American Idol's BBQ Aficionado

It seems that Anoop Desai, a American Idol contestant, has written an honor thesis on BBQ. "Why Barbecue Matters In The South" is an interesting read with some historical tidbits about BBQ. Though you may not agree with all of Anoop's thesis you have to admire anyone who is a student of BBQ. And for the record, if you have to cover your brisket in sauce then there is a problem with the brisket.

Thanks to Jeremy who is my boss, coworker, and a BBQ connoisseur who forward me this thesis.

(Picture from SeriousEats.com)

The Back Forty BBQ: San Ramon

Well finally after waiting a couple of years I got up to one of The Back Forty's in California. It is based on Texas-style BBQ. There are two close to Oakland and two up by Sacramento. Since the San Ramon Valley location was ten miles closer to our Santa Clara hotel than the original up in Pleasant Hill then we stop there. It did take a GPS to help us (Steve, Joann, and DB) locate the place.

The San Ramon is located in a shopping center off of I680 up on a hill. The place is not real big and it is all sit down service. The folks were real nice and the atmosphere was contrived but yet western. How is that for a mouthful.

I was really stoked since I had read they served fried sweet taters. Not bad. Cut a tad thick but still nice fries. I really should learn to fry my own sometime. They were yum.

It helps to order by the plate or combo. I ordered Brisket (juicy not lean), Sausage ("Hot Links), and Beef ribs along with sides of tater-salad and fried sweet taters. The second bite, after the taters, was the tater salad. It was a mustard tater salad, chilled, that was very good...it may have been the highlight of the night for me. I recommend as a must.

The brisket was moist and tender but lack much flavor. I am unsure what was missing...a rub or the right wood to smoke it. But the BBQ sauce served with it help make up for that. The sauce was the second highlight. It was very nice and good on just about anything. Not spicy sauce but delicious.

Next came the beef ribs. Since I am not much of a ribs fan then I may not be a fair judge. My ribs were moist and tender but just lacked much flavor. I hate to say it given my motto about meat that needs sauce but if they had basted the ribs with that BBQ sauce they may have been mighty tasty.

Well when I saw the sausage was called "hot links"I was not holding my breath for anything good. As far as sausage goes they looked like a bratwurst but had a better flavor. Not a hot link flavor but a sausage flavor. Not what I am used to or like but it was ok. Better than all the meats I had on my plate.

The ice tea was good but not sweetened. The cornbread was good...it was a bit sweet which is ok with me. It went well with the beans. The beans, though meant to be like camp-style, were actually pretty good. I put some onions and cornbread into the bowl Steve gave me. Again this side may have rounded out the sides as being the best part of the meal.

Next was a sample of Steve's pork ribs. Turns out they were pretty good. They had basted them with something...most likely the sauce. I would have to say that the sausage and ribs are for me next time.

Joann ordered some banana bread (or nanner bread) which turned out to be pretty good. A nice option to have along with other breads. Joann order the BBQ chicken which she says was nice. I will take her word for it since BBQ and chicken just seems wrong to me. But to each their own. Joann seemed to like the chicken so that is a strong vote of confidence for that meat.

All in all we enjoyed the visit and the food. We may have to stop in there again while in the area.
We left full and content...well at least I did.

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Rating:
Brisket 2.5 (tender, moist, not much flavor...sauce saved it)
Sausage 3.5 ( not store bought but more like a bratwurst..good for what it is and so the rating)
Beef Ribs 2.0 (tender, moist, but not much flavor, sauce could save it if basted)
Pork Ribs 4.0 (top of the meats, nice flavor and moist)
Tater salad 4.0 (just plain good. Would be nicer warm)
Beans 4.0 (nice)
Cornbread 4.0 (nice with a bit of sweet)
Nanner bread 4.0 (not bad at all)
Tea 3.5
Sauce 4.5 (good)

San Angelo: Old Time Pit BBQ

The Old Time Pit BBQ has been in San Angelo now for more than a decade. My understanding is that it was model, or part of, Cooper's BBQ which started in Mason/Llano, Texas. In 1997 Texas Monthly they ranked this Old Time Pit BBQ in the top 50 BBQ places in Texas.

Over the years I have enjoyed their BBQ though over those years they have been a hit and miss. I have heard several folks say that their BBQ is awful. I have never found it to be awful.

So while here in Angelo for Thanksgiving I decided to go over and try their brisket and sausage and nothing else.

The Old Time Pit BBQ is typical of several BBQ places in Texas now. It looks like a long shack that at one end you will find the BBQ pits and at the other end you dine. When entering the place you come in by the pits and pick your meat directly off one of the pits. Then you move into the dining area to pay and get sides and extras.

I ordered two links of their regular smoked sausage though they do have jalapeno sausage too. My rule of thumb is that if it needs jalapeno then there is a problem. The regular sausage is definitely NOT store bought and has the immediate look and flavor of homemade stuff smoked sausage. A very nice flavor and texture. The regular already has a bit of spice to it .... enough the kids do not like eating it because of the hot. And though the initial flavor is just as I like it, the after taste is a bit lardy and left a slight after taste that I did not care for. But the sausage is almost exactly what I remember from Old Time Pit and what I expected.

Now M.E. did care for the sausage and says Rudy's is better. She said she could eat it if she had to.

The brisket was about a quarter-pound and about one-third of it was fat (note for a tad bit more you can get a lean brisket too.) The initial pulling of the meat was moisture and had a nice look and flavor. The brisket was as good as Rudy's (which is a good baseline) but lost it moisture quickly and was left a bit dry after that.

As far as other items then they have chicken, ribs, tater salad, taters, beans, and so on. But I did not order any this time.

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Rating:
Brisket 3.75/3.5 [ME] (tender, moist, nice smoked/rub flavor)
Sausage 3.75/2.0 [ME] (definitely not store bought and nice flavor)

A Texas Love Story: Texas BBQ Stops

I gather that a film called Barbecue: A Texas Love Story has been made that looks very interesting.

Even better they list off many of the Texas BBQ stops they made.

Duke BBQ (Utopia, Texas)

June 7th, 2008

Duke Ranch near Utopia, Texas. Utopia Shoot-Out





The Duke family served up BBQ for the lunch time meal to accompany the Utopia Shoot-Out. Since it has been almost six months since the meal then I will not rate each item.

They served up (to name a few):

Sausage
Brisket
Tater Salad
Beans
Ice Tea Sweet
Peach Cobbler
Naner Pudding

It was all good. The sausage was definitely not store bought. Yum.

The Brisket was outstanding and had all due care in its making. The taste said it all.

The Pudding and Cobbler was great. I think I got several helpings of cobbler which I had not had in a long time.

They definitely served up an outstanding meal and BBQ. It was good to be home and get a home cooked meal. The Duke's are great hosts who are proud of their BBQ and well they should be.

Overall I would rate the BBQ: 4.5

This leaves them room to improve, I am not sure how, and grow.

The BBQ Song

This says it all! :)

Josh's Barbecue in Santa Fe (* * 1/2)

Note this is an older review from September 2007. I have heard that Josh's has gotten better and we need to go try it.

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Location: Santa Fe down Cerrillos Road in the San Isidro Plaza across from a Lowe's Home Center and adjacent to the new Regal Cinema 14.

Style BBQ: Southwest (Oklahoma and Texas) with a bit of New Mexican flavor.

Meats: Polish Sausage, Hot Links, Brisket, Turkey, Ribs, Pulled Pork

Sides: Tater salad, Green Chile Corn Bread, Cowboy beans, cole slaw, corn on the cob, baked tater

Today a friend at work, knowing that I love good BBQ especially Texas style, told me about Josh's. He said he thought the brisket was as good as it gets in New Mexico. So I could not stand it and called Gwen and arranged for us to have dinner down in Santa Fe.

The place smelled of a wood fire BBQ pit. You can order the meat by the half pound or they have one meat and two meat plates or family style. Between the four of us we got the brisket, polish sausage, and hot links. Sides were tater salad, green chile cornbread, corn on the cob, baked potato, and cowboy beans. And I got ice tea. :)

Of all this the most notable was the brisket and cornbread. Both were good. The brisket was definitely moist and had a good yet weak flavor. I think they did not have a good rub on it if at all. Gwen enjoyed it too. I think Rudy's is better ... not as moist but stronger flavor.

The cornbread was very good. It was a sweet cornbread but with green chiles in it but not overwhelming. Actually a nice combo but why does everything in NM have to have chiles in it? Chiles are not THAT good. Good for variety but terrible when overwhelming everything else.

The most disappointing was the iced tea, polish sausage, and tater salad. The iced tea was a flavored one like a cross between a weak Earl Grey and prickly-pear flavor. It was NOT sweet and it was NOT plain ole iced tea. I switched to pop after I finished that glass.

The polish sausage was a huge disappointment. Gwen and I both were not impressed. Gwen said it tasted like a grilled hot dog. That should sum it up. Even "store bought" is better.

For my personal tastes the tater salad was a disappointment. But with that said I have to say that for its type of tater salad it was good. It was a mayonnaise based salad with taters and celery. I forget what else was in it. It was good for what it was but I just have a strong preference to a yellow mustard based salad. Gwen on the other hand liked it a lot saying it reminded her of her mom' s tater salad.

This all does not mention the BBQ sauces. They had three on the table.... seasonal, traditional mild, and traditional hot. The seasonal was nice but it was not really a BBQ sauce...it had a strong taste of bourbon or something. The other two were not what I think of for BBQ sauce.
So be warned.

All in all I would say this is a place to visit every now and then. NM is not strong on BBQ food in the first place. It cannot replace Rudy's right now as my NM BBQ place to head for. But I can give it 2-1/2 stars. It is a order at the window and sit down to be served kind of place. Not as much atmosphere as Rudy's at all.

We still have not visited the Whole Hog BBQ which is a Arkansas BBQ style. But then again I am not a big fan of pulled pork.

Here is a review I found on the web at Gil's Thrilling Web Site.

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Rating:
Brisket 3.0 (tender, moist, very mild flavor)
Sausage 0.5 ("hot dogs" are not sausage)
Tater salad 2.0/4.0 (not mustard salad/Gwen liked it.)
Tea 0.5 (needs standard ice tea)