Monk: The latest from Eater’s Smoke Point visits the up and coming Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque in Wolfforth outside of Lubbock. In this video, pitmaster Arnis Robbins walks us through his team’s process for brisket trimming, hatch chile roasting, sausage making, and rib cooking.
Description: Just outside Lubbock, Texas, Arnis Robbins serves some of the best barbecue in the state at Evie Mae’s, with dishes like pork ribs, green chile cheese sausage, brisket, and more.
Monk: A few highlights from this past weekend’s Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium where the focus was on barbecue: “questions about what barbecue is, who makes it, and how the craft is changing. From sliced beef brisket to pulled pork, from tacos to fire-roasted vegetables, barbecue speaks to the past, present, and future of the South and to the stories of pitmasters—the places they work, the smoke they conjure, and the sauces they stir.”
Texas Monthly Taco Editor Gustavo Arellano was a day one speaker and compared southern barbecue to Mexican barbacoa:
George and David Barber of Fresh Air Barbecue in Jackson, Georgia were named this year’s recipient of the Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award
Jiyeon Lee and Cody Taylor of Atlanta’s Heirloom Market Bar-B-Que treated folks to a Korean-inspired barbecue dinner Friday night
On day two, Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn explained why Texas-style barbecue is becoming the predominant style, both across the US and abroad
Food critic Hanna Raskin on the intersection of barbecue and alcohol
Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller emceed the weekend with stories of black pitmasters
Finally, Helen Turner of Helen’s Bar-B-Q in Brownsville, TN was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lexington Barbecue Festival made a triumphant return after taking the last two years off
The Shepard Barbecue episode of Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives will air on Friday, November 4 at 9pm ET on Food Network
Dampf Good Barbecue has opened for regular hours at Phillis Farm of Cary; they will be serving their Texas-style barbecue Thursdays through Saturdays from 11am-6pm
The Southern Smoke festival raised a whopping $1.6M this past weekend
The McRib Farewell Tour? Maybe not…
Monk: Fascinating story first brought to our attention by the excellent NC Rabbit Hole newsletter by Jeremy Markovich. And relevant because Texas Pete has a long history with NC barbecue: “[The history section on the Texas Pete website] goes on to say that basically, during the depression, the Garner family wanted some spicier sauce to serve at their barbecue stand. The sauce outlived the stand.”
Also fascinating: Jeremy first brought this to our attention (culling information from a publicly available lawsuit, but still) but has since been aggregated out of credit. He breaks it down in the following Twitter thread.
The story has since been picked up by The Huffington Post, USA Today, Business Insider/Food Insider, and the Nexstar-owned news stations like High Point’s Fox 8.
In any case, I urge you to support Jeremy and NC Rabbit Hole for not only this but lots of other fascinating, NC-focused stories.
The last bit on Texas Pete (for now), an Our State Magazine story on its history from 2017
Mac’s Speed Shop’s latest location in Concord will also feature live music
A short video on Cook Out from Food Insider
The Barbecue Festival is coming up on October 22
John Mueller’s barbecue joint at the Granary didn’t come to fruition before he passed, but his friend Jeff Ancira is keeping his memory alive with BBQ at the Granary
Heirloom Market is still found on Eater Atlanta’s 38 Essential Restaurants lis
The Houston Chronicle Top 100 List features several barbecue restaurants, including Brett’s BBQ Shop
Voting Ends later today in this poll from City Limits Barbeque
Monk: Kelly Nevarez of LaVaca BBQ in Port LaVaca, TX brings the Hispanic influences of her family and culture to her barbecue not only in terms of spices used in the rubs but also twists on Texas barbecue such as smoked pork and brisket tamales wrapped in butcher paper. LaVaca is very much a family operation, with Kelly’s parents Christine and Lupe very much in the mix from making blue corn tortillas to smoking the fajita meat for the steak fajitas. It seems like they have something special going on at LaVaca BBQ.
Description: At LaVaca BBQ in Port LaVaca, Texas, the Nevarez family draws from their Hispanic culture and Texas upbringing to make Big Red pork ribs, smoked pulled pork and brisket tamales, beef cheek barbacoa, steak fajitas on blue corn tortillas, and more.