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 ladles of cheese, a rich end to a memorable meal. John sat down with us for a fun and informative cha...
Mar 06, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 41
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 cemented Russell's place in the Texas barbecue scene. Subscribe and listen every week to our journey i...
Feb 27, 2018•48 min•Ep. 40
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 Houston Barbecue Festival and doing a Texas barbecue road trip. Without media fanfare he launched Roegels ...
Feb 20, 2018•35 min•Ep. 39
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 and Oaxaca cheese sausage, pickled nopales, barbacoa, and speciality cakes are just some of the uniqu...
Feb 14, 2018•46 min•Ep. 38
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 out videos on our instagram page @talesfromthepits and follow us on twitter @bbqpodcast...
Jan 31, 2018•36 min•Ep. 37
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. Jim stepped out on his own and was set to open his own place before the hurricane sidelined him, bu...
Jan 24, 2018•27 min•Ep. 36
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 our experience at Barbecue Summer Camp and Camp Brisket as well as provide some information ...
Jan 16, 2018•29 min•Ep. 35
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, and visiting the bookity bookity boudain man. Steve also tells us some big news about the future of...
Jan 11, 2018•33 min•Ep. 34
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 but the tops are boxed out to provide up to three racks of cooking surface. Their third pit is a larg...
Dec 28, 2017•14 min•Ep. 33
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 unique sausage. Sides are produced only with wood fueled heat - and don't skip the grits! Listen to ...
Dec 19, 2017•58 min•Ep. 32
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 held by Brett's BBQ We wound up the week with a stop at Southern Q BBQ in Houston...
Dec 12, 2017•33 min•Ep. 31
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 of BBQ trail friends. We tell you where you can find some tasty cheesey squash in Houston What are ...
Dec 05, 2017•37 min•Ep. 30
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 on epic barbecue-centric road trips and he describes his experiences sampling the different styles o...
Nov 28, 2017•58 min•Ep. 29
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
Nov 22, 2017•30 min•Ep. 28
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
Nov 14, 2017•34 min•Ep. 27
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
Oct 26, 2017•37 min•Ep. 26
Listen in as John Brotherton makes the leap back into full time barbecue with Brotherton's Black Iron Barbecue. This episode includes Barbecue Camp, Bewley pits, brisket Banh Mi, and much more
Oct 17, 2017•46 min•Ep. 25
Starting with his trailer, Hall of Flame Barbecue, John Brotherton has had his finger on the pulse of the barbecue world. Listen in to part one of our interview as John describes his early barbecue adventures that included a visit from Daniel Vaughn, a return to an office job, and stops at all 50 barbecue joints from the 2013 Texas Monthly list before his eventual return back to a full time barbecue business.
Oct 10, 2017•38 min•Ep. 24
The fall BBQ event season is in full swing! Listen in as Stuart Lapp discusses The Woodlands BBQ Festival and beneficiary Pulmonary Hypertension Association More information on the festival at: https://www.thewoodlandsbbq.com/
Oct 03, 2017•22 min•Ep. 23
Head back into the pit room at Bodacious Bar-B-Q in our first audio pit tour. Jordan Jackson and Scott Turner walk us through their four very unique pits
Sep 27, 2017•19 min•Ep. 22
This week we answer questions submitted by our listerners - Topics include Sausage, Wood, Baby Back Ribs, Pop Ups, The Expansion of Central Texas Style Barbecue, and more
Sep 07, 2017•54 min•Ep. 20
The conclusion of our interview with Arnis Robbins of Evie Mae's barbecue. Listen in as Arnis talks about learning of their top ten Texas Monthly ranking and discusses the business growth from a small trailer with a single pit to a brick and mortar with twenty employees.
Sep 02, 2017•54 min•Ep. 19
From New Mexico to Arizona to Texas, and always using hand built reverse flow pits, listen t part one of a two part interview with Arnis Robbins and learn the history behind Evie Mae's BBQ
Aug 22, 2017•49 min•Ep. 18
Ride along as we recap 3 days of BBQ, including hitting up two of the Texas Monthly 2017 Top Ten joints; Cattleack and Evie Mae's. We're down to the final stretch in our quest to eat at all 50 joints in 90 days. Coming soon will be a two part interview with Arnis and Mallory Robbins of Evie Mae's, see ya on the BBQ trail!
Aug 15, 2017•47 min•Ep. 17
Jordan introduces Bryan Bingham, the newest pit hand at Bodacious Bar-B-Que and how he lured him away from Starbucks, Bryan talks about his first week of working there, Scott Turner announces his future endeavor, and the team describes the moment they found out they were ranked 4th in the 2017 Texas Monthly Top 50
Aug 10, 2017•51 min•Ep. 16
Part one of our interview with Jordan Jackson and Scott Turner of Bodacious Bar-B-Q. Just a few topics we cover: Le Cordon Bleu, K Mart, Pat Green, girlfriend wooing, briskets migrating upstream, and writing "Happy Birthday" over and over
Aug 08, 2017•50 min•Ep. 15
We made a run to the border and back, hitting four of the top 50 joints. In this episode we recap our south Texas BBQ run, have a short interview with Mando Vera of Vera's Backyard Bar-B-Que, and preview an upcoming 2,000 mile west Texas run.
Aug 04, 2017•40 min•Ep. 14
We sit down with Grant Pinkerton and discuss his first brisket cooks, popups, alligators, his restaurant, and even toss out a few sports questions
Jul 27, 2017•36 min•Ep. 13
Beef ribs don't come on the meat plate, varied pricing for brisket, and other ramblings about what's on the menu at Texas barbecue joints these days.
Jul 20, 2017•35 min•Ep. 12
Andrew and I recap a busy day after hitting Flores, BBQ on the Brazos, Heim, Lockhart Smokehouse, Pecan Lodge, Top 5 BBQ, And Harris BBQ on our quest to hit all 50 of the Texas Monthly 2017 top 50 BBQ
Jul 13, 2017•32 min
