Book Review - Field Guide to Meat

Field Guide to Meat

by Aliza Green
Quirk Books

This a great little book that covers virtually every cut of meat available in the United States, be it beef, chicken, quail rattlesnake or alligator. It explains where the meat comes from on the animal, how it is cut and how long it can be stored. The book also explains how to prepare the meat and suggests flavors and spices that are compatible with each cut of meat.

The definitions are easy to read and understand. The pictures of each cut of meat are beautifully done and informative. One thing that would really help, in the next edition, would be an illustration showing where each cut of meat comes from on the animal. Broad illustrations are provided and they do show where chuck comes from on a cow, but not where a top blade steak is cut from the chuck. I would really like to see that.

If you ever had a question about meat, it is answered here. I highly recommend this book.

Lockhart, Texas

What can I say about Lockhart, Texas? There are four major barbecue joints (Smitty’s, Kreuz’s, Chisholm Trail and Black’s) within five minutes of each other. All of them are good, three are possibly great. According to the City of Lockhart's website, "The restaurants estimate that about 5,000 people visit their establishments each week. This would be roughly 250,000 people a year who eat BBQ in Lockhart.

Texas Legislature, first the House of Representatives in the Spring of 1999, then in the Fall of 2003, the Senate passed a resolution proclaiming Lockhart to be The Barbecue Capital of Texas." I humbly have to agree.

The first one I visited was Smitty's Market. Nina Schmidt Sells established Smitty's Market in 1999. They're in the same building that housed her father's Kreuz Market. You feel the history as soon as you enter the building. Entering from the street, you pass through a long hallway with the butcher shop on the left, the dining room on the right and the pit room at the end. It's dark, smokey and mysterious. It’s yet another religious experience for the barbeque fanatic.



When I entered Smitty's from the parking lot, I walked down a narrow hall and made a slight turn into the pit room, where I almost burned my leg on the wood fire that was sitting open on the floor. The fire heated the long low pit where Smitty’s cooks their meat. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of the pit, but here's a picture of Smitty’s wood.



How’s Smitty’s food? Excellent, I loved all of it, except the cheese. It's that same bland cheese served at all the Texas BBQ joints. Blah. Texas needs to be introduced to a good New York State sharp cheddar!

Entering Lockhart from Austin, the first BBQ joint you see is Kreuz’s. Kreuz’s market is a huge barn of a building that was built in 1999 when the family split up. Apparently Smitty’s opened in the original building, but the pits were moved into the newly built Kreuz’s market.





Kreuz’s market was obviously built for the tourist trade. It is very similar to a theme restaurant where a lot of effort was spent to recapture the feel and ambience of an old time barbecue restaurant. They succeed in part, but it’s just too big. The intimacy of all the old restaurants just isn’t there. It’s one of those restaurants where the busses can drop a load of hungry tourists and feed them all within 20 minutes.

But how’s the food? Honestly, it was good, but not as good as I expected. The brisket was on the dry side, but the sausage was very good. Before the trip I asked my brothers at The BBQ-Brethren for recommendations and Kreuz’s was highly recommended as the best barbeque joint in Lockhart, but I think Smitty’s has the edge.

And lastly, there’s Black’s Barbecue. Black’s is off the beaten path, but it’s easy to find. There are billboards all over town and a huge yellow arrow pointing the way. Judging from the amount of advertising, Black’s seems to have a bit of an inferiority complex when dealing with the more famous Kreuz’s and Smitty’s. Their fears are misplaced.

Entering Black’s you are immediately on the food line. To the left are the side dishes on a steam table, but I didn’t try any of them. Right in front of you, at the end of the line, is the real reason I was here, the BBQ. Here you order your meat by the pound or link, just like in every other joint in Texas. The smoker is just behind the counter, but separated by a windowed wall. The woman slicing the meat was very good. I asked for 1/4 lb of brisket. She sliced it and when it was put it on the scale, it weighed in at exactly 0.251 pounds. I was impressed.

So how’s Black’s food? It’s great. The brisket was perfectly cooked, tender, moist and flavorful. The sausage was good, but not outstanding. An interesting find was the pork loin. Texas is beef country. Pork is not the meat of choice here, but Black’s does an outstanding job with it. I highly recommend it when visiting.



The last barbecue joint in Lockhart is Chisholm Trail Barbeque (No website as far as I can find). Unfortunately after trying Smitty’s, Kreuz’s and Black’s all in one morning, I didn’t have any room left in my large stomach to go into Chisholm. Chisholm Trail Barbeque is unique as it is cafeteria style barbecue. From the city of Lockhart’s website, “The restaurant packs in a daily crowd made up mostly of locals and it too, has made the Texas Monthly list of Texas' best barbecue restaurants.” So Chisholm is on the top of my list for my next visit.

If you're heading down to Texas, check out this website on the Texas Barbecue Trail. I wish I had before I went.

Luling Texas

Luling is an old Texas town, in what seems to me, city boy that I am, to be in the middle of nowhere. Driving into town, you are hit with a strong smell of natural gas. At first I thought that there was something wrong with my car but opening the windows only made the smell worse. Then I saw it, the first oil well pump of my trip. Now I understood the odor. Luling takes special pride in them and decorates many of the pumps. The first one I saw had a whale on it. Here's some pictures of others, courtesy of the Luling Chamber of Commerce.


Luling is also host of the annual Watermelon Thump. If you're anywhere near Luling during June 23 - 26, 2005, be sure to check it out. It's one of those things that could only happen in Texas

But let's talk about what's important, the barbecue of Luling. In Luling I found two barbeque joints, Luling BBQ, which was closed when I was in town, and the legendary City Market.



So, here it is my first restaurant review of a Texas BBQ joint.

City Market (No website)
633 E. Davis St.
Luling, TX
830-875-9019

Entering City Market I was immediately hit with wood smoke and silence. Smoke and silence are good indicators that you are about to eat some great barbecue. Why? Because people are too busy eating to talk and the smoke confirms a real wood fire.

City Market is divided into three rooms, two dining rooms, for lack of a better term, and the pit room. The pit room is located in the back of the main dining room. Its walls are composed of large windows that are hard to see through because of all the smoke stains. Entering the pit room is a religious experience; the smoke, the darkness, the heat and the smell of great barbeque envelope you.

You step up to the counter and order you meat by the pound and your sausage by the link. Your sides consist of onions, jalapeños and crackers. Your food is served on butcher paper which is also your plate and tray.



After gathering up your food, you go back to the main dining room to pay, buy soda (sorry pop - you're in Texas) and pick up some bread and cheese if you wish.



Settling down to eat, I started with the sausage. Every barbecue joint in Texas seems to make its own sausage. Texas BBQ sausage is much different from the smoked sausages that are available in New York. The force meat is much looser and much more mildly spiced. When you cut a Texas BBQ sausage, it's not uncommon for the meat to spill out of its casings. The sausage was excellent, mild, juicy and perfectly cooked. The brisket was perfectly cooked; tender, juicy and tasty. I was getting spoiled; there are so many great barbecue places in Texas.

Then I tried their sauce. City Market makes the best BBQ sauce I've ever had. Hands down. There sauce was an orange potion with spices floating throughout. It seems to be mustard based, but there was definitely a hint of tomato. It is unique. Unfortunately, they don’t bottle it. I was really surprised to find a great barbeque sauce in Texas. Texas barbecue is usually served and eaten dry.

The only food complaint, which I guess is a New York thing, is the cheese. All the BBQ joints in Texas Hill Country seem to serve the same cheese. It tastes like a cross between American cheese and a very mild cheddar. It’s very disappointing and doesn’t hold up to the flavors of all that great BBQ meat.

City Market is like a step back in time. They still honor old cooking methods, old furniture and old ideas. They could make some real money by having souvenirs available and setting up a website where you could buy there sauce and meat. I know I’d buy it. But, they excel in what really matters, their food. I’ve only been gone a week and I want to go back!

The previous 2 pictures are courtesy of RoadFood.com

The Texas Haul

My Austin trip stash of barbecue sauces and barbeque rubs arrived today. I had them all packed and shipped from the UPS store on Balcones Woods Drive in Austin. They did a great job. Every bottle was wrapped in bubble wrap and the box was filled with those styrofoam peanuts. Thanks UPS.

Here's the list of all the stuff, in unpacking order....

Harley's Texas Style Sweet Rub and All Purpose Seasoning (Giddings, TX)
John Henry's East Texas Wild Cherry Chipolte Rub (Houston, TX)
Southside Market and BBQ - Elign BBQ Sauce (Elgin, TX)
Southside Market and BBQ - Rib Rub (Elgin, TX)
Bob Tallman's Texas Style Fixin's All Around Rub (Houston, TX)
Scorned Woman Fiery Barbeque Sauce (Inwood, WVA)
The Salt Lick Bar-B-Q Sauce (Driftwood, TX)
Harley's Texas Style Bar-B-Que and all purpose seasoning (Giddings, TX)
Clint's Texas Barbecue Spicey Orginal (San Antonio, TX)
Fischer & Weiser Texas on the Plate - Whiskey 'n' Peaches BBQ Sauce (Fredricksburg, TX)
A liter of Coca-Cola from Mexico (Still made with the orignal formula - all cane sugar)
Meyer's Elign Smokehouse Barbecue Sauce (Elgin, TX)
Kokopelli's Feast Seasoning (Rub) (Austin, TX)
Southside Market and BBQ - BBQ Seasoning (Elgin, TX)
Austin Spice Company Texas #202 Beef Seasoning Rub (Austin, TX)
Dink's Pit Bar-B-Que Sauce (Bartlesville, OK - A gift from my in-law's parents)
H E B Texas Bold Sangria Barbecue Sauce (San Antonio, TX)
Ruby's BBQ Sauce (Austin, TX)
H E B Texas Bold Peach Habanero Barbecue Sauce (San Antonio, TX)
Iron Works BBQ - Our Original Bar-B-Q Rub Seasoning (Austin, TX)
Whitt's Mild Barbecue Sauce (Nashville, TN - I think. I bought it in the Nashville airport)

Now I've got to get cooking! As I use each of these, I'll post a review.

Restaurant Review - Jake's Bar B Que Restaurant

Jake's Bar B Que Restaurant
189 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Last night I was driving home from Manhattan and traffic was at a stand still on the Gowanus, so I took the side streets. And what to my wandering eyes should appear? Jake's Bar B Que Restaurant.

Jake's is a typical store front Brooklyn restaurant, but they had a KCBS member sticker on the door. Fantastic I thought - another real barbecue restaurant in Brooklyn. The other one is the Waterfront Ale House.

Boy was I wrong. Jakes is not a barbecue restaurant. Whatever it is that they are serving is not barbeque. I ordered the pulled roast pork sandwich ($8.95 includes one side)to go. The sandwich arrived on a nice roll with a small salad, pickles and a side of coleslaw. The pork tasted like oven roasted pork that was seared on a stove top grill. It was OK, but it wasn't barbeque by any stretch of the imagination. The BBQ sauce, served on the side and only be request tasted like either Kraft or Cattleman's, I couldn't tell.

While I was waiting for the sandwich I looked around the restaurant. I asked the girl at the counter where the smoker was. She said that you can't smoke in a restaurant. So I asked, "Where do you prepare the BBQ?" She then pointed out the rotiserary where the chickens were cooked. This was a standard electric rotiserary, no wood, no charcoal. I asked about the pork and was told that the meat was cooked in the oven and shredded. Damn. Talk about your false advertising.

I was the only customer in the restaurant, but they seemed to be preparing a lot of take out and delivery orders. Two delivery guys slept at one table, while the counter girl crochet. A Chinese woman was sitting at a table covered in liquor bottles and talked with another employee about photography. Another guy was drinking coffee out of a paper cup and paced back and forth outside the restaurant. Very strange.

I watched from the counter as meals were being prepared. Ribs, chicken and my pulled pork - everything came out of the refrigerator and put in the microwave. Man, this place sucks.

Paprika

Let's talk about BBQ spices. One of the primary spices used by just about every barbecue guru, junkie or commercial manufacturer is paprika. Paprika is a mild red pepper that gives most barbeque rubs or barbecue sauces their color. I always associated paprika with Hungarian and Spanish dishes, so I never really understood the connection to barbeque. However I do now.

According to the encyclopedia of spices, paprika, like all peppers, is native to South America. Since barbeque is said to have been invented by Native Americans, the connection is now obvious to me.

Here's the definiton of paprika from the encyclopedia of spices: Paprika is a fine powder ground from certain varieties of Capsicum annuum which vary in size and shape. They may be small and round (Spain and Morocco) or pointed and cone shaped (Hungary and California). They are larger and milder than chilli peppers. Paprika is produces from peppers ripened to redness, sometimes called ‘pimento’, the same as used to stuff olives. The powder can vary in colour from bright red to rusty brown.
Bouquet: slightly warm and sweet
Flavour: ranges from sweet and mild to pungent and fiery.
Hotness Scale: 2-6

In future posts I'll be talking about other BBQ spices, rubs and sauces. I have a lot of sauces and rubs to review from my Texas trip. Every barbeque master needs his own flavor signature and I've been working on mine. I've been creating my own rub and I will be putting my results on this here blog.

Restaurant Review- Spanky's BBQ

Spanky's BBQ
127 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Here's a quick review about Spanky's. I could and probably should write more, but I just don't have the time tonight.



A couple of days before my Texas trip, I stopped into Spanky's BBQ for dinner. It was about 4 pm on a Tuesday afternoon and the place was empty. Very surprising as Spanky's is part of the Heartland Brewery chain and their excellent brews are available here too. Spanky's is located a block south of Virgil's so it's got some strong competition right in the neighborhood.

Will it survive? I'm not so sure. I ordered the The Full House ($19.50 which is a good deal) - 1/4 chicken, 3 pork ribs, brisket and pulled pork. It included 2 sides - so I had the mashed potatoes and corn.

What was delivered to my plate was a full 1/2 chicken, 4 ribs and a nice size pile of brisket and pulled pork with a tasty corn muffin. The dark meat on the chicken was excellent, some of the best barbecued chicken I've ever had. Unfortunately the breast and wing were dried out. The ribs were tasty, but over done. I enjoyed the brisket, it was nicely cooked, tender and moist. The pulled pork was overly sweet. I couldn't taste the meat. The potatoes and corn sucked. The corn was old and dried out. The potatoes were bland and dry. They could have used some gravy or butter.

I'll be back, I've heard good things from other people about Spanky's. Maybe it was just a bad day. The beer alone makes a return trip worth the effort.

Why so quiet?

Been traveling in the Texas Hill Country. I've eaten a lot of barbecue. As soon as I get caught up with work and family, I'll post some restaurant reviews and tell you all about my trip.

Here's some photo's of some of the souvenirs I brought back. I shipped over 30 pounds of sauce and rub home via UPS. I'll be posting reviews of them as well as I try all of it over the next few months.







And welcome to two new links on the side. First, welcome to the Hot Sauce Blog. If you're into hot sauce, and who isn't, this is the place to go. And welcome also The BBQ Junkie. BBQ Junkie is a blog that focuses on what’s happening in the Southern California barbecue scene. He's a kindred spirit.