FIL-TEX BARBECUE

One of the things I did this past 4th of July holiday weekend was rummage over sale items at a local Houston outlet mall, but the highlight of that weekend was a visit to a local Texas barbecue restaurant. 

Texas barbecue traditions can be divided into four general styles:  East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas. The Central and East Texas varieties are generally the most well-known.  Generally speaking the different Texas barbecue styles are distinguished as follows. In the East Texas style the beef is slowly cooked to the point that it is "falling off the bone", typically over hickory wood, and marinated in a sweet, tomato-based sauce. In the Central Texas style the meat is rubbed with spices and cooked over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood. In the West Texas style the meat is cooked over direct heat from mesquite wood giving it a somewhat bitter taste. The South Texas style features thick, molasses-like sauces that keep the meat very moist.  The barbacoa tradition is somewhat different than all of these. Though beef may be used, goat or sheep meat are common as well (sometimes even the whole animal may be used). In its most traditional form barbacoa is prepared in a hole dug in the ground and covered with maguey leave.

The best barbecue in Texas is brisket, pork, ribs, chicken and sausage slow cooked in a smoker-cooker.   Traditionally, Texas barbecue is served with a homemade barbecue sauce, usually served warm.  Now I have managed to improvise the traditional Texas barbecue sauce and made it "my own."  This type sauce is usually a table condiment as opposed to a sauce used to bast the meat while cooking.  When you make a batch, play with the seasonings and their amounts until you get the recipe to your liking.  There are as many recipes for barbecue sauce as there are cooks.  Having grown up on Filipino cooking, I like to use a fair amount of garlic, onion, vinegar and some Tobasco hot sauce.

Ingredients:

16 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 med. size fresh onion
3 tbsp. crushed garlic
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. coarse black pepper
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. chili powder

Add all the ingredients and simmer until relatively thick, stirring occasionally.  Use as dipping sauce or poured over the meat.