The boundaries of Southeast Texas barbecue
Editor’s note: This is the third column in a series in which Reid explores the origins and influences that make Southeast Texas barbecue unique. The first provided an overview of how the influence of Louisiana traditions came to flavor Houston barbecue; the second covered barbecue traditions native to Cajun country. Here he defines the geographic boundaries and culinary specifics of the region.
The conventional taxonomy of Texas barbecue goes something like this:
South Texas barbecue is influenced by Mexican-American traditions of barbacoa, specifically cow heads cooked and smoked in underground pits.
West Texas or “cowboy-style” barbecue implements a direct-heat method, similar to grilling, that uses mesquite wood to flavor the meat.
Central Texas barbecue is derived from techniques brought there by Czech and German butchers who established meat markets specializing in the plentiful beef cattle of the region, cooking in indirect-heat pits using oak wood.
East Texas barbecue is based on African-American foodways of the Southern United States, primarily pork-based with some sauced-and-chopped beef dishes, brought here by former slaves in the late 1800s as well as Cajun and Creole immigrants moving from rural Louisiana to urban areas of Southeast Texas such as Beaumont and Houston in the early 1900s.
These classifications were established almost 50 years ago by Griffin Smith Jr. in an article for Texas Monthly titled “The World’s Best Barbecue is in Taylor, Texas. Or is it Lockhart?”
Griffin notes that the two main styles are from the central region based around Austin and the east region around Houston. He establishes the geographic boundary as “a line running from Columbus and Hearne northward between Dallas and Fort Worth.”
Such a broad boundary was probably accurate at the time. But the evolution of Texas barbecue in the intervening years suggests that this categorization and demarcation is now out of date.
Certainly, Central Texas barbecue has been established as the dominant style in Texas today and defies any specific geography. Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Pinkerton’s Barbecue in Houston, Pecan Lodge in Dallas and Two Bros. BBQ Market in San Antonio are just a few examples of this ubiquitous style.
Meanwhile, East Texas barbecue has retrenched and regrouped. In Northeast Texas, Pat Gee’s BBQ in Tyler still features chopped beef covered in a sweet tomato sauce.
In Huntsville, New Zion Missionary Baptist Church (locally known simply as “Church BBQ”) still makes authentic East Texas barbecue Thursdays through Saturdays.
But most of the remaining East Texas-style joints are concentrated in Houston (Ray’s BBQ Shack, Triple J’s Smokehouse, Burns Original BBQ), Beaumont (Patillo’s BarB-Q, Gerard’s Barbeque, Broussard’s Links + Ribs) and Port Arthur ( Jaws Bar-B-Que, Nick’s Pit).
I grew up in Beaumont and still travel extensively and frequently though the area. I’ve come to appreciate that Southeast Texas barbecue combines East Texas dishes with techniques and traditions that are unique to that area, specifically the “juicy links” found in the Pear Orchard neighborhood of Beaumont, as well as other dishes such as “pork bones” (actually pork necks) and stuffed pig’s feet.
Many of these dishes are also still available in Houston, along with other Creole- and Cajun-flavored delicacies such as oxtails, boudin and smoked turkey legs.
As Texas barbecue has evolved in the past 50 years, and as it has been studied and research more extensively, the original taxonomy put forth by Smith is due for an update.
As my own interests focus on Houston and points east to the Louisiana border, I propose that a new category known as Southeast Texas barbecue be recognized.
This will incorporate the traditional dishes of East Texas, such as pork ribs and chopped beef sandwiches, with the unique dishes of this area, such as boudin and juicy links.
The geographic boundaries are the Sam Houston Tollway to the west, U.S. 190 from Huntsville to the Louisiana border to the north, the Louisiana border to the east and the Gulf coast to the south.
How Southeast Texas came to develop its own unique style of barbecue has not been extensively researched. Now that we’ve established the geographic borders and culinary specifics of Southeast Texas barbecue, I look forward to revealing its rich history and legacy in future columns.