Texas barbecue community has some long-standing traditions
The next time you are at your local neighborhood barbecue joint, look around for a wall of stickers featuring logos from other barbecue joints in Texas and around the world.
At places like Brett’s BBQ
Shop in Katy, the stickers are stuck to the order counter. At CorkScrew BBQ in Spring, they cover a whole wall of cabinets in the pit room. And the new Roegels Barbecue in Katy built a dedicated mural to host other barbecue joint’s stickers and logos.
Why feature the logos of other barbecue joints that might be potential competition?
It’s a reflection of the tightknit Texas barbecue community. Sure, there are beefs and rivalries, but when it comes to helping each other and their neighbors, pitmasters are uniquely supportive compared to other industries and types of restaurants.
Pitmasters make it a point to patronize other barbecue joints, and they add their logo sticker to the wall to show they’ve been there. In many cases, merchandise, such as T-shirts and caps, will be exchanged. It’s not unusual for a pitmaster to be wearing a cap from another barbecue joint, even while they are open for service.
Another Texas pitmaster tradition is to invite or host other pitmasters to come cook at their barbecue joints. This takes the form of either a training arrangement, or as a “kitchen takeover” event.
Texas is undoubtedly the center of the barbecue universe, and aspiring pitmasters come from as a far away as Kazakhstan and Paris to learn the art and science of Texas barbecue.
Recently, Feges BBQ in Spring Branch hosted pitmaster Aki Kinnunen, who owns a Texasstyle barbecue joint in Finland called Miller’s BBQ. Kinnunen escaped the cold winter of his home country to train and work at Feges BBQ as well as at LeRoy & Lewis Barbecue in Austin.
Feges even hosted a “guest chef takeover” in which Kinnunen presented a menu combining Texas barbecue with the culinary traditions of Finland.
Collaborations also support the community. For example, a contingent of Katy-area barbecue joints recently teamed up to support the Katy ISD Livestock Show.
“Russell (Roegels) and I were sitting at the bar at his new place and some kids came in to sell an animal,” says Jacqueline Herrera, general manager at Brett’s BBQ Shop, referring to Roegels’ new Katy location. Students were preparing to auction off their animals at their livestock show.
Though Roegels and Herrera didn’t have enough money individually to buy an animal — prices often rise to thousands of dollars — they decided to solicit other Katy-area businesses and pitmasters to collaborate on a purchase. Among others, Jim Buchanan of Dozier’s BBQ, Waseem Hilal of Chuckwagon BBQ & Burgers and Rick Muniz of Los Muertos BBQ joined to bid on an animal at the auction.
They ended up purchasing the reserve champion market lamb from a student at local Morton Ranch High School.
Buchanan at Dozier’s processed the lamb, but due to their busy schedules, the team hasn’t had time to cook and serve it. For now, they are planning a party sometime in the near future where they can get together, swap barbecue business stories (and stickers), and enjoy the company of other worldclass pitmasters.