My benchmark by which BBQ is measured remains in ancient memory, the gatherings of the local unit of 36th Division, Texas National Guard, at the old YMCA camp outside valley Mills, TX. There, BG Wiley Stem (passed but not forgotten), survivors of the desperate attempt to cross the Rapido, as bloody as Antietam and Gettysburg, Hell in a small place, the 36th's flanders Fields, and younger Guardsmen, hauled in the sacred pits, and converted brisket and shoulder clods (few "fixins" beyond light bread, onions and pickles, no beer) into ambrosia with which to feed dignataries, local and state pols, and a few boys being groomed to fill the ranks.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi!

I just got back from a little BBQ Weekend to Austin, TX and I thought I'd report back. Two places are big names, one place might be new to some people.

Friday: Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX
I've been here once before and wow was it great to be back. My friend and I arrived at about 7 PM and waited 40 minutes for a table. As we'd brought a dozen beers, we didn't care! We ordered the Thurman Plate which came with brisket (good, not great), rib (amazing), sausage (also amazing) and taters, slaw and beans. We followed this up with blackberry cobbler which was the just excellent.

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Initially I took this picture from farther away but they insisted I come around the counter to get a better shot.

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Saturday: Kreuz Market in Lockhart, TX
This place was new for both of us and when we arrived, the line was out the door. However, good food is worth waiting on and we weren't disappointed. The place is a gigantic warehouse with no air conditioning (though they have a smaller air conditioned dining room as well). We ordered a pound of brisket (decent, worse than Salt Lick), a half pound of Prime Rib (amazing) and two jalapeno/cheese sausages (amazing). I also tried Big Red which, fun as it was to try, is not something I'll be having again!

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"I'll take one"
"one what?"
"One everything!'

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Sunday: Franklin's BBQ in Austin, TX
Believe it or not, this was my first time visiting Franklin's. We arrived at 9:20 for the 11 AM opening and were 7th in line. We ordered a half pound of brisket (the best of the weekend), half pound of pulled pork (very good), and two sausages (love the hard casing and soft insides, best sausage of the weekend). This place absolutely lives up to its hype and I would have waited 4 hours for all the food.

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Menu on paper? Love it!

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You can see the famous Franklin's sauces too.

Great food, great weekend.

Sorry to have missed you.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Me too. I didn't know it was going to be a BBQ weekend until I arrived and it sort of happened. Wow do I feel like I swallowed a bowling ball though, I'm going to have to take it easy this week :D

Agreed...and unhealthy as MSG is NOT good for people...

Cheers,

Austin BBQ
 

As a native Austinite, I have grown up eating fantastic BBQ....the best ever was made by my grandfather and it included ribs, brisket and cabrito (SP??) or, young goat. My greatest regret is that I never paid attention to how he made is BBQ (mainly the sauce he made and used during the cooking/smoking). Sad, since I learned loads from a great grandmother, grandmother and mom...

I may start a firestorm, but I am going to poop on Salt Lick...great atmosphere but every time I and friends eat there we get sick....to me, some of the best BBQ in Austin (prior to Franklin's opening) is on your right on Hwy 290 (just past the Y in Oak Hill) as you drive towards Salt Lick...a small place called Donn's Texas BBQ and is behind a large big box store and is easy to miss....Iron Works used to be fine (maybe it still is) but I have not been there in years...Austin has become too bloody hot in recent years to make me want to try Iron Works again except in the "coldest" months (oxymoron??)

Black's in Lockhart is still very good but as far as Kreuz's goes, I ate there with a small group once and not one of us has ever returned...except for Black's...

Finally,County Line is pretty decent BBQ (great bread and sauteed mushrooms), but pricey and I use that place to take visiting friends as the lake location has great ambiance...the hill location is also tasty but trying to get back onto Bee Cave Rd can sometimes be like a near death experience

Cheers,

My favorite place when I'm out near the Y. Going to make a trek out to Opie's a little farther out on 71 soon, however.

Iron Works is an acceptable place still; not the best, but certainly not the worst either. They don't have AC, so yeah, it can get uncomfortable during late spring - late fall unless you are lucky enough to find seating near one of the huge circulating fans.

I agree completely. When I'm in Lockhart, it's always Black's for me.

Not that big a fan of this place. So many others are so much better, so I only go when someone from out of town insists upon it.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

I know this is a VERY old post, but I wanted to bring it up for discussion. Is MSG really a common ingredient in "prize-winning" BBQ? I can see how it would be. I've found that adding a bit of MSG (usually Goya Sazon) to certain dishes really helps balance the flavor.

As for BBQ, our options here in Florida are limited. Sonny's is the big chain, but they're amazingly mediocre IMO. And any BBQ restaurant that considers brisket to be pulled beef isn't a real BBQ restaurant in my book.

MSG in "prize winning BBQ"? Purists, especially those who rub their meat with only salt & pepper, would react with horror at such an adulterant (which would be likely to be organically converted to some strange and dangerous compound by 12 hours or so in the pit). Of course, Purists are reactionary extremists and consider that the inclusion of any 'sweetener' in BBQ sauce, especially HFCS or ingredients containing such, to be as heretical as openly practicing the Albegensian faith or engaging in sexual congress with livestock.

50 years ago, when the world was young, Lou Bono's in JAX, had pretty good ribs, but time has taken its toll...

I will never eat ANY type of food with MSG (mono sodium glutamate) as it is classified an an excito-toxin and is NOT good for people....I know many folks (including my dad and brother) who will become extremely ill if they eat food with MSG (Chinese places are usually the biggest offenders though to the credit of many Chinese restaurants will leave it out if requested).....sadly,many available BBQ rubs are loaded with MSG :mad:

I have never encountered MSG in any of my regular BBQ haunts in town, but I will always ask if I try a new place....

Cheers,

If you eat out at all, I'll bet you are eating it routinely. In things you would never suspect.

Question: Where do you people stand on the issue of sweet barbecue sauces?

I don't like much or most barbecue, especially Texas barbecue, for that reason. Went to County Line a long time ago and found what I ordered too sweet. I buy grocery barbecue sometimes for DH and can't manage it because of the sweetness factor.

(Just as an aside, love those fun Burger King barbecue sandwiches available this summer! Yes, I know that is heresy to you gourmet people! But we're talking just sheer fun, not gourmet, with them--big, paperwrapped goodies with all sorts of additions, slices of tomato, onion, lettuce, cheese, sauces--fun to figure out all the additions in the oversized, paper-wrapped giants. Not a treat for every day unless I wanted to be carried out of BK on a stretcher, but so much fun once a week or so, for a few weeks anyway!).

Okay--back to topic: I have researched online barbecue sauces, looking for something non-sweet. I have also researched barbecue-sauce recipes, and though they might work, still are a lot of work.

So my question: Do you people find Texas-style beef/brisket barbecue too sweet? Is it supposed to be sweet?

And what about accompaniments? Bun, maybe toasted, or is it often with accompanying dry white bread? I stopped at a roadside chain awhile back, thinking I was going to get some authentic barbecue. Actually, I ordered barbecued turkey, and though it wasn't served with sweet sauce (could add my own if I had chosen), still just had dry, cottony white bread with it.

So I am hesitant to check out Texas barbecue further. (My interest would be limited to sandwiches, not the meat with sides.) Mainly, I just wonder if the preference is for a sweet sauce. Have checked barbecue sauces in grocery stores, and the main ingredient is sugar or corn syrup. I just wish for a savory sauce, not a sweet sauce.

Probably served with a flame-retardant suit. :p I know this heretical post is going to offend just about every barbecue person around. :D

And yes, I know that the BK Whopper versions of BBQ have sugar too, but the taste of sugar is diluted considerably with the sandwich additions. Anyway, I am giving them a special exemption. After all, it's only for the summer. ;)

Brisket has no need for sweetening, since beef slow smoked develops plenty of caramelized sugars on its own. "Sweet" BBQ sauces are like unto perfumed hoors, attempting to conceal the likely absence of quality beneath.

The classic presentation of BBQ, brisket, ribs or sausage (or variety meats like lamb, cabrito, organ meats) is without sauce, especially the immoderately over-sweetened offerings currently in vogue. "On the side', purists prefer a traditional "Dipping Sauce", unsweetened, seasonings (often offered in varying degrees of "heat") and thinned with liquid, stock best, but even water works, not to souse the meat, but to sprinkle a bit atop while eating.

Traditional cooking rubs were no more than salt & pepper, adding one or more of the ground dried chilies optional. Slathering sticky, juicy rubs before/during cooking are the Devil's work!

"Light" ("Store-bought") bread is traditional and common, the foundation for the "wrap", a hand-composed envelope of a sausage link (especially the East Texas "Hot Link", essentially a spicy short version of what we used to call "Ring Baloney" [sic]), or brisket.

Sides? Few and simple, sliced raw onion, sliced dill or sour pickles, jalapenos in escabeche (pickled) or maybe cherry peppers and pepperoncini, and the dipping sauce.

Sauce? We could argue all day over composition, but "homemade" is the key. My basic version (without drippings unless prepared with home-smoked meats) contains beef stock, a little (very little) ketchup ('cuz it too is sweet), soy sauce, any of several Mexican or Louisiana "Hot Sauces" (not US "picante" sauce) or these days sometimes Chipotle in Adobo. A little of the vinegar favored by Carolinians/Carolingians is acceptable for pork and spareribs, as is mustard (and basic "yellow' works). I haven't seen any in years, but there was once a bottled sauce named "Juicy Pig" that stood above gloppy, sugary goo that lines supermarket shelves and served in most BBQ joints.

Great minds think alike. ^

I'll try the recipe, and thanks. Thanks also for the civil post. :D

I was thinking when I posted, that I was soon likely to be flamed myself on the barbecue grill. Still can happen, the day is yet young. :D

One of the best BBQ sauces is Bone Suckin' Sauce from Raleigh, NC. No corn syrup, all natural. Not sickly sweet or fake smoky. It frequently makes the "best of" lists for BBQ sauces.