Texas BBQ Road Trip Report

[Kevin72]

Actually, it's not universal.

I've yet to run across a barbecue joint either here or in Kansas City that barbecues sausage.

Ribs, yes. Brisket, yes. Chicken, yes. Burnt ends? A Kansas City specialty and just about unique to the place.  Sausage? Nope.

I suspect that this is the unique contribution of the Germans to Texas barbecue.

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Yeah, when I lived in Georgia and ate barbecue there, there was no sausage to be found anywhere. I was even asking locals about it and they looked at me funny.

[Andrew Fenton]

you'd think, but apparently everyone's hot links recipe is a secrety secret.  salon did an article about it a while ago--here's a link.

Interesting. Barbecue chefs and nuclear scientists seem to vie with each other in pursuit of secrecy, don't they? Still, sausage is one of those things that is so easy to make, and rewards experimentation so richly, that it'd be worth a try to come up with your own version. (And then you could invite me over.)

[Kent Wang]

I'm extremely impressed. That's a lot of driving and eating.

[MissAmy]

This is an awesome thread.

Re: the sausage thing - it's not just central Texas. My mother's family is originally from West Texas, out by Lubbock and Abilene, and they have their own kind of barbeque and their own kind of sausage.

[Jaymes]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

Should have said that the "African-American-owned joints with which I am familiar here in Texas also often feature sausage."

Although I stop for barbecue wherever I travel, and I travel a lot and have eaten barbecue all over the country, I haven't really paid that close attention to whether or not there are hot links elsewhere.

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

[TexNewMex]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

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It was the Baby back ribs at Schoepf's........

mushy....no way!

Overdone.....not really......

good......Hell yea!

Thank God I wasn't at a BBQ competition....I would have missed out.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

A perfect explanation of the ribs that I experienced on the trip! Except the baby backs

[Jaymes]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

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It was the Baby back ribs at Schoepf's........

mushy....no way!

Overdone.....not really......

good......Hell yea!

Thank God I wasn't at a BBQ competition....I would have missed out.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

A perfect explanation of the ribs that I experienced on the trip! Except the baby backs.

Ah....well, then. I obviously must get to Schoepf's the next time I'm down that way.

And I guess you figgered out all by yourself why, when you got to Taylor, you were surprised to see TWO barbecue joints side by side, one of which is world famous, and the other of which you'd never heard.

And have since forgotten.

Edited August 12, 2006 by Jaymes (log)

[mikelbarnz]

Dug up this post to show a friend, and thought it deserved a bump. Best damn post ever. And best of all, central Texas BBQ is "beagle approved".

Edited July 19, 2009 by mikelbarnz (log)

[Kent Wang]

Beef rib from Louie Mueller?

[mikelbarnz]

Beef rib from Louie Mueller?

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Cooper's

[Bill Miller]

Mallet Bros BBQ--Navasota, Hwy 6 Loop-

Everything is good!! Brisket, ribs, pork, slaw, potatos. pototo salad, The whole family will make you happy. Nice building too!! Small sign, so don't miss it-if you do exit and come back--it's worth it!!