Tales from the pits, a Texas BBQ podcast featuring trendsetters, leaders, and icons from the barbecue industry

We take a long overdue road trip to the southern tip of Texas, where barbacoa is king but Central Texas BBQ has continued to take a foothold. We hit up Butter's, Teddy's, and 1848 BBQ. We even got to take a firsthand gander at the SpaceX Starship prototype. While we did not get to revisit Smoking Oak or stop by Smokin' Moon, we did get to revisit Vera's Backyard Bar-B-Que which still cooks whole c...

Joel And Jesse Garcia grew in a barbecue cooking family, and Joel gravitated towards the world of craft barbecue as an adult working in Austin. Joel worked for several acclaimed BBQ joints in Austin while Jesse went to culinary school and began working in fine dining. When Joel and his wife decided to move back to the Rio Grande Valley area so that their son could grow up closer to family, the rea...

Some recent openings, closings, and moves have occurred in the Texas BBQ world and we catch you up with a number of them. Also tune in for an announcement from Jim Lero of Lillian's BBQ. We had a great time with the crew from Zavala's BBQ at the Smoked Dallas fest and would like to thank them again for allowing us to lend a hand. We would like to recognize Tin Roof BBQ for bringing their dual Oyle...

Ryan Newland's path to pit building started with fabrication. Building unique set designs for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Pink his innovative work set the stage for custom one-off pits that he would build after moving to Texas. Probably currently most well known for the hog cookers at Banger's in Austin, he collaborated with Sunny Moberg to build a wild motorized pit for Smoke Draw BBQ that you hav...

It's taken us three years of making sausage before we felt like we could truly speak on the art of craft sausage. A number of people have asked us to do an episode similar to our Ribs 101 and so here it is - Tales From the Pits Sausage 101. This is a crash course in the basics of making fresh cooked sausage; from what equipment to buy, to the best tips we've learned, and finally we provide a base...

After an enlightening visit to Lockhart and Taylor BBQ joints, Robert Lerma moved to Texas. While holding down a full time job his passion for capturing the essence of Texas barbecue in the people, restaurants, and food launched a photography business that has set him apart as one of the top in the segment. While still maintaining his weekly job his photography gig has taken him across the world....

Bradley “Chud” Robinson is one of the most talented people in barbecue. As one of the pitmasters at the great LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, he helps produce some of the best fire cooked meats in Texas. As if that full-time job wasn’t enough, Bradley also builds BBQ pits. LeRoy and Lewis cook a lot of their food on pits he’s built or modified. Chud BBQ Pits are custom built to order and Bradley current...

In this episode: - Recap of a 9 stop BBQ run with 3 top 10 BBQ joints - Upcoming BBQ fests - Listener Questions In the heat of the summer it can be uncomfortable downing brisket at every stop of a barbecue run, especially if you like the moist side of the brisket like we do. The rich, fatty meat can drag you down if you don't pace yourself. We came up with the idea to do another run focused on por...

Dustin Pustka, a classically trained chef who'd worked in professional kitchens for years, had grown tired of that aspect of the food world and began gravitating towards a less fussy, more comfort style of cuisine. Having grown up cooking barbecue with his family, it was a natural progression for him to return to those roots. Dustin and his father launched their BBQ food truck north of Austin in t...

Austin Smoke Works have been building some of the barbecue world’s most sought after smokers for years. With a pit design that includes an insulated firebox and efficient draw of smoke through the cook chamber, some of the best Texas barbecue has come off of Austin Smoke Works pits over the last several years.  Jimbo Glass, who has been building pits with Austin Smoke Works since its early days al...

WOW One of the largest food events of the year is held every July in Chicago. Windy City Smokeout brings together some of the biggest names in BBQ and country music. We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to join the Feges BBQ team this year to help prepare and serve their menu to the festival goers. The logistics of preparing, cooking, and serving this volume of food for a three day event...

First year growth To say the first year in business for Helberg Barbecue was eventful would be a massive understatement. From the early beginnings in their small trailer to multiple accolades, personal and professional growth, and now a brick and mortar building in addition to their food trailer, Phillip and Yvette Helberg have gone on quite the ride. We sat down with several members of the Helber...

Road Trips that maximize the stops within short timelines In the second installment of our BBQ road trip tips we provide sample itineraries for the hardcore BBQ fan trying to sample as many restaurants as possible in a short amount of time. We give tips on what to order, timing of each stop, and various other pieces of advice to maximize your time in order to get in as many stops as possible in bo...

Chris Magallanes and Ernest Morales are longtime friends who grew up cooking backyard barbecue and eventually foraying into competition cooking. Trips to places like the former John Mueller Meat Co. inspired them to start cooking more Central Texas style retail barbecue, and they soon began to envision a food truck business.   After honing their craft serving at bars, breweries, and wherever they...

Listen to part one of our episode with Todd David of Cattleack Barbeque to hear about his early days of cooking barbecue and starting the business.   In part two of our talk with Todd, we discuss the effect being named the third best BBQ joint in Texas by Texas Monthly has had on the business and the pressure to live up to such acclaim. Todd also talks about his whole hog cooking process, his desi...

Todd David was a barbecue fan long before he owned a barbecue restaurant. He was grilling and smoking meats as a young man growing up in St. Louis, and that passion only grew once he moved to Dallas. It would be a long time, however, before BBQ would become a business for the David family. Toddn ahis wife Misty owned and operated a commercial cleaning and restoration company in Dallas for many yea...

A tradition of family cookouts in his youth was the inspiration for Joe Zavala to buy his first smoker when he and his wife Christan became homeowners. As Joe tinkered with his cooks and his brisket game grew stronger, he launched an ambitious (but not exactly profitable) plan to cook and deliver his barbecue to customers all over the Dallas and Fort Worth area.  With encouragement from Christan a...

Dayne's Craft Barbecue is another quality edition to the growing barbecue scene in Fort Worth, Texas. Early memories of his dad cooking ribs eventually lead to Dayne’s fiancée Ashley buying him his first smoker and learning the craft. Inspired by the underground barbecue scene of California, Dayne began hosting his own underground pop ups. As he continued honing his skills and building an audience...

It had been too long since our last roadtrip up to DFW so we gassed up the BBQ wagon and set off to the metroplex. While we have a long list of locations we need to scout out we were able to squeeze in five on this trip. Starting with Cattleack we checked into the Pitmasters and Punch morning chat that Todd David hosts, followed by whole hog and as much of the menu as we could eat at Cattleack bef...

The barbecue world has long been seen as a largely male dominated industry, with womens’ contributions to the profession often being overlooked. But the truth about many BBQ operations is that they would not be what they are without the hard work and passion of a growing number of women in BBQ. There are female pitmasters, BBQ restaurant owner/ operators, managers, sausage makers, cooks, meat cutt...

We were privileged to sit down with some great people in the BBQ world during the Red Dirt BBQ and Music Festival. The Red Dirt Festival takes place every May in Tyler, Texas and is widely considered the can't-miss BBQ event in Texas. Some of the state's best BBQ joints serve up tasty bites and in the evening Tyler's downtown square turns into an even bigger party as prominent Red Dirt music acts...

We've been traveling across Texas for years seeking out the best and most unique barbecue stops around the state. Through lots of research and plenty of trial and error we've had a lot of successful BBQ runs where we've been able to try a wide array of places in a single day or weekend. As Texas BBQ has become increasingly popular, we've had so many folks reach out to us asking for tips about whic...

When Ronnie Webber was ready to retire from the Houston Police Department, he and his wife Nancy had their sites set on opening a barbecue restaurant. With no restaurant operation experience but a passion for cooking, the Webbers invested their savings into opening Tin Roof BBQ in June 2001. The then small restaurant was a success in its original location, but as they were ready to grow the busine...

There’s quite a bit going on in the BBQ world these days with openings and closings and special events happening seemingly every week. We take some time in this episode to talk about what we’ve been up to in BBQ lately, what’s coming up this spring, and answer some listener questions. We have a lot planned for the spring and summer, but if there’s anything you think we need to add to our calendar,...

Anthony DiBernardo had a long and distinguished culinary career that spanned cooking on submarines during his military service to working in fine dining in Charleston. Anthony eventually got to a point in his career where he wanted to make more approachable, affordable food. In 2013, he opened his first Swig & Swine BBQ location. At Swig & Swine BBQ, Anthony and his team cook traditional South Car...