Pulled Pork Busters

Texans United

2005-10-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

A little roundup of the response to Glenn by Texas bloggers:

Viper suggested FedExing Glenn some Salt Lick, and I may make such a proposal to the professor to see if he is game-- though I could understand if he was a little hesitant to give out his address right now, given the animosity he has stirred up here in Texas. I think inviting him down to Houston for the greatest barbecue festival in the world is the best idea I've heard thus far. I think we can all agree that there is no greater satisfaction than converting a heretic to The One True BBQ.

How they do it outside of Texas

2005-10-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Came across this article on an 'upscale barbecue' joint outside Atlanta in Southern Voice. Un-frickin-believable. Atlanta's not a bad place, but it would be alot better if it stopped trying to be New York. On the other hand, it is the home of the Sweetwater Brewing Company, which makes some great non-BBQ oriented beer. If you come across some in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend picking some up.

This actually feeds into another reason why Central Texas BBQ is the best in the world- Shiner Bock. I don't know what other kind of beer you can drink with your brisket. I hate to go down to Salt Lick and see some yankees who brought Sam Adams or something. That's like eating foie gras with a warm glass of horse piss.

Perhaps some of the pro-pork commenters can enlighten me- what sort of beer do you drink to disguise the taste of your so-called barbecue?

Glenn Responds

2005-10-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

My dear Glenn, it's on now:

PPB: I assume you (mistakenly) believe that ham soaked in vinegar qualifies as "real" barbecue?
Heathen Glenn: Vinegar? You confuse me with those North Carolina apostates.

We hear all sorts of rumors about what infidels like yourself do with meat. Vinegar has got to be one of the most egregious offense I have heard of, but I don't see how you can really enjoy BBQ without a really spicy, fatty, delicious sauce from Texas. For the record, here are a few of my favorites.

Salt Lick
Stubb's
Rudy's

That last one is a gas station. Yeah, that's right. You can get better BBQ at a gas station in Texas than you can in all of western Tennessee.

UPDATE: Thanks to my commenters who added to the list of the Truly Great Texas BBQ joints that I omitted in my rush to finish the post and get to work. Wes, I also love County Line, and my wife was incensed that I left it out. Kreutz's is brilliant, I don't make it up to Lockhart nearly as often as I should. I have never had Cooper's, so it seems like a road trip this weekend is in order- thanks for the tip, Matt.

And I love this quote from John Kluge, a fellow pulled pork buster:

Just because you hillbillies in Tennessee don’t have the money to raise cattle the way we do here in Texas, doesn’t mean you know how to barbeque. I grew up in Kansas City and have my share of time in Memphis and Chicago and used to be an apostate about barbeque until I moved to central Texas and saw the light. There is no piece of meat of any kind made in the world that can exceed a piece of brisket from the Kretz Market in Lockhart, Texas. They were making barbeque there when people in Tennessee were still living in trees and eating pig guts.

Preach on, brother John.

The Great Debate

2005-10-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of Google searches later, and I'm learning all kinds of fascinating things about "The Great BBQ Debate." Apparently- and this was completely unknown to me before today- there are actually people who think that there is some barbecue that is superior to what we have here in Texas. I know, I know- I'm as shocked as you are. But we need to keep it together. All this means is that there are more people who need to be convinced of the righteousness of The One True Way of brisket, beef ribs, and sausage. We have work to do.

A good place to start is the comment thread of this blog post on Memphis v. Texas v. Kansas City BBQ. Before we really get into this, I just want to say that I'm tired of these arguments that claim that the only true barbecue is that pork shoulder thing. That's like saying that a 747 doesn't qualify as an airplane because it doesn't match the design specs of the Wright brothers' original. BBQ is all about spirit, style, and taste, and no one has more of all three than Texas.

The Inaugural

2005-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

I started this blog to right two very grievous wrongs. The first is the pork spending by our government that is driving this country to financial ruin, and the second is the insult to Texas BBQ made this morning by Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit.

The full text of Glenn's post is here, along with whatever backpedaling (and eventual apology) he adds as this scandal progresses. In the meantime, we'll be keeping the pressure on both Congress and Glenn to repudiate their hateful ways and bring fiscal sanity and great tasting food to every corner of our great nation.