Why is BBQ so overpriced in DFW? (Fort Worth, Bryan: neighborhoods, school)

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Almost all of the popular BBQ places in DFW seem to be owned by some corporate conglomerate who charge the same $20 price for 2 measly slices of brisket and $5 for a tiny cup of mac & cheese. I'm so tired of this and was telling a friend about this, so he recommended a place in Fort Worth on Magnolia. It was the same deal. I ended up spending $30 on two slices of brisket, two sides, and a tea.

I thought getting outside of DFW would be the answer but even in rural Marathon, TX, the BBQ place I went to was the same tiny portions for $30.

I'm originally from NC and BBQ out there is never corporate. It's usually a dumpy building out in the middle of nowhere on the side of some rural highway. At this place you can get a plate with two sides, hush puppies, and a tea for like $8.

Has it always been this way or has Texas BBQ gotten too trendy?

Good topic.

Secretly....I've always felt that BBQ in Dallas was on the expensive side.

[serger]

This thread is making me hungry. My preference right now would be jerk chicken/pork

[Lz_2022]

Originally Posted by serger

This thread is making me hungry. My preference right now would be jerk chicken/pork

It’s odd how few places serve jerk chicken around DFW, relative to the size of the population. There’s a super killer spot in Arlington - when we tried rolling it out as a special a few years ago, it just didn’t sell. Everyone that bought it loved it, but now we only run it on 4/20

[Lz_2022]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Bear

Good topic.

Secretly....I've always felt that BBQ in Dallas was on the expensive side.

All restaurants are on the expensive side in Dallas. This county is an absolute nightmare to deal with and finds fees all over the place. Collin and Tarrant are no joke either.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Lz_2022

It’s odd how few places serve jerk chicken around DFW, relative to the size of the population. There’s a super killer spot in Arlington - when we tried rolling it out as a special a few years ago, it just didn’t sell. Everyone that bought it loved it, but now we only run it on 4/20

Jamaica Gates?

[Lz_2022]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Jamaica Gates?

Yes. Haven’t been there in years. Hopefully they’ve survived.

[ADCS]

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.

Poor black folk in the southeast weren't getting the decently-marbled briskets the Central European Texans were getting - it was either hogs you raised/trapped, or stringy, tough beef. Likewise, salt was pretty expensive throughout the South until 120 years ago or so, far too much to be wasting it like you do nowadays with Dalmatian rub. You, by yourself, could grow tomatoes, peppers, mustard greens, and fruit to make vinegar with. So sauces came about as a way to stretch out the ingredients that make barbecue taste good.

[Lz_2022]

Originally Posted by ADCS

Poor black folk in the southeast weren't getting the decently-marbled briskets the Central European Texans were getting - it was either hogs you raised/trapped, or stringy, tough beef. Likewise, salt was pretty expensive throughout the South until 120 years ago or so, far too much to be wasting it like you do nowadays with Dalmatian rub. You, by yourself, could grow tomatoes, peppers, mustard greens, and fruit to make vinegar with. So sauces came about as a way to stretch out the ingredients that make barbecue taste good.

That and there wasn’t as much ranching on the eastern side. Again, BBQ is intensely regional, not as much racial.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Lz_2022

That and there wasn’t as much ranching on the eastern side. Again, BBQ is intensely regional, not as much racial.

I think what the person was trying to say is that most of the delicious BBQ that we all eat today was a direct contribution by African American slaves. The term "pit master" comes directly from slavery. It was a knowledgeable slave in charge of cooking the hog over the pit. The slave owners ate the better cuts of meat and undesirable cuts like ribs were left for the slaves to eat. The slaves became masters of preparing tough cuts of meat into something edible. Ingredients like vinegar were used to make the meat taste better.

Today, BBQ spans all races but we still owe African American slaves a big thank you for developing a lot of the cooking techniques and interesting culinary ideas that we still use today.

[Lz_2022]

It comes from slaves, from pioneers, from German/Czech, from cowboys, from Argentinians, from Mexicans, from Polynesian Islanders, from Aztecs, from indigenous tribes and is intensely regional as to the type of meat that is cooked, the style of cooking, the fuel that is used and the flavor profiles of the finished product.

Then it’s evolved over the last 10 or so centuries.