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

The history of barbecue in the state of Texas cannot be confined to one story, one influence, or even one method of cooking. In a state this size with so much history, barbecue styles vary based on different influences throughout the regions of the state. Low and slow or hot and fast? Pork or beef? sauced or dry? Oak or mesquite? We wanted to explore where the primary origins of Texas Barbecue cam...

The conclusion of our interview with Patrick Feges of Feges BBQ Leaving Killen's BBQ and joining the staff at Southern Goods afforded Patrick Feges the chance to continue composing smoked meat dishes in non-traditional ways, and also made it possible for Patrick to cook whole hogs more often. Whole hog cooking had become a passion for Patrick, and his reputation as a talented hog cooker was growin...

Join us for part two of our interview with Patrick Feges of Feges BBQ.    After receiving his medical discharge from the Army and completing culinary school, Patrick Feges embarked on his cooking career. Following a brief stint manning a Mongolian grill, Patrick got an opportunity at one of Houston's longest established great restaurants, Brennan's. Working in a high volume fine dining restaurant...

We have told a lot of stories about people in the barbecue world and the different paths that have taken them to a career in smoked meats. While we have respected all of these stories, we are honored and very humbled to have Patrick Feges tell his story on our show.   After joining the Army after high school, Patrick was deployed to South Korea and later to Iraq right in the thick of the war in 20...

Tales From the Pits has been traveling and eating barbecue. We've been out on the BBQ trail quite a bit over the last couple of months, and the foreseeable future looks just as busy. In this episode we reflect on new restaurant openings including our extended thoughts on Loro, the new Asian smokehouse restaurant from acclaimed chef Tyson Cole and Aaron Franklin of the world famous Franklin Barbecu...

For years Chase Colston dreamt about bringing a festival to downtown Tyler, Texas. His persistence paid off when after years of trying, Chase was able to convince his employers at Townsquare Media to help him launch the Red Dirt BBQ and Music Festival. Held every spring since 2014, the festival has grown every year into one of the best in Texas.    The 2018 barbecue line up is incredible with join...

Shawn and Amy Collins, from St. Louis and Houston respectively, met while working at a busy restaurant in Manhattan. While planning to marry Shawn was looking for barbecue wood on Craigslist when he saw a restaurant for sale. Before they knew it they were picking up and leaving the big city for the tiny town of Nixon, Texas where they would be the new owners of Pioneer BBQ.   Shawn and Amy would s...

Over the last year the name Moberg has burst onto the barbecue scene, but what many don't know is that the man behind the incredibly popular smokers is no newcomer to the world of pit building. Sunny Moberg has been welding since he was a teenager, and his roots in Texas barbecue stretch back to his grandfather, the founder of Smokey Denmark sausage company.   Sunny's pits, made mostly from decomm...

We love eating barbecue, and eating with new friends is even more fun. After online banter with Chris Wood of Primacy Meat Co. we were able to meet up with him at Truth Barbecue and the next day at Valentina's Tex Mex Barbecue to share stories of the road. Chris was in the middle of an epic Texas barbecue road trip when we sat down next to the freeway and chatted. Listen in as he tells us about hi...

John Mueller is one of the most controversial men in the barbecue world and he's carved his niche in the industry doing things in own way. With a hot and fast method of cooking, house made sausage, tasty pork ribs, brisket stew, plus brisket and beef ribs rubbed with a heavy dose of pepper a good visit is rewarded with a unique and flavorful experience. Don't forget the cheesy squash loaded with l...

Roegels Barbecue Co. (pronounced ray-gulls) received a positive review from the Houston Chronicle's Alison Cook in April 2015 which increased their customer base overnight but the Roegels crew didn't take their foot off the gas pedal.  A continual evolution of their menu and launching weekly specialty meats such as smoked pastrami helped them earn a spot on the 2017 Texas Monthly Top 50 list and c...

Russell Roegels has been cooking barbecue longer than some of our listeners have been alive. Russell worked with Bodacious in East Texas and decided to move down to Houston with little to his name after a decision made while fishing to head up a Bakers Ribs location. Russel and family put in long hours 7 days a week, eventually tweaking their product after experiencing other barbecue at the Housto...

Family backyard barbecue memories floated through Esaul's mind while working as a bus driver, calling him into the world of barbecue. He made the jump from bus driver head first into his first gig working at La Barbecue. After learning the art from John Lewis the dreams of his own business pulled him back to San Antonio where he launched 2M Smokehouse with Joe Melig. Chicharoni macaroni, serrano a...

The one where we talk about ribs: Upon request, we've dedicated this episode to cooking pork ribs. Andrew has placed in IBCA sanctioned BBQ cookoffs with his ribs and over the years he's developed the Doubleback BBQ rib rub that has served well in retail too.  From purchase to trimming to cooking, we describe what has worked well for us, listen in and let us know any tips or tricks you use! Check...

From family barbecues to nearly opening a brick and mortar before the building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, Jim Buchanan has persistently pursued his barbecue dream. Jim developed his taste for Texas barbecue living in Katy Texas beginning with backyard cookouts. The competition circuit was his next endeavor where he did well and met up with Wes Jurena, leading to his work at Pappa Charlies....

Foodways Texas and the meat science department at Tezas A&M host multiple barbecue education events each year. Two of these are held in partnership with Foodways Texas; Barbecue Summer Camp and Camp Brisket. Creative Sausage Making and Beef 101 are options available directly through A&M. Recorded at The Hop Stop which is celebrating its 2 year anniversary on January 27th, Andrew and Bryan discuss...

Starting with family barbecue outings in east texas the passion of barbecue kept calling at Steve and Sharice Garner until they were able to put their unique touch on the barbecue world. Listen in as Steve Garner talks about his path to launching a brick and mortar after driving trucks and running a food trailer. Steve talks about his path to launching his restaurant, boudin, firecracker crackers,...

Thank you for listening in 2017! First up on this episode, we announce the winner of the $50 gift card from Truth Barbecue Listen in as customer-turned-pitmaster Nathan Pier takes us on a pit tour at Evie Mae's. Arnis Robbins custom builds his own unique reverse flow pits that are like no others in the business. The first two pits, named Shadrach and Meshach started from 750 gallon propane tanks b...

Reid guess has worked hard to get to where he's at today including cleaning vent hoods, graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, working in the fine dining world, and launching his own trailer. It's been a family endeavor; he's built his own pits with the help of his father, including the 19 foot long behemoth he wrangles into cooking some great smoked meats, and his nephew Aaron grinds out some great and...

Hear as we annnounce our latest prize giveaway, a $50 gift card to Brotherton's Black Iron Barbecue We do a recap of the HOUBBQ Austin vs Houston BBQ Throwdown Andrew manned the pits for a Doubleback BBQ catering gig Both Andrew and Bryan make separate trips to Truth Barbecue Bryan made a run to Austin that included brisket stew from John Mueller Black Box Barbecue and a visit to a backyard popup...

Listen in as we recap a 5 stop barbecue run where we hit up Pinkerton's Barbecue, Victorian's Barbecue, Feges BBQ, Buck's Barbeque Co., and wound up at Tin Roof Barbecue for their grand re-opening after a recent fire. We met up with John Brotherton and Marvin Briley of Brotherton Black Iron Barbecue and Russell and Misty Reogels of Roegel's Barbecue Co at three of the stops and ran across a number...

Chance encounters at Franklin Barbecue and la Barbecue set the stage for Dylan Taylor's shift from pursuing a music degree to jumping headfirst into the barbecue world at Terry Black's Barbecue as a meat cutter. Dylan later worked for la Barbecue and helped train staff at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston before landing his current gig at Truth Barbecue. In between all that Dylan and friends have gone...

We continue our talk with Leonard Botello talking about the new Houston location of Truth Barbecue, Buckethead, A tip on how to skip the line and get cake, trying to sneak into Houston, our city vs city rivalry with Jimmy Ho, and BBQ desserts

Listen in as we discuss the early days of Truth Barbecue, what is "Central Texas BBQ", status of the Brenham location, and some news on the new Houston location in part one of our two part interview with Leonard Botello IV    

Andrew and I discuss where are we looking forward to eating at next, who should have been on the Top 50 list, what's happening in Houston barbecue, and what are we cooking up for our next popup event at The Hop Stop on this episode of Tales From the Pits