Kreuz Market, Lockhart Texas......

This past week my family and I took a week's long trip down to the coast. On the way down to Corpus we took a little detour through the Texas Hill Country for some of the states finest barbecue. I have never been to Lockhart before and have always wanted to go. To me Coopers in Llano had always reigned as one of the supreme places to go, however after experiencing some of the BBQ that Taylor and Elgin had to offer I had to find out for myself if there was any better. Even though Lockhart was a few hours out of the way I knew it was something we had to try and I am so thankfull that we did. It is one thing to read about barbecue meccas such as Kreutz but to experience it in person brings a whole new level to true Texas barbecue.



Upon arriving one of the first things that I noticed about Kreuz is the size of the building. It is not the original Kreuz Market but does however come from the same Schmidt family. I have never seen such a large structure especially one that's built for barbecue. When you enter down the hallway up into the pit room where you place your order you will see signs all over making it very clear that this place is very different from most of the BBQ joints found in Texas as they have not changed a thing since the early 1900's. No Forks, No Sauce, and No Plates are just a few of the rules of eating here. When we walked up to place our order we were greeted by an elderly lady named Ella Townes and the Pitmaster Roy Perez. One thing I noticed while ordering is instead of hearing an electric knife cut into the meat like you do in most places in TX you actually hear the heat of the fire by the pit instead. Here they cut your meat with a very sharp steel knife just like they did back in their humble beginnings.



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We ordered a pound of Brisket, a few ribs and some jalepeno cheddar sasauge. I have always agreed that barbecue sauce truly hides some of the great flavors of barbecue and little did I know how much it did until eating the brisket here. One thing that I have learned from this is the simpler the better. I also learned that post oak will now be my new wood of choice considering the magical flavors that it brings out in the meat along with just plain old salt and pepper. I have always cooked with mesquite mixed with oak or pecan however seeing that nearly all of the top joints in Texas use strictly Post Oak speaks volumes on why it truly is king here in Texas.



I would highly recommend Kreuz Market and Lockhart in general as an excellent place to get some of the top BBQ in Texas. Very few places still follow these practices so it's nice to take a little trip back in time to actually see some of the roots of true authentic Texas BBQ and get a feel of what it is like to taste the wholesome goodness of what sauce-less barbecue is all about.

The Real Deal......

This past weekend during the 4th we decided to fire up the pit at the Lake house and invited over the family to hang out for the day. We had about 43 family members show up in all and I can honestly say that it was one of the most memorable 4th's I have had in a long time. Something most BBQ experts will tell you is that you never leave your post while cooking BBQ. With that being said I got to watch everyone play in the lake and on the boat while I sweated bullets trying to make sure the temp didn't spike etc...I really enjoy cooking for people as it releaves stress and gives me a since of accomplishment when folk's go out of their way to commend you for your efforts. Overall I would have to say that I enjoy cooking "Pit BBQ" more than any other BBQ even more than with competition rig. There's nothing like the flavor of good pit smoked BBQ and that's exactly what we had.

Here are some pic's of our meal. We wound up doing 2 Briskets, 6 slabs of Beef ribs, 3 rack's of Baby back's, 9 links of polish sausage, and 24 chicken thighs.








Patty and the kids and I arrived in Brownwood Friday morning. My parents, sister, and my brother and his family arrived Thursday evening to start getting everything ready for the weekends festivities. We were without a dock up until Friday evening but the guy's that were working on the new one went ahead and brought it over and secured it so we would be able to fish and take out the boat. The last one we had was destroyed in the recent tornado, however the "Pit" didn't get a scratch. We all went out to eat Friday night and went ahead and celebrated my birthday at the restaurant and afterwords went back to the house and watched a few Friday night fireworks. After the fireworks the work began and I started prepping all the meat. My brother stayed up with me until 2:00 AM until the Briskets were put on and decided to go ahead and call it a night. Since dinner was set for 5 PM the next day I had to make sure they were done so we had to put them on the night before.

Everyone showed up around 10:00 Saturday morning and had a great time. It's always nice to spend the day with your family even if you don't always get to relax and play like everyone else.

Pit BBQ on Lake Brownwood......

One of the things I enjoy most about cooking and barbecue is just being able to get away from everything and to focus on what I like to do best. This past weekend although I didn't get a chance to cook I was able to do just that. Not only was I able to spend some time on the cooker but our family reunion was just a few hours away in Albany thus the reason for our weekend trip to Brownwood. Several years ago our family purchased a Lake house in Feather Bay on the lake there. We could have not asked for a better place to get away. There is nothing like the aroma of mesquite smoke in the morning, cooking barbecue first thing, while you are watching the sunrise, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out over the lake with a fishing pole in your hand. This was where I actually first learned to cook what many Texans call true "Pit" barbecue. There is really no comparison in cooking barbecue on a big pit VS a small backyard smoker. There is just something magical about the whole process that just makes it so much better. It's the most common type of BBQ in the Hill Country which is part of the reason why BBQ in the Hill Country is so much better than other parts of the state. One thing I have learned is that BBQ pit's without any cover are hard to keep clean from the elements. Our pit is a prime example. I do know with a little maintenance they will last a lot longer and cook a lot better. Although I didn't get to cook this time my father and I did get a chance to fix it up and spend some time on it. Here's a few pictures of the before, halfway point, and after.











Another priority that had to be taken care of while we were there was the issue with the dock. Several week's ago a tornado touched down in Brownwood and destroyed hundreds of dock's including ours. We really enjoyed our dock especially during the fall, spring, and summer month's especially when the fish were biting. Here are a couple of pic's of the damage. Hopefully by the 4th of July we will have a new one.





The main purpose of the trip though was to go to our family reunion in Albany. Albany is a small town just north of Abilene, TX. Albany is known for it's many ranches, it's oil, it's hunting, it's wealth, it's culture, it's heritage and most of all for Watt Matthews who was one of the most well known and respected ranchers in TX. Our family had the pleasure of knowing Watt very well and my Grandfather worked for him many years on the Lambshead Ranch where him and my grandmother started and raised their family. A big portion of our family still lives in Albany today and has since there establishment back in 1918. I have always had a soft place in my heart for Albany for many reasons. Most of the cooking done in that part of the country is done on chuckwagons and dutch oven's. It's not a show they put on just a way of life they want to keep true. Our reunion took place on the Stasney Cook Ranch. My father went to school with one the gentleman that runs it and it's always a joy to visit with him. Here's the pit they like to cook on.



This blog would not be complete if I did not mention that Albany is also home to the number one small steakhouse in all of Texas. The Fort Griffin General Merchandise. There is nothing that compares to this place. The Beehive Saloon which is the "Bar" in the middle of the steakhouse was replicated by Robert Duvall and sits in his home today. He's a regular there while he's in Texas and spent a lot of time there while shooting Lonesome Dove which is actually based off part of the early history of what happened in and around Albany and Ft Griffin. It was also where Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp first met. Pat Garrett of Young Gun's fame also got started here as well as many others hence some of the history of this old Texas town.

Sundays at Buckshot's......

A few weeks ago I received a call from one of my classmates in regards to cooking out at his new establishment Buckshot's. Buckshot's is a new outdoor entertainment venue that features live bands from around Texas and other parts of the country. It has a huge outdoor fireplace, bar, stage and nice little pond that's right in the middle. It's a very nice set-up and has been attracting up to 250 people on any given Sunday. We had found out that the up and coming artist Josh Langston was going to be playing that day. That very same weekend I had also planned on competing in the World Championship Bison Cook-Off is Santa Anna, TX but since I had a few other things pending that weekend as well I decided not to enter the competition and felt I should try and make a little money vending on a Sunday afternoon instead.

If you have never vended before it's a little different than catering from what I am finding out. I definitely wanted to give this a shot but to be honest it did not turn out the way I had intended. Since my specialty is Ranch Style Cuisine that's what I had wanted to do this first time around. I wanted people to know the true definition in my opinion of what Ranch Style BBQ really is and what Colins Creek BBQ was capable of doing. I know that there is a little money to be made in vending but I was not prepared in all honesty for the up front expenses of vending this type of cuisine.

I had decided to do something out of the norm that would appeal to most everyone thinking I would attract more customers. We had a menu that featured Mesquite Smoked Ribeyes, Baby Back Ribs, Beef Ribs, Sausage, Brisket and Chicken. I also made up some Ranch Style Potatoes and some beans. This was one of the most intense cook's I have done before not knowing really what kind of audience I would have.

I took my family out with me and also was able to get the help of another great cook and friend of mine Chris Canon. We had anticipated on having a big crowd but to our amazement only 40 people showed up. We served up about 26 plates from the 40 in attendance but did not really even come close to breaking even. I know we will definitely do this again but will probably go with "Plan B" next time and just try to keep it simple. I will be taking this as a learning experience and hopefully will recoup our losses at a later date. Until then I have been reading up on my new book Americas Best BBQ on what to do with all the leftovers and will probably be cooking up some new recipes that will come in handy as I try and figure out why I even do this. I guess it's my addiction but if you want to know the truth I still have a few things up my sleeve for next time that most people here in West Texas have never seen done on a BBQ pit.

Low & Slow......

I don't think you can ever stop learning about barbecue so when I think a good BBQ book hits the shelf I usually try and pick it up. For me I think learning from my own mistakes is my number one teacher aside from reading and hands on instruction. When you learn from other peoples mistakes it sometimes help's but not always. Their are so many different styles to achieving great BBQ that skipping a small step could be a very big difference. This being said you don't know what they may or may not have done so what works for me might not work for you and vise versa. Gary Wiviott the author of this book has been cooking barbecue for 10 years and hits on the fact that he's made the mistakes so you don't have to. I thought the book was worth the money however telling someone to forget everything they know about BBQ is definitely a turn-off to me and discourages people from having their own style so to speak.

I think the book had some great information in regards to cooking on different cookers and I especially liked the fact that this book actually breaks down each method when doing so. I think this book would have been more appealing to me had I not had the opportunity to learn from some of the best pit-masters out there, however for someone who does not have that opportunity I would say this book is a definite resource for many things BBQ. Being a competition cook vs a backyard cook which is what Gary is open's the floor for a few disagreements in my style vs his I think, however his knowledge and diversity in recipes, rubs, marinades and brine's is something I very much appreciate.

This book is something I have found to be somewhat controversial in a few areas, but maybe in my own little way. I will start by saying that being from Texas, Brisket and other beef products are a main staple in our BBQ and I was not happy to see that their was no section covering beef at all. I know it's also popular in other parts of the country so I was thrown off a little by it being left out of this book. It's just as important as any other meat and a good pitmaster learns to cook many items vs just a few. If you are going to write a book on BBQ I think you should include all facets of BBQ not just poultry, pork and side items. I also disagree with the fact that it says to use Pork Butt drippings so you can emulate a Texas Style BBQ Sauce in which he refers to Coopers BBQ Sauce in Llano, TX. Hello folks...Coopers does not serve pulled pork on their menu that I have seen. They do serve Pork Chops but knowhere do they use pork butt juice in their sauce. They use Brisket drippings which is an entirely different animal and flavor all together so I think the analogy of making a good Texas based sauce with pork juice should be thrown out entirely. In my opinion before you write about something I think it's best to know what you are putting out and to what audience but to each his own. Since I have not tried this in fairness I should not call it a controversy but more of a difference in opinion.

I would recommend this book to almost anyone wanting to cook or go about cooking better BBQ. For me anyone who has taken the time to write a book and give out their secrets is very deserving of a thumbs up. I do not think I would be a good student of the authors instruction but I did pick up a few things from this book that I know will help out in other ways.

25th Annual PBC Grillin and Chillin for Charity

Of all the cook-offs I have ever been to this one probably was more work than all the ones I have ever done combined. This year being one of the directors of this cook-off I had the opportunity to help plan and learn a few things about what all is involved in putting a cook-off together. Aside from the director duties I also had a few other things going on such as a catering event Friday night for the Young Professionals of Midland. I had planned to cater for about 120 of our members but due to the weather and a few other things we only had about 61 show up. We also entered up a team to cook in the contest which is the very first time I have ever cooked under a different name.





Friday morning was very challenging. I arrived early to set up and start cooking and about 15 minutes after I put the food on I watched the wind pick my canopy up off the ground and carry it away. After I was able to retrieve it the wind continued to blow pretty much throughout the day. After I got back from Century Graphics to pick up the director shirts and apron's a few members of my team began to arrive and started to help put getting everything set up for our guests. We had water trucks in the arena but the dust still continued to blow most of the day. That was something I was not prepared for but it finally began to slow down about the time people started showing up. Friday night was a lot of fun but as soon as everyone began to disperse the real work began. It was time to start getting everything prepared for the contest and my team one by one began to call it a night and go home. After everyone had left I saw an ambulance arrive. I found out later that a couple of the camp's had gotten into a bad fight and one of the team members had seriously been hurt. It's sad things like this happen in an event that's put together as a fundraiser for charity.



Saturday everything seemed to be going our way for the most part. We entered up in Brisket, Ribs, Chicken, Fajitas, and Chili and most everything we had entered was really good. Out of about 50 teams competing we took 6th in Chicken but did not get a call in any of the other categories. I was disappointed our brisket did not place. We had a great brisket but the competition in this cook-off is really big. Most of the teams had sponsors and many of the Oil companies had their company's cooks competing. I think if many of them were to hit the circuit they would do very well. At least they did at this contest.

Roberts Ranch Smokin Red Dirt Championship

This past weekend was our first KCBS contest. It was the 4th annual Roberts Ranch Smokin Red Dirt State Championship held in Enid, OK. I decided to enter this contest for a couple of reasons. One was that at roughly 9 hours from home this is one of the closest KCBS contests to where we live in West Texas so it just seemed like the right thing to do. Another reason is that I really wanted to get out of Texas to do some contests this year. I do not agree with how some of them are ran. I also have been blessed to have had an opportunity to see how different KCBS contests are vs what we normally cook in Texas. It's a whole new ballgame and ready or not we came to play.

I did not want to take this contest on alone so with the help of a great friend of mine and teammate Chris Canon we decided to head out for Enid, OK Thursday after work. We stopped in Albany, TX on the way up to dine at Texas's # 4 ranked Steakhouse the Fort Griffin General Mercantile. This is one of the best steakhouses I have ever eaten at. It's well known for attracting a few celebrities and Robert Duvall has even made a replica in his own home of their bar, The Bee Hive, when he was down in Texas working on Lonesome Dove. We each had a Ribeye cooked medium rare. They are cooked directly over mesquite coals which is a staple of Ranch Style Cuisine. After we finished our dinner we took a look in the kitchen and chatted with the owner about some of the history of this wonderful place. We headed out shortly after that and arrived in Wichita Falls relatively late.

Friday morning after some coffee and a short nights rest we headed up to Enid and arrived shortly after lunch, got unloaded and visited with a few of the other teams. The weather had called for some wind and about three inches of rain, however we lucked out and just caught a small sprinkle Friday afternoon. We had some time to make some new friends but were not used to being assigned a cooking space and being told where to cook. That's a lot different from what were used to so getting set up took a little more effort than usual.



The contest was a great learning experience for us. With the help of Kelly Wertz of 4 Legs Up BBQ we learned how to prepare a garnished turn in box which we had never had to do before. Texas contests only allow for foil so it was a lot different than what we are used to doing. Once we had an idea how to do a box it was time to start getting ready to prep the meat to put on the cooker. We worked throughout the night and by the time the sun had come up we were tired and ready for some breakfast. After breakfast we went over to the 4 Leg's Up camp at 10:30 and enjoyed a double shot of some get you ready for the chaos whiskey and made a good luck toast to all who could partake.



One thing I really enjoyed about this contest was the fact that we were able to see how we faired overall against the other teams. Although I am not proud of a few of our showings I think we did what we could with what we had and that's really all you can do. Here's how we did.

Chicken 8th of 47
Ribs 44 of 47
Pork 38 of 46
Brisket 13th of 47

I will post our turn in pictures and would be open to any criticism or compliments. I already got enough from the judges but you can never learn enough of what looks good or what doesnt. I have done much better in ribs back home but here's how we ended up for this contest. The ribs were in a triple pack and had some extremely slanted bones which we couldn't see so it made them very hard to cut which is part of the reason we did so poorly in that category. One rack even had to be thrown away. The rest though is just something that will take a little work and a little practice.