What A Twit

So some days there the logic behind Twitter is not always clear, sure it is a place for crazies like me to randomly vent to know one and annoy the few of those that actually follow you.  Once in a while though, there are great benefits of reaching out to people who are more famous than I am and quite frankly know a whole heck of a lot more.

I took advantage of this opportunity on my return trip from Corpus Christi in reaching out to Houston’s resident BBQ/Tex-Mex expert RobbWalsh.  On my trip south along Highway 59 I noticed numerous smokehouses and decided that rather than taking a stab in the dark I would reach out to Robb and get his input which of these joints my trip would be the most delicious at.

Robb pointed out Mustang Creek BBQ south of Hillje, Texas to me as the destination of my meal, and I had no desire to second guess the man.  The one problem I ran into was the location that Google Maps listed as Mustang Creek was actually a hay farm and as I began to hear the dueling banjos going off I flipped a u-turn and headed further on down the road.

To say Mustang Creek is hard to spot at 60 miles per hour might be an understatement; the restaurant is housed in an old Exxon gas station on an empty stretch of Highway.

Do not let the humble settings fool you though; the BBQ here was spot on.  I decided to follow Robb’s advice further with the Bohemian Special, a delicious sandwich piled high with brisket, smoked sausage, onions, pickles, and a smearing of sauce.  To call it amazing might be an injustice to this sandwich, the meats were perfect and the sauce was full of flavor but just in the right quantities so as not to overpower the other flavors between the pillowy soft bread.

Of course I had to get a side and the potato salad looked too good to resist and my eyes did not lead me astray.  It was creamy and full of mustard flavor that accented my meat rounding out the great meal.

I almost walked away after that but then by a chance of fate a cup of banana pudding passed by me and my weak will power gave in.  To say this might have been the best banana pudding I have had in my life (I have a personal fondness of Back Forty BBQ near my childhood home in California but I think that is more of a case of nostalgia), the creamy banana flavor and healthy dosages of mushy Nilla Wafers made this all worthwhile.

In closing, if you need any further empirical evidence that this place is worth the stop, it seems to be a favorite of state troopers patrolling along this stretch of the highway so if they are there and known by name it must be good, which probably also means you should avoid it if you have a warrant out for your arrest but hey such is life.

The Flavor of Texas

BBQ is quite possibly one of the greatest foods ever.  I mean there is something magical that happens when you cool a slab of meat low and slow with some smoke thrown in for good measure.

That is what drew me into 7 Rivers located at 1855 Barker Cyprus in Katy.  The name itself screams homage to the great state that I call home, Texas for those of you who forgot, referring to the seven major rivers that call this place home.

I opted for the three meat plate, what better way to truly test out a BBQ joint than to get a plate full of meat?  For my selections I ordered the turkey, hot sausage, and chopped beef.  My personal favorite of the trio was the turkey, a tender flavorful cut of breast with a nice peppery rub that will definitely have me coming back for more.  The other two were not bad, but not nearly as good as the turkey.  The sauce had some good flavor to it, a good level of spiciness to take it up to the next level, but the best aspect of it is that it is warm, nothing like warm BBQ sauce to dip your meat in.

The sides were pretty decent themselves.  Coleslaw is my latest BBQ addiction, somehow I grew up hating this stuff, but in the past year my tastebuds have fallen in love with slaw and I now find myself in a perpetual quest for a good slaw.  This slaw was not the best I have had lately, but it had decent flavor, and I did like the fact that it is chopped up in smaller bits, so all in all it was a good call.

The fries were a favorite of mine, nice and thick, with a good crisp to them.  Plus you get a larger quantity than any one needs with a three meat plate.

In the end, 7 Rivers was a good choice, it is a rather unassuming place since it is located in a strip mall in Katy, but the flavors are good, and supposedly there is some great beer specials here.  Sadly, I have only been here at lunch during work so my indulgences in cheap beer have been lacking.

Man Vs Food Meatfest

So on a recent trip to the Big D (Dallas for those of you who happen to live under a rock), my faithful food companion Kevin and I decided to follow in the footsteps of Man Vs Food yet again.

Adam went to a variety of delicious sounding places but we opted for a meat party at Sonny Bryan’s, you can check out the video here (starts about the 6:45 mark).

So we ventured down to the original Sonny Bryan’s located at 2202 Inwood near the Medical Center.

Unfortunately, we were greeted by this sign.  Yes tragically, they were out of meat so we had to head on down to the other location at 302 N Market in the West End, in the shadow of the giant Green Pickle Building.

The inside of the restaurant is full of neon lights and homage to the great state of Texas, basically perfect for a BBQ joint.

First came the rolls, fluffy pieces of heaven, warm and soft, basically amazing.  I tried to limit myself to one, but that was a lost cause.

Then came the main course, the Pitmaster Platter, a plate of every single one of the seven meats that this joint serves up.  This plate was piled high with turkey, chicken, brisket, ribs, sausage, pork, and ham.  The sausage and the ham were some of my favorites, but all in all it was a delicious plate full of meat.

For our two sides we decided to rock the cole slaw, which was surprisingly delicious with some celery seeds tossed in there that gave it a twist from what I was used to.

Option 2 was fried okra, how can you go wrong with fried okra?  Honestly.

One of my favorite aspects of this place was the sauce, a warm sauce in a Corona bottle, odd yes, but damn good.

As you can see this place was good, there was none left for you, enjoy.

Pulling Pork

Some days I think I am a mad scientist when it comes to food.  My mom had purchased some pork steaks; a childhood memory of Jill’s involves the grilling of these slabs of pork butt.  These are okay, but they are usually tough and gristly when you grill them up.  So we decided to call an audible on this recipe and change up the meal.

For those of you unfamiliar with pork butt, it is not from the ass of the pig, it is actually the shoulder at the front of the oinker, sometimes also known as Boston Butt, most commonly seen in that delectable dish known as pulled pork.  That is exactly what we decided to change our meal to, usually butt comes in gigantic portions (it is a cheap cut of meat so quantity is king), and unfortunately for a few people that is overkill so the logic the steak cuts would create a smaller serving.

The key to good pulled pork, as with all barbecue, is low and slow, low temperature cooking over a much longer period of time (talking hours not minutes).  For those of you who like to interchange the phrases, grilling is high heat over a short period of time; consider it the next time you fire up the grill.

We used the Crockpot for this, letting the meat sit in a broth of beer, vinegar, ketchup, and a mixture of spices.  I am a firm believer in beer being an excellent cooking agent anytime you have the meat soaking in something or even when using a drip pan. 

As you can see after a few hours you have some tender succulent pork ready for pulling.

My personal favorite sign is when the blade bone slides right out without any effort.

My preferred method of pulling is using two forks to sort of scrape the meat so that it comes part in strands.  The one benefit in the steaks is that the meat is in shorter pieces instead of being 3 or 4 inch long pieces.

Now it comes time for the construction of the proper pulled pork sandwich.  Having not spent an abundance of time in the southeastern United States (epicenter of the bbq pork world) I have not had a whole lot of experience in this first hand, but fortunately I am a loyal adherent to Man Vs Food and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  Ergo, I have learned that the proper way to create a pulled pork sandwich is to top it off with a heaping helping of coleslaw.  I was too lazy to make my own coleslaw, so I picked up a container at Hickory Hollow on Heights here in Houston and it was perfect.

All in all I would say this was a successful cooking experiment, and even made some awesome leftovers for the next few days.  So yes if a Texan can accept a pulled pork and coleslaw sandwich, then perhaps there is hope for world peace.  Do not worry beef, I still love you more.