2011

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chickenWEB

It's turn in time at the Smokin' Possum Cookoff

Gary J's famous chicken & ribs have been turned in to the judges, now it's down to the biggie - brisket. That's a 3 p.m. turn in time. Marshall cooked three briskets to choose between for our entry. Out of that we'll enter just seven slices for the judges to taste test. Win or lose, we've had a great time last night and today. What an amazing day out here at the second annual Smokin' Possum Cookoff.   Photos by Chris Wilkins
Cooking - 05/21/2011
smokeSM

Fear & Loathing at the Smokin' Possum Cookoff at Possum Kingdom Lake

It's less than 11 hours til our first check in time at the Smokin' Possum Cookoff. This is the second year for the competition, which has been named as a Texas state championship by the I.B.C.A. We're missing two members of our cook team, Bryan Gooding and Gary Barber, who were key members of the award winning run at last year's Blues, Bandits & BBQ Festival in Oak Cliff. This is our first cookoff since then. We're cooking ribs, chicken and brisket against a tough field of seasoned competitors. We'll be live blogging during the day, for better or for…
Cooking - 05/21/2011
ribalone

Posse favorites: Beef ribs at Lockhart Smokehouse

Beefed Up Wednesday is something you're going to want to check out at Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff. Posse member Jim Rossman came back after a recent lunch raving about the beef ribs, a menu item available only on Wednesdays. And Jim eats there one or two times a week. Not a lot of joints serve beef ribs, though I've tried them at several places including Louie Mueller BBQ, Gonzales Food Market and Smoke in Dallas. The ribs from Louie Mueller have been amazing every time I tried them and Gonzales was really good as well. I probably won't order…
Joints - 05/17/2011
smokefestWEB001

The first families of Dallas BBQ meet up at The Great Posse Smokefest

A spouse of one Posse member likened The Great Posse Smokefest this past Saturday and Sunday to a sleep-over for 10-year-old boys. Yes, I did take my pillow and, thankfully, got to use it for an hour and a half. The smoking of meat started Saturday evening, continued all night, and culminated in a party for Posse members and friends, totaling more than 50 people. The highlight, other than the fellowship around the pits, was early Sunday afternoon when the owners of the Pecan Lodge -- Justin and Diane Fourton -- met the owners of Lockhart Smokehouse -- Jeff and…
People - 05/17/2011
mixon

Myron Mixon may conquer the world, but there's no way it's real Texas BBQ

Gotta love the title of Myron Mixon's new book, Smokin'. One word that conjures a thousand pictures. And the self-proclaimed "winningest man in barbecue" even weighs in on our recent debate here about wood versus gas. "Can I smoke food on a gas grill?" Mixon asks rhetorically midway through his opening chapter. "You bet your ass you can," he answers. Mixon's credentials are impressive, as he lets you know in a short section called: "How Much Have I Won?" No self-esteem issues with Myron. Of course, anyone who has watched him on TLC's BBQ Pitmasters already knows that. He cites…
Cooking - 05/16/2011
garyMARSsm

We love the smell of hickory smoke in the morning

It's 11 a.m. on a beautiful day for The Great Posse Smokefest in Dallas. Everyone has had a nap -- some longer than others -- and we feel rejuvenated after a night of fellowship around the pits. Most of the meat is done and resting. Chris' pork butt still has some time to go. Justin's brisket, which looks absolutely beautiful, is finishing. We just loaded the chickens on the Jambo. For now, we can relax and enjoy the smell of hickory smoke. Photos ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse
People - 05/15/2011
justin_marshallSM

Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge is in the house

It's now 4:49 a.m. and Justin Fourton, owner and pitmaster of the Pecan Lodge has joined the party at the first Great Posse Smokefest. Justin and his wife Diane, aka: The Boss Lady, serve what many consider to the the best brisket in Dallas. We started with a tour of his awesome mobile pit as he got the fire up to temp. It's now 5:30 a.m. and we're talking BBQ technique and getting as many of his secrets as we can. Brisket and biscuits for breakfast before too long..... Photos by ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse
People - 05/15/2011
temp

Marshall Cooper explains the temperature variances of his competition-tuned Jambo

When the temperature gauge says 250 degrees, that's the grate temp for the center third of the pit, Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper says, based on three months of test cooks. The left third of the cooking chamber, away from the firebox, is 10 degrees cooler, and the right third, nearest the firebox, is 25 degrees warmer, perfect for chicken and pork butt. Cooper fired the pit at 6:30 p.m. with three 22-inch hickory logs and has added a log an hour. It's 2:30 a.m. and the gauge is a steady 250. "This cook is going damn good," Cooper said, sitting…
Equipment - 05/15/2011
smokefest

Welcome to The Great Posse Smokefest

It's 1:30 a.m. on Preston Crest Lane. The Jambo J-3 is locked in at 250 degrees. Five briskets soaking up clean hickory smoke. We've got a half-dozen racks of ribs in the brine, waiting to be rubbed and put on the smoker at 6 a.m. or so. A couple of chickens, and pork butt, too. Justin Fourton, pitmaster of the Pecan Lodge, plans to arrive at 4 a.m. with his pit. Later, Jeff Bergus, owner of Lockhart Smokehouse plans to arrive with some of his original Kreuz Market sausage. Welcome to The Great Posse Smokefest. We hope to have fun…
People - 05/15/2011
pride2

The wood versus gas BBQ debate continues as we analyze a Southern Pride recipe

Southern Pride makes gas-fired commercial smokers, which burn a little wood for flavor, and offers cooking tips to its customers. For one of its larger machines, the XLR-1400, which has a capacity of 72 briskets, the recipe for "Texas style brisket" says cook 12 to 14 hours and use a total of two 4-inch by 12-inch logs. That's for a "heavy smoke" taste, the recipe says. A couple weeks ago, we got into a good discussion on this blog about real Texas barbecue and whether it could ever be cooked with gas. We still say no and offer Southern Pride's…
Cooking - 05/06/2011
da13

A grim indictment of the lack of BBQ choices in Dallas

I just bought a copy of the Barbecue Lover's Guide to Austin, by Gloria Corral. Daniel Vaughn, the BBQ Snob, reviewed it a couple weeks ago and he's right. The 174-page paperback is skinny on critical guidance. But if you live in Dallas, like some of us in the Posse, it's also evidence of our lack of barbecue choices.   Corral has write-ups on nearly 60 places within the city of Austin. Subtract the chains (anything with more than one outlet, which knocks out County Line, Bill Miller, Cartwright's and PoK-e-Jo's, among others) and there are still about 35 joints,…
Joints - 05/05/2011
etxLede

The Barbecue Chronicles: Back to East Texas where we find proof that wood rules

It had been a few months since the Posse’s last barbecue tour. So, we reminded ourselves to be conservative and not overeat at the first stop. “I’m just going to have one rib,” said tour veteran Marshall Cooper as he drove east from Dallas on I-20. His passengers laughed. “Well, if they’re good I might have four or five,” he conceded. In the end, somehow, Texas barbecue always manages to bring out the truth. For this chapter of our barbecue chronicles, we traveled 290 miles over 10 hours on a beautiful spring Saturday that was chilly when we started and…
Roadtrips - 05/01/2011
frank01

Report from the new Franklin Barbecue: It's still the same ol' amazing BBQ

Texas BBQ Posse member Phil Lamb checks in after a visit to Franklin Barbecue's new location at 900 E. 11th in Austin. Franklin's former home, the little blue trailer at Concordia & I-35, quickly became a Texas BBQ legend. Can pitmaster Aaron Franklin continue to produce what some call the best brisket in Texas at his new sit down restaurant? That's the million dollar question among Texas BBQ followers. Phil writes: I had another great BBQ lunch at Franklin this afternoon. My uncle and I did 1 lb. brisket (lean), 1 lb. brisket (fatty), 2 lbs ribs and 2 sausage…
Joints - 04/30/2011
hipbbq07

Brisket burglary! Is there a worse BBQ crime?

In our recent post about Baby J's Bar-B-Que & Fish in Palestine, we promised to tell you why Jeremiah "Baby J" McKenzie padlocks the cooking chambers on his brisket pit.   Well, that wasn't the only instance of brisket burglary we encountered on our recent East Texas barbecue tour. Taste and temptation must be the devil's work. Ron Davis, who runs Stacy's Bar-B-Q in Jacksonville, told us that "every now and then" someone breaks into the small building that houses his two big gas-fired smokers and grabs some meat. "They don't wear gloves and the briskets are hot so they…
Joints - 04/29/2011
chish01

Chisholm Trail Bar-B-Q in Lockhart: Where the locals eat

Finishing our I-10 BBQ roadtrip in Lockhart was never the plan. We pulled away from our fourth stop, Family Tradition Bar-B-Q in Waelder, without a destination in mind. Jeff and I headed west on Hwy. 90 toward Luling, where we had started the day with a 10:30 am BBQ breakfast at City Market. Passing through town we saw the sign: Lockhart - 17 miles. You gotta do what you gotta do. We headed north up Hwy. 183 and were in Lockhart in no time. Carl Ellis, a former Dallas Morning News sports editor who now lives in Lockhart, had told…
Joints - 04/26/2011
signs01

BBQ Signs of our Times - Chapter 3

Back by popular demand, our BBQ signs series continues. A rule of thumb: The more homemade the sign, the down home the barbecue. Here are some signs from our recent East Texas II BBQ Tour and a couple of other recent BBQ roadtrips. You can click to see the first BBQ Signs of our Times post or BBQ Signs of our Times II. Thanks to new posse member Phil Lamb for his contributions to this chapter. Family Tradition Bar-B-Q, Waelder, TX Baby J’s Bar-B-Que & Fish, Palestine, TX Lonnie Ray's BBQ, Harrisburg, MO Stanley's Famous Pit Bar-B-Que, Tyler, TX Stacy's…
Joints / People - 04/23/2011
wilk

If we're the posse, he's the sheriff

The tough part about always being the guy behind the camera is that you're never* in the photo. Chris Wilkins, the driving force behind the Texas BBQ Posse, is a professional photographer. So are a lot of posse members. But Chris is the guy who's always ready with his lenses and flash when we pull up to a new joint. He's the guy who's always walking in with at least two cameras around his neck. He's the guy who's always in perfect position to record the moment when a pitmaster agrees to take us around back and show us where…
People - 04/23/2011
marshall2

Smoking brisket in a grocery sack

Jason Hoskins writes: First of all, I enjoy your blog. Check in on it everyday. I have one question. I am planning on smoking a brisket this weekend and I wanted to try the butcher paper method you all wrote about. The problem, I can't find any plain brown butcher paper and I don't have time to order it. I was wondering if you all thought a plain brown paper sack (grocery bag) would work? I figured it is basically the same as butcher paper but I'm not totally sure. Thanks for your time. Posse Pitmaster Marshall Cooper responds: Interesting…
Cooking - 04/21/2011
smokinjsEXT

Best name ever for a barbecue joint? Smok'n J's Butt Nekkid BBQ

Editor's note: This just is now closed. We were driving on Highway 19 between Palestine and Athens when we spotted the smoke. No one wanted to cram an extra stop into our East Texas barbecue tour last weekend. We were stuffed after eating at three places and we wanted only to sample the Hog Wings at Cripple Creek in Athens before returning to Dallas. But the smoke on the side of the highway in Montalba was enticing. We drove past, but Posse co-found Chris Wilkins said, "We probably should turn around." Wheelman Marshall Cooper obliged. And so we pulled into…
Joints - 04/20/2011
TMtop50

Texas Monthly's Pat Sharpe joins the Top 50 BBQ dialogue....

Texas Monthly executive editor and food writer Pat Sharpe graciously comments on our blog posts regarding their Top 50 BBQ rankings. We wanted to publish her comments in a seperate post to be sure everyone got a chance to read it. Hello, all. Since I am the person who heads up Texas Monthly's top-fifty list every five years, let me respond to a couple of questions. We do, in fact (as Jacob said, above), indicate whether each place uses wood or gas/electric, but it's in the form of a symbol (of flames or a commercial smoker) so a reader might…
People - 04/19/2011
hard2

More on Texas Monthly’s taking the gas

I don’t mean to pour charcoal lighter on the fire, but Gary is indisputably correct about gas versus wood: No one who cooks with gas belongs on a list of Texas’ best barbecue joints, any more than grape Nehi belongs on a wine list. (And the offense isn't pardoned just because the gas cook throws on, as Marshall Cooper puts it, "a couple of sticks of wood for perfume.") Texas Monthly, more than most, ought to realize this. Indeed, in the introduction to the magazine’s last Top 50 issue (published in June 2008), the editors described their vaunted list thusly:Our…
People - 04/19/2011
cwfirewood

'Someone needs to call out Texas Monthly on its Top 50 BBQ joints'

One of the great things about full-day barbecue tours is the time it allows for important, spirited debates about important issues. Some of the topics we've addressed: Is it ever worth making a special stop at a joint that advertises on a highway billboard? (No.) Should you make an impromptu stop at a place that has "Soulman" in its name? (Probably not. They're trying too hard.) Can "great" sausage ever truly compare to "great" brisket? (No. We need a new grading system for sausage.) On our East Texas tour last weekend, we got into a new hot topic. "Someone needs…
People - 04/18/2011
babyjake2

Pitmaster and preacher, Baby J McKenzie wins BBQ converts in Palestine

Editor's note: This joint is now closed. It's the most unusual smoker any of us have seen. A giant black metal box on short stilts with a smokestack reaching 20-feet high, located just out the side door from Baby J's Bar B Que and Fish near Palestine. With a flick of his wrist, Jeremiah "Baby J" McKenzie toggles one of the huge counterweights and a door magically lifts, exposing eight rotating cook racks filled with chicken and ribs. There is an identical cooking chamber on the opposite side. "That's just heaven," says Posse veteran Marshall Cooper, clearly smitten with an…
Joints - 04/17/2011
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