Big John’s Feedlot B-B-Que

BIG SPRING: Big John's Feedlot B-B-Que
802 West 3rd St.
Big Spring, TX 79720
432-263-3178
Open M-F 11-8

"Welcome to BS!" was the loud greeting from a lone diner in the corner after we had told the owners that this was our first visit to Big Spring. We had just placed our order at the counter then found a table next to the window where a mural depicted Big John with a cleaver in one hand and dragging a cow with other. The meal that arrived looked good on the blue plate with the checkered table cloth as a background, but some of it looked better than it tasted.

The brisket was smoky with a good seasoning, but it was also very tough. We learned from the pit man that he pulls the briskets form the smoker once they hit 180 degrees on a thermometer. This is about 10 degrees cooler than the target for most pitmasters because the collagen inside the meat hasn't yet had time to render out and help tenderize the beef. Knowing this made it easy to figure out why the slices were so tough. The ribs were about the same. The meat had great flavor, but it took some real effort to get some meat torn from the bone. Dry slices of pork loin were a disappointment, but the sausage made up for it.

At Big John's they order their sausage from Jackson Brothers Meat in Post just and hour and a half away. After the sausage gets up to temp in the smoker they dunk the links into a hot vat of the captured brisket drippings for a final marination. This creates not only and excellent additional layer of flavor, but also provides a great snap to the casings. The sausages don't really have the chance to dry out, so it was no surprise that they were good and juicy. On the next visit I'd be happy to forget about the rest of the menu and just order a few links of sausage and keep it all to myself.

Rating **