Smoked Dallas

If there is a barbecue festival in Texas, you could normally find me there. Smoked Dallas has been an elusive one for me though. It either conflicts with something else on my schedule or it requires attending back to back BBQ events. Although we had just come back from a West Texas road trip, I was like you only live once so let's do this. This year was the fourth edition of the event. We had a good time at the festival. There were plenty of tasty, smoky bites. I wish the weather cooperated a little bit better. Although was a hot for late September, there was plenty of foliage that helped the crowd escape the sun. Here is my photo recap of the event:

Black's Barbecue - Brisket and jalapeño cheese sausage between Shipley donuts

BBQ on the Brazos - Brisket, sausage, and grits

Cattleack Barbeque - Brisket Q-T pie

Hutchins BBQ - Brisket and jalapeño cheese sausage

Lockhart Smokehouse - Smoked prime rib

Louie Mueller Barbecue - Beef short rib

Wayne cubing beef ribs

Meat Church - Pork belly burnt ends w/ jalapeño relish, 44 Farms smoked chuck roll with horseradish cream, and brisket sliders with chipotle pimento cheese

Pork belly burnt ends

44 Farms chuck roll

Chase Colston in the house

Meat U Anywhere BBQ - Brisket, rib, and jalapeño cheese sausage

One90 Smoked Meats - Brisket and pulled pork

Schmidt Family Barbecue - Brisket and creamed corn

Stanley's Famous Pit Bar-B-Q - Brisket and baby back rib

Ten50 BBQ - Beef short rib and slaw

Top 5 BBQ - Brisket, rib, and sausage

Tyler's Barbecue - Brisket, baby back rib, and prime rib

Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ - Brisket tacos and charro beans with brisket

Until next time, happy smoking...

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Pork Steaks

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Head Country Bar-B-Q, but all words and opinions are my own.

When I am on my BBQ road trips, I run across pork steaks occasionally. The steaks come from the shoulder/butt of the pig. You should be able to get your local grocery store or butcher to slice the pork shoulder into 1-1 1/2" sections. Pork shoulder is a very forgiving cut of meat with the amount of fat it has. It is very hard to dry it out. I prefer pork steaks over pork chops because of this. The extra fat also gives it a nice flavor. You can cook the steaks direct or indirect. I love the taste of it being cooked direct, but the temperatures are much higher this way. What I found best was to cook it a couple of hours directly on a grill and finish it off in an offset smoker.

Ingredients:
Head Country Championship Seasoning, Original
Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce, Original
Pork butt sliced into steaks
Apple cider vinegar
Water

Instructions:
1. Preheat your smoker to your desire temperature. Anywhere between 225-275F should be fine.

2. Make sure the meat is dry. Apply the rub liberally to all sides.

3. Put the pork steaks in the smoker.

4. In a bowl, mix 1 part BBQ sauce, 1 part apple cider vinegar, and 1 part water. I made about a cup and a half of it so a 1/2 of a cup of each. This is your "mop" sauce.

5. Flip the meat every hour throughout the process.

6. After a few hours or once the internal temperature hits about 160F, brush/mop the steaks ever so often.

7. Remove the steaks once the internal temperature of the pork steaks is about 200F.

8. Let them rest for about 30 minutes.

9. Enjoy.

Until next time, happy smoking...

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Pinkerton's Barbecue (First Impression)

Amber and I were going to be in Houston for the Texas Monthly Meatup. One of our good friends' birthday was the Friday before the event. I told him to pick a place for his birthday dinner. He, for whatever reason, let me decide for him. FYI- I would never let anyone choose my birthday dinner. I knew his wife loved pork ribs and a place came to mind with good ribs and that was open for dinner. Pinkerton's Barbecue. I visited Pinkerton's while researching for the Texas Monthly list and had a fantastic meal there.

Grant Pinkerton is the owner and pitmaster. That name sounds familiar? The Longhorn alum crashed the Houston BBQ scene in 2015 with a bunch pop-ups, catering gigs, and a brick and mortar coming. The River Oaks deal fell through and sent Grant scrambling. He finally secured a new location and after months of construction and renovation, he finally opened in December of 2016. He has hit the ground running ever since. When you go to Pinkerton's, you are going to Grant's house. He actually lives upstairs currently. That should make tending the late night fires a tad easier.

Everything on the menu was available when we arrived there around 7 PM. I ordered brisket, pork ribs, sausage, turkey, and chicken. I might have ordered a little too much. There were five people in our party, and not pictured are the unglazed ribs which brought the rib count to 14 bones. Grant starts his meat with mesquite and finishes them with post oak. I love that combo. Bodacious (Mobberly) does the same thing. Everything had a good amount smoke to them. The brisket was like butter. The fat was well-rendered, and the meat just melted in your mouth. It had a nice salt and pepper crust to it. Order both options of the pork ribs when you go, glazed and unglazed. I think I like the glazed more. It is like meat candy. The rib was sweet and tender. Kaylie ate 3 or 4 bones. She loved them. If you do not like your ribs as sweet, the unglazed is just as good. The sausage is Grant's blend but is made by someone off-site. It is good for what it is. The attention to details continued with the poultry on the menu. The turkey was moist and had a good flavor. The chicken was well-seasoned and packed a little kick on the end. The meat was very juicy. We could not stop eating the jalapeño cheese rice. It was just comforting. The others in the group shared a variety of desserts, but I was all about the banana cake. It was the perfect way to end the meal.

Bar

If you have a craving for BBQ for lunch or dinner, Pinkerton's Barbecue will exceed your needs. Ask Dez Bryant about that. Having a spot to get great 'cue late and then being able to hang out and have a few drinks afterwards seems like a luxury. If I lived in the area, this would be bad news for me. I would probably live off of the ribs, jalapeño cheese rice, banana cake, and Budweiser. The barbecue scene in Houston is thriving for sure. There are so many great choices now. Stop in at Pinkerton's Barbecue the next time you are in the area and see it for yourself.

2 Klose pits doing the work

Until next time, happy smoking...

Address: 1504 Airline Dr, Houston, TX 77009
Phone:
Website: http://www.pinkertonsbarbecue.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pinkertonsbarbecue/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pinkertonsbbq

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Beef Rib Burnt Ends

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Head Country Bar-B-Q, but all words and opinions are my own.

I think most people who know barbecue have heard of burnt ends. It's typically the point of the brisket smoked, cubed, sauced, and smoked again. It makes for a delicious, tender, and smoky bite. I came across some boneless beef chuck short ribs while shopping at my local warehouse club. The rib bones have been removed so the price per pound made it a no-brainer for me. You can ask your butcher or local grocery store to see if they can order or cut it for you. The marbling is a lot more uniform in beef ribs than brisket. The rib meat tastes richer and comes out even more tender because of it. The slab I bought came divided so the cook time was shorter. You can also use plate ribs, but keep in mind, they are much larger in size. I like my burnt ends sweet and spicy, but if you prefer something tamer, use the Head Country Championship Seasoning, The Original and Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce, The Original. This recipe was inspired by a Houston BBQ joint who has boneless beef rib burnt ends as specials.

Ingredients:
Head Country Championship Seasoning, High Plains Heat
Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce, Hot & Spicy
Slab of boneless beef ribs
Apple juice
Water

Instructions:
1. Preheat your smoker to your desire temperature. Anywhere between 225-275F should be fine.

2. Make sure the meat is dry. Apply the rub liberally to all sides.

3. Put the beef in the smoker.

4. In a spray bottle, add 1 part water to 1 part apple juice. You only probably need a half cup of the mixture. Spritz the slab every 45 minutes or so to keep the beef moist.

5. Pull the meat once the internal temperature hits about 185F.

6. Cube the beef into bite sizes.

7. Place the cubed beef into a foil pan.

8. Coat the cubes with the sauce. Make sure they are well coated.

9. Insert the pan in the smoker.

10. Remove the pan after two hours or if the internal temperature of the beef is about 200F, whichever comes first.

11. Enjoy.

Until next time, happy smoking...

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Baker Boys BBQ (First Impression)

My goal is to eat at all the 2017 Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ joints within a year. I feel like it is a rite of passage for true Texas barbecue fans. I am going to post a wrap up of all 50 and at each of the places that I have not written about before. I am already a dozen stops into the list so far. On this day, I had already gone to City Market (Luling). Gonzales is not too far from there so I made another stop at Baker Boys BBQ. I had been to Baker Boys before while researching for the list on behalf of Texas Monthly. I arrived around 3 PM that afternoon but remembered it being a good experience.

For the places I have not been to/written about, I am trying to order a decent chunk of the menu. I am getting annoyed at some of the pictures on social media where people are barely spending five bucks at some of these places. It is all about the sticker to some (Yeti is giving out prizes if you get certain stickers). I feel like you should order more and get the full experience at each place. I will get off my soap box now.

We ordered a little bit of brisket, pork ribs, sausage, chicken, turkey, pork loin, and stuffed chicken leg with a banana pudding. Most of the meats are cooked on vault smokers with oak lump charcoal. Everything had a good flavor. The brisket took a little effort to chew through. The pork ribs were nice and tender. The homemade pork and beef sausage surprised me. It had a good texture and taste to it. The turkey and chicken were juicy, but I prefer the skin of the chicken to be crispier. The highlights of the meal for me were the pork loin and stuffed chicken leg. The moist and flavorful pork loin ate very well. I loved the amount of smoke and seasoning on it. Phil and Wayne Baker (father and son) participated in competition barbecue before opening Baker Boys. The idea of the stuffed chicken came from that. They wrap the leg with the skin on around jalapeño and onion. They smoke it and then crisp up the skin on direct heat. It makes for one delicious bite. The homemade banana pudding rounded out the meal nicely.

Gonzales is only 14 miles south of I-10. Make a detour to Baker Boys BBQ if you are in the area. You will find a Top 50 worthy lineup. Do not skimp here. Go ahead and order a few of the meats. Your stomach and taste buds will thank you. With the menu prices that low, you might as well. Grade: N/A

Until next time, happy smoking...

Address: 1404 Sarah DeWitt Dr, Gonzales, TX 78629
Phone:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BakerBoysBBQ/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bakerboysbbq

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The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint

If you guys did not know, one of our Corgis, Bentley, has Degenerative myelopathy which is essentially ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for dogs. We have been taking him along on our road trips. Amber's birthday was in May and wanted to go somewhere fun and beachy but still drivable. We ended up picking Destin, FL for the white sands and we had not been before. I have heard of The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint from social media and TV and knew it was on the way to Florida. We stayed in Beaumont, TX to shorten our drive, and The Shed was only about 5 hours away. It was the perfect stopping point plus we arrived there right around lunch time.

I was really excited to stop at The Shed. It was my only planned BBQ stop of the trip. We ordered the Shed Sampler Platter and a banana pudding. The sampler comes with baby back ribs, spare ribs, pork, brisket, chicken, and sausage and three sides. We chose mac and cheese, sweet potato fries, and collard greens as our sides. The brisket came shredded so that was different. It was like eating pot roast. I really did not care for it. Both ribs were overcooked and coming apart when I bite into it. It was almost like eating pulled pork on a bone. The flavors and smoke across the meats were pretty good, but I just did not love how everything was cooked. The temperatures of the meats ranged anywhere from cool to lukewarm. That threw off the texture as well and did not make for the best eating experience. The chicken wings & leg, sausage, and pulled pork were solid. The mac and cheese was kind of weird. It had an interesting cheese sauce? drizzled on top. Our favorite bite of the meal was the homemade banana pudding. It was fluffy and tasty.

The Shed is a pretty cool spot. I say stop by in the evening when they have live music, grab a beer, and chill along the river. I was definitely disappointed in this visit. Maybe I just went on a bad day? You guys might have better luck when you visit. I am only allowed one barbecue stop when we are on vacation. We stopped in NOLA for a day on the way back, and I wished I had picked a joint there instead. Where to next? We have a trip planned in September for West Texas and some of the focus of the trip will involve stopping at some of the Texas Monthly Top 50 restaurants so I am really stoked about that.

Until next time, happy smoking...

Address: 7501 MS-57, Ocean Springs, MS 39565
Phone:
Website: http://theshedbbq.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheShedBBQ/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheShedBBQ

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