about to go on three pages and y'all haven't got to the point yet:
http://checkscafe.com/
they are smoking ribs and chicken, but, being a vegetarian, i'm going for the coleslaw, sweet potatoe casserole, brussel sprouts and chocolate cake.
Just received this:
TEXAS MONTHLY ANNOUNCES DATE OF ITS
FOURTH ANNUAL BBQ FESTIVAL
Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Featured With
Newly Selected Top 50 Best BBQ Joints
On November 3 in Austin
Texas Monthly announced that it will hold its fourth annual BBQ Festival on November 3 on the City Terrace at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin. This year’s festival will be particularly exciting, as it will showcase restaurants from the magazine’s soon-to-be-announced ranking of the Top 50 Barbecue Joints in Texas. The list will be published in the June issue, on newsstands May 23. Festival attendees will enjoy an afternoon of barbecue sampling, great live music, and cold libations beside the picturesque shores of Lady Bird Lake.
To compile the hotly anticipated “Top 50” list for the June cover story, published every five years, Texas Monthly’s team of highly trained eaters scours the state for many months, looking for the top new barbecue restaurants and revisiting those on previous lists to ensure they continue to deserve to be among the best.
This year’s barbecue team has been led by longtime food editor Patricia Sharpe and the magazine’s new Barbecue Editor, Daniel Vaughn. Vaughn is the creator of the popular Texas blog Full Custom Gospel BBQ and well-known to barbecue aficionados by his Twitter handle @BBQsnob. He has eaten at more than 600 barbecue joints, the vast majority of them in Texas. In May his book, The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue, will be released by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
For more information about the 2013 Texas Monthly BBQ Festival, follow us @tmbbqfest or go to www.texasmonthly.com/bbqfestival.
Texas Monthly has a monthly readership of over 2.5 million, reaching one out of every eight Texas adults. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. Emmis owns and operates radio stations and other magazines across the country.
Enjoy,
ricks
I'm on record as an NC bbq enthusiast. As pork goes, it gets no better than Lexington BBQ or, IMO, Backyard BBQ Pit #1 in Durham. I put them up against any other NC or other state's attempt at pork bbq. And there is no doubt in my mind it is better than most other bbq forms. But there is room for us all to learn and grow. I've had okay TX bbq but probably have not yet tasted the best. Still, I challenge anyone, anywhere to do better than the original Oklahoma Joe's in KC. I simply cannot imagine there is better brisket anywhere.
Well A-Tex Devil threw down the gauntlet but I had hope to illicit a stronger response than his very tepid Etymology statement. Where's that whole "Don't mess with Texas" mentality or "Remember the Alamo"? I don't know what a tisket, a tasket or a brisket is but it can't be Bar BQ. I'm all for coexisting, tolerance and all but we have to draw the line somewhere don't we? Git yerself some Eastern NC Q, some SC hash over rice and forget about ketchup, mustard, potato soup, brisket, dry/wet ribs and any other bastardization of my beloved BarBQ.
Last edited by lotusland; 05-23-2013 at 02:38 PM. Reason: spelling
Here's a hilarious article on the trials and tribulations of making Texas BBQ by someone who took it up a couple of years ago. It was in today's Washington Post.
Sample -- Advice to BBQ guests: "Be nice to the host, who has probably gone a couple of nights without sleep."
While it has a dig or two for "oversauced" KB cue, it is really just a humorous article about the sacrifices required to get the barbecue "just right."
sagegrouse
When TBCC did our second competition, one of my teammates asked what I did the first time when we took home a trophy. My response? "Hell if I know". I'm a firm believer of never doing 'cue the same way twice, other than replicating the cook time. Beyond that, as long as it has some spices, some kind of injection, and some vinegar in there somewhere, I'm happy. If we get 1st place instead of third, I might change that philosophy, but until then, it's more fun trying something new each time out.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
South Carolinians have some of it right, but they're still just very, very wrong:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-col...ection-results
(Stephen Colbert's amusing bit on SC/NC bbq the other week)
"Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR
You mentioned chili:
Frank: "Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cooking contest. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (native Texans) that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted." Here are the scorecards from the advent:
(Frank Judge #3)
Chili # 1 Eddie's Maniac Monster Chili...
Judge # 1 --! A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge # 2 -- Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
Judge # 3 -- (Frank) What the hell is this stuff?! You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put out the flames. I hope that's the worst one. These Texans are crazy!
Chili # 2 Austin's Afterburner Chili...
Judge # 1 -- Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge # 2 -- Exciting BBQ flavor; needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 -- Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.
Chili # 3 Ronny's Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili...
Judge # 1 -- Excellent firehouse chili. Great kick. Needs more beans.
Judge # 2 -- A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of peppers.
Judge # 3 -- Call the EPA. I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now.
Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I'm getting pie-eyed from all of the beer...
Chili # 4 Dave's Black Magic...
Judge # 1 -- Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge # 2 -- Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish, or other mild foods; not much of a chili.
Judge # 3 -- I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. That 300-lb. woman is starting to look HOT...just like this nuclear waste I'm eating! Is chili an aphrodisiac?
Chili # 5 Lisa's Legal Lip Remover...
Judge # 1 -- Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
Judge # 2 -- Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne ! peppers make a strong statement.
Judge # 3 -- My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead, and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I'm burning my lips off. It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw those rednecks.
Chili # 6 Pam's Very Vegetarian Variety...
Judge # 1 -- Thin, yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers.
Judge # 2 -- The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, a! nd garlic. Superb.
Judge # 3 -- My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulphuric flames. I pooped on myself when I farted and I'm worried it will eat through the chair! No one seems inclined to stand behind me anymore. I need to wipe my butt with a snow cone.
Chili # 7 Carla's Screaming Sensation Chili...
Judge # 1 -- A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.
Judge # 2 -- Ho-hum; tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chili peppers at the last moment. **I should take note that I am worried about Judge # 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress, as he is cursing uncontrollably.
Judge # 3 -- You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn't feel a thing. I've lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chili, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least during the autopsy, they'll know what killed me.
I've decided to stop breathing; it's too painful. Screw it; I'm not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I'll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.
Chili # 8 Karen's Toenail Curling Chili...
Judge # 1 -- The perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili. Not too bold, but spicy enough to declare its existence.
Judge # 2 -- This final entry is a good, balanced ! chili. Neither mild, nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge # 3 farted, passed out, fell over, and pulled the chili pot down on top of himself.
Not sure if he's going to make it. Poor fella, wonder how he'd have reacted to really hot chili?"
Judge # 3 -- Oh God.....
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Triangle BBQ war!
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/food/e...eaving-the-pit
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
From WRAL TV:
http://www.wral.com/bbq-pit-master-m...rham/12446402/
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Greensboro (NC, of course!) has a Smithfield's Chicken & Barbeque opening soon out near the Walmart at I-85 and Elm/Eugene. Somebody let me know if you notice they've open, please. The Mebane location, about 25 miles east, is a high-quality operation, so I hope the same franchiser does this one. My wife really loves the chicken, but I only eat BBQ there, usually with slaw, baked beans, hushpuppies, and sweet tea. The baked beans have barbeque in them, an admirable use of pork!
Smithfield's calls their 'cue Eastern style, and it definitely has the vinegar-based stuff on it. In Greensboro, I love Country BBQ (Lexington style) on Wendover near I-40, and also the Henry James (Lex) just off Bus. 85 in High Point. Anybody tried some other joints in the Greensboro area I could try? I'm not a Stamey's fan, but realize many folks love it.
Man, if your Mom made you wear that color when you were a baby, and you're still wearing it, it's time to grow up!
Oh, I'm being tongue and cheek a bit. I know that what we are doing in Texas isn't "technically" Bar BQ in much the same way that (for beer lovers) United States IPAs aren't "technically" traditional IPAs, for instance. But where the word began and what the word is now are very different. Whether that's wrong, or evolution, is a matter of opinion. My grandmother doesn't think rock and roll or rap are types of music, for instance. She and I will agree to disagree.
What i do know, is that if you put the best NC pulled pork BBQ in front of me on one plate, and a smorgasbord of slow smoked fatty brisket, pork ribs, cabrito, jalapeno sausage and 6 finger high pork chop on another, all sans sauce, I know what I'm going for every time. So, fine, it's not "Bar BQ", but it's better. Perhaps it's simply an unfair comparison.
I have a question about BBQ. When did the term "pulled pork" come about? When I lived in NC you got your BBQ either chopped or sliced. I never heard the term "pulled" until recently. Anyone know the origin?