Texoma BBQ

On this first day of fall, I recall some of the tastes of the past summer. My in-laws have a place on the Oklahoma side of Lake Texoma, and up until this year there were few options for BBQ in the area. The first trip this year I noticed a BBQ trailer in the gas station parking lot on the corner of highway 70 and Texoma Park Road. It took several trips to finally get some free time on a Saturday to make it over there. Ribs were only available by the full rack, so I opted for some sliced brisket.



The meat was well seasoned with plenty of salt, but they needed more smoke. Nothing was emanating from the trailer, so I asked where the smoking was done. After cooking in a Durant commissary, the meat is placed in warmers and driven to the site. This trip in the warmer may explain why the meat was overcooked and falling apart. Maybe next summer I can try the ribs.



For ribs, I headed to Texoma Meats at the corner of A Street and 3rd at Soldier Creek. The meat market is our normal supplier for bacon, ribeyes, and bacon wrapped filets, and they also smoke meat on Saturdays.



The day I visited it was black pepper crusted ribs on the menu. They use a Cookshack smoker for these big racks of spare ribs, and the meat they put out was perfectly cooked. The texture and moisture level were great, and the smoke was better than expected from a Cookshack. For $20, I'd pick up a full rack of these beautiful and tender ribs again. No word yet if the pitmaster here will recover from a sudden illness, so there's no telling if the smoked meat of the "Quick Pig" will be available next summer. Here's hoping.

- BBQ Snob

Cyclone Corral

CYCLONE: Cyclone Corral
18188 Cyclone Rd
Burlington, TX 76519
254-985-2317
Open F-Sat dinner only from 1st of May 'til end of October

I've been to some out the way places, but when you're a good fifteen miles outside of Temple, Texas, then you're out there. Janell (Mikeska) Kasberg, no relation to the El Campo, Temple or Taylor Mikeskas, runs this joint all through the heat of the summer. It opens during the rarely mild month of May, and stays open until October. The venue is entirely outdoors save the small bar, and there is no AC. After watching a great video about the joint, I was worried when the temps were topping out over 100 the Saturday I chose to dine there. Once seated in the huge dining room, it was evident that the cross breezes and the fans were going to create a surprisingly comfortable dining environment. Now that the heat of summer has passed, you have one more month to snag one of those tables before they shut down for the winter.

Dining area


It takes little more than five minutes for your food to arrive. No orders are taken here since it's family style. Our table was almost immediately covered in corn, cole slaw, potato salad, beans and three different meats.



Brisket was sliced thin, but the well formed crust was evident. It lent a nice smoky overtone to the slices, and it made for some very tender meat. The flavor was subtle sine they use little or no rub, but the meat was above average. The only problem was how quickly it dried while sitting on our plate. You could almost watch it curl during the meal.



Sausage was a well spiced and well smoked pork sausage. The casing had a good snap, and it was so good, my wife even liked it. Pork ribs were the best item. They had a great bark, good smoke, and a flavorful rub. The meat was perfectly cooked, and came from the bone with just a tug.

All the staff wear the 'No TOFU' shirts.




The smoker is out back, and they cook with direct heat in an old cotton gin dryer. The pitmaster showed me around, and explained that he starts the meat right over the hottest part of the fire, and moves it away in stages until it's off the fire completely on the warm side of the pit. Regardless of the method, the outcome was very good.

Rating ****

Avery's Bar-B-Q

ARLINGTON: Avery's Bar-B-Q 818
SW Green Oaks Ste 520
Arlington, TX 76017
817-466-0250
Open Tues-Thur 10:30-8, F-Sat 10:30-9
www.averysbarbque.com

With three kinds of sausage available at various prices, navigating the intricacies of this menu can be tough on the fly. The menu says the homemade sausage plate is $9.25 and a rib plate is $10.50. When I tried to order a, $11 three-meat combo plate with ribs, homemade sausage and brisket, I was told that the house sausage would count as two meats. I wasn't quick enough to ask if it would also count as both meats of a $9.75 two-meat combo, and just got a brisket sandwich on the side. With all that meat, there was no more room for anything from their dollar menu. Yes, Avery's has a four item menu that costs only $1 including a chopped beef and pulled pork sandwich.



This joint in about intense flavors. The mac & cheese recipe boldly adds jalapenos to the mix. Sweet potatoes are achingly sweet, and the glaze on the ribs was so salty I needed a sip between each bite. The meat was well cooked on these thick spares, and they were incredibly moist without turning to mush, but the flavors were too intense to detect any smoke or even pork flavor. The homemade sausage had that 'custom' look to it. There were meatless pockets scattered below the casing, probably from the fat melting away from a mixture to rich in fat content. The meat was finely ground, and it fell from the casing as I bit away a chunk. The meat had intense heat and saltiness with some herbal notes reminiscent of breakfast sausage.



The only area lacking that intense flavor profile was the brisket. The meat was dense, gray, chewy and tasteless. There was no evidence of smoke or seasoning, and one shouldn't have to pay more than a dollar for it.

Rating **