Texas BBQ Road Trip 🍖 (FULL EPISODE)

i still remember my barbecue epiphany the time when i bit into a slice of texas brisket and it occurred to me this isn't just a meal this is an art and i've been hooked ever since texas barbecue is a crossroads where the people culture and flavors of texas collide a place where the lore is as thick as the smoke and family legacies are forged in fire barbecue brings food family and pure texas together like a delicious three meat combo plate and it's time we hit the road it's a texas barbecue road trip [Music] do [Music] texans are passionate people and we get especially passionate about our barbecue and the flavors of texas barbecue are so big so bold so delicious that the world has taken notice and if you want to eat at some of our most iconic stops well then you gotta start early cute doggy it is early this is a little earlier than i'm used to i'm just gonna say that because you know they say the early bird gets the brisket there you go [Laughter] so is barbecue part of a complete breakfast now yeah all i gotta say is this better be good because this is early hey trust me it will live up to the hype it always does it always does today we're headed about an hour east of austin to the small town of lexington to visit a very special barbecue joint but there are special places all over texas and in a state so big and so diverse we have more than a few barbecue traditions some date back for generations others are just getting started and when it comes to texas barbecue there is no town more special than lockhart the official barbecue capital of texas downtown lockhart is full of historic buildings which look great but they smell even better and that means lunch is ready some of the joints here date back over a hundred years with flavors marinated into the walls places like smitty's and kreitz market are where our traditions of market style barbecue started as it was sold directly out of the pits at small town grocery stores this place goes back quite a while yeah it was established in 1900 as craig's market and primarily it was a meat market grocery store barbecue was pretty much secondary all the way even through my my childhood smoking barbecue was functional a place to keep the fresh meat from spoiling if it didn't sell most of it was ground up and stuffed into sausage and that tradition is why lockhart still has the best and juiciest sausage in texas believe it or not there was a time when brisket wasn't the king of the texas pits just another part of the cow but you can thank lockhart's black family for changing that it's the perfect meat for barbecuing if you cook it properly and trim it properly and everything and season it properly now i'm telling a lot of our secrets but we cook them the fat side up you got that fat on the top as it cooks it will go down through the meat and keep it moist and it's just simple as that whoa oh that's good you like it and it's spicy i mean you all are doing stuff right obviously well we try to every day and treat our customers like their family members at our house you know texas barbecue is like a big family dinner a mumford's place in victoria is literally cooking for customers just like it's been doing at family reunions for a very long time inside this joint which has been named one of texas's best you'll find the sweet smell of barbecue and walls cluttered with generations of family photos which is very fitting considering how owners and brothers keith and ricky mumford learned how to cook cute but i've been doing this since we were 14 15 years old so really well who taught you at that point we have a family reunion we've had since 1904 and so my dad got them told us we were youngsters come over here let me show you something so they showed us something so so these are all the family secrets that you just started serving to all of us yes sir from the family union to the backyards to mumford's place barbecue yes oh now that's great but there's one family that's had more influence on modern texas barbecue than any other and when you start tracing how and where famous pit bosses got their chops will all roads lead back to one place louis mueller's the texas cathedral of smoke this place reeks of texas barbecue tradition and anyone who steps inside will reek of barbecue themselves old jukebox probably doesn't work these things have been smoked to oblivion that one's a new one that is not a new one and then how cool is this you recognize that guy stevie ray vaughan album cover shoot right here louie started this place in 1949 he passed it to his son bobby in the 70s and now it's safely in the hands of bobby's son and third generation pit boss wayne mueller this is what it's been for the last 55 years i was indoctrinated from my earliest childhood from the time i was about 8 years old because that's when i started working here okay when my father took over from his grandfather and so it hasn't changed much at all a beef rub that's nothing but black pepper and salt a pit that's been smoking for over 50 years and meat that's nothing but delicious i'm not gonna be able to wait i just i i can't wait this is my happy place right here you're carrying this precious thing that means so much to so many people what's that feel like it's an honor first of all that my father would ask me to continue this legacy right i look at my father as being mythical at this point i mean he's you know he's one of the titans how do you follow vince lombardi my job is not to screw it up right this to me is texas family community texas love sharing i think all of those things are incorporated into what barbecue is because it's the way people have been eating and sharing forever and ever and ever and that my friends is texas barbecue [Music] all right question for y'all build your perfect barbecue three meat combo plate sausage turkey and pulled pork it's gonna be the texas trinity that's my go-to all the time what is the texas trinity todd ribs brisket and sausage oh he got lucky i think he got left the show long enough for me that's that's it i'm gonna go brisket sausage ribs beans and potato salad i'm a traditional kind of guy when it comes to traditional barbecue there's nothing quite like luling city market oh it just hits you right when you walk in the door and everyone has to go through the same ritual you gotta be baptized by smoke i call that the meat cologne but central texas barbecue is just one of our many styles every now and then in a small town you hit something that is just way off the rockers like barbecue crabs which are not barbecued at all really and then pittsburgh hot links you try one and you go this is amazing unlike anything i've ever had never had these in my life oh another like barbecue mash-up comes to mind was mckinney brisket on a biscuit brisket on a biscuit that's about as southern as you can get right there sit down honey i'm gonna make you a biscuit on a biscuit and then of course we have to mention the uh fenoglio bowl he said that they'd put it on the menu as like just a barbecue bean bowl and no one bought it so he renamed it the bowl of top everybody wants it that's good marketing right there that's how you do it it's all in the name i'm no snob when it comes to barbecue and it doesn't have to follow the rules to be delicious like eating barbecue on a homemade tortilla but have you ever had barbecue on a fried roll we go through a little over a thousand rolls a day on most days so so what's the uh most rolls you've seen a man polish off during a barbecue sitting i would say about 18 of them that's a lot of rolls though this is a lot of rolls it's kind of like a sopapilla meets a beignet meets a roll meets delicious i'm very excited about these things bacon wrapped jalapeno quail you don't see this anywhere in texas or at least i've never seen it that is delicious is this what i see right up here yes sir that's goat right there oh yeah the filet mignon of brady texas i mean if anywhere in the world knows how to smoke goat it's the folks in brady texas that's good that is good and for barbecue that's extra untraditional look no further than brotherton's black iron barbecue how about texas brisket on a paphilli cheese steak smothered in queso on an authentic roll shipped in straight from philadelphia or maybe a brisket bond me a vietnamese sandwich with house-made kimchi pickled daikon and a mango serrano sauce or if those don't tickle your fancy maybe brotherton's soon to be iconic brisket pastrami reuben start off with a pastrami which we rine in house and then it's got a pepper coriander bark on it or you know the rubs pepper and coriander we've got a marble rye swiss cheese house made thousand island dressing and then we've got a sauerkraut that we ferment in-house so we start from from raw cabbage you know salted we put in a fermenting pot that looks amazing that is off the charts good thank you and then there are barbecue traditions that may seem strange to some of us but they're as traditional as ever in their regions and one of those is mexican barbacoa in the rio grande valley and nobody does it better or more traditional than vettes this is authentic mexican barbecue a full cow head as in one cabeza de vaca cooked the authentic way in the ground not on the ranches you don't have uh ovens you don't have anything that's what the wrenches do they make a hole in the ground okay they put fire on there and then they wrap that beef and they put it in there and they put other meats in there you know but that's originally where it came from from mexico wow so we got to head upside down we're seeing the jaw bones here we got the teeth there and the eyeball you wanna eat the ojo let me get you a tray okay here we go [Music] extra juicy like there you go excellent flavor it's got all the smoke in it i mean it's very fatty that's a first for me there you go every time i come back i i have to remind myself how much i like it like oh this is this is my happy place like this is this is the place i want to come and like stuff myself seven o'clock in the morning that's daniel vaughn my buddy known as the barbecue snob whose job it is to pick the best joints in texas for the coveted texas monthly top 50. it's a great gig but picking winners is a tough job if i had the job of ranking the top 50 i could not put a number one i just couldn't i always say it's very hard to find like honestly bad barbecue you may not like it as much as some other places because by comparison it's not as good but is it really bad yes it is it's bad no it is not it's horrible no no it's not you're talking to the guy who doesn't like brisket todd why are you here i don't know the best brisket todd ever had when i looked at it was actually pulled pork he was like this brisket's pretty good he swears he was born in texas but i just can't believe it i need a birth certificate oh todd but no more time to debate we've made it it is a monumental task to pick a number one but the pros at texas monthly have spoken twice and picked our day's destination snow's barbecue as their number one numero uno the best barbecue in texas and by extension the world what's crazy is that snows is only open on saturday and so every saturday morning lexington's population more than doubles as folks from all over the world come to line up to taste greatness and to steal a smile from miss tootsie the queen of texas barbecue this is owner carrie bexley i mean there's a snows frenzy going on what's the line these days uh probably this morning at opening time was probably four to five hours long i mean it's kind of a whole experience right you got to wake up at the crack of dawn you know haul yourself out you got to convince yourself you want barbecue for breakfast but it's a sort of a special thing meeting you meet miss tootsie meeting your whole family the whole team i can't make you like our barbecue but i can't make you have a good time while you're here and customer service and hospitality is high up on our priority list and so carrie keeps the line lively raffles complimentary beverages and general camaraderie number 50. five zero jump 50 spots come on you know i get the feeling these folks might actually like waiting in line where did you come from to get this barbecue from venice italy venezuela philadelphia boston massachusetts seattle washington colorado oklahoma city travel from idaho because bbq keeping up with the demand is no easy task and that's why it takes the whole family including carrie's wife kim and their three kids along with a dedicated staff that feels like family i mean most everybody that works for he works full time a little weekend gig and it's turned into a really good gig for a lot of gig did you see the first texas monthly ranking coming kind of interesting i didn't ever tell the story for so long but i actually had the business so the week before texas monthly came for their first time in 2008 oh no they called back on a tuesday and said we've had a change of plans we're not interested i said that's fine no problem and that next saturday is when texas they came the first time you could call it luck i call it divine intervention do you have a secret to making good barbecue it's just a lot of tlc it goes into it i mean we are basic on all our seasons we've never seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper and we're one of the few that don't use a high quality cut of brisket we'll use a select grate of brisket if you know what you're doing with it you can do a good job nobody knows better than miss tootsie tomonets at 86 she's a self-taught barbecue master with a worldwide fan base but even with all that notoriety and fame she still just missed tootsie i'm an old country girl and all i know is what the earth has given us what god has given us and i'm just myself i enjoy this work i like to turn out a pretty product you have to be having fun or else you wouldn't still be doing this oh no because this ain't easy work if you can't stand the heat don't start barbecuing no way she ain't lying oh that's like standing next to the gates of hades that is hot that's next to hell itself that's what i'm saying that's as close as i ever want to get i've got some ribs on my pork pit today okay this is hotter this is just a slow heat where's the gauge that tells you hot and cold it's that just that with with the gloves i'm not as accurate so i use the soft i'm gonna okay this is the hot pit i'm gonna see if i can even bother you i'm not even that hot oh come on now yeah you oh that's not too bad that's not that actually feels pretty good man we're bathing in it here boys look at that oh let it soak in hey you better watch it get into the soul oh whoa like even though we're interviewing a tv show mr said that's fine but i gotta keep working no slowing her down i hope i'm doing half as good when i'm her age tootsie still keeps a day job as a janitor at getting's isd and she started in the barbecue business with her late husband running a place just a few blocks from here but after it was closed for a number of years carrie called her back into action to help open snows and the world rejoiced i'm just myself yeah god has given me all my attention and given me all my fame and opened all these doors up for me and had it not be for the attention i would almost i would almost bet you when she'd still be here doing everything same way that that speaks to a passion that has nothing to do with a paycheck or a fame or attention notoriety that's why your barbecue tastes as good as it does how long are you going to do this for i can't say how long i'm going to do it yeah uh i know i won't be here forever to do it but 100 more years maybe it would be wonderful long live the queen of texas barbecue [Music] great barbecue takes passion and a commitment to get it just the way you think exceptional barbecue should taste and all great pit bosses have methods to their madness his name is clifford it's the big red pit appropriate very appropriate we got briskets on i put those on about maybe about eight or so this morning they'll be cooking until tomorrow around nine tomorrow morning 24 25 hours look that's how they're done that is the slowest cookie i've ever heard of yeah i think that we might be the longest cooks on the brisket so yeah that's the way we do it we like it low and slow with a secret family rub and smoked on mesquite at first to get things hot and then post oak overnight to hold the low temp i mean these guys are not playing around [Music] you know most places use one kind of wood matt uses three i blend primarily to mesquite and then i blend in a little bit open con throughout the day as i'm smoking so you got a recipe not just for the rubs and you know the the cook time but also the wood yeah yeah combining them all it just comes out with the best flavor just the magic right there so what we got going on these we got briskets on these pits here we've been cooking these all night long these are already wrapped and how long is the brisket take to cook no it depends it varies it could be 10 hours these have actually been on around 15 16 hours and they're still going well how do you know when they're ready if you can't see them i can tell just by looking at them oh really that's a true master right there that one over there is almost done finding the right cook takes a whole lot of smoke meat trial and error it's gone through several iterations i've probably burnt 100 of them i've undercooked 100 of them and we had to just try to bring it to the middle somewhere and find that perfect brisket for us briskets run these pits for a solid 17 to 18 hours on the unusual red oak wood but hey will knows what he's doing i mean as long as there's a texas there's going to be texans wanting your barbecue so i don't think you have anything to worry about god bless texas amen so the fish that you see here are the recreation of the way they were cooking when they came in the wagon trains when we first started cooking we used pecan but we burned all our vacant and so now we use lava okay but we take pecan hulls and and soak them in water like people do hickory chips yeah and if you have a flare-up we throw the pecan in there it puts that pecan flavor in there too sure sure our barbecue sauce is more of a southeastern sauce there's no tomatoes in it it's got a lot of vinegar and sugar in it and then it's just intensified over the years aha yes the salt lake sauce a key component of the salt lick experience so delicious it's been said that it's good on anything which i may or may not know firsthand to sauce or not to sauce that is a great texas debate but here at davis grocery the pork steak it's a must especially when topped with a little comeback juice this is a sauce that we make here in-house i like it already let me give let me give it a shot it has a sweet base it's very good oh that really good yeah at cooper's and llano you get a full baptism yum salt yeah yeah according to east texas tradition sauce ain't an option it's mandatory on everything and this is barbecue manager cashier and reverend clinton edison probably not a combo you hear every day but when you're the church pastor church barbecue comes with the gig the barbecue is blessed well it is absolutely even before you eat it we've been around a long time it's going to get messy you can't not get messy it's impossible so don't even try just give up so we are in east texas pretty different style of barbecue man it's about chopped brisket the sandwiches are always and probably will be the number one seller here just always but there's one special sandwich that comes with the taste of history the brother-in-law that's been served here for decades this is a hot link that smoked and some sauce melted pizza just plain old american cheese pile some chopped brisket on it there's nothing wrong with this sandwich no like the sourdough bun people talk smack why are you putting cheese on a just try it oh it's just so good [Music] speaking of so good time to head back to snows and with the line moving we're ready to step inside here we go if you came all this way you're not going to go easy you're going to try it all let's do pork steaks a half pound of that half pound of brisket half chicken four pork ribs something like that a quarter pound regular and a quarter pound of jalapeno the aroma through my mask let me i'm just going to sneak a little smell oh yeah that's good all right let's go [Music] man this is the finish line to a true texas barbecue road trip right here and i'm about to eat a full barbecue spread and it's not even nine o'clock yet i'm in a weird time continuum is it lunch is it breakfast i'm not sure and i don't really care i'm just gonna eat the barbecue oh gosh so excited i can die i can die like that is so good that is masterful brisket i've eaten a lot of brisket in my day and i'll tell you a single bite of this will still take me to my knees the fat is like buttered jelly i i i don't know what happens i mean according to sort of the the way you're supposed to cook brisket they're breaking all kinds of rules they're wrapping them in foil which everybody calls the texas crutch well i don't care what your rules are you taste this brisket you throw those out the window the brisket speaks for itself you know i would say that uh finding barbecue this good is as rare as finding snow in texas but this year all bets are off we're breaking all kinds of rules snowing in my mouth at least here come on guys pull up a seat rest your legs miss tootsie's got the touch this right here epitomizes why i love making this show and why i've done it for so long you would have never heard of lexington texas had it not been for snow's barbecue and now it's just it's become this vibrant little community that's attracting people from all over the world to come here and eat this barbecue now that's something that's worth day tripping for right there [Music] texas barbecue has never been more famous but the passion and grit it takes to make it go back over a hundred years along with the ideals of hard work community and family which are even more important than the rub and wood and no matter the sort of cue you prefer sauce no sauce chopped or sliced the best thing about barbecue is that it brings us together so thank you to everyone out there sweating in the pits and slicing on the line the tradition is in your hands and you're carrying the torch proudly you know one of the best parts about a texas barbecue road trip texas barbecue dessert and my favorite of them all nanner pudding which tastes even better at nine in the morning so i'll see all y'all out on the road by conan dios amigos you

Channel: The Daytripper

Views: 391,989

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Id: kVDuQE9f2hw

Length: 24min 34sec (1474 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 20 2022