Dr. BBQ coming to BookPeople

Are you prepared for people to write to you suggesting maybe you left some barbecue greats off the list? Would that be fodder for a second trip?

Yes the list has already started and I’d love to do it again. I quickly realized that there was no way to go to EVERY place and really it was hard to even scratch the surface without writing a double “War and Peace” and spending my whole life doing it. Not that it wouldn’t be fun, but a book had to be turned in to financially support the habit. So I will file all the suggestions received through www.drbbq.com and if enough people buy this book I’ll gladly do another one.

It seems like a lot of the recipes call for a smoker. Is there any way someone who's a bit more limited on appliances can replicate the quality?

Yeah that’s just the nature of the places I went and the people I talked with. They’re into real barbecue. It’s impossible to offer up the directions to smoke on every grill but most of them can do it. Follow the manufacturers instructions or just get creative on your own.

How did you hear about these places?
Many different ways. Of course many of the places I visited in Texas are now very famous and some even qualify as tourist attractions but I found most of them to be very good. I guess that’s why they became famous. I also asked some old friends for recommendations and even asked people I met everywhere while traveling.

You mention reading a book before you came to Texas, Legends of Texas BBQ. How much of your discoveries were research vs. just being lucky enough to find them?

That book was a big help in Texas, but like I said earlier many of those places are very well known. The internet has been a huge promotional tool for ancient barbecue joints. My travel schedule was limited so I tried to do my research before I arrived. A friend in New York told me that she loved House Park so I made sure to get there. I have met the guys from Salt Lick at the Fiery Foods Show so I made sure to see their place and an old friend from the cookoff circuit told me that Clem Mikeska’s was his favorite barbecue joint so I made sure to go there. In Houston Dave Klose took me to Burn’s. It doesn’t make the lists very often but the food was great and the atmosphere was better.

In the book you talk about how surprised you were to find barbecue sauce in Texas- how do you think trends and traditions have changed in barbecue, and why do you think they came about?

I think the internet and the way we all travel the country at will have helped us share many things that were previously regional and food is at the top of the list but the sauce thing was partially tongue in cheek. I fully expected to find barbecue sauce in Texas. In writing this book I found that many of the myths that seem to be written over and over are just not real. I think writers look for a hook and the concept that Kreuz Market doesn’t serve sauce is a good one and then it takes on a life of its own and becomes “Texas doesn’t use barbecue sauce”. Of course if those writers would actually go to these places they’d find that these things aren’t really true. I found this kind of thing all over the country. The pork in North Carolina is minced, not pulled and the sauce is little more than straight vinegar. In Memphis nobody really cares about the wet rib vs. dry rib thing but they all love the barbecued spaghetti and smoked bologna that is served in almost every barbecue joint.

Join Dr. BBQ will be at Bookpeople to discuss his latest offering, Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Road Trip!, at 7pm Monday.