Texas Delicious BBQ

Texas Delicious BBQ

Perhaps it's a coincidence. As the largest state in the United States, Texas is 1,100 kilometers from north to south and 1,200 kilometers from east to west. The shape is exactly like a "T-Bone", which makes people fascinated by it. Drool. The bold and sturdy folk customs of Dezhou seem to have added a flourish to this "steak".

Smell Austin, start from BBQ

Passing by Austin, the capital of Texas, wouldn’t it be in vain if you don’t enjoy the authentic BBQ in the Texas realm? Pushing open the heavy wooden door of the "Salt Lick BBQ" grill restaurant, a mellow barbecue aroma accompanied by the misty light smoke in the sky.

The visual feast close to the flaming oven is amazing. In the stone stove with a diameter of more than two meters, the oak wood fire crackled, and the steaming smoke set off the densely packed grilled sausages hanging on the stove top, hazy and illusory. The fatty oil overflowing from the sausage falls freely, allowing it to drip to the crimson beef ribs, pork ribs, and sirloin on the iron grate. On the chicken, the seductive shine is accompanied by the intoxicating mellow fragrance, which makes people unable to help swallowing saliva. .

All handsome waiters, holding trays with one hand, shuttled and served dishes, opening up an unparalleled taste experience for us. Cut a large piece of tender and juicy beef brisket with the store’s secret sauce and gently send it to the mouth. The plump and mellow meat fragrant swims from the teeth and whirls on the tip of the tongue; the meat is tender on the outside and tender on the inside. Without losing its toughness, the lips and teeth leave fragrance, which is beyond words. On the first day in Austin, you can enjoy three delicious meals consisting of smell, sight and taste.

The store is named after the word "salt", which seems to be well versed in the ancient motto "salt is the first of the five flavors". Its unique barbecue recipe originated from the creation of great-grandmother Betty, the orphan who migrated from the Mississippi River to Austin. Future generations will carry forward the store, not only thanks to Austin’s central location in Texas, with its convenient transportation and extensive connections, but also because the well-known Texas barbecue has been refined into four regions according to its flavor, especially the central and eastern barbecues.

Texas Barbecue Map

The English word "Barbecue" is derived from the Caribbean word "Barbracot". Caribbean slaves brought traditional BBQ to Carolina in the south of the United States in the 17th century. The slow-baked Caribbean style laid the foundation for BBQ in the southern United States. Since then, Caribbean immigrants arrived in Texas, which further profoundly affected the Texas barbecue culture. In the middle of the 19th century, German and Czech immigrants introduced the bacon barbecue tradition to central Texas. In this method of bacon, dry spices are applied to the surface of the beef, the fire is strong, and the original oak and hickory wood are used as charcoal materials to indirectly heat it until it is fully cooked. This method originated from the local butchers, who sold the leftover meat every day, smoked it and stored it to prevent deterioration. Therefore, the famous early barbecue places in Texas all originated from butcher shops.

The famous food critic Calvin Trillin wrote in The New Yorker: “For BBQ in Central Texas, people are more inclined to discuss the quality of meat than the spiciness of the sauce or the taste of the side dishes.” I think this admiration. The view that "meat quality is king" is perfectly embodied in the "Salt Lick BBQ" restaurant. In addition, food critic Jayne Clark wrote in "USA Today": "The most popular barbecue footprint in Texas is a half circle, including Elgin, Lockhart, Luling and Taylor. Driving from Austin to the Northeast An hour’s drive to the southeast."

Because of the prevalence of slavery before the American Civil War, a large number of slaves from Louisiana in the southeastern United States brought a special pork barbecue tradition to eastern Texas. They not only grilled tender pork ribs, but also invented grilled pork pudding. Chopped pork and rice are put into casings and grilled into sausages, which is very popular. In addition, Eastern Texas pays more attention to the application of barbecue sauce. Different from the central part of Texas, where large pieces of sirloin are grilled and sliced, the tender beef is marinated in a sweet tomato sauce, with pecan wood as charcoal, baked at a slow fire, and chopped to make sandwiches.

The western barbecue, known as the "cowboy style", enjoys the reputation of "dating back to the roots of the South" because it is the closest to the original barbecue and has a unique flavor. Dig a large pit in the ground to make an open fire, and place the meat directly on the mesquite charcoal for barbecue. The open flame captures the dripping fat to generate oily smoke, which is then fed back to infiltrate the meat fiber. Because of the "short, flat and fast" cooking on an open flame, the ribs, sausages and chicken grilled in this way are more fragrant and delicious. However, if you roast a thick chunk of beef, the meat will be slightly dry due to the rapid loss of moisture, which is not as juicy and tender as the slow-fire roasting method.

Regrettably, the above-mentioned mountain country-style barbecue has been declining, and in southern Texas adjacent to Mexico, another more primitive BBQ is also on the verge of extinction. This method is still to dig a large hole in the ground, fill it with stone bricks, and wait for the wood to burn into a thick coal seam, and wrap the whole cow's head with agave originating in Mexico and cover it on the charcoal. After being grilled for 12 hours, the meat of the beef head was thoroughly cooked and deboned, and the grilled taste was as mellow and intoxicating as tequila wine. Next, mix the chopped beef head with coriander, onion, and salsa, and sandwich it in the tostada. The Mexican-style "Taco" is freshly baked. This method is similar to the "Luau" of the native Hawaiian barbecued pigs, but the people of southern Texas gave it another word "Barbacoa" that distinguishes it from "Barbecue".

Enjoy barbecue throughout Texas

If you come to travel, you don’t have to stick to the professional point of view of gourmets. Tasting barbecues throughout Texas is a rare gourmet experience in your life. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the north, we coincide with the annual Texas Cowboy Festival. The small town of Fort Worth is famous for the large-scale livestock farming in the late 19th century, when more than 10 million cattle passed through the city via the Chisholm Drive. As a result, we watched the cowboys drove the unique longhorn bulls in Texas through the blocks. In the real trading scene of selling bulls and horses, we felt that the intensity of the tension was comparable to the New York Stock Exchange in the documentary. Of course, the protagonist of barbecue is indispensable for the authentic cowboy experience.

Not far away, I saw what seemed to be a makeshift red plastic shed, with old and clumsy wooden tables and chairs inside, and hill-like beef ribs on the dining table. This is the correct way to open the Texas barbecue!

When two big pieces of smoky roast beef ribs came in front of me, I was immediately dumbfounded. We all know that Americans often say "EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS", but this Texas size makes me stunned. And the $9.95 roast beef set meal is all you can eat! So, in the most primitive way, I grabbed the bones in both hands and enjoyed the fun of biting. With the fragrant grilled toast, fresh onions, pickled cucumbers and jalapenos, my belly is almost bursting. No wonder the Texans are so tall, their meals are so powerful!

After that, I found a restaurant at random on the pedestrian street next to the river, because I knew that no restaurant would disappoint me here. The "Map of Texas" I ordered-"T-BONE" made me hooked, because the "T-Bone Steak" is taken from the front loin of a cow. It consists of a slice of Filet Mignon and a slice of "New Yorker Steak". composition. The meat quality of these two parts is quite different. "Filet mignon" is lean and tender, while "New Yorker" is chewy and oily, so "T-bone steak" meets these two needs at the same time. The "COWBOY RIBEYE" requested by the companion is only half-ripe, because the ribeye beef taken from the spine of the sirloin close to the spine has a lot of marbled oil and is evenly distributed. There is a noticeable piece of grease. The companion said that the meat was tender and chewy, and the scent of butter was even more appetizing.

Barbecue talk

In addition to the reputation of Texas barbecue, barbecue has been deeply rooted in the daily diet of American people. Many parks have special barbecue areas to provide people with a fun place to enjoy the delicious food on weekends. Many people also have barbecue pits in their backyards. Holiday parties are set up to smoke and smoke in the interlaced...So if you grill your own beef, how do you buy it? The US Department of Agriculture divides beef into 8 levels, from highest to lowest: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. The only ones that can cook steak are Prime, Choice and Select. The difference lies in the content of fat and the distribution of oil. Fat is the biggest factor affecting the flavor of steak. For example, the fat content of Prime is 8-11%, the fat content of Choice is 4-8%, and the fat content of Select is 3-4%. In addition, the more uniform the fat distribution, the higher the steak grade. High, we often hear the "snow-like texture" praised by food critics; Standard and Commercial grades are suitable for stir-fry and barbecue; and Utility, Cutter and Canner are used to make sausages, ground meat, burgers and canned beef .

If you have never tasted Texas barbecue, you must have seen the image of western cowboys called "heroes on horseback" in American literature and art. Those tough guys who spur horses to gallop through the desert are a symbol of America's pioneering spirit. The relationship between "Western Cowboys" and cattle dates back to 1540. Spanish explorers crossed the Atlantic Ocean to North America, and 500 cattle accompanied them to what is now northern Mexico and Arizona. After that, cattle breeds in the United States. In the beginning, the job of the cowboys was to graze on the ranch, repair the fenced cowshed, and take care of the ranch equipment. The invention of refrigerated train carriages after the Civil War allowed beef to be transported and kept fresh over long distances. Therefore, it is necessary to manually drove a large number of cattle groups to Chicago in the Midwest of the United States, slaughtered, cut and frozen, and then transported by train to the eastern United States. Since then, the "cowboy" profession composed of young westerners who drive cattle came into being. Of course, cowboys’ dinners are inseparable from large pieces of grilled steak and potatoes.

Dezhou roasting is not only a folk delicacy, but also a hall of elegance. In 1964, American President Lyndon Baynes Johnson, a native of Austin, hosted a special BBQ state banquet in Johnson City next to Austin to host the newly elected president of Mexico. This was the first barbecue state banquet in American history...but since 2000 In order to protect the environment, a large number of Texas BBQ employees have improved the smoky barbecue method to a gas stove. Now the more respected pellet grill is easy to use, more energy-saving and environmentally friendly, and is a very good choice.

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