Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket

• Publisher:   University of Texas Press
• Number Of Pages:   255
• Publication Date:   2009-10-15
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0292719981
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780292719989

It's no overstatement to say that the state of Texas is a republic of barbecue. Whether it's brisket, sausage, ribs, or chicken, barbecue feeds friends while they catch up, soothes tensions at political events, fuels community festivals, sustains workers of all classes, celebrates brides and grooms, and even supports churches. Recognizing just how central barbecue is to Texas's cultural life, Elizabeth Engelhardt and a team of eleven graduate students from the University of Texas at Austin set out to discover and describe what barbecue has meant to Texans ever since they first smoked a beef brisket.

Republic of Barbecue presents a fascinating, multifaceted portrait of the world of barbecue in Central Texas. The authors look at everything from legendary barbecue joints in places such as Taylor and Lockhart to feedlots, ultra-modern sausage factories, and sustainable forests growing hardwoods for barbecue pits. They talk to pit masters and proprietors, who share the secrets of barbecue in their own words. Like side dishes to the first-person stories, short essays by the authors explore a myriad of barbecue's themes--food history, manliness and meat, technology, nostalgia, civil rights, small-town Texas identity, barbecue's connection to music, favorite drinks such as Big Red, Dr. Pepper, Shiner Bock, and Lone Star beer--to mention only a few. An ode to Texas barbecue in films, a celebration of sports and barbecue, and a pie chart of the desserts that accompany brisket all find homes in the sidebars of the book, while photographic portraits of people and places bring readers face-to-face with the culture of barbecue.

I found this book to be a novel approach to the subject of barbecue. As a long time foodie and a native Texan who grew up grillin', it was a fascinating to see an exploration of the culture of central Texas smoker cooking from so many different angles. From barbacoa to brisket, the subject is explored from the standpoint of the numerous entrepeneurs that have made their lives cooking meat. These men and women range from black to Hispanic to the Germans and Czechs that settled in Central Texas. Their stories are engaging and their spirit are beautifully captured in the great photography in the pages of this book. The material was collected by students and faculty of the American Studies Department at the University of Texas. Remiscent of the books of Margaret Visser or even Peter Mayle, I highly recommended it to anyone who is interested in the history and culture of food.
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Simply stated, Texas is home to the best barbecue on the planet. But there's more to great barbecue than what is basted on a rotating spit. That's why Elizabeth Englehardt's "Republic Of Barbecue: Stories Beyond The Brisket" is such an informative and fascinating read. It places the culinary art of the barbecue within a cultural framework ranging from feedlots, factories, and hardwood forests (fuel for the barbecue pits), to pit masters, proprietors, themes, histories, music, drinks, films, and more. Profusely illustrated throughout, this is a superbly researched, deftly written, and impressively presented American history as reflected through that enduringly popular culinary phenomena called 'the barbecue'.

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