Checking in with Fatboy's BBQ in Cooper

A customer waits for his order at Fatboy's BBQ in Cooper. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

You meet some great folks as you travel the blue highways of Texas BBQ. Shannon Bankston and Heather Hoff of Fatboy's BBQ in Cooper are those kind of people.

A year ago, Marshall Cooper and I met Shannon and Heather at Fatboy's, then located in the tiny town of Ladonia in northeast Texas. It was a slow day in the town of 613 residents, so we talked BBQ for half of the afternoon, which of course is one of our favorite things to do. Fatboy's had been open for two and a half years at that point.

In April 2012, they moved their entire BBQ operation to Cooper, population 1,961, located 18 miles east of Ladonia. The location on a busier road in a bigger community would eventually allow them to triple their weekly food sales. Cooper is located 80 miles northeast of Dallas, near Commerce.

Here's the best comment we've ever seen about wood and Texas BBQ

Over the past four years, we've gotten a lot of comments from readers about our observations on Texas barbecue. Good or bad, we post them all, with the exception of those with extreme profanity. Texas BBQ is an emotional issue.

However, a comment on Gary Jacobson's Monday post "Memo to Gov. Perry: Texas needs a truth in BBQ law" set a new bar for comments on our blog. A reader tagged as "Anonymous" left a pronouncement that summed it all up better than we could ever do.

Rebuilt from the ground up, Jospeh's Riverport BBQ is back in a big way

There were smiles all around on Saturday at Joseph's Riverport Bar-B-Cue in historic downtown Jefferson.

Five and a half months after a devastating fire that completely destroyed the building, owner and pitmaster Stephen Joseph reopened on Thursday to swarms of old friends and townsfolk who appreciate some of the best BBQ on this side the state.

Do Texans need some Q-schoolin? It's your turn to tell us what you think

Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper is a man of conviction, especially when it comes to smoked meat.

After mulling our recent Roots of Dallas BBQ Tour for several days, he was still stunned by the lack of smoke taste we found on the barbecue at the original Sonny Bryan's, Odom's, Dickey's and Peggy Sue's.

Why don't some of the most popular Dallas BBQ joints, some with real wood pits, put more smoke flavor on their meat?

Is it because of the cost of wood? Do customers really prefer smokeless BBQ? Or, don't they know the difference?

"I would like to know just what people are thinking on this issue," Marshall says.

Posse member Libby Jacobson, who didn't make the Roots tour, was quick to comment on the original Tour post, specifically about Sonny Bryan's recipe for ribs, but more generally pondering the same questions as Marshall.

"The thought of eating a precooked, slathered, refrigerated, reheated rib is downright icky!" she wrote. "Part of me thinks Sonny must have known what he was doing to create such a dynasty...but the other part thinks Texans need some Q-schoolin!"

So, Posse blog readers, what do you think?

Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse

Photos: Depression era Texas BBQ through the eyes of legendary FSA photographers

I was recently researching some historic photos in my job as a photo editor at the Dallas Morning News when I ran across the Library of Congress website for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) photo archive. Initially created in 1935 as part of the New Deal, the FSA was an effort during the Depression to document and combat American rural poverty.

The FSA photo collection houses some of the most famous photographs in history, including Dorthea Lange's migrant mother photo and Arthur Rothstein's Oklahoma dust bowl photo. Other legendary FSA photojournalists included Gordon Parks, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans and Walker Evans.

I was immediately curious if there were any Texas BBQ photos. When I put in the search term "barbecue" I got 98 hits, much to my delight. Four of the photos were from Texas, including the photo above, taken in 1939 by Russell Lee. The caption reads: Man slicing barbecue at lunch stand at the Gonzales County Fair. Gonzales, Texas.

Here are the other three FSA barbecue images shot in Texas. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into the photographic history of Texas BBQ. You can click here to see a slideshow of some of the more famous FSA depression era photos on flicker.

Caption: Negro sitting on bench at side of barbecue stand made of galvanized metal, Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo by Russell Lee, 1939.

Caption: Harlingen, Texas. Barbecue stand. Photo by John Vachon, 1943.

Caption: Barbecue drive-in restaurant. Fort Worth-Dallas highway, Texas. Photo by Russell Lee, 1942.

Looking for some real Texas BBQ on the west coast?

OK, I know this is the Texas BBQ Posse. But every now and then we discover the real deal outside of the Lone Star state and feel the need to tell you all about it. Such was the case when I visited Lonnie Ray's BBQ in Harrisburg, Missouri, earlier this year.

Introducing Podnah's Pit Barbecue in Portland, Oregon. Posse member Michael Ainsworth was vacationing in Portland recently and ended up at Podnah's. Michael was the first Posse member to try Franklin BBQ, before the super long lines and signs announcing they were sold out of BBQ by noon. He knows great BBQ when he tastes it.

Michael sent a text from the dining room, proclaiming he had found brisket on the left coast that might be close to the same level as Franklin's. I was skeptical, but then he sent the photos and explained the back story of Padnah's.

Owner and pitmaster Rodney Muirhead is from Waxahachie, Texas. He opened Podnah's in late 2006, but he'd already been smoking Texas style barbecue in Portland for almost four years on a pit-on-trailer, with hopes of opening his own place one day.

The story of naming the joint is explained on Podnah's website: "To honor his Texas roots, he named it "Podnah's Pit" after his grandfather's nickname--"podnah" being Texan for partner. There's a really simple explanation for Rodney's success: he don't mess with Texas. While many things have changed since Rodney started barbecuing back in 2003, there's one thing that will always stay the same--relying on the barbecue methods of the Lone Star state."

This is a serious Texas BBQ operation. Like Franklin BBQ, they have been recognized by Bon Appetit magazine as a great BBQ joint, no small fete. Podnah's makes these promises to their customers:

"For Rodney and the rest of the pit crew this means:

---Getting up at 5:00 every morning to fire up the pit.
---Using honest oak hardwood in the firebox.
---Using high quality, natural meats.
---Preparing the food fresh daily.
---Never precooking the meat. It's all slow smoked right there in the pit.
---Only cooking as much meat as the smoker will comfortably hold, and that's about 200 pounds a day.
---When the meat's gone, it's gone. Until tomorrow at lunch time that is.
---They love making honest, slow-smoked, Texas style barbecue for their patrons.
---And they love their patrons too. So much so that they even make Carolina style pulled-pork for them."

Podnah's Pit Barbecue, 1625 NE Killingsworth, Portland, OR, 503-281-3700. Hours: Breakfast: Sat-Sun 9am-1pm, Lunch: Mon-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun Noon-5pm, Dinner: Mon-Sun 5pm-10pm.

Photos by Michael Ainsworth

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

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

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 pitside and sipping Maker's Mark under a nearly full moon. "Jamie Geer knows what he's doing."

Geer, a Texas legend, engineered and built the pit.

Photos by Chris Wilkins

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 and compare notes with some great pitmasters about cooking real Texas barbecue with real wood.

We'll keep you posted throughout the day.




Photos by Michael Ainsworth & Chris Wilkins