Jaymes

A lot of the Texas joints prefer a very thin, vinegar- and chile-based hot sauce, more like Tabasco, than the thick, heavy sauces that come immediately to mind. In fact, there's a current thread about Texas BBQ (Texas BBQ Road Trip) where the poster refers to a bottle of "contaminated water" on the table that to his surprise turned out to be the barbecue sauce.

I've been living in Springfield, MO, right up the road from Joplin. Had no idea. Of course, I've got to try it as well. Interesting!

I missed the episode about the Tex/Mex border. Anyone know when it's running again?

Because this is basically an improvised dish, there are all sorts of ways to do it. Some people pre-fry the tortillas and add them at the penultimate moment, so that they are crispy. I think that's best. But other home cooks tear the tortillas into strips and just toss them in as they're scrambling the eggs. Really up to you, Señor.

And I definitely think that's true. There seem to be 'tiers' of bbq places. Especially in that top tier, which include four or five of the places on your list, I think it's the "any given Sunday" rule. On any given day, you might find you like one cut of brisket more at one certain restaurant than at another that was your favorite on a previous trip. Although, as I've said, some do seem to me to be more consistant. I've had better brisket than Black's on various trips. But I've never gotten a dry or tough bite there, either. And I do like the Elgin hot links, but I personally find the rest of the BBQ at the Elgin restaurants to be decidedly second-, or even third-tier.

You're right about the migas. We've got quite a conversation going about migas over in this thread: Migas - What is this dish? Edit: And if you liked the BBQ mutton, you should manage to work in a visit to Sam's in East Austin. That's their specialty. And you'll find LOTS of choices at Cooper's in Llano. That's a great place to try something besides just your "usual."

I'd suggest that you serve the carnitas on the side, along with sliced avocadoes, or make some quac, rather than incorporating them into the migas.

A lot of mine seem to involve peanut butter... A saltine smeared with peanut butter and topped with a slice of ripe garden tomato. A wedge of cold apple smeared with peanut butter. A sandwich with mayo, banana slices and peanut butter. And for some reason, I can't eat a PB&J without a couple of spears of cool, crisp dill pickle alongside. I also like cottage cheese with a little of that icky, bottled "French" (what an insult to the French) dressing drizzled over, although I can't stand the stuff on regular salads. Sadly, it seems that I've passed my fondness for all these treats on to my children.

makes me very sad. Sad because it is a common problem, and forces me to wonder how many tourists leave our fair shores without a good meal to their name. Yes, it is a shame. Because Ireland seems to have a lot of good, fresh ingredients... There's no reason why they can't have a strong culinary tradition as well. But perhaps a place to start is to patronize, support and encourage places like this Bruach na Haille that seem to be working so hard to get it right.

You already had seen the "halls of greatness." Kreuz got its start over in the Smitty's building. There was a family feud a couple of years back. The sister is in the old building, running Smitty's. The brother is in the new building running Kreuz.Haven't you heard the story? Maybe Hall of greatness was bit much.......I have read the story.....I was just impressed with the size and thats the one place everyone said to go.......maybe i will have t do another fact finding misson to Smitty's.I don't think "halls of greatness" was too much. In fact, I think it's perfect. I just think you used it to describe the wrong halls. Here's my opinion on all of these places. You're dealing with so many uncontrollable variables -- organic product, fire, skill of the pitmaster, carver, etc. Especially when it comes to brisket (which seems to be the most difficult of all of the traditionally barbecued meats to cook properly), it might be great one day, and dry and tough the next. Pork chops are next on the difficulty scale, I think. But ribs and sausage and the pork butts and whole pigs of those southeasterners seem to be much easier to do consistantly well. As I've said elsewhere, the last two times I was at Kreuz, the brisket was so dry and tough that I couldn't eat it. But other times, it's fabulous. For me, Black's is the most consistantly reliable, so when I head down that way, I usually get at least a pound of brisket from City Market, Smitty's and Kreuz to take home for the freezer, but I always make sure I get some brisket from Black's, too, just in case. I really think that in so far as brisket is concerned, the top joints all offer a pretty similar product. I've got hot link favorites, because the flavor varies so widely, but they're all wonderful. The main thing that differs for me, is the "halls of greatness." When it comes to the building, and transporting yourself back through the years, and imagining that you're a hungry, hot and dirty dark-skinned field hand and it's lunchtime and none of the restaurants will even let you in their doors, so you go to your local German-run butcher shop and order up a half-pound or so of various smoked meat and take it ouside and sit there under a handy shade tree eating it with your fingers, sprinkling the meat and crackers with a little hot sauce that you carry with you in your jeans...well...you just can't beat Smitty's. They're waaaay ahead of everyone else in the "hallowed halls" category. There's nothing "great" about that ugly big barn. Maybe in a hundred years or so its "halls" will have soaked up enough "greatness" to be so described. But for now, it's just a big, soulless, commercial building built to pack in as many busloads of tourists as possible. There's no hint, no trace of the German immigrants like Charles Kreuz that arrived in the Hill Country around the turn of the last century and, missing the smoked meats of their homeland, set about recreating them, thereby beginning a hallowed tradition that lingers like smoke drifting over the Texas hills until this day. And on top of that, regarding the feud and who was right and who was wrong, I'm totally with the sister. Here he was getting rich and famous and buying new cars and houses and pickups and doing interviews and sending mail orders all over god's creation and flying here there and everywhere catering barbecue dinners for business tycoons and movie stars and kings and queens and everybody else wealthy and powerful enough to be able to afford it. While all she had was the rent on an aging building that needed constant and expensive maintenance, which he expected her to pay for, in some little nothing town in the middle of Texas. Think about it...how would you like it? And then Mr. Famous Texas Barbecue hotshot with his mug on the face of all the magazines, and beaming out at you from your teevee set comes to you and wants you to make the costly repairs and install an expensive expanded air conditioning system and so forth, out of your pocket, and he isn't going to help pay for it because even though he's the one that wants it, it's your building and if you don't pay for everything he wants he's going to move out and build his own building, so there, nanny nanny boo boo? Oh, don't get me wrong. I'll still buy 'cue from Kreuz...espcially their hot links and pork chops, but in my heart... Long live Smitty's. You go, girl. So there.

You already had seen the "halls of greatness." Kreuz got its start over in the Smitty's building. There was a family feud a couple of years back. The sister is in the old building, running Smitty's. The brother is in the new building running Kreuz. Haven't you heard the story?

I am really enjoying this. Not only are the pictures terrific, but the writing is fast-paced, easy to read, and very entertaining. Great job, TNM.

Which also isn't aways derogatory. As in, "that's quite a weinie you've got there."

I just heard from my daughter in Ireland with this: "Also, we found a restaurant that MUST be talked about on your food board. It's in Doolin, right by the Cliffs of Moher, and called Bruach na Haille. The food wasn't just 'good for Ireland' it was of the highest caliber anywhere. And, it wasn't all that expensive. We shared the goat cheese with carmelized onions appetizer and 2 people had the seafood soup. Those two (Wade and Ed) immediately ceased conversing because they were completely focused on the soup! Then, for dinner we either had salmon or steak and both were divine. Truly awesome dishes. We met the chef and she was so gracious and lovely. It was the only time that Wade and I have left an Irish restaurant feeling like it was time and money well spent. YOU MUST tell others to stop by that place. You either need reservations or be willing to wait for a long time. We naturally were forced to do the latter, but found refuge in the pub next door."

What a great idea.

Next time, see it all.

I hope you two walked through the rest of the building to see it all. It's sacred ground, you know. A holy temple of bbq.

Although it shouldn't ever be dry, the fact is that sometimes it is. That won't happen, however, if you order it "wet" or "fatty."

And if you were driving those roads over by Llano, you undoubtedly went by a lot of peach stands. Hope you picked up some of those as well. It's that time of year. And I think I'd rather drive past peach stands than Bluebonnets anyway.

Ah ha! So THAT'S "Molly"! Cute.

The only traveling companions you mention are your wife and 8-month-old daughter, Molly. So who, pray tell, is your adorable little heterochromatic friend?

Me, three.

Leg of lamb was the first thing I ever learned to cook for small dinner parties, and it's still my number one standby. This is how I do it: Grilled Leg of Lamb

Um...."texture"?Add me to the texture camp. Mouthfeel makes me think something is groping my palates and tongue Yes, and not in a good way.

So I see the threads have been merged. Fourteen pages of kvetching. Hilarious.