Gameday Giveaway: Oklahoma State-TCU

This weekend's college Gameday Giveaway matchup is a battle of Big 12 teams: Oklahoma State at TCU (Saturday at 11 AM Central). To be counted, your prediction must include winner, final score, & total yards (total yards is in case of a tie). To be counted, your prediction must be submitted by kickoff. This week's prize: two 2-meat plates from Meyer's Smokehouse (Elgin, TX)! You can enter your prediction via comment below this post, via email, or you can tweet it to @ManUpTexasBBQ. 

What's the best (in this case, the better) BBQ in Elgin?

The small town of Elgin, TX, is home to 2 popular BBQ joints: Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse and Southside Market. Which do you prefer?

Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse July 4 Giveaway!!!

Not long ago, our good buddy Kevin Kelly held a fantastic giveaway for Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin, TX), and now we're fortunate enough to bring one to you. In time for your July 4 fun, 5 lucky winners will get a tasty prize from Meyer's. We're giving you several easy ways to enter, and each way can get your name in the hat once (Thus, you get a maximum of 4 entries.).

1. Email me.
2. Comment below this post.
3. Retweet this.
4. Comment below this Facebook post.

We'll draw the winning names out of the hat one week from today. All entries must be in by the end of this Sunday (11:59 PM Central). So, get your name in the running for a July 4 treat like no other! HUGE thanks to the fine folks at Meyer's for making this wonderful giveaway possible! Be sure to follow them on Facebook & Twitter. Here are the prizes:

1st prize: BBQ feast: 4-5 pound smoked brisket, 3 pounds of smoked sausage, 16-ounce bottle of original BBQ sauce, 6-ounce bottle of bean seasoning, and 7-ounce bottle of BBQ rub. Enough to feed 8-10 hungry mouths! (Shipping available only for addresses in the Continental U.S.)

2nd prize: Deluxe sausage sampler: l pound each of original, garlic, beef, hot, tejano, jalapeno & cheese, sage, original summer sausage, and jalapeno summer sausage. 9 pounds of sausage!

3rd prize: Sauce variety pack: 1 Original, 1 Spicy, 1 Honey Mesquite, 1 Texas Hot Pepper & Wing (Shipping available only to addresses in the Continental U.S.)

4th prize: One pound of any of the 3 varieties of Meyer's jerky (turkey, original beef or sweet and hot beef)

5th prize: Spice variety pack: 1 regular bottle Meyer's Texas BBQ Rub (used on the briskets at Meyer's), 1 bottle of Meyer's Texas Bean Season, 1 bottle Meyer's Smokehouse Season (used on the pulled pork and beef ribs at Meyer's), and 1 bottle of Meyer's new 3 Mistake Chili Seasoning. (Shipping available only to addresses in the Continental U.S.)

They say not to ask how sausage is made...

To our friends at Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse: Please be careful with your vaccum tumbler, b/c things didn't turn out so well for this guy.

My kind of focus group

Last Thursday evening, my friend Gregg Meyer, of Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse, stopped by the house with a load of pulled pork and buns for us to taste test. Meyer's is thinking of adding pulled pork to their menu and wanted some thoughts on what they've cooked up thus far. So, we tasted, jotted down our comments, and made a little party out of it.

Saturday, January 30, 2010: Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin, Texas)

Between trap shooting and scotch & cigars, the guys headed to lunch at Meyer’s Elgin Smokehouse for Russell’s Man-Day (Man-Up's version of a birthday). I wasn’t there for the visit, but it sounds like it was a visit worth missing, unlike our first visit in 2009. Here’s what some of the guys had to say:

Russell: “Personally, I thought the dino/beef ribs were excellent as usual. The service was clearly the 'B squad' (maybe even the ‘C’ or ‘D’ squad), as the guy behind the counter couldn’t figure out my order and gave me a girly-man beef rib to start with -- though I do like the atmosphere. Everything else at Meyers on Sat -- pork rib, brisket, and chicken -- was inconsistent and subpar at best. Their quality this time was just not up to par. Very different than last time I was there and the Meyer’s family gave us a personal tour of the vacuum meat tumbler.”

John T.: “Overall: FAN, Great history and heritage, with friendly folks! Sausage (All Varieties): FAN, This is their thing, full of flavor and worth the drive (you can buy it in stores, but not the same as at ‘Sausage HQ’ {TM, jtw}) Pork Ribs: FAN, Meaty and great flavor, you can't go wrong with combo plate of ribs and sausage. Beef Ribs: NOT A FAN, WORTH A TRY. I truly appreciate the tender loving care that goes in to these beasts, but just not my thing, too much like roast on a bone. Brisket: SOMEWHAT A FAN, Flavorful, but I like others' better.”

Todd: “My first visit to Meyer's and sadly I was drastically underwhelmed. I have not had BBQ this bad in a long, long time. I'm hoping they were just having a bad day. Dinosaur Ribs: they were out. Pork Ribs: these had no taste at all. Brisket: ok, not great. Chicken: the best of my 3 meat plate. Corn: decent. Sweet Tea: a sad excuse for sweet tea. I had to add my own sweetener and they didn't have sweet-n-low. Really?”

James: “I'm too emotional to score it. I had hopes that were far too high and I didn’t like it at all (it = pork sausage, beef sausage, Dino ribs, side dishes, either barbecue sauce, even the wedge of cheese I purchased). I think the Dino ribs everyone rants about were more like stringy and dry rib roast that was cooked too hastily and without flavor. I guess there is no smoke involved. That having been said, one of the many reasons I love barbecue is as follows.... Even a bad serving of Texas barbecue can be a fine meal. I had a fine time with the gang at Meyer's, but will not return.”

Russell’s scores – Brisket: 8.01; Pork ribs: 7.72; Beef ribs: 9.89; Chicken: 7.88; Service: 3; Atmosphere: 9; Overall experience: 6.95

Ryan’s scores – Brisket: 5; Pork ribs: 4; Banana pudding: 9; Beans: 7; Potato salad: 5; Atmosphere: 6; Overall experience: 5

John T.’s scores – Brisket: 8; Sausage: 9.5; Pork ribs: 8.5; Beef ribs: 6.5; Overall experience: 8.8

Todd’s scores – Brisket: 7.8; Pork ribs: 5; Chicken: 8.2; Corn: 8.7; Sweet tea: 4; Service: 8; Atmosphere: 8.3. Overall experience: 7.98

Overall Man-Up Score: 7.1825

Best of 2009: Best Service

Our final three Best of 2009 awards are non-menu-item awards: Best Service, Best Atmosphere, & Best Overall. To get our winners for our menu-item awards (Best Brisket, Best Sausage, etc.), we average the scores for each menu item we had throughout the year at each place we officially visit (i.e. score) - provided that the menu item was score by at least two people. For the non-menu-item awards, however, each person who made at least three outings during the year may vote for his/her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices in each of the three categories. Each 1st-place vote is worth 5 points, each 2nd-place vote is worth 3 points, and each 3rd-place vote is worth 1 point. The points are then added for each vote getter, giving us our top 3.

First up is our award for Best Service of 2009. Without a doubt, one of greatest things about our Man-Up trips and about running this blog is that it lets us cross paths with some wonderful people. Visiting with, and getting to know, the folks at the joints we hit up is often as memorable (if not more memorable) than the food. From the proprietors to the pitmasters to the staff members, we have had some wonderful service throughout our journey, and we are, indeed, so appreciative. Only 1 place that cracked our top 3 in 2008 (at #2) made this year's list (at #1). Many joints received votes, but here are the top 3 for 2009:


1. Louie Mueller Barbecue: 26 points (pictured above: Wayne Mueller)

2. Opie's Barbecue: 24 points

3. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse: 23 points

Others receiving votes: Snow's BBQ, Mills County BBQ Company, Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (Llano), Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (New Braunfels), The Salt Lick, Mann's Smokehouse, Milt's Pit BBQ, Burnet Feed Store BBQ, and Augie's Barbed Wire Smokehouse.

Best of 2009: Best Brisket

Our final menu-item award is for the gold standard of Texas BBQ: beef brisket. Generations of Texans have mastered the art of turning meat that was probably never meant to be eaten into something delicious - something that, arguably, defines Texas BBQ. Every place we hit up (just like every place we didn't hit up) serves brisket, and we collectively ate more brisket than any other item. As such, we had far more brisket scores than scores for anything else, making this race the most highly contested.

Fittingly, as it turns out, the results of the top 3 are also the closest of all the menu-item awards. Only 1 of last year's winners (#1, in fact) made this year's list (at #3). So, without further ado, here are our picks for Best Brisket of 2009 (rounded to the nearest thousandth - because rounding to the nearest hundredth left us with a tie for #1). Okay, I lied. Further ado: Before you get in a tizzy from not seeing a pic of glistening, fatty beef, I don't have a picture of the winner's moist brisket - so a pic of their lean will have to suffice:


1. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin): 9.664

2. Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (New Braunfels): 9.663

3. Snow's BBQ (Lexington): 9.63

Best of 2009: Best Sausage

Sausage. We're all a little scared of what it is, but we all love it. Like brisket, sausage is on every Texas BBQ joint's menu. Some serve it straight up. Others kick it up a notch with jalapenos or some other pepper. Either way, when it's done right, undesireables come together in perfect protein harmony. This year, we have a whole new group of winners, as none of last year's winners made the list:

1. Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor): 9.87

2. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin): 9.66

3. Opie's Barbecue (Spicewood): 9.61

Best of 2009: Best Beef Ribs

Even in Texas, beef ribs are not easy to come by. Most of the places we hit up don't have them, so we're always glad to find places that do. For example, we were delighted to find out last Saturday that Black's Barbecue (Lockhart) began serving gargantuan beef ribs 6 months ago (just wait for the pics). Black's wasn't in the running for 2009's best beef ribs, but we found 3 really great ones, just the same. Some "Dino ribs" edged out last year's winner for the top spot:


1. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin): 9.95

2. Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor): 9.8

3. Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (New Braunfels): 9.42

Best of 2009: Best Turkey

Russell is quick to tell me that "Bird ain't BBQ," but I beg to differ. Sometimes, a moist piece of turkey just outta the smoker can hang with anything else on a menu. The problem is that many places (perhaps most) don't deliver on the moistness - and dry turkey can't hang with anything. Some places, however, get it right. Here are the 3 that did it best in 2009 (rounded to nearest hundredth):


1. Mills County BBQ Company (Goldthwaite): 9.86

2. Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor): 9.52

3. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin): 9.1

Rest of the pics from Meyer's

John T.'s pics from Meyer's