Why is BBQ so overpriced in DFW? (Dallas, Fort Worth: trendy, to eat)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Pilsn3r

Excellent post! BBQ is from everywhere around the world. Native Americans had their own as described by Texas history, MX/Latin America with barbacoa. East Asia had their own bbq from at least prior to 1100 AD, Pacific Islanders did it thousands of years ago (Maori people in NZ for example) and spread out the Pacific to what many experience as luau's in Hawaii nowadays (bury various meats like pork, chicken, fish, etc over hot stones or coals). Philippines, Africa, etc. BBQ existed before the US/colonial times, and mostly not beef based.

Edit: Wife would be upset if I left out Tandoor cooking - over 5000 years old of grilling meats over fire or coals in an enclosed space, probably most similar to cooking on a Weber grill).

+1 on the Tandoor oven, a family we know in Plano use two. One for meat and the other for breads.......several of the best meals I've ever had have been cooked in them. The lady of the house every once in while will cooked red curry, goat, rice, pita and deserts. Honestly, I struggle with "Indian" cookies and related but the other stuff is otherworldly.

FWIIW she uses two because she prefers much higher heat from bread.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Some of us prefer to minimize the sauce factor though. I don't understand why in East Texas and across the South, the sauce is equally important as the meat, and you may not have an option to leave it off or to the side. Plus, the sauce often has a lot of sweetness, and I don't want more than a hint of sweet.

The vinegar sauce with a hint of sweet is popular in NC because those flavors are cooking essentials. The sauce isn't supposed to completely cover the meat, it's just a tiny bit.

Salt, fat, acid, and heat make any dish taste good. If you have a boring bowl of green beans, try adding a bit more salt, some bacon fat, and a tiny bit of lemon juice or vinegar and they can go from being boring to delicious.

I do agree that some BBQ places go overboard with the sauce. A few places I went to in KC had so much sauce that I could barely taste the flavor of the meat.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

The vinegar sauce with a hint of sweet is popular in NC because those flavors are cooking essentials. The sauce isn't supposed to completely cover the meat, it's just a tiny bit.

Salt, fat, acid, and heat make any dish taste good. If you have a boring bowl of green beans, try adding a bit more salt, some bacon fat, and a tiny bit of lemon juice or vinegar and they can go from being boring to delicious.

I do agree that some BBQ places go overboard with the sauce. A few places I went to in KC had so much sauce that I could barely taste the flavor of the meat.

Hog fat and green beans has been a thing for many generations. Frankly, hog fat is a go to for me. For burgers outside I'll generally mix very lean beef and hog fat to net out around 80:20, a cheat is to use 70% ultra lean beef and 30% package low heat sausage. Hog fat tastes better and it renders under heat differently than beef fat. I'm guessing a lot of boutique burger joints do similar, I know some do.

Agreed on the sauce thing. It's good but the general tendency for KC area places to sell what amounts to candied-ribs isn't my favorite. Anyone with a smoker can 3-2-1 or turbo cook ribs and paint them with sweet BBQ sauce 2 or 3x over the last hour.

I too like vinegar sauces and I really like mustard BBQ sauces but the later just isn't much of a thing in Texas.

[Lz_2022]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Hog fat and green beans has been a thing for many generations. Frankly, hog fat is a go to for me. For burgers outside I'll generally mix very lean beef and hog fat to net out around 80:20, a cheat is to use 70% ultra lean beef and 30% package low heat sausage. Hog fat tastes better and it renders under heat differently than beef fat. I'm guessing a lot of boutique burger joints do similar, I know some do.

Agreed on the sauce thing. It's good but the general tendency for KC area places to sell what amounts to candied-ribs isn't my favorite. Anyone with a smoker can 3-2-1 or turbo cook ribs and paint them with sweet BBQ sauce 2 or 3x over the last hour.

I too like vinegar sauces and I really like mustard BBQ sauces but the later just isn't much of a thing in Texas.

Yeah. The rendering point of beef fat and pork fat are slightly different - and beef fat tends to take a lot longer, while the temp it renders at is not ideal (about 160, which gives you very well done beef, aka a criminal act).

There’s a few really good mustard sauces floating around right now, they’re a PITA to make and store, as they tend to really separate.

BBQ and tastes are extremely regional. I took first place in a KCBS comp with a pulled pork that I couldn’t stand, but only put out there to not be missing a meat for the GC. Granted, I’m not a big fan of pulled pork to begin with, but there are plenty of areas where that’s the “brisket” of their bbq.

If you ever get the wild hair, try bison or elk ground with some almost frozen pig fat. About an 85/15 mix and cook to rare. That’s some good stuff.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Hog fat and green beans has been a thing for many generations. Frankly, hog fat is a go to for me. For burgers outside I'll generally mix very lean beef and hog fat to net out around 80:20, a cheat is to use 70% ultra lean beef and 30% package low heat sausage. Hog fat tastes better and it renders under heat differently than beef fat. I'm guessing a lot of boutique burger joints do similar, I know some do.

Agreed on the sauce thing. It's good but the general tendency for KC area places to sell what amounts to candied-ribs isn't my favorite. Anyone with a smoker can 3-2-1 or turbo cook ribs and paint them with sweet BBQ sauce 2 or 3x over the last hour.

I too like vinegar sauces and I really like mustard BBQ sauces but the later just isn't much of a thing in Texas.

When I make "hamburger steaks" (I know, oxymoron) on the stove, I cook bacon first, render the fat, mix the cooked bacon into the ground beef, and cook the patties plus mushrooms and onions in the bacon grease. The mix of the rendered beef fat/juices and bacon grease provides the fat for the gravy too, plus broth. Yum

[lepoisson]

On another topic, BBQ in NC often has these side items: slaw, brunswick stew, green beans, boiled potatoes, mac & cheese. in TX, beans, french fries, and mac & cheese seem to be the most common BBQ sides.

I guess brunswick stew is more of a VA, NC, SC, and GA thing because I've never seen it anywhere else. Has anyone seen it in TX?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Lz_2022

Yeah. The rendering point of beef fat and pork fat are slightly different - and beef fat tends to take a lot longer, while the temp it renders at is not ideal (about 160, which gives you very well done beef, aka a criminal act).

There’s a few really good mustard sauces floating around right now, they’re a PITA to make and store, as they tend to really separate.

BBQ and tastes are extremely regional. I took first place in a KCBS comp with a pulled pork that I couldn’t stand, but only put out there to not be missing a meat for the GC. Granted, I’m not a big fan of pulled pork to begin with, but there are plenty of areas where that’s the “brisket” of their bbq.

If you ever get the wild hair, try bison or elk ground with some almost frozen pig fat. About an 85/15 mix and cook to rare. That’s some good stuff.

I'm doing that!

[michaeltx9412]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

On another topic, BBQ in NC often has these side items: slaw, brunswick stew, green beans, boiled potatoes, mac & cheese. in TX, beans, french fries, and mac & cheese seem to be the most common BBQ sides.

I guess brunswick stew is more of a VA, NC, SC, and GA thing because I've never seen it anywhere else. Has anyone seen it in TX?

No, I've never seen such a thing in Texas yet. It's more of a North Carolina thing to my knowledge... Not even in East Texas can you find them. Surprisingly, French fries aren't something you'd commonly see at BBQ here in Central TX unless you go to a modern-style BBQ joint in large metros like Austin and Dallas since quite a few of those "hip" BBQ places are likely to add non-Texas additions to their menu just like pulled pork became a recent thing in the Texas barbecue scene. Maybe in East Texas or up in the Texas Panhandle region, they are a thing.

Something I've witnessed recently is that a lot of new BBQ places that are popping up nowadays have contributed to blurring the regional line in the BBQ world in terms of sides, seasonings and whatnot as we're starting to see them add sides and flavors from different regions.

[Lz_2022]

French Fries? Where in the world?

The standards in almost every single place will be slaw, potato salad, Mac, greens.

Heck 70% or more of the BBQ joints around don’t even have a fryer due to the extra refs that come with those, so I have no idea how they’d make fries.

Ty here are some places getting crazy with sides. We do a pork belly burnt end Mac that was originally a side and moved to both side and entree portion.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

When I make "hamburger steaks" (I know, oxymoron) on the stove, I cook bacon first, render the fat, mix the cooked bacon into the ground beef, and cook the patties plus mushrooms and onions in the bacon grease. The mix of the rendered beef fat/juices and bacon grease provides the fat for the gravy too, plus broth. Yum

That sounds really good.