I gotta first say, that I'm an outsider looking in on what happens in our large neighbor state to the south, but this " new " direction, is confusing.
There's a new generation of Texas pitmasters in town, many of whom aren't satisfied with doing things the same old way.
Ohhh , so they're smoking barbecue like the rest of the country has done for years ?
Texans have come across the Red River to eat barbecue in Oklahoma and turned their noses up , for years. We have some pretty strong competition barbecue people here in the state, whose barbecue won't pass muster with Texans.
Okie Dave Bouska aka Butcher BBQ, who appeared on BBQ Pitmasters two or three times, whose won some national barbecue contests like the Jack Daniels, opened up a barbecue joint ( or actually, it was his son ) . Well, Daniel Vaughan shows up ( it seems Vaughn's wife's family lives in OKC ). And he gave Bouska's joint a big thumbs down on Twitter. He says the brisket was injected .............. OHHH THE HORROR !!! Had nothing good to say about a joint here in Oklahoma that had people lined up to eat their great barbecue. Its almost as if, Vaughn thought us Okies had no idea what " real barbecue " was. Heck, we dumb Okies thought Butcher BBQ was really good.
Which Oklahoma barbecue is really Kansas City barbecue. Why is injecting brisket, as has been done in KC for years and years, not considered " new and creative " ?
Joe Davidson, aka Oklahoma Joe , has been promoting smoked bologna here in the state for 30 years. Its on the menu of almost all the joints . They would not think about smoked bologna in Texas ................ oohhh but wait, its now on the menu of this new creative artisan group of pitmasters who were just named the top joint in Texas, Goldees, by the barbecue authority, Texas Monthly.
Have Texans just now discovered what the rest of the country has been doing with barbecue for a long time, all the while they've been touting that brisket simply seasoned with salt/pepper and smoked with a post oak fire, is the only barbecue worth eating ?
In an interview with Daniel Vaughn, Oklahoma Joe Davidson was asked what he thought about Texas brisket , and he said it was very good " but it can be so much more " . Hey , I agree , its almost as if it could be used as taco meat in Texmex ? How's that for a " new creative " idea ?
Heck, my first briskets 20 years ago were seasoned with Daddy Hinkle's marinade. We took an ice pick and punched holes in the fat cap and poured the marinade over it, hoping it would seep in. Very primitive form of injection. And then we used Daddy Hinkles rub. Why was this not " creative and new " ?
We've even got a very popular joint in Tulsa, Burn Co barbecue, that smokes meats on Hasty Bake smokers using charcoal and hickory wood chunks out of plastic bags, like we would buy at Home Depot, that pours out all kinds of white billowy smoke. Steven Raichlen has visited and gave it a big thumbs up. And now I see that one of the young phenoms at Goldee's, on his YT channel , says we need to choke off our fire on offsets to create more billowy white smoke. But this young man is cutting edge. Who knew ???
www.texasmonthly.com
