Texas Barbeque (Austin, Plano, Denton: rent, train, food)

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

........

It doesn't take a lot of land for goats, just a good fence! It can be a very profitable venture. Unlike cows who produce one calf per year, nannies will usually have twins or triplets twice a year. Granted a calf will bring a lot more money, but you'd be surprised how much money these little kids will bring in. If you mix enough spanish in with the boer, that cuts way down on the worming, the hoof trimming, it is just a good combination.

As I mentioned earlier I remember eating it as a kid. We lived in an area of all white people, so I don't know where it came from, I know my daddy had spent time in west Texas, maybe he picked it up out there. I know my sister and her husband knew some people that raised goats back in the late sixties (we all lived in Arlington back then) and they go buy a couple of kids from them usually a couple of times a year. They'd take them take to the locker and get them processed. But I do know what with all the mexicans that are living in the area now, cabrito is quite common around here. Drive around the area and you will see goats everywhere. People have a few acres and get goats. We have a processing plant here, but most of these people just butcher them theirselves.

Cathy, I can relate to your comment about the bland food. My ex was from Illinois and I finally just asked him... JUST WHAT DO you people eat? He replied, meat (mostly pork) corn, green beans and potatoes. I had never really thought about it but I know when we'd go visit his Mom, that's just about what was served. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans or maybe meat loaf, potatoes and corn. They thought okra was a weed! They thought blackeyed peas was cow feed! He let me know he didn't like garlic and he did not eat it, yet he liked my tacos although how he ate them w/o the picante/hot sauce, I'll never know. He would also eat out at mexican places with me although he limited his ordering to tacos! One day he came into the kitchen and caught me putting garlic into the taco meat I was fixing. He absolutely got mad! Said, you know I DON'T LIKE GARLIC! I told him, hon you've been eating a LOT more garlic than you'll ever realize. We said well, I'm not eating that! By then, I had had just about enough. I told him that was the silliest thing I had ever heard, he ate out and liked it. I told him THEY put garlic in the mexican food, they put it in the italian food. He honestly though you could cook italian and mexican food and not put garlic in it. As a matter of fact, he told me that I might put it in my cooking, but they didn't use it in the restraurants, he knew this because he had asked them.

Well, I grew up only about 100 miles from the border, so that's probably why goat was so commonly eaten there. Many of the Anglos ate it just as much as the Mexicans did!

That's hilarious about your ex.....LOL!!

When I was visiting SO's family in IN, he decided to take all of us out to eat at the local "Mexican" restaurant.

Oh lordy. It was STILL bland, and they brought the bland salsa out in the little paper cups like you get at the dentist's! I asked the waitress if they could bring me some hot sauce from the kitchen....and so they did.

So, his family proceeds to taste what they brought out for me....broke out in a sweat and started guzzling anything wet and cold they could find! LOL!!!

When I told my dad about that, he said, "Boy, I bet they were wondering what kind of wet mes*** he brought up from Texas!"

And.....what you described is just about what was served the whole time I was there.

Protect me from blandness!!!!

[lonestar2007]

It is funny. I remember one time when we were kids, we had a visiting preacher (he was from up north somewhere) at our church for a week. One night my parents invited him for a bite to eat after church and my mother just warmed up some chili. I will never forget this, he tuned all shades of red, started sweating, I mean literally, sweat running down his face, yet continue to eat it, said it was good, but he'd never ate anything hot or spicy lke that. I was hard pressed to understand that, but I remember we kids thought it was funny as all get out.

I can relate somewhat now to it because there used to be this little mexican guy that hung out at the local bar we all went to. He was a very likable fellow and we all got along with him. He was orginally from Hereford, Texas and he'd go and visit kinsfolks out there from time to time. He'd bring back peppers, etc. if it was during the season. One time he brought some peppers back that I didn't reconize. They were long, green, not too skinny, but not too big around either. He said they just called them long, hot, green peppers. BUT, they had the best flavor of any pepper I've ever eaten. We just ate them fresh, they would really perk up any meal you ate them with. I loved them with sandwiches, we ate them like pickles or potato chips ..... on the side. BUT let me tell you, when they called them hot, they knew what they were talking about. Yet the flavor kept drawing you back. It was almost like you were compelled to take a bite of pepper after you took a bite of sandwich. And of course, the closer you got to the stem, the worse it was. When we had a lot of the peppers, I got to where I would eat them about 3/4's of the way down and throw the rest away. As the supply starting dwindling, I would go ahead and eat it to the stem so as not waste any, but it did set my mouth on fire. I know a lot of times, I'd say, I'm not taking another bite out of that pepper, then after a couple of bites of the sandwich, which all of a sudden had become so bland, I'd say, well, just one more more bite. Finally started splitting them when it got down closer to the stem and scraping out the seeds so it wasn't quite so hot. Haha, those things were addictive! BUT, although my mouth would burn, I never turned red as a beet or had sweat running off my face! Those were amazing peppers though, I've tried to find plants around here that fit the description so I could grow these peppers myself, but I never have been able to locate any.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by tstone

Ok, you've got MUTTON in that there poll but not chicken?

Yeah, I know TS. That is another one where I messed up, and thought about it when it was too late!

[TexasReb]

Lonestar2007 wrote: Cathy, I can relate to your comment about the bland food. My ex was from Illinois and I finally just asked him... JUST WHAT DO you people eat? He replied, meat (mostly pork) corn, green beans and potatoes. I had never really thought about it but I know when we'd go visit his Mom, that's just about what was served. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans or maybe meat loaf, potatoes and corn. They thought okra was a weed! They thought blackeyed peas was cow feed!

LOL You and Cathy tell better "yankee stories" than I do!

Yes, two of my ex's were from the north, and the black-eyed peas as cow feed has been my experience too. And many of the folk I met when visiting up there with their family and friends had never even HEARD of okra, so didn't even think of it as a weed! LOL

And catfish was a "trash fish". I dunno...I still don't understand how we lost the War!

On a related tangent, this topic might make a funny and interesting thread in its own right. That is, personal experiences with northerners and their own perceptions of and/or eating traditional Texas/Southern foods...? I many just start one here directly!

[tstone]

I've been told this by a native but well-travelled NYC'er who now lives in SE TX... The perception about catfish being Southern trash food is definitely alive and well up there. This was his perception too, until he tried it. Now it is one of his most favorite fish platters, and he'll take it from the first step of catching it from the river, to the last step of eating it. Fried, blackened, grilled, whatever.

And I agree too. Actually sounds pretty good right now; I may go hit up our little mesquite smokehouse for dinner tonight.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

I dunno...I still don't understand how we lost the War!

LOL I got a BIG belly laugh out of this. Haha, still laughing. That's a good one, Reb.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

.....He was orginally from Hereford, Texas and he'd go and visit kinsfolks out there from time to time. He'd bring back peppers, etc. if it was during the season. One time he brought some peppers back that I didn't reconize. They were long, green, not too skinny, but not too big around either. He said they just called them long, hot, green peppers. BUT, they had the best flavor of any pepper I've ever eaten. We just ate them fresh, they would really perk up any meal you ate them with. I loved them with sandwiches, we ate them like pickles or potato chips ..... on the side. BUT let me tell you, when they called them hot, they knew what they were talking about. Yet the flavor kept drawing you back. It was almost like you were compelled to take a bite of pepper after you took a bite of sandwich. And of course, the closer you got to the stem, the worse it was. When we had a lot of the peppers, I got to where I would eat them about 3/4's of the way down and throw the rest away. As the supply starting dwindling, I would go ahead and eat it to the stem so as not waste any, but it did set my mouth on fire. I know a lot of times, I'd say, I'm not taking another bite out of that pepper, then after a couple of bites of the sandwich, which all of a sudden had become so bland, I'd say, well, just one more more bite. Finally started splitting them when it got down closer to the stem and scraping out the seeds so it wasn't quite so hot. Haha, those things were addictive! BUT, although my mouth would burn, I never turned red as a beet or had sweat running off my face! Those were amazing peppers though, I've tried to find plants around here that fit the description so I could grow these peppers myself, but I never have been able to locate any.

LOL!! Now you REALLY have my curiosity up! Can you describe the texture and color? Could they have been Santa Fe Grandes (light lime yellow-green)....or even a larger variety of serrano? Medium green, dark green, light..??

Here is a downloadable PDF catalog from the New Mexico Chile institute at NMSU/Las Cruces:

NMSU: NMSU: Chile Pepper Institute Chile Shop-Chile Shop (http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/chile-pepper-institute-c.html#anchor_23260 - broken link)

You might find it there....

Or..... www.peppergal.com

This second link has several varieties with pictures also.

Inquiring minds want to know, LOL!!

[malone7384]

Okay - ya'll have me so hungry for BBQ. Up here in Oregon, you don't find good BBQ. I can't wait to get back home and I can tell you that one of the first things that I am going to do is find me a BBQ restaurant and dig in to some good ribs!

[case44]

Originally Posted by tstone

Ok, you've got MUTTON in that there poll but not chicken?

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Yeah, I know TS. That is another one where I messed up, and thought about it when it was too late!

It's interesting that mutton is on the list and not chicken. And mutton is more popular in Kentucky than it is in Texas. I always thought chicken would be, at least, fourth fave in Texas out of all the barbecue out there. That's not to say we Texans can't take a lamb and slow-smoke that baby until the pink ring appears. Heck, there are a whole bunch of other things we could probably put in anybody's smoker if we tried. As long as you don't accidentally slow-smoke your wallet or your car keys.......

It's okay, Rebby. All is forgiven!

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

Oh, and I got much love for my Alabama folk, but I'm sorry.....mayonnaise just don't go on BBQ. Maybe we should send some of our sauce to them TexasReb cause they don't know what they're missing!

The mayonnaise-based white sauce goes on CHICKEN. I know some folks (my daughter is one) eat it on pork, but it was originally meant for CHICKEN.