What Makes the Barbecue in Austin So Good?

Texas barbecue has no right to be this good—but it is. Visitors to places like Austin have often remarked that Texas barbecue is the most unique and the most delicious barbecue they have ever tasted—and we are inclined to agree.

Why is Texas Barbecue so Unique?

Let’s start off by calling a spade a spade: it’s Texas-style brisket. Most barbecues use mustard, vinegar, and even tomato derivatives for their sauces. Kansas, for instance, has its famous molasses base for meat curing. Other states also stick to sauces for marination purposes. Texas likes to keep it dry.

Texas is a whole new deal with its limited-to-the-bare-basics approach: good old salt and pepper. And yet, with just these two ingredients to cure the meat, it still turns out so well and juicy. The meat simply melts in your mouth—and that’s what makes the Lone Star State the barbecue champion of the country.

The Barbecue Belt

Here at Cubby, we have written about the Tornado Belt before and why Texas is such a big part of it. What if we told you that the Tornado Belt isn’t the only belt that Texas has going for it? It is also part of what’s famously known as the Barbecue Belt and has been dubbed so for decades.

It actually dates back to the Civil War times, when soldiers all the way from Kansas would come down to Texas simply for the meat and mead. Traveling across the two states and beyond, these soldiers were largely responsible for bringing widespread fame and recognition to unique, Texas-style barbecue.

The Different Variants of Texas-Style Barbecue

Now, while you might think this covers all there is to Texas-style barbecue, it doesn’t. There’s so much more to the whole thing—especially since it isn’t homogenous all across the state. Different parts of Texas have different kinds of barbecues to offer.

In the East, for instance, they like to put hogs, hooves and all, on the smokers. In the west, they prefer shoulders exclusively. Those sauces that we talked about also come into play here, with Easterners going for a vinegar-based, while the Westerners going for a tomato-based sauce.

While their cuts and choice of condiment may be different, one thing is constant: the barbecue is as good as it gets anywhere in Texas!

Visiting Austin Soon?

Don’t leave the Texas capital without trying barbecue at one of its many restaurants. If this is your first time trying Texas-style brisket, you’ll come back to thank us!

If you don’t want your luggage to get in your way while you travel, we have a solution for that: just leave your bags with Cubby! As a baggage-storage solution provider, we have operations in major cities, including Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Galveston, Fort Worth, Boston, Houston, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and San Antonio.