Texas BBQ - Sweet, Smoky Memories

Barbecue is serious business.  I've always felt it was akin to the martial arts -- whether it's a shack in the Carolina's or a city affair in Memphis or Kansas City, everyone's convinced they're practicing the purest form.  And Texans are no exception.  A fact which comes through loud and clear on every page of TEXAS BBQ by photographer Wyatt McSpadden.

I can't get enough of the book (though it's best enjoyed on a full stomach).  I'm reminded of some of the top food moments in my life at spots such as Cooper's in Llano, Louie Mueller's in Taylor, and Kreuz Market (the original location, than you very much) in Lockhart.  Of course, I'm furiously making notes on "must-see" joints for my next trip to the Lone Star state.

I'm praying it goes into a second printing -- perhaps the publisher will consider a "scratch and sniff" edition. 

Do you have a favorite spot in Texas?  Let me hear from you.

Better still, do you think Texans know barbecue?  I'd like to see what y'all think.

PS:  Here's a shot of me taken a few years back after the Battle In Taylor.  (So long ago, in fact, I used my iPhone to take a shot of a color copy of the original image.)

It was me and my old buddy Dr. Charles E. Walton IV (a true gentleman who knows his way around a barbecue joint...and a man with an honorary PhD in culinary field study).  

We tried our best to take down Mueller's in a single afternoon, but the brisket and ribs won.  We licked our wounds, loaded up the car (along with our life-size cardboard cut-out of "Duke" Wayne), and lived to fight another day.

In the words of Archie and Edith Bunker, "Those were the days."