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

Wyatt McSpadden's love of Texas barbecue stretches back even further in time than his celebrated photography career which spans five decades. Growing up in a meat market family in Amarillo some of Wyatt's earliest memories involve barbecue. As a young man his hobby of photography began growing into a passion that evolved into a profession. In our interview with Wyatt we cover his early days photog...

Bryan Furman left a career as a welder with a goal in mind: to cook and serve whole hog barbecue. Whole hog cooking was a tradition Bryan grew up with, but when his father challenged him with the question of "What's going to make your barbecue better than others?", Bryan decided that serving the highest quality heritage pigs would set him apart from the competition. Bryan and his wife Nikki opened...

Wayne Baker grew up in Luling, Texas eating classic central style barbecue. His youth was also spent competing in BBQ cookoffs with his dad Phil. Both of these experiences helped shape what would eventually become Baker Boys BBQ, opened in Gonzales, Texas in 2015. Serving traditional Texas BBQ staples like brisket, ribs, and housemade sausage combined with unique offerings like their acclaimed stu...

We drove almost 3,000 miles to visit nearly twenty restaurants for our #hogtripping adventure. We recap the trip with our traveling band of BBQ friends Chris Wood, Eric Ulery, Andrew Stowell, Terry Osborn, and Jimmy Ho. Having traveled from east Texas through Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, we stopped at as many BBQ places as we could with the focus of the trip being whole...

Sam Jones is one heck of a storyteller and that skill is no more apparent than in part two of our interview with him and Michael Letchworth. This episode details some of the challenges Sam and Michael faced during the construction phase of their restaurant and what they did to navigate the problems that come along with opening a restaurant.   In this wide ranging interview we discuss everything fr...

Having grown up in a family whose history in barbecue could be traced back to the 1800's, whole hog cooking was something that had always been a part of Sam Jones' world. Despite being reluctant to make barbecue a career as young man, Sam returned to the business full time when his grandfather Pete Jones, founder of Skylight Inn, became ill. Sam navigated Skylight Inn through tough times after Pet...

Dylan Taylor has built up quite the resume at a very young age. After working at highly acclaimed BBQ spots such as Terry Black's, La Barbecue, Truth Barbeque, and 2M Smokehouse (among others), Dylan decided the time was right to start working toward opening his own place. While he scouts out possible locations, Dylan has launched Taylor Barbecue Catering, available for medium to large barbecue ca...

As we continue to highlight the history of Texas BBQ, we spend time in this episode discussing some of what we consider the classic Texas BBQ joints. While craft barbecue is all the rage and is a great experience, its popularity has often made some of the long tenured places become less discussed. In order to be considered for what we're calling a classic joint, the business has to be at least 50...

Hays County Barbeque The BBQ flame was ignited in Michael Hernandez after a memorable trip to Lockhart. Shortly thereafter, armed with a steadfast belief in their dream, Michael and Asenette Hernandez pushed all of their chips to the middle of the table and went headfirst into the barbecue business. In eleven years they've gone from owning a small place purchased from a former owner, then to their...

The Tejas crew keep pushing the envelope on what great BBQ is and can be, and their latest projects are a showcase of their creativity. In the last couple months Scott, Greg, and the team have begun making their own sausage. While classic varieties such as an all beef Czech style and kielbasa are part of the rotation, Tejas has been also been hard at work with creative sausages such as linked vers...

Tejas Chocolate and Barbecue began as a curiosity on how to make bean to bar chocolate and has evolved into one of the best and most creative restaurant experiences in Texas. After a successful launch of their housemade chocolate business, the first of its kind in the state, owners Michelle Holland, Scott Moore Jr., and Greg Moore began setting their sites on the next phase of their operations, ba...

While it has become commonplace in today's Texas BBQ explosion to see carefully sourced proteins, inventive sides, scratch made desserts, craft bread, and housemade pickles, this was not always the case in barbecue. Smoked meats have been available for quite some time in the Lone Star State, but all of the accompaniments were often an afterthought or not even served at all. Tom Micklethwait is one...

Texas BBQ History - Bobby Mueller As part of our continuing series on the history of Texas barbecue, we bring you a very special episode about the history of Louie Mueller Barbecue and the legacy of the late Bobby Mueller. Bobby's sons Wayne and John Mueller sat down separately with us to discuss growing up in the BBQ business with their grandfather, Louie Mueller, and dad Bobby. You'll hear in th...

In a news roundup for the month of July, we discuss some pitmaster changes, new BBQ restaurant announcements, BBQ closings, and more. Jason Tedford, longtime assistant pitmaster at Louie Mueller Barbecue, has left the restaurant and is now working in the kitchen at Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston. John Brotherton has announced he is opening Liberty Barbecue in Round Rock alongside Tre Dotson of To...

The aura, history, and feeling one gets walking into the hallowed dining room at Louie Mueller Barbecue is unparalleled. The smoke lined walls, the brick pits, and many of the roots of modern day Central Texas style smoked meats can be traced back to the historic former gymnasium in Taylor that has been home to the Mueller family's restaurant operations since 1959.   While the Mueller family is ac...

Evan LeRoy's BBQ journey began in the backyard with his dad, took him all the way to New York to cook Texas barbecue, then back to Austin where he made Freedmen's bar one of the premier BBQ destinations in Texas. After a few years at Freedmen's, Evan was ready to strike out on his own. Along with business partners Nathan and Sawyer Lewis, plans were made to open a brewery and restaurant serving Ev...

Reveille Barbecue Co. is a newcomer to the barbecue scene in Texas. Currently operating out of a trailer in Magnolia (a suburb north of Houston), Reveille was started by co-owners/pitmasters James McFarland and Michael Michna. James began chasing his BBQ dreams a few years ago and quickly built a resumé working at The Pit Room and Tejas Chocolate and Barbecue. Michael had a passion for cooking ba...

This week we recap the biggest news and happenings around the world of barbecue, including a big pitmaster departures at Franklin Barbecue and La Barbecue. We also talk about the latest word on upcoming BBQ joints opening in the near future such as The Switch, Blood Bros., Micklethwait, and more. A quick word on our recent Doubleback BBQ pop up as well as a final thank you to everyone who helped m...

Growing up close to Lockhart (the barbecue capitol of Texas) ignited the passion for smoking meat at an early age for Michael Wyont. Soon after attending culinary school, Michael decided to enter the barbecue world, working at Black's BBQ before deciding to strike out on his own.   The Wyonts originally opened the Flores Barbecue trailer - named after Michael's maternal side of the family - in Mic...

Phillip and Yvette Helberg met on a cruise ship where he was an employee and she was a guest. The love affair started soon after and Phillip, a native Texan who moved to California to be with Yvette, became interested in cooking. His attention turned quickly to smoked meat following a trip to Texas where he and Yvette had some of John Mueller's barbecue.   They purchased a small retail pit and beg...

After deciding to move to Texas, Phillip and Yvette Helberg began looking for a large spread of land where they could live and farm the land. They found a perfect spot outside of Waco to put down roots, and began to make plans for the next phase of Helberg Barbecue. They source responsibly raised meats and plan to use as much product grown on their land as possible for their menu. With unique item...

We've reached the one year mark of the show, and could not be more excited for how the first year has gone and for all of the things lined up for year two. We reflect back on some of the highlights of the last year in this episode and talk about all of the great people in and around the BBQ world that we've been fortunate to meet through the show.   The most important part of the episode, however,...

Listen in to part two as Will and Nichole Buckman buy their first Oyler and discuss their move to their new location in Old Town Spring, Tx. We also talk about their consistency, selection of meat sources, and their obsession with order accuracy. Be sure to check out Corkscrew BBQ, one of the Texas Monthly Top 10 BBQ Joints, and order the cobbler! www. Corkscrewbbq.com 26608 Keith Street, 77373 Sp...

Corkscrew BBQ Interview Part 1 Will and Nichole Buckman had just started a family when they decided to transition from running a small barbecue catering business out of their home to a full fledged business. It was a big leap of faith with two young babies at home, but the risk paid off. Corkscrew BBQ began operating their food trailer in 2011 in Spring, Texas (just outside of Houston) and soon be...

We love meeting up with fellow barbecue fans to eat and talk 'cue, and there's no better place for that than the tailgate atmosphere that is the Franklin Barbecue line. When we decided to make our yearly pilgrimage to Franklin, we asked if any friends and listeners to the show would like to join us.   A crew of nine of us arrived early on a Friday morning to wait our turn for some of the famed smo...