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1 hour ago, Errestaurants said:

Because I didn't want brisket

 

Because I was on Lamar and needed to be in that general area at 1:30

I don't have an issue with Stiles Switch.  They are not at the top of anything, but everything there (and I have stopped by multiple times) is "good."  The beef ribs (which I think are only on Saturdays for now) are really good.  So nothing "great" but well worth stopping in for if you are in the area.

I have never tried the turkey.

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I'd take smoked turkey on a sandwich any time, but by itself at a BBQ joint it always tastes dry and relatively bland to me.  Hard to get the same level of moistness* that the rendered fat in beef and pork can produce. 

 

 

*yeah, yeah, something about my mom and moistness.

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I've only been to Stiles Switch when I have a friend in town that wants to get BBQ for dinner. My only problem is that they price themselves on par with all the top-tier joints, and they're not as good. 

Speaking of bbq price, I had a hankerin' for a chopped beef sandwich so I went to my local good-not-great neighborhood BBQ joint Vic's for lunch today. Got that and a sausage wrap. Typically it's like $8 or $9. Today it was $15. Fifteen fucking dollars for a chopped beef sandwich and a half link of sausage in one piece of white bread? That's a bunch of bullshit. I'll be smoking by bbq at home until beef prices go back down a bit. 

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3 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

I've only been to Stiles Switch when I have a friend in town that wants to get BBQ for dinner. My only problem is that they price themselves on par with all the top-tier joints, and they're not as good. 

Speaking of bbq price, I had a hankerin' for a chopped beef sandwich so I went to my local good-not-great neighborhood BBQ joint Vic's for lunch today. Got that and a sausage wrap. Typically it's like $8 or $9. Today it was $15. Fifteen fucking dollars for a chopped beef sandwich and a half link of sausage in one piece of white bread? That's a bunch of bullshit. I'll be smoking by bbq at home until beef prices go back down a bit. 

That’s a good point on their pricing.  Only the beef rib is a top-tier meat there IMO

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1 hour ago, irishtexan said:

I've only been to Stiles Switch when I have a friend in town that wants to get BBQ for dinner. My only problem is that they price themselves on par with all the top-tier joints, and they're not as good. 

Speaking of bbq price, I had a hankerin' for a chopped beef sandwich so I went to my local good-not-great neighborhood BBQ joint Vic's for lunch today. Got that and a sausage wrap. Typically it's like $8 or $9. Today it was $15. Fifteen fucking dollars for a chopped beef sandwich and a half link of sausage in one piece of white bread? That's a bunch of bullshit. I'll be smoking by bbq at home until beef prices go back down a bit. 

i think the trade off is that they are open basically all business hours+ and are a sit down joint?

not too shabby if you want solid brisket at 3pm on a Thursday or 1p on a Friday 

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4 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Never understood why anyone orders the turkey at any BBQ joint.  Even the best is still always the worst meat on the menu.

it's better than most sausage.  at some joints it's on par or better than the brisket.

 

Of course I don't frequent those places of my own accord.   Just saying that sometimes the smoked turkey can be a great bail out call on a marginal cue house.

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1 hour ago, NoName said:

i think the trade off is that they are open basically all business hours+ and are a sit down joint?

not too shabby if you want solid brisket at 3pm on a Thursday or 1p on a Friday 

They are open all the time, and there is plenty of seating.  Also haven't seen them run out.

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2 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Not this shit again.

What if you are on the road and really want some amazing bbq. Do you take your smoker with you everywhere?

Silly question, Swayze. He's obviously a pro at smoking pole, so yeah, his smoker goes where he goes.

Edited by Braff Zacklin
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9 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Has City Market in Luling improved? I’m concerned for the future of that beef sausage. 

I was there a month ago.  They were out of brisket (4:00PM) so I loaded up on sausage and ribs.

It was what I expect from an establishment with their legacy.  The sausage was great and the ribs were too.  Those meals precipitated my posts about allegedly good barbecue joints rolling with the Ekrich type sausage as opposed to legit Cen-Tex style sausage rings, that not only differ in shape, but also texture.

Edited by Iceman
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15 hours ago, Iceman said:

it's better than most sausage.  at some joints it's on par or better than the brisket.

Different strokes I guess, but I could not disagree with this more.  The only places I could even start to think this would be the case would be the really really shitty places.  Places where their other meats are so bad that the turkey is the only thing even slightly palatable.  Like Dickies or some shit.

I've tried the turkey at Franklin, Cattleack and a couple other places (kid used to get it when she was little, before she developed an appreciation for everything else) and, although it was good at both of those places, it was so far behind every other meat that it was just taking up space.  It was like saying they had a great salad.  Why the fuck would I eat a salad at a BBQ place, regardless how good it is?

Every BBQ place I've ever been ranks something like this (order of the top 8 will vary depending upon the place)...

 

Brisket

Beef Ribs

Pork Ribs

Special other meat, like cheeks or something

Sausage (flavor #1)

Sausage (flavor #2)

Sausage (other flavors - sometimes)

Pulled Pork

.

.

.

.

Some of the sides

.

.

.

.

Desert

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Turkey

The other sides

 

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I don't think we disagree.

Not all of us have access to the greatest Cue in the world all of the time.  It's at those 'other places' that I most definitely meant the turkey can be a viable alternative to their shitty brisket.

 

I call em "Sauce places"  where the sauce is the best thing on their menu.

Edited by Iceman
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2 hours ago, Iceman said:

I was there a month ago.  They were out of brisket (4:00PM) so I loaded up on sausage and ribs.

It was what I expect from an establishment with their legacy.  The sausage was great and the ribs were too.  Those meals precipitated my posts about allegedly good barbecue joints rolling with the Ekrich type sausage as opposed to legit Cen-Tex style sausage rings, that not only differ in shape, but also texture.

With all of the great sausage available in CenTex, I don’t understand why some places insist on using the Polish style

Edited by AustinMT
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1 hour ago, AustinMT said:

With all of the great sausage available in CenTex, I don’t understand why some places insist on using the Polish style

Czech sausage in Texas is so prevalent because so many of the barbecue joints were started by Czechs and still run by their descendants.  The type of sausage served is probably the clearest demarcation line between traditional Texas barbecue joints and newer craft style joints.  I wouldn't expect Luling Meat Market, Smoliks, or Taylor Meat Market to sell the same types of sausages as Micklethwait, Tejas, and Interstellar.  On the otherhand, I'm sure the later three have a Czech style sausage on their menu on a regular basis.  

New places that sell traditional sausages exclusively are likely places that don't make their own.

Edited by Jerry Callo
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46 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Czech sausage in Texas is so prevalent because so many of the barbecue joints were started by Czechs and still run by their descendants.  The type of sausage served is probably the clearest demarcation line between traditional Texas barbecue joints and newer craft style joints.  I wouldn't expect Luling Meat Market, Smoliks, or Taylor Meat Market to sell the same types of sausages as Micklethwait, Tejas, and Interstellar.  On the otherhand, I'm sure the later three have a Czech style sausage on their menu on a regular basis.  

New places that sell traditional sausages exclusively are likely places that don't make their own.

Interstellar makes their own.  It's not Polish style (though they have a "Kielbasa"), though it's not the ring-type either.  I guess I'm referring more to the casing and texture (i.e. the "Eckrich" style mentioned above).  The texture of, say, Interstellar is nothing like that.

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4 minutes ago, AustinMT said:

Interstellar makes their own.  It's not Polish style (though they have a "Kielbasa"), though it's not the ring-type either.  I guess I'm referring more to the casing and texture (i.e. the "Eckrich" style mentioned above).  The texture of, say, Interstellar is nothing like that.

Interstellar has a traditional Czech sausage which is course ground with garlic probably beef and pork.

I don't like the Eckrich style either or a find grind on that type of sausage.  Now a find grind bratwurst or knackwurst brings up a different conversation all together.

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Just now, Jerry Callo said:

Interstellar has a traditional Czech sausage which is course ground with garlic probably beef and pork.

I don't like the Eckrich style either or a find grind on that type of sausage.  Now a find grind bratwurst or knackwurst brings up a different conversation all together.

Yes, that is their style

by the way, heading there now to pick up an online order

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Pinkerton’s 6/12/2020 - The Redemption Visit

My last two times to Pinkerton’s were “meh” and very bad. Previously one of my favorite spots in Houston. Well, today was much, much better than the previous two visits. The usual order:

4FFbluqD_o.jpeg

Unfortunately, while good, it was not as good as Tejas or Truth. Kind of sucks because Grant seems like a good guy and a fellow Longhorn.

The brisket needed more smokiness and the bark didn’t seem peppery enough.

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13 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Pinkerton’s 6/12/2020 - The Redemption Visit

My last two times to Pinkerton’s were “meh” and very bad. Previously one of my favorite spots in Houston. Well, today was much, much better than the previous two visits. The usual order:

4FFbluqD_o.jpeg

Unfortunately, while good, it was not as good as Tejas or Truth. Kind of sucks because Grant seems like a good guy and a fellow Longhorn.

The brisket needed more smokiness and the bark didn’t seem peppery enough.

My visits have ranged from being incredible to pretty good but not the most impressive, although I’ve had way more food experiences. I’ve noticed a couple times I’ve felt the fat on brisket wasn’t rendered enough and was still pretty gelatinous. I definitely feel you on the black pepper though; I love the Meuller style of super heavy black pepper, but maybe that’s just my personal preference talking. Haven’t been to Truth in town but stopped at the one in Brenham coming back from a game last fall and holy shit was it awesome. 

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My visits have ranged from being incredible to pretty good but not the most impressive, although I’ve had way more food experiences. I’ve noticed a couple times I’ve felt the fat on brisket wasn’t rendered enough and was still pretty gelatinous. I definitely feel you on the black pepper though; I love the Meuller style of super heavy black pepper, but maybe that’s just my personal preference talking. Haven’t been to Truth in town but stopped at the one in Brenham coming back from a game last fall and holy shit was it awesome. 

Exactly on point about the fat. That was the problem with one of my awful experiences there. It was disappointing to say the least. This time it was rendered well. And it was in general just way, way too fatty. I have seen the cutters at Truth throw out slices because it wasn’t good enough to serve.
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With all of the great sausage available in CenTex, I don’t understand why some places insist on using the Polish style

Most of the Polish sausage I’ve had in Texas is not of the fine grind variety like Eckrich. I can’t eat Eckrich and i would not call it authentic Polish sausage. I’ve always considered Polish and Czech sausage in Texas to be mostly interchangeable. They are smoked course ground sausages.
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53 minutes ago, HouTex said:


Most of the Polish sausage I’ve had in Texas is not of the fine grind variety like Eckrich. I can’t eat Eckrich and i would not call it authentic Polish sausage. I’ve always considered Polish and Czech sausage in Texas to be mostly interchangeable. They are smoked course ground sausages.

Yeah -- like I said afterwards, my comment was as to casing and grind, and I was (wrongly) using "Polish" and "Eckrich" interchangeably

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So I’ve always enjoyed the coarser grind type of sausage (German?) that we used to get at a place on the way to Lake Texoma maybe in Muenster?  What type of CenTex sausage does that correspond to?  I like stopping at the Southside Market in Elgin for sausage but it seems more of a finer grind.  Maybe Meyers in Elgin?  A lot of questions here. 

Edited by CycleTex87
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