Your Filthy Barbecue Pit Is Not “Seasoned”
Pitmasters should stop using the term to justify cooking in dirty smokers.
Daniel Vaughn is the author of The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue, the coauthor of Whole Hog BBQ: The Gospel of Carolina Barbecue, and the barbecue editor at Texas Monthly. He has traveled the world sampling smoked meats at over 1,800 barbecue joints, most of which are in Texas.
Pitmasters should stop using the term to justify cooking in dirty smokers.
In 1926 Etta Randall, a young black woman from deep East Texas, set off for a lawless boomtown in the Panhandle, where she found unexpected success not in the oil fields but in an old concrete pit.
The state’s favorite smoked meat is so reliably excellent these days that it no longer feels like an achievement.
Smoke’N Ash BBQ pays homage to its dual traditions while wholly, joyfully embracing something new.
Here’s a primer to the language of African American barbecue joints in Texas.
The fast-food chain is using a longtime employee of Sadler’s Smokehouse in Henderson to help sell sandwiches.
The East Texas chain of Bodacious Bar-B-Q joints lost its founder, Roland Lindsey, in September. His son-in-law Jordan Jackson looks to not only carry on the brand’s barbecue legacy, but improve it one location at a time.
The multigenerational ranch’s Midland Meat Company sells its famous Wagyu-Angus-Hereford crossbred beef directly to consumers.
When you find school desks, sawdust, and pickle bars in a Texas joint, they owe a debt to what was once a Dallas lunchtime mainstay.
Texas has it beat when it comes to beef-based barbecue. But a few upstart pitmasters are hoping to change KC's reputation.
The “G” Wagon BBQ & More offers smoked cheesy potatoes, snappy sausage, savory pork ribs, and well-cut lean brisket that will have folks driving to the tiny hamlet of Little River-Academy.
Miller’s Smokehouse, in Belton, offers a whole new way to enjoy pork for breakfast.
New England may have just recently come around to brisket, but Hoodoo Brown Barbeque and Hindsight Barbecue are pushing boundaries even further with dishes like Cracklin’ Pork Belly and blueberry gouda sausage.
Even as the year winds down, barbecue news seemingly doesn’t.
After selling barbecue out of a car dealership, Earnest Morgan has moved on to a new brick-and-mortar location where he can cook a Mississippi favorite: whole fried catfish.
At these six stellar Texas-style barbecue joints in the Bayou State, you can get excellent brisket as well as local favorites like fresh pork cracklins.
Stroll right off the hike-and-bike path into Katy Trail Station, where you can taste the famous chef’s pork and beef ribs, and saucy mac and cheese.
Bark Barbecue Café and 2Fifty Texas BBQ mix Texas tradition and hospitality with touches from their Armenian and Salvadoran cultures, respectively.
At white-tablecloth restaurants, Wagyu beef is more expensive, but it’s also cooked excellently, with techniques from dry-aging to sous vide.
Home cooks haven’t had many options in the lump charcoal and briquet market. Now a few Texas companies, including Franklin Barbecue, are offering better-made, more sustainable versions.
Fort Worth is the center of pork belly innovation, and Brix Barbecue’s herby porchetta is just the latest example.
The prices of Wagyu burgers range across the state, but they’re still the most accessible way to taste the well-marbled, often-expensive beef.
We know the deep-fried options tend to hog the spotlight, but can we interest you in a Neapolitan-style smoked pork belly burnt end pizza?
Too much heat, too-expensive brisket, and too much competition are stressing barbecue joints, leading to a less profitable year for many.
LocalCraft BBQ, north of Fort Worth, has improved its barbecue offerings over the last year, and its burger and queso-topped brisket-and-sausage sandwich really impress.
Previous visits to the East Texas town for barbecue were disappointing, but Scholl Brothers Bar-B-Que’s new owners have changed that.
Chuck Terrell had a horrible accident two years ago. After surgery and therapy, he’s easing his way back into serving his customers at Chuck’s Country Smokehouse, in Carthage.
Mr. D’s BBQ in Texarkana is located across the street from a truck stop, and offers up chicken and ribs to those who don’t have many options on the road.
Catering brings in half of this North Richmond Hills joint's business, but you can also stop by the restaurant to try bacon-ranch potato salad and jerk-seasoned turkey.
Diners in North Texas likely did a double take when the Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque opened this summer. But the restaurant isn’t an offshoot of popular Hutchins Barbeque—as is made clear by some harsh words and a dropped lawsuit.
Wicker’s Food Products in Missouri and Big Wick’s in Weatherford battle over their similar names.
The two states have three new Texas-style joints that range from faithful to fusion, implementing traditional Carolina barbecue elements.
Zavala’s Barbecue Distribution is an online shop that helps smoked meat diehards cook like their favorite pitmasters.
While Brix Barbecue isn’t exactly “new,” its myriad upgrades—including a brick-and-mortar—have made it worth revisiting.
For a while it looked as if big-city barbecue would hog the spotlight forevermore. We should have known better.
For decades, offset smokers were the tool of choice for pitmasters, but rotisseries are coming back in style.
The woman-owned joint has had a lot of effusive press—even before officially opening. Luckily it’s living up to its early reputation.
Shotgun Willie's BBQ started out as a mid-life crisis-inspired venture and went on to be named the best brisket in Tennessee's capital.
Blake Stoker's joint—Blake's at Southern Milling—in Martin, Tennessee, has converted many a customer to loving brisket.
The craft of whole-hog barbecue in the Lockhart of West Tennessee has been dwindling, but Zach Parker resurrected a historic joint in order to save it.
The XXL Ranch and Steak House might be hard to find, but once you get there and try the ribeye, baked potato, and sopapilla cheesecake, you're sure to be back again.
Hill Barbecue in Lubbock has had some issues with thievery and arson, but it perseveres because, to its owners, barbecue is “damn near religion.”
El Sancho Tex Mex BBQ, in Mission, innovates with ten different tacos filled with combos like brisket and chilaquiles and chicharrón and pork belly.
Wild weather in Slaton forced the owners of Pitforks and Smokerings BBQ to face the past—and move their restaurant into the future.
As the flood waters rose in typically dry Amarillo, folks raced to fill up sandbags to protect Tyler's Barbeque from destruction.
Hallelujah! BBQ, a part of Rescue Mission of El Paso, helps staff develop vocational skills to propel them to new lives while serving good barbecue along the way.
Along with opening la Barbecue, the first woman- and-lesbian-owned barbecue restaurant in Texas, she had a keen photographic eye and an irreverent sense of humor.
Kyle St. Clair went through an arduous inspection process to get his smokehouse USDA certified to sell packaged brisket and chicken.
Joe Martinez has finally found a hobby that pays off with his truck, Smokin’ Joe’s Pit BBQ, which features chile relleno sausage and chili with beans.
Protocol Farms near Bowie takes inspiration from Japanese methods of feeding Wagyu, which includes jazz playing through the speakers and cool pens.
“Big Sam” Palomarez has been assembling links for Dozier’s BBQ, in Fulshear, since 1965 and has some fascinating stories from his tenure.
Andiron in Houston isn't a typical steakhouse. With a wide-ranging menu and a healthy dose of smoke, it embraces a more modern approach.
Houston joint Guillory’s Bar-B-Que is just daring enough to pile meat on top of meat, in addition to serving Beaumont-style beef links.
Cousins BBQ is embracing a new era, with updated sides, full barbecue trays, and an All You Can Meat (yes, that’s exactly what is sounds like) daily special.
At M’Jays House of Smoke, in Arlington, each menu item is bigger than the next. And if you run out of barbecue tolerance, this space also offers fried catfish and wings.
Using beautiful fungi from Smallhold's mushroom farm in Buda, I tried to mimic meat in the smoker and on the grill to mixed results.
Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice, in Pilot Point, is serving a limited menu until its brick-and-mortar opens, but brisket lovers are in luck.
The Lindseys have nurtured a new pitmaster in the family to take over the original location of this chain in Longview after several closures.
Fortunately, Texas pitmasters already know how to get more from a pork butt.
While the behemoth chop from the Houston-bred steakhouse is a national favorite, 1845 Taste Texas, near Dallas, has a similar cut that proves superior.