I love that when our pitmaster, Phillip Heern, goes on vacation, he takes his family to Ocean Springs for the week and hangs out with our friends at The Shed. Barbecue = family, indeed.
Rest up, buddy. Next week is New York City and the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party!
There are breakfast tacos all over the city; Torchy’s is my favorite.
Austin has long been known for its food scene and it’s exploded with the food truck revolution and lots of good barbecue within Austin proper. I hadn’t been to Austin for almost three years, so there were lots of new places on the agenda.
After a swing through Torchy’s for the best breakfast tacos, we took our place in line to experience the Franklin phenomena. Lesson: if you’re bringing food to eat in line, people will look longingly at you. Bring an extra to share. The people behind us were grateful! Whether you’re at Shake Shack, Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis, or Franklin’s, the cult of the line remains the same. A nice touch at Franklin’s was Daniel, the wildly personable server, who roamed the line with a tin bucket of beer and soda for sale.
Ali Clem of La Barbecue ferrying wood for the pit; a photo of Bobby Mueller looms large.
Next up was La Barbecue, owned by LeAnn Mueller, daughter of the late, legendary Bobby Mueller and sister of Wayne Mueller who’s now at the helm of the famed Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor. Solid barbecue; especially good brisket.
That beef rib was the best thing I ate that day.
Then onto John Mueller Meat Company. John, also progeny of Bobby Mueller, opened his own joint just a few months ago amid much controversy. Whatever his personal demons, the man can cook.
An aside: From personal family drama to poaching pitmasters and less-than-loyal employees to frenemies of all shades, the barbecue world is rife with its own share of drama and intrigue and I won’t go into all of that here. Just please try to not believe everything you read on the internet. Every story has many layers and much remains private; known only to family and friends. My personal experience has shown that those talking the loudest usually know the least.
Oh, those pies.
Pacing is key on a culinary mission. We ended the day with a pie tasting at Lucy’s. The fried chicken looked delicious, but we were on a quest for sweet tea chess pie … which led to trying four of the five pies on the menu. I can highly recommend all of these pies: the sweet tea chess pie — delicate flavor; rich custard; Mexican hot chocolate with a bite of espresso in the graham cracker crust; creamy sweet potato pie topped with a surprising white chocolate ganache might have been my favorite. I’m a crust connoisseur and this pie crust was some of the best I’ve had in a restaurant.
Special thanks to Four Seasons Austin — one of my favorite places to stay in Austin. Central location, comfortable rooms, and that famous Four Seasons hospitality. The best part is the lounge and restaurant. Every evening included late-night cocktails and catching up with local friends. The comfortable lounge with great food from its award-winning restaurant and outstanding cocktails is the perfect place for visiting and winding down. Highly recommend.
Read about the main reason for my visit here.
Next up: the shopping!
Custom meat diagram boots sported by Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly barbecue critic and author of Prophets of Smoked Meat. Contraband brisket from Snow’s; a gift from Daniel Delaney. Aaron Franklin and Daniel Delaney talk about the new business of barbecue.
In early April I traveled with my bestie Elizabeth Karmel to Austin for the Our Barbecue, Ourselves Foodways Texas Symposium. The outstanding programming featured intelligent discussion on various nuances of Texas barbecue. This highly detailed recap captures the details perfectly.
Ahh, the food.
From a rooftop oyster/crab roast and a two meat plate of Franklin Barbecue to a fresh, inventive lunch by uber-talented Top Chef alum Tiffany Derry, the meals were tops.
Wayne Mueller freelancing on the Southside Market mobile pit. Gaeton and Pat smokin’ it up.
I’m always encouraging my barbecue people to make friends with one another. Here’s a success story from the weekend: Bryan Bracewell was kind enough to pull a pit to Austin for Wayne Mueller to use while cooking the final feast. They met for the first time. Pat Martin was there, too, cooking delicious chicken dipped in his tangy take on Alabama white sauce.
New friends Diane and Justin Fourton from Pecan Lodge in Dallas. Peace out, Wayne! Twinkling lights, delicious food, hearty libations – the French Legation provided a magical setting for the final meal.
Takeaway tidbits:
• I want to go hunting with Georgia Pellegrini and Jesse Griffiths. Who’s in? {I promise not to pull a Dick Cheney.}
• Who knew onions could be so interesting? Common onions take a very long time to digest and give many people a sour stomach. Reach instead for a Vidalia or, if you’re fortunate enough to be in Texas, go for the Texas 1015, developed at Texas A&M.
• Time spent with Keith Schmidt, Bryan Bracewell, and Wayne Mueller is always a bonus. They are smart, kind, and navigating that third-generation barbecue/child of a legend path just like I am. Very blessed to have them in my inner circle.
• Meeting internet friends in real life is fun! CC: @SteffChilds @MarshallWright
• An opportunity to slow down, meet new food/barbecue people, and listen to new ideas and new perspectives is a gift. Must remember to make time for those events.
Check back for more of my adventures in Austin!
Our rigs are loaded and we’re heading to Memphis tomorrow.
Mike and Pat Burke are getting the Apple City Barbecue band back together and competing at Memphis in May for the first time in 18 years. The team extinguished its fire in May 1994 after going out in a blaze of glory as four-time World Champion and the first three-time World Grand Champion of Memphis in May. While there are several teams that have racked up impressive cook-off statistics, there is no team that can match Apple City Barbecue’s storied record achieved in just 69 competitions.
Flavor profiles, styles, and cooking methods have evolved in the competition barbecue world. I can tell you that there will be NO foil, Parkay, honey, or brown sugar in the Apple City Barbecue tent. We’re going old school all the way and cooking on the pit that Mike and Pat made out of an old propane tank – the same pit on which they won many contests. We’re attempting to bring back the old-fashioned way of cooking that results in a distinctive style and flavor profile. That will either work for us or against us; I guess we’ll find out. Thoughts? Are we brave or crazy?
We love being the local joint for Southern Illinois University students. From first dates and hanging out with friends to meals with visiting parents and university parties, 17th Street looms large as part of the college experience at SIU. Join us to celebrate graduation. We’d love to welcome you and your family. There’s lots of room at our table.
Back in January we held our second-ever Whole Hog Extravaganza/Brisket Bonanza/BBQ MBA. This year we added the brisket component to the event.
Photo by Ken Goodman
Mike prepped and cooked brisket the way we do it every day at the 17th Street. In an effort to showcase different regional styles, Mike was joined by …
Photo by Ken Goodman
Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas and …
Photo by Ken Goodman
Barry Sorkin of Smoque in Chicago.
Photo by Amy Mills
Wood provides a distinct flavor to meat and we brought in truckloads of the indigenous wood that each pitmaster uses at home. This trailer bed is filled with post oak for Wayne Mueller.
The rubs, seasoning, wood, and temperature used by each person resulted in three very different and equally delicious brisket flavor profiles.
Carving a brisket is an art form and the pitmasters gave a few tips and tricks for proper slicing. There’s a huge difference in texture and tenderness when brisket is not sliced properly. {I was surprised to get some brisket sliced with the grain just last month at a popular undisclosed Central Texas barbecue joint.}
The lucky participants sampled pounds and pounds of delicious meat.
In addition to tending the meat, each pitmaster shared his personal story and business acumen as part of the BBQ MBA portion of the seminar.
Mark your calendar now – we’re already planning next year’s event which will be held January 19–21, 2014.
Click here to see more pictures, taken by the fabulous Ken Goodman, of this event.
These baked beans are the most popular side dish in our restaurants. Their sweet, smoky flavor is an excellent complement to barbecue. Each type of bean has a different texture, so the different varieties used in this recipe make these beans a bit more interesting. At our restaurants, we use pulled pork instead of bacon to achieve a bit of a smoky taste. You could also bake them with a few already-smoked ribs. Just take four or five already-smoked rib bones, with the meat still attached, and lay them across the top of the beans. Or you can push them down into the beans so they’re covered. After baking, pull the meat off the bones, discard the bones, and gently mix the meat back into the beans.
Here in Boston, where I live most of the time, chili beans are not readily available. Ranch Beans from Whole Foods are pretty much the exact same thing.
Ingredients
Serves 10 to 15 people. Reheats well. Will keep in refrigerator for up to one week. May also be frozen for up to one month.
© Mike Mills & Amy Mills. Adapted from Peace, Love, and Barbecue (Rodale) and reprinted with permission from Rodale.
Elizabeth Karmel shows off a tray of succulent spare ribs at Hill Country Barbeque Market. Photo by Ken Goodman
I met Elizabeth almost 10 years ago and she has become a treasured friend, bound by the love of barbecue and cowboy boots. She’s the culinary mastermind behind Hill Country Barbecue Market and Hill Country Chicken and the author of a trio of books about grilling and barbecue.
In addition to the famous PB&J Cupcake she invented for Hill Country, she also developed the often-imitated ergonomically designed silicone grill brush and mop, along with a variety of other clever and well-designed grilling accessories, all available at bbqproshop.com.
Here’s Elizabeth’s take on the One-7:
1. Travel destination: Paris
2. Cut of meat to cook: Bone-in pork butt
3. Favorite pie: my grandmother’s coconut meringue
4. Best gift received: the “love of food” from my parents and grandparents
5. I admire: Steve Jobs
6. BBQ joint I’d like to visit: Skylight Inn
7. Words to live by: Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story!
Elizabeth’s website is a treasure trove of recipes and information. Buy her books here.
The One-7 features our friends and partners and gives a little insight into their worlds.
Thank you, Eddie Huang, for sending me a copy of Fresh off the Boat.
I met Eddie and his charming girlfriend last fall at the Southern Foodways Alliance symposium. He spoke about his unconventional life experiences within an immigrant family and the barbecue he ate and made while growing up in Florida and during his early years in Manhattan. We spent time gathered around Pat Martin’s pit and shared swigs of whiskey and stories about Sonny’s Bar-B-Q. His childhood, family life, and the experiences that formed his perspective and persona are fascinating.
Pat Martin and Eddie Huang
I’ve always felt my group of friends is fairly diverse, but until now I didn’t know anyone whose formative years were quite like this. The anchor of his story and our common language is, of course, food.
One of my favorite passages:
“I realized that day, it’s the simple things in life. It’s not about a twelve-course tasting of unfamiliar ingredients or mass-produced water-added rib-chicken genetically modified monstrosity of meat that makes me feel alive. It’s getting a bowl of food that doesn’t have an agenda. The ingredients are the ingredients because they work and nothing more. These noodles were transcendent not because he used the best produce or protein or because it was locally sourced, but because he worked his dish. You can’t buy a championship.”
If you’re interested in food and how it informs much of who we are, you’ll want to read this book. Order your copy here.
Chopping pork at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Photo by Ken Goodman
Chris is a respected restaurateur, fierce competitor, and cherished friend. We’re fortunate to spend time with him and the McLemore/extended Big Bob Gibson family at a number of events each year. Mike will tell you that no Memphis in May is complete without a slice of that famous Big Bob Gibson pie. I was on the team of finals judges who awarded Chris his third World Grand Champion title at Memphis in May in 2011, enabling him to join the ranks of Apple City Barbecue and Jack’s Old South in the exclusive three-time Memphis in May World Grand Champion club. Here’s Chris’s take on the One-7:
1. Travel destination: Rocky Mountains
2. Favorite cut of meat to cook: Ribs {pork, beef, lamb}
3. Favorite pie: Chocolate Pecan
4. Best gift received: My children
5. Hero: My father
6. BBQ joint I’d like to visit: any jerk shack in Jamaica
7. Words I live by: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~Albert Einstein
Visit Chris at Big Bob Gibson in Decatur, Alabama and add his book to your collection. He’s also featured in Peace, Love, and Barbecue. You can see Chris on a number of shows about barbecue including the Kingsford Invitational {of which he was the host} and BBQ Pitmasters.
The One-7 spotlights barbecue luminaries and gives a little insight into their worlds.
