A selection of photographs from the book "Texas BBQ" by Wyatt McSpadden
Texas BBQ
Photographs by Wyatt McSpadden
Foreword by Jim Harrison
Essay by John Morthland
University of Texas Press
160 pages hardcover
$39.95
ISBN 978-0-292-71858-6
Available on Amazon.com
Photographer Wyatt McSpadden has spent some twenty years documenting barbecue—specifically, the authentic family-owned cafes that are small-town mainstays. Traveling tens of thousands of miles, McSpadden has crisscrossed the state to visit scores of barbecue purveyors, from fabled sites like Kreuz's in Lockhart to remote spots like the Lazy H Smokehouse in Kirbyville. Color or black-and-white, wide angle or close up, his pictures convey the tradition and charm of barbecue.
"Texas barbecue is better than barbecue everywhere else, because—well, God is a UT fan and he's from Texas, 'cause he made all this mesquite wood. You gotta have a good mesquite wood to make good barbecue. And of course you gotta have good meat before you can do anything at all."
Kenneth Laird, 61, pitmaster 32 years, Laird's Barbecue
Bailey's Bar-B-Q, Fort Worth
"I think barbecue, the barbecue tradition, goes back to the day of the cowboys. You know, out on the trail rides they'd make those open pits, and they were cooking with wood and roasting their meat over the firs. Well, they were barbecuing. Today we're still doing it. Craving it. Everybody's into barbecue."
Joe Capello, 61, pitmaster 45 years, City Market
Smoker: Big Earl's Texas Style Bar-B-Que, Kerrville
Roy Perez in wood pile: Kreuz Market, Lockhart
"You just can't throw meat in an oven and come back 24 hours later. You gotta sweat and inhale a lot of smoke. You gotta cook right over the coals where the meat can drip down—then the flavor can come back up through it. You can't be lazy ifyou want real Texas barbecue, you gotta do the work."
Steve Kapchinskie, 52, pitmaster 29 years, Martin's Place
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Cowboy-style pit: Cooper's Pit Bar-B-Q, Mason
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Vencil Mares: Taylor Cafe, Taylor
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Lunch rush: Kreuz Market (original location) Lockhart
"I'm not gonna say that our barbecue is better than anyone else's. I mean, I hope it is. But you can't please everybody. Some people go for whatever is cheap, or maybe they don't care what they're getting if they're hungry. But real barbecue people know this is the good stuff."
Roy Perez, 45, pitmaster 21 years, Kreuz Market
Making sausage: Gonzales Food Market, Gonzales
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Jim Sells: Smitty's Market, Lockhart
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Knives: Kreuz Market (original location), Lockhart
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