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

Justin and Jonathan Fox grew up all over Texas and brought their love of Texas barbecue with them when they settled in Atlanta, Georgia. They began tinkering with cooking the familiar flavors of central Texas in their backyard near the turn of the century and soon began to contemplate how to take it to the masses. The Fox brothers began throwing large backyard parties and eventually started provid...

John Lewis is one of the pioneers of the modern methods that have become so widely used in Texas BBQ over the last decade. From his innovations in pit design to seasoning and trimming methods and careful sourcing of meat, if you’ve enjoyed “new school barbecue” recently, there’s a high possibility it was prepared using methods Lewis popularized. With a long successful career in Texas under his bel...

Rodney Scott grew up cooking whole hogs at his family’s general store in the small town of Hemingway, South Carolina. The tradition of hogs cooked under the direct heat of coals burned down from wood splits was the way Rodney learned to cook and still utilizes today. As food media began to take notice of the whole hog traditions being carried on by Rodney, Hemingway would see an increase in touris...

There are so many amazing events that take place during the five day Charleston Wine + Food (CHSWFF) festival and we were fortunate to be granted media access to many of them. From whiskey-centric experiences to barbecue excursions, we did our best to take in all of the sights and sounds of this incredible culinary opportunity. This episode will give you a rundown of all of the events we covered a...

The barbecue industry is full of kind, passionate folks. But like any profession, there are always going to be things that will annoy a person if they do it long enough. Tune in as we hear from Russell Roegels, John Brotherton, Nichole and Will Buckman, Jordan Jackson, John Mueller, Brett Jackson, and Esaul Ramos talk about some of their BBQ pet peeves. Make sure to follow us along on social media...

West Texas "Cowboy Style" cooking may not be as known as Central Texas style, but it is an important part of Texas BBQ history. As cattle drives made their way west across Texas, pits would be dug in the ground as the crews would stop along the way and whatever meats were available on the chuck wagons would be cooked quickly over wood that had been burned down to hot coals. West Texas BBQ today is...

Before large scale meat packers and fast transport allowed for meat products to be cut offsite and sold by the case, towns were served by local meat markets and butchers who broke down entire animals and large cuts, called primal cuts, into portions that the end customer purchased. Unsold meats and the left over trimmings weren't tossed away, they were utilized in sausage. The art of sausage makin...

Smokin’ Z’s BBQ Smokin’ Z’s BBQ opened in Bayou Vista, TX less than a year ago, but young business owners Zaid and Mallory are already producing a menu of quality barbecue that is a welcome addition to the waterfront community of which they are a part. Zaid’s passion for barbecue grew from his love of cooking and his family’s background of hospitality. A high school teacher showed an interest in Z...

Brett Jackson grew up in Katy, Texas eating at Nonmacher's BBQ, a long time institution in that community. After growing up and trying a few career paths, Brett went to culinary school in Austin and soon after answered a Craigslist ad to be a BBQ apprentice in Taylor, Texas. Upon walking into the famed Louie Mueller BBQ and interviewing with Wayne Mueller, Brett knew where he wanted to be. He got...

We recently received some exciting news we wanted to share. We do our best to bring exciting, unique, and wide ranging coverage of the barbecue world and have been so fortunate to have had some incredible experiences. We were just made aware of another fantastic event for which we will be in attendance. We'll be attending Charleston Wine + Food March 6-10 in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. W...

The road to opening Black Board Bar B Q was a winding one for chefs Jo Irizarry and Jake Gandolfo. Jo went to culinary school as a passion despite having a successful personal career. This eventually lead to being a personal chef for a professional football player, while Jake's passion for cooking earned him a spot on the popular cooking show MasterChef. Jake and Jo began dating and through the pe...

Direct heat is one of the oldest forms of cooking known to man. While the offset style of BBQ cooking has taken the world by storm, we have recently seen a resurgence in the old ways of direct heat coal cooking. Top BBQ cooks like Evan LeRoy and his crew, John Brotherton, Brett Boren and others have begun utilizing direct heat pits to cook different proteins, while places like Cooper's BBQ and Sno...

2018 was an incredible year for BBQ, and we were fortunate to be able to attend some great events and had many memorable experiences in the world of smoked meat. We traveled far and wide to help share some amazing barbecue stories in 2018. We ate BBQ in over 60 cities across a dozen states in 2018, and we have big plans for more great BBQ travel in the new year. A huge thanks goes out to the wonde...

We begin winding down 2018 with a fun talk with some of our friends in BBQ. Patrick Hernandez, Kristin Collins, and Joseph Quellar from JQ's TexMex BBQ join us to talk about some of their favorite barbecue experiences in 2018. After posing a list of question to our friends, we also take the time to look back at some of the more memorable moments of the year in BBQ for us and offer some predictions...

Todd and Kristin Ashmore started Opie's BBQ in 1999, a simpler time in the Texas barbecue world. The Ashmores had careers outside of the BBQ world, but decide to throw their hat in the ring after years of traveling around and eating at other places. They opened in Spicewood, Texas, a town 35 miles west of Austin. Opie's uses mesquite wood and takes some style hints from west Texas barbecue joints...

The second annual Houston vs Austin BBQ Throwdown presented by HOUBBQ was full of creativity and tough competition. A dozen competitors from both cities as well as two wild card entries battled it out for this year's BBQ bragging rights. The People's Choice Champion for this year was Beaver's in Houston, and the Judge's Choice Champion was wild card entry Bodacious Bar-B-Q (original location on Mo...

As we continue to explore all aspects of the BBQ world, we once again took a crack at competition barbecue. We competed in a small, non-sanctioned cook-off recently and in this episode discussed our results and our thoughts on cook-offs. We also recorded live from the overnight hog cook at Reveille Barbecue Co. as they and Wade Elkins cooked a red wattle hog over live coals. We were joined by Aust...

Brett Mckenzie Boren was bitten by the BBQ bug at an early, starting with the competition barbecue world. After years of competing in cookoffs and winning multiple awards, Brett began to contemplate a retail business. After building up his profile with a series of successful pop-ups and many large catering jobs, long-term plans for a permanent spot began to take shape.   After searching for the ri...

We've had the privilege to talk to many great people in the BBQ world, but the opportunity to talk to true BBQ trailblazers is rare. Roland Lindsey is one of those pioneers of Texas barbecue. A few months prior to his passing we were fortunate to be able to spend an afternoon with Roland at his original Bodacious Bar-B-Q location in Longview, opened in 1968. In this episode you'll hear about Rolan...

In the midst of another BBQ road trip we recorded an episode to help our fellow BBQ friends with a bit of a Texas BBQ holiday guide. In the episode we go over some great options to take out of town friends and family for the holidays, including different options based on your crowd. We've got some BBQ travel and cooking plans we also discuss. And be on the lookout for some Black Friday giveaways f...

For Andrew's 100th recorded visit to Roegels we join Eric Sandler in a discussion of Houston Barbecue. CultureMap Houston Food Editor Eric Sandler has been plugged into the Houston dining scene for years, and his enthusiasm for barbecue rivals that of many of the BBQ hounds that travel Texas in search of great smoked meat. Being a born and raised Houstonian, Eric has had a firsthand glimpse at the...

The husband and wife team of Patrick Feges (rhymes with Regis) and Erin Smith own and operate Feges BBQ in Houston, one of the city's excellent new barbecue establishments. Patrick sat down with us a few months ago to discuss his culinary career and new restaurant, but also chose to share with us a much more important story. Most people involved in the Houston dining scene are familiar with Patric...

John Brotherton has worked tirelessly for years to make his BBQ dreams a reality. With Brotheron's Black Iron Barbecue in Pflugerville, Texas a big success, John has been able to hire a pit crew to help alleviate a lot of his day to day cooking duties. On the heels of that success, John and his business partners have made plans to open Liberty Barbecue in downtown Round Rock. In our latest episode...

We were fortunate to attend the third annual Butcher's Ball event in Brenham, Texas. This meat-centric, all encompassing event showcases responsibly raised high quality products prepared by talented chefs and pitmasters from all around Texas. The participants each prepare a dish to serve and the attendees vote on their favorite dish. The participant whose dish receives the most votes wins the cove...

The tradition of West Tennessee style whole hog cooking is an endangered species, with only three known business owners staying true to the method of hogs cooked under beds of wood coals. Pat Martin of Martin's Bar-B-Que (multiple locations in Tennessee and beyond), Ramey's BBQ in Parsons, Tennessee, and B.E. Scott's Bar-B-Que in Lexington, Tennessee are still carrying on this tradition.   We had...