Barbecue in Texas

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A plate of South Texas Style BBQ. Potato salad is common in Texas barbecue as a side dish.

Texas Barbecue includes traditional regional styles of smoked barbecue unique to Texan cuisine, and most commonly features dishes such as beef brisket, pork ribs, and sausage.[1]

Styles and Variations

Texan barbecue traditions differ geographically and culturally, and include unique East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas barbecue styles, of which the Central and East Texas varieties are considered the most well-known.[2][3]

Generally speaking, the different Texas barbecue styles are distinguished as follows:[2]

  • East Texas-style: The meat is slowly cooked to the point that it is "falling off the bone." It is typically cooked over hickory wood and marinated in a sweet, tomato-based sauce.
  • Central Texas-style: The meat is rubbed with only salt and black pepper, or in some restaurants, with spices, then cooked over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood or mesquite wood or a combination of woods. The sauce is typically considered unneeded but may be served on the side.
  • West Texas-style: The meat is cooked over direct heat from mesquite wood; similar to grilling.[4]
  • South Texas-style: Features thick, molasses-like sauces that keep the meat moist.

Additionally, in deep South Texas and along the Rio Grande valley near the Mexico–United States border, barbacoa can be found. Barbacoa, which means 'barbecue' in Spanish, is a traditional Mexican form of barbecue that uses goat, lamp, or sheep meat although beef can be used as well.[5] In its most characteristic form, barbacoa is prepared in a hole dug in the ground and covered in maguey leaves.[6]

History

European, meat-smoking, traditions were brought to Central Texas by German and Czech settlers during the mid-19th century. The original tradition was that butchers would smoke leftover meat that had not been sold so that it could be stored and saved. As these smoked leftovers became popular among the migrants in the area, many of these former meat markets evolved to specialize in smoked meats.[6] Many butcher shops also evolved into well-known barbecue establishments.[7]

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, hosted a state dinner featuring barbecue for the Mexican president-elect in Johnson City, Texas. It is generally considered the first barbecue state dinner in the history of the United States.[6]

In 2019, J. C. Reid of the Houston Chronicle wrote that, pulled pork barbecue was becoming common in Texas, even though, the style originated elsewhere.[8]

Regional styles

Central Texas

Central Texas, pit-style barbecue, was established in the 19th century along the Chisholm Trail in the towns of Lockhart, Luling, and Taylor. The German, and other European immigrants, who owned meat-packing plants, opened retail meat markets serving cooked meats wrapped in red butcher’s paper— a tradition that continues to this day in many Central Texas towns. This barbecue style’s popularity has spread considerably around the world, especially to Southern California, New York City, Britain, and Australia.

Today, many Central Texas barbecue restaurants open around 11:00 am, and serve until “they are out of meat”. Most barbecue establishments close on Sundays.

At a typical Central Texas pit barbecue restaurant, the customer takes a tray cafeteria-style and is served by a butcher who carves the meat by weight. Side dishes and desserts are picked up along the line and may include, slices of white bread, wavy-cut dill pickle chips, sliced onion, and jalapeño. Barbecue meats are commonly sold by the pound. The emphasis of this style of barbecue is on the meat—if the sauce is available, it is usually considered a side dip for wetting purposes.[3] Calvin Trillin, writing in The New Yorker, said that discussions of Central Texas pit barbecue do not concern the piquancy of the sauces or common side dishes and desserts—the main consideration is the quality of the cooking of the meats.[9]

Smith posits that the lack of focus on sauces is because, in the early days, the noon meat markets were dominated by the upper-class purchasers who could choose from the highest-quality cuts of meat and had little interest in sauces. He also states that many sauces in Central Texas pit barbecue are intentionally made 'bland', as compared to the flavor of the meats themselves.[3] The sauce is typically thinner and unsweetened, different than the Kansas City and Memphis styles, which rely heavily on molasses, sugar, and corn syrup to provide thickness and sweetness.

Jayne Clark of the USA Today said in 2010 that the “Texas Barbecue Trail” is an east of Austin “semi-loop” including Elgin, Lockhart, Luling, and Taylor. Barbecue eateries in this semi-loop, like Louie Mueller Barbecue, are within one hour’s drive from Austin, in a direction of northeast to the southeast.[10]

East Texas

East Texas barbecue is usually chopped and not sliced. It may be made of either beef or pork, and it is usually served on a bun.[11]

Robb Walsh wrote in "Texas Barbecue in Black and White" that due to the prevalence of beef, African-American varieties of barbecue in East Texas, tended to use that instead of the pork found elsewhere in the South. Walsh quoted an artist, Bert Long, who stated that African-American varieties are heavily smoked.[12]

According to Reid, the presence of pork ribs in East Texas barbecue, originated from elsewhere in the South.[8] According to Walsh, they had origins in barbecues that were held for slaves.[13] Many black restaurateurs struggled to continue operating restaurants, as food safety regulations passed by Texas jurisdictions around 1910, had restrictions on the operations of restaurants until the cinder-block pit became widespread; this innovation allowed black restaurateurs to serve their fellow black customers.[14]

Griffin Smith, Jr., in a 1973 Texas Monthly article, described East Texas barbecue as an "extension" of barbecue served in the Southern United States and said that beef and pork appear equally in the cuisine.[11] According to Smith, the style's emphasis on sauces and spices originated from when African-Americans received poor-quality cuts of meat and needed flavoring.[3] According to Smith, the "finest manifestations" of this style were found in African-American-operated restaurants.[11] Smith further described East Texas barbecue as "still basically a sandwich product heavy on hot sauce."[3]

Other styles

West Texas barbecue, sometimes also called "cowboy style," traditionally uses a more direct heat method than other styles. It is generally cooked over mesquite, granting it a smoky flavor distinct from wood-smoked styles.[15]

Barbecue in the border area between the South Texas Plains and Northern Mexico is mostly influenced by Mexican cuisine. Historically, this area was the birthplace of the Texas ranching tradition. Often, Mexican farmhands were partially paid for their work in less desirable cuts of meat, such as the diaphragm and the cow's head. It is the cow's head that defines South Texas barbecue (called barbacoa). The head would be wrapped in wet maguey leaves and buried in a pit with hot coals for several hours, after which the meat would be pulled off for barbacoa tacos. The tongue would also be used to make lengua tacos. Today, barbacoa is mostly cooked in an oven in a bain-marie.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Texas barbecue | food". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b San Antonio, Austin, & the Hill Country. New York: Fodor's. 2008. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-4000-0718-9. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Smith, Jr., Griffin (1973). Texas Monthly. p. 40. ISSN 0148-7736. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  4. ^ Gentile, Dan (December 8, 2015). "Everything You Need to Know About Texas BBQ". Thrillist. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  5. ^ "Vera's: The Last Bastion of South Texas Barbacoa". Texas Monthly. May 21, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Walsh, Robb (2002). Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8118-2961-8. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  7. ^ Walsh, Robb (August 24, 2000). "The Art of Smoke". Houston Press. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Reid, J.C. (May 10, 2019). "Pulled pork is no longer an afterthought on Texas barbecue menus". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  9. ^ "By Meat Alone". The New Yorker. November 24, 2008. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  10. ^ Clark, Jayne (May 27, 2010). "Hot on the trail of some smokin' Texas barbecue". USA Today. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  11. ^ a b c Smith, Jr., Griffin (1973). Texas Monthly. p. 38. ISSN 0148-7736. Retrieved November 17, 2015. - Profile at Google Books
  12. ^ Walsh, Robb. "Texas Barbecue in Black and White." In: Elie, Lolis Eric (editor). Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. University of North Carolina Press, January 27, 2010. Start: p. 48. CITED: p. 57.
  13. ^ Walsh, Robb. "Texas Barbecue in Black and White." In: Elie, Lolis Eric (editor). Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. University of North Carolina Press, January 27, 2010. Start: p. 48. CITED: p. 58.
  14. ^ Walsh, Robb. "Texas Barbecue in Black and White." In: Elie, Lolis Eric (editor). Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. University of North Carolina Press, January 27, 2010. Start: p. 48. CITED: p. 58-59.
  15. ^ Vaughn, Daniel (April 7, 2016). "The Definitive Texas Barbecue Style Guide". Thrillist. Retrieved December 5, 2019.

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