When Springer, the world’s leading science and technology publishing company, hosted a three day conference in Houston, they wanted to see a little slice of Texas, but they only had three hours on a Tuesday night. So I arranged a bus trip around town to drink Texas beer, sample some…
Book Review: Legends of Texas Barbecue
Many thanks to Brette Sember for her recent review of Legends of Texas Barbecue on the Lonely Planet’s Traveler’s Library blog. Big Barbecue in Texas The book starts with a detailed history of how Texas barbecue began (10,000 years ago with the Caddo Indians) and evolved as different peoples came…
Killen Q
Ronnie Killen is competing in the “Come and Take It!” BBQ competition this weekend in Gonzales. In July, he cooked in the Moulton Jamboree Cook-off. His team is doing pretty good–they have taken a couple of overall medals. He bought a new pit from Klose which he is still breaking…
Pitmaster: George Archibald, Jr.
There is a lot of barbecue on television these days. You see colorful barbecue cook-off competitors and talented young pitmasters. What you don’t see enough of are veteran pitmasters like George Archibald Jr.– artisans who have been quietly carrying on the Southern barbecue tradition for decades. We visited Archibald’s while…
BBQ Burgers
There’s a recipe for Franklin’s brisket in my new book, Texas Eats. There’s also recipes for some other “shade tree barbecue” recipes. And then there’s a real gem of a BBQ recipe tucked away in the hamburger chapter. It’s my version of the BBQ burger at Guy’s Meat Market in…
Life-Altering Barbecue
Barbecue Top 10 lists, BBQ restaurant ratings, rib rankings and all the rest of it are, as the Buddhists would say, illusion. There is no best barbecue, anymore than there is a best symphony or a best painting. This website is about the art, the culture and the Zen of…
Political Barbecues: Tippecanoe and Roasted Ox Too
At Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, I found a display on the subject of political barbecues. In the election of 1840, Whig candidate William Henry Harrison threw barbecues and held parades instead of debating such national problems as the expansion of slavery and the establishment of a national…
Community ‘Cue in the Houston Press
Check out this week’s feature story in the Houston Press on our latest research project: “Barbecue is one of the oldest artisan food traditions of the Americas. For the past few years, I have been crisscrossing the Old South documenting Southern barbecue culture. When I set out, I expected to…
Foodways Texas Films: Vencil Lives Here
Congratulations to Keeley Steensen for her new movie about Taylor Texas pitmaster Vencil Mares, winner of this year’s Foodways Texas Lifetime Acheivement Award. Vencil Lives Here from Foodways Texas on Vimeo.
Pitmaster: Shayne Carter
Shayne Carter was tending the pit at Kenney Hall when I got there on the morning of the 4th of July. This was his first year helping out at the Kenney community barbecue. Beef shoulder clods, mutton, and pork butts were the meats being cooked. I had recently seen Carter…
