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 not notice it immediately.

This thread suggests we should put the description in words next time. Forty-one places on the list use wood and nine use gas or electric (one of those has a combo).

Like all of you, I prefer wood-smoked barbecue (who in their right mind doesn't?). But if we had not considered 'cue done in a commercial smoker when we did the tasting in 2008, we would have left out these cities altogether: Austin, Crockett, Dickens, Harlingen, Jacksonville, Los Fresnos, Paris, Peadenville, and San Benito.

No matter how much we might regret it, the barbecue world is moving rapidly in the direction of commercial smokers. When I participated in my first Texas Monthly barbecue round-up in 1997, there was probably not a commercial smoker in use except at the big chains. Now they are all over the place.

We made the decision to judge the meat solely on the basis of taste, on the theory that there is more to smoking than fuel source (like keeping the temperature constant and quality of meat, to name just two).

Was that a good or a bad decision? I'm curious to know what readers of Texas BBQ Posse think. We'll be doing the story again in two years, so there is time to mull it over.

Pat Sharpe, executive editor and food writer, Texas Monthly

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 quintessential, quinquennial review of the fifty best barbecue joints in Texas, with special attention paid to the top five (one of which you’ve probably never heard of), the cherished components of the classic barbecue meal, and the pits in which our meats are smoked, seared, or (Lord help us!) gassed. (Emphasis added.)

Patricia Sharpe, Monthly’s superb food writer, wrote that the 2008 list differed from the 2003 list in at least one important way:

[T]he biggest change over the past five years is that the gas-burning commercial smoker is gaining ground. …To give the devil his due, this contraption has brought acceptable barbecue to areas where it hardly existed, like the Rio Grande Valley. The danger is that it will replace traditional pit-smoking, as fewer and fewer people are willing to get up at three in the morning to sustain this labor-intensive craft. The smoker has also enabled giant, mediocre chains … to proliferate like houseflies. With so many children cutting their teeth on institutional barbecue, one fears for the future.

All of which leads one to ask: If the thought of cooking with gas instead of wood makes you gasp, “Lord help us!”, if the nicest thing you can say about gas is that it’s made “acceptable” barbecue more widely available, if there’s a danger that it will drive true wood-smoking into a small corner of the barbecue world, if it’s to blame for the success of “giant, mediocre chains,” and if it threatens to produce a generation of Texans who know nothing but “institutional barbecue” – then why can’t you people find 50 top joints in the Great State of Texas that cook brisket the way God meant it to be cooked: With wood?

Photos by Chris Wilkins & David Woo

'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 to call out Texas Monthly on its Top 50 BBQ joints" one Posse member said as we were driving back to Dallas after eating at five places. Four of them were Texas Monthly Top 50 picks in 2008, the last rankings. Two cooked with wood (Stanley's in Tyler and Baby J's in Palestine) and two with gas (Stacy's in Jacksonville and Cripple Creek in Athens).

To us, there was no comparison. In taste, the guys with the gas-fired smokers didn't come close to the guys using all wood.

"They should have separate lists," someone said of Texas Monthly.

"They shouldn't include the gas guys," another said.

"They should at least tell you when the place uses gas," another said. "What does it take to walk to the back of the joint and check out the pit?"

None of the criticisms were uttered lightly. We consider Texas Monthly's once-every-five-years ranking the bible of Texas barbecue. And, we love going to Lambert's in Austin. We just don't consider it a true BBQ place.

So, Texas Monthly, consider yourself called out.

Photos by Chris Wilkins & Jeff Haynes

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

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 acute case of smoker envy. In Cooper's case, that takes some doing. He owns a Jambo J-3.

Jeremiah calls this unique smoker Big Baby. He can load 10 logs at a time in the converted fire box underneath.

"This had gas when I got it," he says. "We don't want gas."

Then, on a beautiful East Texas Saturday afternoon, he leads the Posse, 12 strong, on a slow procession to the parking area in front of his building where a more conventional, tank-style pit is smoking away.

"The big one don't pass my test on brisket," Baby J says. "For chicken, ribs, it's perfect. But for brisket, this one here made my reputation."

He takes the padlock off one of the cooking chambers and starts unwrapping a couple of the foiled briskets.

"This still has about an hour or so to go but you can get an idea," he says as he cuts samples and passes them out to reaching hands.

The pieces are hot, dripping in juices, and a little more than one bite in size, which makes for some interesting contortions as we try to eat without burning our mouths or getting grease on our chins and clothes.

"Outstanding," says Phil Lamb, an attorney making his first tour with the Posse. "Can I buy half of that brisket?"

Baby J nods yes. He explains that he cooks his briskets for 18 hours or so, never allowing the temperature to go above "boiling."

"I never get in no hurry," he says.

McKenzie, the youngest of eight children, therefore Baby J, started his joint in 2007 and made Texas Monthly's Top 50 list in 2008. He closed for a while but opened again last year.

For a decade, he has also been pastor at One Way Apostolic Church in Palestine.

"Do you ever use barbecue in your sermons?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies. "I say in the Christian religion, you can't be fast. You gotta go slow. When you go fast, you mess up."

We'll have more later from our East Texas tour, including why Baby J padlocks his pit.

Baby J’s Bar-B-Que & Fish, 111 ACR 1405, Palestine, 903-729-8402. Open Tues-Sat 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Photos ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse

On the road again: East Texas II BBQ Tour begins tomorrow at Stanley's

The posse returns to one of our favorite joints in the state on Saturday to begin the second East Texas BBQ tour. Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler was the starting point for our first East Texas tour in February 2010.

We've gotten to know owner and pitmaster Nick Pencis pretty well since then, he's one of the "young gun" pitmasters who are leading the next generation of great Texas BBQ cooks. We can't wait to try Stanley's ribs, considered by many to be among the best in the state.

The first time the Posse was there, a customer bought out all the ribs by 11:15 a.m., so we didn't get a taste. Nick has been anxious to get us back since then.

All four of the scheduled stops are Texas Monthly top 50 joints. Of course, we'll let you know what we discover and also hope to find an off-the-radar joint or two along the way.

Here's the plan for Saturday. If you happen to be around any of these stops, please keep an eye out for the Posse and let us know what you think.

East Texas II BBQ Tour itinerary April 16. 2011

11 a.m.: Meet at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, 525 S. Beckham Ave., Tyler, 903-593-0311. Open Mon-Fri 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat 11 a.m.-til the meat runs out.
Stop no. 2: Stacy's Bar-B-Q, 1217 South Jackson Street (Hwy 69), Jacksonville, 903-56-1951. Open Tues-Sat 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
Stop no. 3: Baby J’s Bar-B-Que & Fish, FM 2419 at U.S. 287, Palestine, 903-729-8402. Open Thur-Sat 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Stop no. 4: Cripple Creek BBQ, 500 S. Palestine Street, Athens, 903-677-4226. Open M-Thur 11-8, F-Sat 11-9.

Photo by Chris Wilkins

Pit Talk: Finding the best level of BBQ smoke

Here's a new feature on our blog, Pit Talk. Texas BBQ Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper will share insights he's gained in almost 30 years manning a backyard smoker. Here are a few of his thoughts on smoke and BBQ.

Marshall writes:

So, it seems there could be a big disparity on desired smoke levels between competition judges, BBQ restaurants and everyone else.

In talking to several competition guys, "the judges just want a very subtle layer of smoke, so you can taste smoke but not enough smoke that it makes you burp" is one comment.

"I always lose points if I put too much smoke on the product," says another.

In contrast, many BBQ restaurants in DFW seem to put more smoke (but not too heavy) on the meat, like Pecan Lodge, Meshacks, Off The Bone and Lockhart Smokehouse. To me, Franklin, Kreuz and Snow's don't seem to be as heavy on the smoke as some of DFW BBQ joints.

Historically, I have put a heavy smoke layer, to the point of needing a Tums and Nexium/Prilosec cocktail to be able to sleep! Looking back, I like heavy smoke but my bbq tastes have recently changed.

My Jambo pit gives you better control on smoke levels, either to maintain a clean fire [due to the way the pit is so well engineered and tuned] and get lighter smoke levels or to burn a less clean fire and get more smoke, by varying the time in the pit before wrapping the meat with foil or butcher paper.

Aaron Franklin told me, "I can always tell if the BBQ was not cooked on a clean fire."

So does anybody have any comments on smoke levels? What are your preferences? Mid-level or less? A cleaner fire with slight smoke layer?

Tell us what you think.

Photos by R.J. Hinkle & Marshall Cooper