A Very Brief History of Texas BBQ

Line at Franklin BBQ in Austin

Well a little bit of history on Texas BBQ. Let's start with the meat source. Other parts of the country have "their" BBQ, and the meat of choice depends on what part of the country you live.  The Carolinas have the pig, Memphis has pig too, St.Louis is known for pig and some beef (it is on a rail-head where cattle  from Texas were on their way to the meat packing plants of Chicago so some of those cattle got dropped off). But we are in Texas where cattle is king so beef is where it's at as far as Texas BBQ goes. So in that respect I will now refer to Texas BBQ as just BBQ.
Now not to leave out the Vaqueros of South Texas with their barbacoa, or the BBQ of the old cotton plantations of East Texas, or even the cowboys of West Texas, I will be talking about Central Texas BBQ. Central Texas BBQ originated from German immigrants who brought their skills of butchering meat, making sausage, and most importantly...frugalness.  I'll talk about frugalness and its importance a bit later.

Aftermath of the line at Franklin BBQ

So Germans settled in Texas in the 1800s  in Central Texas. These towns can take you as far west as Llano,  Fredericksburg, and Kerrville and then to the east in towns like Taylor, Elgin, and Lexington and then to the south to towns like Lockhart, Luling, and Gonzales.  Of course you also have to consider towns around San Antonio like Seguin and New Braunfels and a little place called Leon Springs.
The German meat market, it's a special place because it's where Central Texas BBQ was conceived. Although just about any German meat market turns out good meat and sausage the ones west and southwest of Austin developed into good BBQ joints.  It's really about geography.  You see there are great BBQ places in the Texas hill country (Llano, Fredericksburg, Kerrville, etc) but the land is rugged and not great for ranching. Not a lot of room for open grazing, in fact you can drive through Llano and especially Fredericksburg and still see short stone walls that market lad and plots just like in the old country of Germany (barbed wire came a bit later).  The good ranch land for cattle is east of Austin so your towns like Lockhart, Elgin, Taylor, and Luling had a better beef source. The German meat market supplied different cuts of meat to the town folk similar to the meat counter at a modern day grocery store.  So in the meat market as the day progressed people bought the choice cuts of meat leaving the butcher at the end of the day with the lesser cuts of meat . These cuts being brisket, ribs, and "scraps" and that German butcher being the frugal or just smart businessman smoked the brisket, ribs, and made sausage from the "scraps".  Well word got around and your ranchers, farmers, and hard working men would come in for lunch the next day after the meats were smoked overnight. So they weren't BBQ joints just yet.  These men would come in and order some of the smoked meats and the proprietor would sell them a loaf of bread or crackers, and maybe some cheese.  Since these markets weren't set up as eating establishments they didn't offer plates or utensils.  But every man back in those days had a personal knife that worked just fine for cutting those smoked meats or cheese. They would just take a slice of bread and pinch a piece of meat with it and enjoyed some of the first Texas BBQ. This is why if you go to Smitty's or Kreuz Market in Lockhart you can't find a fork anywhere to be seen.  You gotta love Texans who keep with tradition! If you really want to experience the German meat market that evolved into a great BBQ place go to Smitty's in Lockhart. I'm sure I left a lot out of the history but if you want to do some further reading you can click on the Wiki link. Here's to you BBQ fans!           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Barbecue

Smitty's Market in Lockhart