ‘cue sloppy with sauce, that’s why they invented dry ribs. Mmmm, the Rendezvous. What a dump, but oh, the ribs.
We may disagree on the nature of what constitutes good barbecue, but we can all agree that it is God’s Chosen Meat Product. I’m personally working on the Ultimate Pork Dish: bacon-wrapped pork chops with sausage gravy.
February 3, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Ron
Gawd you guys are killin’ me! Stuck up here in Canada (Toronto) just wishing there was someplace I could actually try some of these fabled barbeque dreams without having to travel a 1000 miles (1600 kilometers)
February 3, 2016 at 6:49 pm
Wiccapundit
Ron: If you want to shell out, Rendezvous will ship you racks of ribs with the necessary accoutrements. See the website for Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous. Note that not everyone likes dry ribs, but they sell ’em with sauce, too. In the past, they used to ship the goods via FedEx to them what was needin’ to attend to a barbecue withdrawal.
February 3, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Spin Drift
Ron, you don’t have to go that far. Rudolph’s in Minneapolis is very very good. Fall off da bone good. They bottle their sauce. Best cole slaw on the planet. I love me some ‘que tonight.
Spin
Sticky Fingers Alabama
Molon Labe
War Damn Eagle
February 3, 2016 at 6:57 pm
Don in AK
Haven’t had the pleasure of sampling Texas BBQ yet, but it sure sounds good. Until then, Corkie’s in Memphis gets my vote.
February 3, 2016 at 7:04 pm
Pamela
A fine piece of BBQ Pig or Beef is one thing.
You need to remember the sides to round out the meal.
Sides do not include hummus, anything vegan or low fat.
A reasonable amount of alcohol, tea (plain or sweet), and some type of ade.
Barbecue is brisket, beef ribs, chicken or turkey and sauce you should be able to taste for a couple of days at least. Maybe Kosher dogs, fixed up special with some of my incendiary sauce. And I grill in a Taiwanese Komada ceramic smoker/BBQ, which keeps the meat tender and juicy. And yeah, I use mesquite chips or charcoal.
Chili? I’d defy any of you to refuse the kind I make, with turkey or beef sauteed in wine or ale, a little bit of stock and fresh chopped chiles, garlic, onions and tomatillos. And yeah, it has beans (usually at least two kinds, black,pinto or red) nopalitos, corn and either my own red or green sauce.
Tradition’s fine by me, but experimenting with new stuff really livens things up.
I agree that NC vinegar a Q is not what I think of BBQ. You all have mentioned places in Texas, one or two to a town. How many dawgs do they have sleeping at the doors in these places. In Oklahoma, a BBQ joint is only as good as the number of dawgs sleeping at the kitchen doors. The best one in OK was the executive Dining Room outside Tinker AFB. Had an 80 year old cook and three dawgs at the door.
Also, don’t disparage ME BBQ. One of the better places in Talahina (anglicised version of Diana, Sam Houston’s wife). Very popular place named Mansours who served Tabouli and hummus with their BBQ. That was later picked up by Jamils, where billions of dollars in oil deals have been signed. This stuff all came from muslim Africa with the slaves, ya know.
84 Comments
Maybe the Hog thinks it’s a dog–sniffing the wind first on one side, then on the other.
works fer me,i’m too lazy to shift the image!
Now that’s funny right there, TB…good catch too.
Whatever the falafel kabob is, truckers seem to like it. but I don’t know what the hell those bobtails are doing running around in the middle of nowhere.
Travis? Thought sure it’d be Arby…
It’s Texas, the bob tails are waiting to hook up to a load of drugs. The trailers are in a field as their “cover load” is being picked or transferred.
Man, some Texas barbecue… it’s 7 AM and I want some!
Amigo, I surely do hope you wrote that with tongue firmly in cheek. Otherwise, as a dyed-in-the-wool, 2nd generation native Texican, I would find the implication that we here are nothing but a bunch of redknecks, rubes and drug runners to be highly insulting. Is that what sissified, know-nothing, YANKEES think of us here in the Lone Star State?
Well?
chill.we’re all havin’ fun here. and i know dick about trucks, so blame it on me!
No offense, Chris. I noticed it on yesterday’s, & once I saw it, it jumps out. Doesn’t affect the story in the least, & that’s the main thing.
The wife is generally the way I am, but even she gets tired of it when watching a combat scene in a movie, & I call bullshit. “It doesn’t work like that, dammit!” “I know, too, but it’s just a movie”…..
I’m more interested in what’s going to happen next. That means you’ve done your job well.
Fie!
Barbeque and beef are mutually exclusive. But Naomi is more than a bargain.
Edumacation for you heathens. Barbecue is food. It’s made from PORK. Anything else is just grilling.
Gus must be from the Carolinas, where they barbecue PORK.
Texas BBQ can (should!) be beef brisket rubbed with salt, black pepper, and red pepper (plus the chef’s secret ingredients), and slowly cooked over a MESQUITE fire (none of that hickory stuff).
Thank you, Shonkin. You can barbeque pork (ribs) but for my money ain’t nothing can touch a fine, fork-tender, damned near melt-in-your mouth brisket. I, for one, don’t much care for what sissified, east-coast almost-yankees style barbeque. But I think that barbeque sauce ought to be slathered on the meat while it’s cooking, to.
Oh, and +1000 on the mesquite for the smoke.
” Barbecue is food. It’s made from PORK. Anything else is just grilling.”
Yeah, but we’ve got Naomi at the DD.
The question to ask is…. Well, is she Orthodox or Reform?
Mossad.
BillG beat me to it.
You sure got that right. The whole South eats pork. If it is East of the Mississippi It is Pork. We just squabble about the sauce.
I’m a HUGE fan of any and all meat (pork, beef, venison, turkey, chicken, duck, brontosaurus, etc.) cooked with a wood fire. I’ll also eat wood fired pizza, and I’ve been known to make smoked baked taters occasionally, maybe a sweet onion also… Woof Fire direct or indirect makes meat yummier (that’s a technical term).
Pardon me, Gus, while I step away a bit, to avoid any stray rounds.
As a Tennessean, I tend to agree, but my late father was a Texan, & I’ve lived there. Down there, BBQ means beef.
I do at least know that there are no beans in chili.
yup.
No whole kernel corn, either…
I can get along with beans but corn is just barbaric.
This arc does seem to indicate though, that ME types have taken to heart the advice I heard someone give them, the easiest route from Syria to Murca is to go to Mexico and walk right in.
Lone Star went from TexMex to TexMuz right under our eyes. Huh.
hey now!, that mustard based stuff Earl Campbell’s operation cranks out is some pretty tasty stuff!
Goode Co on I-10. That’s some bar -b-que. Best I ever had was in Sealy Texas, down the street from the Police station. It was run by Koreans who had lived in Tejas for 4 generations (go figure). Pork, beef, links, chicken I’m drooling on the keyboard now. Note of significance is that the best little Whore house in Texas was in Sealy.
Spin
Wiping the slightly apricot tinged sauce from chin
Yup, Goode Co is great stuff, and some of the best Pecan pie in existance.
I prefer the Goode Co. downtown on Kirby to the one on I-10. Sliced brisket on jalapeno cheese bread with their Austin baked beans. The pie is a coin toss between the pecan and the chocolate cream.
I need to get back up to Houston now.
Sorry Spindrift, but the Best Little Whorehouse was LaGrange. I can show you the house.
As far as barbecue: Freedmans in Austin; Salt Lick (the real one in Driftwood); Lamberts; John Mueller’s Trailer; and of course Cooper’s in Llano and on I10.
Smitty’s
Bob’s on Rigsby in San Antonio (after Bob up ‘n died a smart lady bought the place, hired all of Bob’s cooks and reopened it good as ever).
I only know about the place through co-workers at S+S in Houston who were old enough to go there in the 60’s and 70’s. I drove by the closed building everyday we were working in Sealy.
Spin
Yellow Rose of Texas
Blue Bunny IceCream
War Damn Eagle
Now, being born and raised in Texas and just coming back from a long stretch in North Carolina, I simply say that vinegar based BBQ sauces are lower than the devil’s drippings. Someone passed it to me once. I avoided BBQ in NC for the next 4 years.
Being a Virginia girl who made the mistake of living in South Carolina for a year and a half, I have to agree with you on NC’s vinegar BBQ sauce. My friend took me to this dive outside Wilmington because it had the “best BBQ in the state.” One sniff inside the place and I knew I wasn’t going to like it because all I could smell was vinegar. After that experience, I refused to eat any local BBQ the entire time I was there.
You must not gone to Wilber’s in Goldsboro, NC. Best BBQ in the world.
Or what used to be White’s barbecue,now on 17 near Hertford,N.C.The CIA boys at Harvey Point took foreign ‘students’ there for a culture shock.
UGG! Totally dislike the taste of falafel. But now some Good Shwarma…
like in Beit Jala, or the mad Russians in Teverya Ilit, Yes!
That’s the difference between rabbit food and meat!
Ah yes, good shwarma is mighty fine. Had my first one in Rhyadh during Desert Shield. Best one I ever had was last year in a small city south of Paris. The neighborhood was not good, but the food was.
Lucky Sum’bitch. I spent a year in Saudi, arrived the day AFTER the Khobar Tower tank truck bombing, didn’t get to go anywhere that wasn’t duty related.
Only relevant by the tiniest, thinnest thread: a couple of our visiting middle eastern scholars were taken out for steaks. After sampling the finest Midwestern corn-fed beef, they told their host and hostess that filet mignon tasted just like camel.
“. . .tastes like camel.”
Now THERE’s a punchline just waiting for a joke.
Mebee (work with me here. . . ) feed some muzzie a rattlesnake (which I’m SURE is against their halal dietary guidelines), and have “him” say, “. . . tastes like camel”.
Anyone up to the challenge?
BWood, our paths crossed. I was on the flightline the night that bomb went off. Spent the next week getting my friends and airplanes re-/deployed. Small-ish world.
Jet, good ta’meet’cha. Glad you made it home.
Welcome to the “I Survived Khobar Towers” Club. Not sure how exclusive it is, but it sounds good enough.
BarbeCUE (noun) is pork. Anything else: beef, shrimp, chicken, emu, whatever, is barbeCUED (verb, past tense). And the Mecca for barbecue is Memphis, Tennessee.
Mecca, wow. Did I really go there?
Memphis is where you go for blues. You get the blues there because they don’t have decent barbecue. Mecca is a good comparison; they don’t know how to do barbecue in Mecca, either.
Memphis isn’t really Tennessee, anyhow, it’s East Arkansas. I bet they do really good rice.
Memphis BBQ has an undeserved reputation for taste but a well-deserved reputation for risking one’s life to get some.
Until I get to Texas I’ll back Maurice’s in Columbia, SC, as the best I’ve had. Pretty sure they invented mustard BBQ sauce for pork.
“My Baby Loves BBQ” by Chris Cassone: https://youtu.be/oiWQ1hj9ULQ
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Oh yeah! I always had the hair standing up in those Memphis ‘hoods’.
Obviously you haven’t been to Marlowe’s, couple of blocks south of Graceland. They’ll pick you up in a pink Caddy and take you home again after. Best thing about their ribs is that they aren’t sloppy with sauce. The fries are done right and the beer is cold. What’s not to like?
Agree TB. My brother lived there for many years and always took us out for “The Best BBQ in the World”. I always ended up telling him it sucked. Loved the music.
As a relative newcomer here, the sensible thing would probably be for me to stay out of the “Que Wars”, but then, nobody who knows me would accuse me of good sense. 😉
However, as a native Tarheel AND a dedicated “Texan By Choice”, who has lived in and loved both places, I feel qualified to state unequivocally that both styles are terrific, drippings and all. It’s not an either/or issue for me; it’s all good!
this.heh.
It’s not BBQ unless you get to lick something off your fingers.
I’m really tempted to comment on that, Pam. (Never heard _that_ called BBQ – unless her name was “Barbie” 😉
RegT
Licking ones fingers is a sign of great BBQ. It means the sauce has proper adherence to the meat with just the right amount of sticky.
As to the other, I’m one of the straightest women you are ever likely to meet.
Hey H_B
I always seem to have to fight the cats off from the bones.
Looking all sorrowful pleading FEED ME.
And you get to form a bone-pile while eating.
I see that they’re on a name basis now. Not “redbeard” or “biker dude”, now it’s Travis.
And what’s wrong with the devil’s drippings? It’s all good for BBQ.
Heck, I’m pretty sure there actually is a bbq sauce somewhere called Devil’s Drippings. I seem to recall it being very good. Made the top of my head melt and slide right down over my eyes – like good Thai food. Tasty, too.
Both pork and beef make good barbecue, as at least one person here has said. I tend to prefer brisket myself over pork, but it’s less easy to do well. As for mustard-based BBQ sauce, it tends to mask the flavor of the meat, just as most sauces do. It’s great on grilled burgers and on french fries.
I stopped in Ganado, TX to gas up the scooter about 30 years ago and had a bit of BBQ. Well, actually I stuffed myself till I couldn’t move. It was a mom & pop spot in an old house. She was Mex and ran the place, he was greasy and cooked. Lord, did he cook! BBQ goat, pork, beef and anything else that slowed down enough to be cooked. Apple pie. peach pie and pecan pie. Made me just want to stay.
Well, the familia _is_ in Texas…..Texas means beef, so brisket is Boss……with feral hog on the side. Works for me, this Prune Picker likes both!
Ever had BBQ’ed armadillo (famous East Texas roadkill)?
Never had ‘dilla nor ‘possum but I had some nice diamondback fillets, once. Tasty. Cabrito ain’t half bad, neither.
Had some BBQ ‘dillo cooked up by a Navy buddy who was a Florida cracker. Armored pig, he called it. Made for some fine Q.
Are you a grognard, Brasspounder? Looks like wargame leader counter (not quite Squad Leader, tho…)
The neat thing about barbecued armadillo is it comes in its own serving bowl.
Sounds like Travis, with that fine old name, is in for a while at least.
And this Yankee is staying out of the Que Wars.
Down heah, bob-a-coo is whole hog, everything else is just grillin’.
Brisket, isn’t that what yankees use to make pastrami and corned beef?
Catsup based sauce is what is drained from carbuncles on the devils big ol’ butt.
Texas grillin’ is OK, just keep that Eyetalion gravy away from it.
When WallyWorld kicked Maurice out for the Rebel flag, bought cases of Gold dirt cheap. Friends got Maurice’s for Christmas.
Had to look that up. Maurice’s Gold BBQ Sauce. Looks interesting.
I’m up to try to eat almost anything, just so long as it doesn’t try to eat me back first.
Good philosophy. Once, before the missus and I hooked up (going on 44 years, now) I had a gal ask me what I like to eat. I replied with a grin and wink,”Pterry near anything that won’t eat me first and a coupla things that will”. Whereupon I licked my mustache and grinned.
(Why do you think they call it a “flavor saver”?)
Ah that’s “Pretty near anything”. Wish I could type. 😉
A couple of weeks ago we went up to Tuscaloosa to visit the Crumson Tide Law School for the pretty urchin. The locals said that we had to have some ‘que at a place called Dreamland.
Now we were there before the evening rush and the place was empty. Places that have “good” food are always full so this was a first indicator. The second was when the waiter said that the pork ribs were ‘naw off the bone good. He wasn’t lying, they were what my GranPappy used to call a “fine chew.” They also had a vinegar based sauce, luckily we asked for it on the side. At least the pecan pie was tender.
So people if you find a good ‘que joint only tell your good friends. And this is a thought for Chris, maybe you should bottle some DD ‘que sauce and sell it over the inter-tubies.
Spin
War Damn Eagle
Lived in NC and GA. Live-event whole roasted pigs there not only had different style sauces used, but the come-and-get-it-while-it’s-hot process had a different name: pig pickin’s vs. pig pullin’s. Does TX have a different name for it, too?
The only terminology I ever heard in Texas was “pig roast”. In Louisiana they call it a “cochon de lait” (milk pig) because they prefer a very young, tender pig. At that time, though, in Texas, when folks wanted to have a barbecue party, with a crowd and live music, etc., the main menu item was always beef.
I left Texas in the early 1990’s to return to North Carolina. While there, however, another Tarheel buddy and I once decided we’d throw a pig pickin’ for our friends. I could not find a butcher or meat-packing plant that could provide (or even knew what I was talking about!) a whole split-pig Carolina-style. we wound up having to use pork shoulders and Boston Butts. It was good, and everyone enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a “pickin” where you could walk by a pull off a hunk of good Que. I don’t know if the situation has changed since then, as far as cooking whole pigs as the featured menu item.
Texas BBQ is Beef. Southeastern BBQ is pork.
Why settle? Both are good. God created the concept of “AND” for just such dilemmas.
Nice truck.
Nice hog.
Nice people.
Nice food.
People traveling to Japan.
.
Peace and harmony at the DD.
Peace on Earth.
What could go wrong? 🙂
You just had to go out of your way and anger the gods didn’t you.
Thelma’s bbq, just outside of downtown Houston is just, plain, good…The place is in a warehouse district but located in a house with the cooking pit out back.
Tennessee Budd: That’s why the Muddy Mississip’ is there – the other side of the river is a different world entirely.
John D. Egbert: For those who don’t want their ‘cue sloppy with sauce, that’s why they invented dry ribs. Mmmm, the Rendezvous. What a dump, but oh, the ribs.
We may disagree on the nature of what constitutes good barbecue, but we can all agree that it is God’s Chosen Meat Product. I’m personally working on the Ultimate Pork Dish: bacon-wrapped pork chops with sausage gravy.
Gawd you guys are killin’ me! Stuck up here in Canada (Toronto) just wishing there was someplace I could actually try some of these fabled barbeque dreams without having to travel a 1000 miles (1600 kilometers)
Ron: If you want to shell out, Rendezvous will ship you racks of ribs with the necessary accoutrements. See the website for Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous. Note that not everyone likes dry ribs, but they sell ’em with sauce, too. In the past, they used to ship the goods via FedEx to them what was needin’ to attend to a barbecue withdrawal.
Ron, you don’t have to go that far. Rudolph’s in Minneapolis is very very good. Fall off da bone good. They bottle their sauce. Best cole slaw on the planet. I love me some ‘que tonight.
Spin
Sticky Fingers Alabama
Molon Labe
War Damn Eagle
Haven’t had the pleasure of sampling Texas BBQ yet, but it sure sounds good. Until then, Corkie’s in Memphis gets my vote.
A fine piece of BBQ Pig or Beef is one thing.
You need to remember the sides to round out the meal.
Sides do not include hummus, anything vegan or low fat.
A reasonable amount of alcohol, tea (plain or sweet), and some type of ade.
You can keep the pork, guys.
Barbecue is brisket, beef ribs, chicken or turkey and sauce you should be able to taste for a couple of days at least. Maybe Kosher dogs, fixed up special with some of my incendiary sauce. And I grill in a Taiwanese Komada ceramic smoker/BBQ, which keeps the meat tender and juicy. And yeah, I use mesquite chips or charcoal.
Chili? I’d defy any of you to refuse the kind I make, with turkey or beef sauteed in wine or ale, a little bit of stock and fresh chopped chiles, garlic, onions and tomatillos. And yeah, it has beans (usually at least two kinds, black,pinto or red) nopalitos, corn and either my own red or green sauce.
Tradition’s fine by me, but experimenting with new stuff really livens things up.
I agree that NC vinegar a Q is not what I think of BBQ. You all have mentioned places in Texas, one or two to a town. How many dawgs do they have sleeping at the doors in these places. In Oklahoma, a BBQ joint is only as good as the number of dawgs sleeping at the kitchen doors. The best one in OK was the executive Dining Room outside Tinker AFB. Had an 80 year old cook and three dawgs at the door.
Also, don’t disparage ME BBQ. One of the better places in Talahina (anglicised version of Diana, Sam Houston’s wife). Very popular place named Mansours who served Tabouli and hummus with their BBQ. That was later picked up by Jamils, where billions of dollars in oil deals have been signed. This stuff all came from muslim Africa with the slaves, ya know.