Hog Heaven B-B-Q

BIG SPRING: Hog Heaven B-B-Q
4009 Old State Highway 80 
Big Spring, TX 79720
432-264-0905
Open M-Sat 11-8

The guy behind the counter here didn't know much about what wood they used or how they smoked the meats, and the girl behind the cash register wasn't much help either. At least he knew what I meant when I asked for both fatty and lean brisket. His preference for sauce was the jalapeno cheese, and he confirmed that it came from a Sysco truck.

That brisket wasn't half bad. A fatty slice had well rendered fat, a nice crust with good smokiness. A little more salt and pepper would have helped tremendously. The lean slice was a bit tough, but above average. Pork ribs were ridiculously sweet, but at least well cooked. That jalapeno sausage was way to salty with loads of precessed cheese. A complimentary mini-loaf of corn bread was a nice touch, but the watery beans were bland. One item they need to eliminate altogether are the 'armadillo eggs'. These bacon wrapped smoked jalapenos were smoked over a smoldering fire with poor quality smoke and loads of it. The flavor was as if they'd been marinated in a used ashtray. It's odd that brisket would shine through on an otherwise mediocre menu. Maybe I just got lucky.

Rating **

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 **

Mesquite Bean Bar-B-Q

MERKEL: Mesquite Bean Bar-B-Q
610 Kent St. 
Merkel, TX 79536
325-928-5618
Open M-F 8-7, Sat 8-2

I noticed this tiny joint from the Interstate a while back and added it to the list in hopes that the mesquite bean, rather than just the wood, was somehow featured on the menu. Owner Urban Bright says the name came from one of his first jobs where he would get paid a few dollars for every hundred pound bag of mesquite beans that he could collect from a nearby ranch. Those beans weigh almost nothing, so it took a long time to earn those few dollars. Urban does smoke with mesquite, but there's no mesquite beans on the menu, not even mesquite bean jelly. He isn't afraid to warn you from ordering a few things on his menu. He actually steered me away from the barbecue and towards a pork guisado taco, and flat out told me I didn't really want the store-bought peach cobbler. I heeded his advice on dessert, but ordering the barbecue was inevitable.

That pork taco wasn't bad at all, but the meat had only been stewed rather than smoked. I guess there's only so much room in the smoker.

No ribs were available on this day, so we opted for the brisket, ham and sausage. The slices of sausage were just re-warmed links of cheap commercial sausage, and the ham was little more than deli ham with just a whiff of additional smoke. The brisket was most certainly from the day before, since we learned back in the pit room that part of the brisket preparation process is a generous layer of plastic wrap and an overnight stay in the cooler. Not surprisingly the meat was dry, but it at least had some well rendered fat and smokiness to it. It's not often that day old brisket is the best meat on the menu, but it's a little easier when it's up against precooked grocery store meats.

Rating *