By Nathan Smith
Bluebonnets, the Alamo and barbecue. True Texans know and can appreciate all three and, as a true Texan, I consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable evaluator of the latter. I’ve consumed my fair share over the years and then some.
My experience tells me that good barbecue sauce is often not fully appreciated. It’s sometimes used as a prop to hold up the tasteless or overcooked. Granted, there are a lot of mediocre barbecue joints around the state, producing shameful excuses for Texas cuisine. Yet even with a truly remarkable piece of mesquite-grilled beef, nothing complements the flavor better than a great sauce.
Like most everything else worth eating, the best sauce comes from Texas. You will see thousands of varieties across the country, but it’s the Lone Star version that gets the job done. It’s heavily seasoned with lots of black pepper, cumin, chili peppers, chili powder, fresh onion, salt, only a touch of tomato, little or no sugar and for the brave, maybe some minced, boiled jalapeños. The sauce often contains meat drippings and smoke flavor and should infiltrate the meat easily rather than sit idly on top.
Some may say that good barbecue doesn’t need barbecue sauce. I say good barbecue sauce doesn’t need barbecue, it goes on anything. The right barbecue sauce drizzled over a plate of carefully prepared and correctly seasoned brisket is my idea of complete perfection.
You will find some Texas barbecue restaurants that take pride in their sauce-free menu… “Barbecue Sauce (nothing to hide),” a sign says at Kreuz Barbecue in Lockhart. Excellent food to be sure, but after visiting such establishments I’m always left wondering what an ancho chile sauce or a tangy chipotle blend would have done to make a great experience better.
Take Fat Boys in Amarillo. They offer a tender, flavorful brisket plate, but it’s the sauce that keeps the locals coming back for more. Their own blend of sauce sets them apart. The New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbeque Shack in Huntsville is another example of a sauce-serving Texas barbecue staple. The place isn’t much to look at, but you’ll swing 100 miles out of your way to get your fingers sticky with their sauce.
I am positive that barbecue sauce accompanying brisket, pork ribs, sausage and chicken can make or break the experience. Sure, it’s possible to have great barbecue without the sauce, just like it’s possible to enjoy the marshmallow without the s’more. But when you have the makings, why not enjoy? To sauce or not: that is the question.
What part of Texas are you from, Nathan, New York City?
Sauce is a crutch for mediocre brisket. If you find brisket needs sauce, you need to move on down the road to the Central Texas icons—Louie Mueller’s in Taylor, Coopers in Llano or Kreuz Market in Lockhart, and a few others—where the meat is tender, juicy and bursting with natural flavor.
The best way to eat brisket? Sliced between a piece of white bread, SANS sauce! Pickles and onions on the side.
Mike,
I grew up is Hamilton and I’ve eaten at Kreuz Market, Coopers and various other local BBQ joints. I’ve also, however, lived in and spent much time in many of the proverbial strongholds of BBQ. Currently residing in Kansas City, I’ve spent large amounts of time in Memphis and North Carolina and I can assure that while the Texas BBQ purist in me agrees with you regarding a sauce on BBQ, the realist in me cannot deny the amazing taste that an Oklahoma Joe’s or Arthur Bryant’s sauce can add to a plate of brisket or burnt ends. I think Nathan’s on the right track here and we as Texans should be able to put our egos aside and welcome the tasty additions to BBQ the rest of our American brethren have made.
Mike,
Great barbecue sauce transcends the “need” factor. Granted…mediocre barbecue requires something to offset the flavor but you have to give the sauce some stand-alone credit.
Reed,
Thanks for the support, your geographical knowledge and experience gives you gallons of barbecue sauce street cred.
Nathan, I do agree with your statement that good barbecue sauce “goes on anything” except brisket!
Mike, you mentioned Cooper’s Pit. Part of the Cooper’s experience is when the guy at the pit dunks your hunk of meat into the large vat of sauce sitting there. I agree that sauce is often needed to cover up mediocre brisket, but I think Nathan makes an excellent point that a good sauce can make a great piece of meat even better!
Coleburn, I’ve had great barbeque at Coopers many times. I know many people take the opportunity to dunk their meat. Not me. Cooper’s brisket doesn’t need any help!
You “no sauce” guys remind me of the baseball purists who are still mad over the designated hitter!
You “sauce” guys remind me of the Watergate conspirators. Cover up!
Coleburn,Gene,
You guys truly know Texas barbecue when you find it. Thanks for the support!
Am I the only one who thinks that Cooper’s had started to slip as of late? I’d much rather eat at Hard Eight now as opposed to Cooper’s.
I need to swing by Hard Eight, it was really good the last time I was there – not sure about Cooper’s.
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Who likes using barbecue sauce at a BBQ? Everyone, right? Well, you just might be wrong to believe that BBQ sauce can only improve a barbecue if not used correctly. It is a little known fact that most barbecue cooking pros leave the barbecue sauce at home because if not used right, you just may find yourself eliminated early from the competition. Maybe you want to us a secret family recipe that has been in the family for generations. Just possibly you are dying to use a concoction downloaded from the internet. You can still use BBQ sauce but you may want to change how it is used to acquire that all allusive perfect flavor.