Posted on 01/12/2020 10:29:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
When you've been cooking barbecue in Texas for decades, you must be doing something right. At Schulze's Bar-B-Que and Catering in Rosenberg, customers don't leave hungry.
"We've been in business for over 50 years," Schulze's co-owner, Clifford Schulze said. " We just take a lot of pride in our cooking, plus, having good help."
Schulze said the key to successful barbecue isn't just in the seasoning or sauce. Instead, in Texas, it's all about the cook time, and cut of meat.
"I think we take more pride in ours and what we do," Schulze explained. Texas isn't the only place you can get barbecue, Kansas City also prides itself on the dish.
Neither 4-year-old Bear nor Toro could speak, but their eyes said it all.
But with the Texans and Chiefs meeting in the playoffs, barbecue has become personal.
"Texas barbecue is better! That's why the Texans are going to win," Schulze said. " They're used to eating good barbecue."
At Joe's Kansas City, employees would disagree. "We didn't invent it," Joe's Kansas City director of marketing, Doug Worgul said. "We admit that. But, we perfected it."
The big difference between the two regions, Worgul said, is the variety of food.
"Texas is known for its bigness, right? But Texas barbecue is actually a little bit smaller than Kansas City barbecue because we got a bigger menu," Worgul explained.
Like Texas, you can find brisket, sausage and ribs in Kansas City barbecue, but they also put an emphasis on chicken, turkey, and pork. They also prepare something called burnt ends, which is the fatty part of brisket.
"Juicy on the middle," Worgul explained. "Crusty on the outside. Smokey, very intense. It's a great bit of meat candy in your mouth."
While K.C. joints might think they have the better barbecue, Texas has been at it longer.
After 50 years, Shulze's isn't slowing down anytime soon. He's hoping the Texans show the Chiefs that everything is better in Texas.
"The barbecue is going to come out on top, and the Texans are going to come out on top," Schulze said.
The Texans and Chiefs might be enemies during Sunday's playoff game, but the teams mascots' have a relationship that means more than a single game.
I haven’t found better than mediocre brisket in NC. Most places don’t even serve it. Where did you find better? (That’s primarily what Salt Lick is about, so I assume you don’t mean pulled pork.)
My favorite NC came from Pete Jones. Sam Jones too. What’s yours?
Thanks for the heads up. I regret not keeping a log.
Amen. I’m partial to West Tennessee. Memphis is good, but I can name a few outside that are better.
You’re still posting about your personal preferences. Do the locals in your disliked areas share your sentiments about their cuisine? Also are you talking local cuisine or just people trying to run a bbq joint?
To maybe bust some myths.
I have lived in both places.
KC bbq is mostly about the sauce....
The closest to beef are the burnt ends dishes- they plain just
dont do brisket..
KC has some good places, but rely too much on the sauce
to save them when meats are undersmoked.
Texas has the best beef bbq. But dont let people tell you about
Texas disdaining sauce. Thats just Texas Monthly magazine hype.
I know , ive seen it over the years, especilly with their yearly
rating of “Best BBQ Joints”. TM pretty much thinks nothing
exists outside of central Texas.
I grew up in Houston (not SE Texas) with family throughout the
Bryan to Tyler arc and most places serves sauce, and alwyas has.
Ribs were (sometimes) finished off with
sauce coatings and brisket with sauce on the side.
My dad grew up near Huntsville (1920s, 30s) and the rural-community
would get together under oak trees and dig pits to bbq Goats,(not just a Mexican thing) burning oak wood to coals for fuel. Beef was a too-expensive thing to use.
No one i knew, used the term “rub”. Probably started the use of term in
the 80s or 90s.
I have never bought barbeque in KC with sauce already cooked in. We have the sauce on the side if we choose to add it.
No one likes Carolina style?
“Way too much for just me. Even if I just got a flat or a point, that’s still too much.”
Bag it up in serving sizes and freeze it after the first night. It gets even better and micros in just a few minutes. When I was a bachelor I did this all the time and would have BBQ every third day for a couple weeks off one chunk. :)
Neither, Mine...
Raised on a Cattle Ranch in the Southwest. We can BBQ a Burro and make it blow your mind. Did it for years before they outlawed it. :)
I’m reluctant to freeze cooked meat unless it’s in liquid, like chili or a stew. Thought about freezing it in beef broth.
I moved from NJ to Houston in 1969 when Dad got transfered for work. I left Houston as soon as I got My DL I was outta that town. Lived all around Texas for 42 years. You’re safe eating at just about any BBQ Place because the bad places go out of Business.
For Me BBQ is Beef Brisket, now I’m in NC and while I do like Pork I don’t like the Vinegar based stuff they have over here. Thank God We had a Couple open up a Texas BBQ Place here in Town https://bigtinysbbq.com so I can get a fix if needed but I still do some at Home.
Most places will ship BBQ to You but the shipping is just as spendy as the meat. You can do a Brisket up and split it up to go in the Freezer for consumption at a later time.
You just have to roll it and try and push as much air out of the bag as you can before sealing and it will be fine. In fact as it cools down before freezing it will pull the sauce coating into the meat, dry or not. And the freezing will tenderize it even more for reheating. :)
We bake ours in the oven covered for about three hours, then go out and brush and dry the sauce on it with the grill on a very low heat. It turns out like our very revered pit BBQ popular here in the southwest and will melt in your mouth. Bagging and freezing changes none of those qualities.
Hey, my expert cook friend! Know what? I found out years ago that the midwest and the east coast has still not figured out how to do a “proper” prime rib... lol :)
Thanks for the tip. Here’s one for you: use a straw to dry the air out of freezer bag after you have the meat in it. Zip up most of bag, leaving just enough open to allow you to insert a straw. Insert straw, suck out air, finish zipping up bag. Works great.
A prime rib is not at all difficult to make and to make right.
YUCK! Pull a pig apart and douse it vinegar.
That makes sense! But if you use it up within a month you should be good. :)
Here is one for you... Did you know that “freezer burn” is actually freeze drying? We freeze dry in a full sized stand up freezer. We have a 12 volt computer fan inside powered by a small plug power supply. We put a bag of cat litter in the bottom with holes punched in it to “soak” the moisture from the air being circulated. Then we load it with racks of thinly sliced “anything and everything”. Three weeks later it is all completely freeze dried and ready to be vacuum packed with a shelf life of 25 years or more.
Just a side note about the wonders of freezing. :)
The variations in sauce are somewhat a legend but to say their is no good brisket in Kansas City is absurd in my opinion. I found Texas BBQ to be very undependable. Half the joints are not up to the task Meanwhile any true KC BBQ joint is worth the trip.
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