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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Texas
Texas barbecue centers on smoked beef brisket as its main dish: seasoned only with salt and black pepper, cooked for many hours in wood smoke and sliced, served on butcher paper with bread, pickles and onion.
Traditional dish from Texas
Also known as: Texas brisket, Central Texas barbecue, smoked brisket, Texas BBQ
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Texas barbecue — Texas, the United States
In Texas, barbecue is above all about brisket, the smoked beef brisket. The whole cut is coated with a layer of salt and coarsely ground black pepper and goes into the smoker, where it spends many hours in wood smoke, usually oak in the central part of the state. It comes out with a dark crust and a pink ring beneath the surface and is sliced to order.
The central Texas style was born in the butcher shops of German and Czech immigrants who settled the region in the 19th century. Without refrigeration, butchers smoked unsold meat to preserve it, and cotton field workers began buying it already prepared. Gradually, the butcher shops became barbecue joints, and many still keep the market feel: meat is ordered at the counter by weight and is wrapped in butcher paper.
Texas has other barbecue traditions: in the east, barbecue from African American communities featuring ribs, sausage and more sauce; in the south and west, traditions tied to Mexican cuisine, such as barbacoa. But it was brisket that became the dish the rest of the country associates with the state. Together with pork ribs and smoked sausage, it forms the classic trio of Texas barbecue joints.
The meat is served with sliced white sandwich bread, pickles, raw onion and, in many places, baked beans and potato salad. Sauce, when provided, is served on the side: in traditional central Texas spots, many consider the meat doesn’t need it. Small towns in the Austin region, such as Lockhart, Luling and Elgin, are home to some of the oldest joints.
Texas
Style born in the butcher shops of German and Czech immigrants in central Texas and spread throughout the state.
Beef brisket, coarse salt, coarsely ground black pepper; wood, usually oak; white bread, pickles and onion to accompany.
Sliced, ordered by weight at the counter, served on butcher paper with bread, pickles and onion; sauce, if any, is served on the side.
Lunch or dinner, year-round.
Your questions
It’s the beef brisket seasoned with salt and black pepper and smoked for many hours in wood smoke, served sliced. It’s the dish most associated with Texas barbecue.
In traditional central Texas places, the meat arrives without sauce; when sauce is offered, it’s served on the side. In East Texas, sauce is more common.
At the counter, by weight: you choose the meat, which is sliced and comes wrapped in butcher paper with bread, pickles and onion.
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