8/21/10
Daniel over at Full Custom Gospel BBQ invited us down to a BBQ bloggers "meating" at Louie Muellers in conjunction with the annual Taylor International BBQ Cookoff. Knowing full well this was a most excellent excuse for a full day BBQ road trip, Scott and I headed south at the un-Godly hour of 7 am. I know that will shock some, who know I seldom rise before the crack of noon, but right there is the proof that the prospects of enough smoked meats can drive a man to do almost anything.
On the way down, we started picking out various places we had not visited before and started to plan a full day of smoked animal ingestion. By the time we arrived in Taylor, we had a list of 8 spots we hoped to hit in a single day.
At Louie Muellers I soon spotted Daniel in the parking lot. He is undoubtedly the Grand Poobah of all the BBQ bloggers and it was a great pleasure to finally meet the man who inspires us all. His lovely wife and daughter were also in attendance and I can testify that both have halos over their heads and wings on their backs. Daniel also introduced us to Chris and Gary from the Dallas Morning News who were in town for the Cookoff. We waited our turns in line and I somehow missed out on the usual bite of brisket while waiting. I made up for it by ordering a dozen chipolte rings and a dozen jalapeno rings to go, knowing the line was likely to be much longer when we were ready to roll out. That proved to be a wise decision.
Knowing we were in for a long day of consuming tasty animals, I opted for a light start with a couple of slices of brisket, one jalapeno link, and one rib. The brisket was a little dry and not much smoke flavor but plenty tender with their usual dynamite pepper rub. I had been standing in line a long time while they wrapped my sausage so a little dryness was no big deal. The jalapeno link was awesome. A little on the wet side but awesome flavor and bite. Last time I had visited Louie's I had promised to bring back sausage in quantity and that link confirmed my determination to do so. I have some good eatin' in the weeks ahead. The rib was curiously without their usual thick pepper rub but it was perfectly tender and cooked to perfection. There was not much smoke flavor but it was packed with juicy pork goodness. If we hadn't had a bunch of additional places to go that day I would have gotten back in the lengthening line for some more of those ribs.
Daniel fronted me a piece of smoked ribeye that was wonderfully tender, but honestly, it just didn't taste like BBQ to me. It was more of a nice grilled steak in need of a good rub. I know he was just experimenting after having eaten at Louie's so many times before, but I was glad I stuck with more standard Q items.
Much photography, and meat talk ensued around the table but eventually we whipped out Scott's special surprise, some Dr Pepper BBQ sauce ice cream he had specially made for the event. More photography followed and a general consensus developed that, while they were glad to try it, Bluebell is safe for the forseeable future. One honest soul from the Houston group stepped up to admit if he was left alone in the house with it, he'd probably eat it. Scott took it like a man and I managed to formulate an even more dangerous concoction which I shall produce and consume later this week! All in the name of BBQ science, of course.
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