Sunday, March 10, 2024

Green's Texas Bar-B-Que, Euless

 

sampled 3/9/24

As threatened last week, I headed back to Green's again today to get more of his spare ribs and other goodies.  I got there about 10:30 am and was first in line.  It was chilly out and there was a stiff north wind, but I dressed accordingly.  Some of the folks behind me were definitely feeling the cold.  

He opened up right at 11 am and I grabbed the first pound from the fatty end of the first brisket, a rack of spare ribs, brisket biscuits, pork belly bites, and a pint of his chipotle mac & cheese.  When I left there were 15 people behind me in line.  Everything was outstanding, as always, and we'll be enjoying the smell of smoke from our microwave all week.




Thursday, March 7, 2024

Hutchins BBQ, McKinney

 

sampled 3/7/24 about 1 pm

Two days ago we ate at The Original Roy Hutchins BBQ in Trophy Club. Today we found ourselves nearby the original, original, Hutchins BBQ in McKinney so we decided to stop by to compare. Our meal on Tuesday was excellent and today was more of the same.  The fact that it is the same family and they use the same recipes doesn't always mean the same quality, but today it all worked.  

We got there right in the middle of the lunch rush and the line snaked out the door, almost to the parking lot.  It took us about 30 minutes to get to the cutters, which was not too bad.

I had hoped to try the beef hotlink but found that was a weekend only thing.  I had to "settle" for a jalapeno cheddar link and that was excellent.  The brisket and ribs were fine quality, as we always find in McKinney, and the Texas Twinkies were also excellent.  I did notice that the McKinney Twinkies were $1.01 less than the Trophy Club Twinkies, but I think everything in Trophy Club has that upscale surcharge.  They have an elevator to pay for!  See a previous post for more on the Hutchins family saga.


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Roy Hutchins BBQ, Trophy Club

 

sampled 3/5/24, about 4 pm

We have a friend in town this week and he was getting together with another friend who liked BBQ.  We suggested giving Roy Hutchins another try, but I warned them the last time I had visited that the ribs were awful.  Based on my previous experience, I loaded up on Texas Twinkies and pork belly bites, but I also got one rib just to see if things had improved.  Indeed, they had.  My one rib was tender and juicy and left me wishing I had ordered more.  Next time I will.  The Twinkies were awesome and the pork belly bites remain almost as good as Green's, though not quite as tender.  John's friend also got two beef ribs and they were also very tender with perfectly rendered fat.  Overall, this was a mighty good stop and I think we shall be there again soon and I will go back to my usual Texas trinity.  The best part of all is they are open 7 days a week until 9 pm, so that gives us a nearby quality BBQ stop on Monday and Tuesday when many of the craft joints are closed.


Saturday, March 2, 2024

My lucky day

 

sampled 3/2/24

So my Mrs had some work done on her car and she got the call it was ready about 1:15 pm on Saturday afternoon.  Right down the street from our mechanic is Green's Texas BBQ truck.  So I wondered out loud if he might, maybe, have some pork belly bites left at 1:30.  I have also been wanting to try his new spare ribs (he previously just offered baby backs).  Now Mr Green spent many years smoking S&T's at his folk's place, so I know he knows how to make world champion spare ribs.  My wife encouraged me to investigate.  When Mr Green saw me walking up to the window he looked out and said, "It's your lucky day.  We have a pound and a quarter of pork belly bites left."  I told him, "Not anymore."

As usual, those were awesome.  If we weren't going out for an early dinner tonight I would have scarfed half of them right down.  Somehow, I was able to eat just 2 and put them in the fridge for later.  They warm up great.  They are also great right from the fridge, as meat candy.

The spare ribs were not quite up to the old North Main standards, but these had been in the warmer for 2 and a half hours.  They were still plenty tender, but I missed the juice dribbling down my chin.  I shall give those another go next Saturday and be there early to get 'em fresh.  The brisket was awesome, as always.

The funny thing is, our mechanic told my wife, "Oh, he'll be out of everything good by now."  Normally, I know he would be right.  However today was my lucky day!

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Rib Time

 

sampled 2/24/24

The Mrs found spare ribs on sale for $1.97/lb at Kroger so we decided to have some ribs this weekend.  These were well trimmed for the price and all I had to do was round off the ends and trim away the "snacky bits" from the membrane.  The smoker did the rest, well 80% of it anyway.

After cutting each rack in half to fit our little bullet smoker, they got a good dose of All N 1 and into the smoker they went.


After 4 hours under smoke, they were still a bit chewy so we wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven at 250 for another hour.  That was the trick and the results were perfect.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

First smoke of 2024

 

OK, it's not BBQ, but smoked salmon is probably the next best thing you can do with a smoker.  Super simple and so delicious.  All that fancy brining and marinating some folks would have you go through is just a waste of effort, to my taste buds.  Right from the package, cut in half to fit our little bullet smoker, smoke with oak and pecan for 2 hours, and you have a party in your mouth.

One of my buddies sent me a note about Aaron Franklin smokers being on sale for $4500.  I made my own with the vinyl sticker from a Franklin brisket from a few years back.  I'll be happy to sell you mine for just $3799.  

Monday, October 16, 2023

Happy National Texas Twinkie Day!

 

sampled 10/16/23

How do you sell a lot of BBQ on an off day?  Create a national BBQ holiday and celebrate!  Recently Hutchin's BBQ announced they declared October 16 as National Texas Twinkie Day.  To celebrate, they sold their Texas Twinkies for just $2 each, compared with their usual price of $5.50.  

https://www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/national-texas-twinkie-day-is-celebration-of-local-barbecue-at-its-best-17638359

Sadly, the limit was just 12 at that price, but I couldn't say no, even though the nearest Hutchin's was more than 32 miles away.  I got there about 10:45 and was second in line at the To Go door.  There were about 15 people in line when they opened at 11 am, about equally split between the To Go and the Dine In doors.  I was in and out in just 5 minutes.  I suspect they have pans of 12 pre-staged in the warmer.  We will be enjoying these all week.