Made the mistake of dropping by Papas the other day at 59 and Hilcroft. Was never a big fan but was craving a chopped beef sandwich and was literally driving by it. Bad decision. For any smoked turkey fans out there, Stockyard on Westheimer makes a nice bird.
Went to Salt Lick in Driftwood. Well actually went to a wedding at the venue next door but they were catering it. Brisket, chicken, and pork ribs were all good. Thought the sauce had a great flavor. It looked like a ton of people next door but I'm not sure if there's usually a wait or not. I wouldn't wait in line for it. Still think Killen's beef ribs are the best one item of BBQ I've ever had. Would love to try Franklin's but 5 hours is just crazy for me.
Never bbq for myself but ever since the superbowl I've been looking at the weekly ads for meat prices. Kroger has some good ass ribeye steaks on sale. 2-3 for 12 bucks and the fajita meat is 4.99 lb. Hate dropping 90$ at a restaurant for crappy food and shitty service.
Any clutchfans from the Pittsburgh area want some great texas-style BBQ? Head north to Erie. There's a place that has some to die for brisket. It's been open for a year or 18 months. There's never a wait on weekdays, though it's usually a steady crowd. They sell out of things around 1:30. On the weekends, they're super busy and sell out sooner. http://www.federalhillsmokehouse.com
No, these guys are legit. They went down for a month or two and travelled between Austin and Dallas working with some of the guys down there, and even brought back one of their smokers. Best BBQ I've ever had outside of Texas. Even their slaw is peppery and thick cut, like I've had down there. Compared to another place around here is went to, for instance. The second place, I asked for a single meat plate...They didn't have it. So I order a half pound of brisket. It comes out soaked with BBQ sauce. Wtf?! It didn't taste terrible but the sauce, coupled with what seemed to be butter in the bottom of my plate led me to believe they roasted the brisket for a while then finished it with a quick smoke. Phonies.
Went there for a Wedding at the venue next door in December and I thought the BBQ was solid but a bit on the "too salty" side.
tried gatlin for the first time today, had the rib & brisket combo, very good. No wonder one of the best in town.
Hey all, Some of you may remember a post I made previously about buying a smoker for the backyard... well things have progressed pretty rapidly since then and myself and a friend of mine are looking to start our own catering business with a custom built smoker on the back of a trailer. After speaking to the team who would make it, this is pretty much exactly what it would be. In addition to taking requests to cater parties and what not, we're looking at setting up shop at night markets which are run 4 or 5 nights a week in the local area. I've contacted the councils who hold each night market (as it is at a different place every day, but the same place each week) and a couple of them don't allow the stalls to set up until 90 minutes before opening. (the other two allow me to come early morning to set up shop and a solid 12 hour cook in) What do you guys advise to do for those other night markets where I can't run the entire cook in the one position? Is it an option to run the smoker say at 4am until 4pm (when the doors open for me to set up shop) and then have the briskets etc resting/kept in something to maintain the heat and keep them warm whilst I'm in transit to the market, and then fire up the smoker to a low heat and put them all back in? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Double wrap your brisket in heavy duty foil, wrap with towels and put in a cooler. Don't leave it wrapped in there any longer than you have to. Save the juices from in the foil and add to your sauce/sop. It's not ideal but it works. Think about installing a 1 or 2 burner propane setup (you'd be surprised how often you use it) and maybe install a little railing around the trailer tongue so you can strap down and haul coolers, supply boxes, wood, etc.... It looks like wasted space as-is in the picture. That is a really sweet looking rig. I'm jealous. A couple of my buddies and I have kicked around the idea of doing the same thing, just haven't bit the bullet yet, mainly due to lack of time. I get reminded of it regularly when I drive by one of those used trailers for sale on the side of the road.
I've recently left my long term employment and didn't really like the option of starting from scratch again with the possibility of giving my all for another company who just sh*ts on their employees. That, and seeing how much true low and slow barbecue is taking off here in Australia has sort of steered us in this direction. My first thought too was how it's wasted space at the front of the trailer. On the behind of the actual smoker there's a whole caged segment dedicated to storing the wood. I'm thinking I'd ask them to put that cage on the tongue again so I can pop a bunch of random stuff in there for ease of transport. When you mention the cooler, do you mean just putting the meat in there with nothing else? And I assume just putting the lid on the cooler and letting all the meat keep itself warm? If that's the case, what do you advise in this scenario: - cook everything the full 8-12 hours - shut up the smoker and drive the 10 to 45 minutes away depending on which night market it is (food in coolers) - ??? do I then set up the smoker, start the fire again on a real low setting and pop the meat back in there? (once at the market - it's a steady 4 hours of potential customers) That rig is quite costly, but doing some research with how much a couple of bbq places (an hours drive away.... and I'm 100% positive they don't do the entire long haul cook in a smoker) sell their small portions for - if done right this can be pretty fruitful... In my opinion anyway
Yep. That sounds about right, I'd do a test run or 3 before serving the paying customers. Gotta season the pit anyway, ya know?
since this is the main Texas BBQ thread I thought I'd share today's meal--trying beef short ribs for the first time in the smoker, have done plenty of pork ribs before but first time for beef. We bought half an Angus steer for the first time last month and am enjoying learning about various cuts I've never bought before. Anyway. These just went in the smoker, they're going low and slow until about 6pm our time, and then it's dinner time for me and Mrs. Trig.
Dude! Just out of pure curiosity, where'd you buy it and who processed it? Short ribs are great, they do really, really well in a slow-cooker / braise type of preparation too. Those look proper, it's hard to buy stuff in the store that doesn't have 70% fat, gristle and connective tissue.
