The Houston Foodie at the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival

Socks' Love Rub Co. Giveaway!!!

We're teaming up with our new friends at Socks' Love Rub Co. (Duluth, GA) to bring you a great giveaway. Socks' Love Rub, which uses 100%-natural, premium spices, is giving away an 8.5-ounce bottle of rub to 3 lucky winners. We will run the giveaway for 3 weeks, naming 1 winner at the end of each week. The giveaway starts today, runs through Monday, Dec. 5, & winners will be announced on each of the next 3 Mondays (Nov. 21, Nov. 28, & Dec. 5). Okay, so, here's the rub (Ha!): There are 4 ways to enter, so be sure to enter each way so that you have 4 ways to snag a bottle of rub. To get your name in the hat for each of the 3 drawings, simply...

1. Like Socks' Love Rub Co. on Facebook
2. Follow Socks' Love Rub Co. on Twitter.
3. Socks' Love sells its rub in 2 sizes: 8.5 ounces and one other size. Email me the size of the other bottle. You can find the answer on Socks' Love's website.
4. Retweet this post or any other post of mine about the giveaway.

Aaaaaaand GO!!!!!

The rest from Pok-e-jo's (Austin, TX)

Straight-cut brisket at PoK-e-Jo's (Austin, TX)

A while back, a group of us had a Saturday lunch at PoK-e-Jo's, and the main event was a new cut of brisket they're serving up at a couple of locations. The straight-cut brisket is smoked without the fat trimmed, and toward the end of the smoking, they pull the brisket, trim most of the fat (leaving a small layer of fat), season the whole thing (including the thin layer of fat), and then put it back in the smoker for a couple more hours. I didn't have my camera that day, but Brad took some pics with his phone. He emailed them to me, and they just got buried in my inbox. Found 'em today. Here is the first of two rounds of pics:

Views from above the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival

Hog on The Quad

Though it pains me even to bring up the game, while walking around The Quad before last Saturday's Bama-LSU game, I came across a tent being catered by Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q. Apparently, JNN fed the ESPN College Gameday crew earlier that day. Here are some pics of the pork they were cooking up:

Grilling is NOT barbecuing!

My buddy Robert Sierra, of S&S Pit Crew in San Marcos, alerted us today to this story on MySA.com: San Marcos man barbecues on his bicycle. I have no problem with this guy peddling his fare, but I do take issue with the verb the chosen for the article's title. The guy has a little grill and serves up burgers and what not. I'd say he "grills," not "barbecues."

You see this all the time on TV and in movies. Talk of a "backyard barbecue." Turns out they're grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, just like the annual White House July 4th BBQ. Nothing wrong with grilling, but it's not barbecuing. And vice versa. Each has its merits, but each is distinct from the other. Put me in the camp of those who believe that the two words are not interchangeable. Thoughts?

Monday's lunch at Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q (Jasper, AL)

My lunch on Monday, before I hopped a plane back to Austin: pulled-pork sandwich with collard greens at Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q in Jasper, AL.

Surveying the scene at JMueller BBQ (Austin, TX)

A short video from a couple of Saturdays ago, when some fellow BBQ lovers and I convened for an 11AM lunch at JMueller BBQ in Austin.

Latest meal at Lockhart Smokehouse (Dallas, TX)

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