Huntsville’s New Zion was a link to Texas barbecue history
New Zion Missionary Baptist Church’s Barbecue in Huntsville, one of the oldest and most storied barbecue joints in the state, quietly closed on Nov. 16 after more than 50 years in business.
“Church BBQ,” as it was known to locals and barbecue fans alike, was one of the few remaining examples of classic East Texasstyle barbecue that combined the culinary traditions of the Southern United States (pork-based with a sweet tomato sauce) with the beef-centric techniques of Central Texas.
More important, Church BBQ was one of the last bastions of barbecue as a community endeavor.
Long before Texas barbecue became the flourishing commercial enterprise it is today, it was a way to celebrate the achievements and milestones of a young and growing state. Free “community barbecues” were hosted by political or religious organizations to draw potential adherents to candidates’ rallies or traveling preachers’ camp meetings.
At the turn of the century, before Texans could afford to patronize the few restaurants that existed in big cities or buy meat at a butcher shop, local churches fed parishioners on Saturdays before Sunday service. It was a community affair. Local farmers brought hogs and goats to cook over hot coals piled into trenches dug into the ground.
This technique of cooking meat over trenches can be traced to the traditions of enslaved Americans in the Southern U.S. who brought it to East Texas in the late 1800s. Many of the churches and later the barbecue restaurants in this region were administered or owned by African Americans.
Such was the case with New Zion Missionary Baptist Church’s Barbecue. In an interview with The Huntsville Item newspaper, the Rev. Clinton Edison recounted that Church BBQ began 53 years ago when parishioners gathered to repair their church building on a Saturday, and the wives took it upon themselves to cook a barbecue dinner.
Local citizens passing by took note and stopped to ask if they could buy the barbecue.
“The next week the women borrowed $50 from the church to open Church’s (sic) BBQ,” notes the article in The Huntsville Item, “and has since remained a functional restaurant benefiting New Zion Missionary Baptist Church for 53 years.” Sister Annie Mae Ward was the original pitmaster, with Edison taking over some years later.
Remarkably, Edison described the original pit used to cook the barbecue as a clawfoot bathtub filled with coals over which a metal refrigerator rack was placed to grill the meat. This corresponds to several interviews I’ve conducted with East Texas pitmasters over the years who describe early, improvised barbecue pits (technically grills) as metal tubs covered with wire. Today’s backyard kettle grills certainly owe their existence to this tradition.
Over the years, the cooking moved from the tub to an offset steel smoker and more recently to an Ole Hickory rotisserie smoker.
Edison attributes the closure of the restaurant to changing dining tastes, specifically the development of chain restaurants along Huntsville’s main thoroughfare.
Certainly, the closure of another East Texas-style barbecue joint is a setback to the region’s long history of contributions to Texas barbecue. Fortunately, this style of barbecue is still flourishing in nearby Beaumont where new and old joints, including Patillo’s BarB-Q, Gerard’s Bar-B-Que and Charlie’s Bar-B-Que, are still going strong. In Houston, Burn’s Original BBQ, Triple J’s Smokehouse and Ray’s BBQ Shack still serve East Texas barbecue to loyal customers.
The tradition of the community barbecue can still be found at special events such as the Father’s Day barbecue at the Millheim Dance Hall near Sealy. And if you ever find yourself driving through the Piney Woods of East Texas on a cool fall day, keep your eye out for a sign along the road that proclaims “BBQ Today.” Churches or civic organizations will still occasionally have a one-off barbecue fundraiser to feed the community and parishioners.
These may never turn into a decadeslong enterprise like at Church BBQ in Huntsville, but they’re worth a visit to experience what a community barbecue was really like.