Building the perfect barbecue joint: making the sausage
Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a series in which Reid provides advice to would-be barbecue entrepreneurs on how to build the perfect barbecue joint. Previous articles addressed service style, smoker types and choice of brisket; today’s focus is sausage.
No one wants to know how the sausage is made, or so the old trope goes.
In Houston’s barbecue world, that was true for many years. Before the barbecue renaissance of the late aughts, if you ordered sausage at your neighborhood joint it was remarkably similar across the city. It tended to be of the massproduced variety reminiscent of brands such as Hillshire Farms and Eckrich that you get at your local grocery store. “Sausage is sausage is sausage” was the mantra.
There were some pockets of resistance, of course. In Elgin, Southside Market has made its traditional “hot guts” sausage since the 1800s. In Beaumont, the all-beef “juicy links” are still made at places such as Patillo’s Bar-B-Q and Gerard’s Bar-BQue. In Houston, Powell BarB-Q and Byron’s Gourmet BarB-Q still make their version of juicy links. In northeast Texas, the small town of Pittsburg is known for its eponymous “hot links” made by various producers there.
But the big-city joints were mostly known for the finely textured, almost rubbery massproduced sausage.
That’s beginning to change. As part of the “craft barbecue” movement, house-made sausage is becoming de rigueur for any new barbecue joint that wants to stand out. For the aspiring Houston barbecue entrepreneur, there are two options for producing your own sausage: contract it out or make it in house.
Making sausage requires substantial space and time. The equipment is bulky, and the time to produce sausage can span several days. For a pitmaster without those resources, it is more efficient to develop his own recipe then contract with a company that specializes in sausage making to produce it.
For instance, Ruffino Meats in Bryan has a large sausagemaking facility where it custom-produces sausage for some of Houston’s best barbecue joints. Owner/pitmaster Wayne Kammerl of The Brisket House works on the recipe with Ruffino, who then makes the sausage and ships it to all three restaurant locations where it’s smoked and served. The collaboration produces excellent sausage, far better than storebought versions.
The other option is to make the sausage in house. In recent years, Ray’s BBQ Shack, Killen’s Barbecue and The Pit Room have made the commitment to do it this way. The Pit Room, in particular, has fully embraced the from-scratch trend. Implementing a three-day process of grinding, mixing, stuffing, resting and smoking, owner Michael Sambrooks produces three versions of sausage — Czech-style all-beef, peppery venison and a jalapeño-and-cheese pork option.
For the budding barbecue entrepreneur, the decision about how to make the sausage comes down to two factors: Do you have the resources, and how badly do you want the credibility that comes with making your own?
If your goal is to become distinguished as one of the leading purveyors of craft barbecue, and you have substantial financial backing, then making sausage in house is a no-brainer. On the other hand, if resources are limited, and you are just trying to get off the ground, it makes more sense to purchase a highquality, pre-made sausage from a local butcher and serve that. Until you are more established and have time to develop your own recipe, having a local company make it for you is the best compromise.