austin texas: a short foodie restaurant review
well, i made it back from austin in one piece. great conference, and i got to meet and shoot the breeze with the new chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, so that was a good thing.
i could go on and on with the issues about future needs of the nuclear community regarding infrastructure and education funding support, but i won't bore you. instead, i'll tell ya about a couple of great bbq places i went to while in austin.
first was Stubbs. it was about a block and a half down from our hotel, and the food just fired me up! i had the brisket and the smoked sausages, along with the usual sides like slaw, potato salad and beans. the meat was so good i just may have to buy a jar of the rub available in our area's grocery stores and try to dissect the formula for my own meat rub. holy smokes, this food was incredible. i guess i should have expected that, since i was in TEXAS for pete's sake, but still, i was surprised at how good it was. a couple of negatives in the review: i am a thick sweet sauce kind of guy, and wasn't all that impressed with the thin vinegary sauce we found everywhere we ate in austin, including stubbs, but the meat didn't need the sauce. the other thing i wasn't all that impressed with was the texture of the potato salad. the flavor was great, but it felt like i was eating lumpy mashed potatoes rather than chunky potato salad. like i said, the flavor was up there, and if i could make my potato salad TASTE like stubb's, only chunky the way i like it, i'd have the best of both worlds.
if i had three hands, i'd give this place a three thumbs up. it was good food.
the other bbq place i tried was at the recommendation of my buddy 'dwardo. he told me that i couldn't leave austin without a trip to Artz Rib House in south austin. i'm glad i took the time to go find it. their babyback ribs, to put it simply, KICKED ASS. he told me to get two specials if they were available, but instead, i opted to just get a full rack and be done with it. i ate, and ate, and loved every single bite. the meat was tender, seasoned well, and had a perfect amount of smoke. i'm not going to say they were the best ribs i've ever eaten, because i don't remember all the ribs i've ever had. but i will say they were the best ribs i've eaten in recent memory. again, the austin sauce leaves me a little underwhelmed, but that's just because i'm a brown sugar/honey base kind of guy. good stuff, and i'd recommend this place to anyone that really likes bbq. the food is 4 star stuff.
i could go on and on with the issues about future needs of the nuclear community regarding infrastructure and education funding support, but i won't bore you. instead, i'll tell ya about a couple of great bbq places i went to while in austin.
first was Stubbs. it was about a block and a half down from our hotel, and the food just fired me up! i had the brisket and the smoked sausages, along with the usual sides like slaw, potato salad and beans. the meat was so good i just may have to buy a jar of the rub available in our area's grocery stores and try to dissect the formula for my own meat rub. holy smokes, this food was incredible. i guess i should have expected that, since i was in TEXAS for pete's sake, but still, i was surprised at how good it was. a couple of negatives in the review: i am a thick sweet sauce kind of guy, and wasn't all that impressed with the thin vinegary sauce we found everywhere we ate in austin, including stubbs, but the meat didn't need the sauce. the other thing i wasn't all that impressed with was the texture of the potato salad. the flavor was great, but it felt like i was eating lumpy mashed potatoes rather than chunky potato salad. like i said, the flavor was up there, and if i could make my potato salad TASTE like stubb's, only chunky the way i like it, i'd have the best of both worlds.
if i had three hands, i'd give this place a three thumbs up. it was good food.
the other bbq place i tried was at the recommendation of my buddy 'dwardo. he told me that i couldn't leave austin without a trip to Artz Rib House in south austin. i'm glad i took the time to go find it. their babyback ribs, to put it simply, KICKED ASS. he told me to get two specials if they were available, but instead, i opted to just get a full rack and be done with it. i ate, and ate, and loved every single bite. the meat was tender, seasoned well, and had a perfect amount of smoke. i'm not going to say they were the best ribs i've ever eaten, because i don't remember all the ribs i've ever had. but i will say they were the best ribs i've eaten in recent memory. again, the austin sauce leaves me a little underwhelmed, but that's just because i'm a brown sugar/honey base kind of guy. good stuff, and i'd recommend this place to anyone that really likes bbq. the food is 4 star stuff.
posted by bothenook at 10:38
2 Comments:
Try this.
Buy a pork shoulder.
Put it in the oven at 450 for an hour, then cover and turn the oven down to mid-high range warming function. Leave it for at least 12 hours, I go about 16.
Take it apart with a couple of forks. Throw away the parts you don't want to eat. Douse with liberal amounts of whatever sauce you like.
Works every time.
Sauce? Sauce? We don't need no stinkin' sauce. Well, I don't anyway. The right rub and the right wood and that's all it takes. Below is a pretty good source for rub receipes. My rub is very basic. For brisket I use equal parts salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Plus enough cayenne to make the grand kids beg for hot dogs. For babybacks, I add an equal part of brown sugar.
I use half oak and half hickory. Smoke the brisket at 225 - 250 for about 5 or 6 hours then wrap tightly in foil.Finish it off at same temp for another 4 - 6 hours but using charcoal after the wood burns down.
Smoke the ribs about 2 hours then wrap and finish off for another 2 hours.
Here is a link for a bunch of rubs
And if you have to have sauce maybe you can find a receipe here
Oh yeah, glad you enjoyed your trip to Austin.
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