Men in Texas take Pride in their BBQ…

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They all have (or want) custom BBQ Pits!

When I moved to Big Lake, Texas I thought the town was on fire!  There was a big event in the community park and you could see lots of smoke which when it drifted away from the park area, made it look like that part of town was on fire.  I soon found out what all the excitement was….it was a BBQ cook off!

I’ve never seen so many BBQ Pits in one place.  It was like going to a car show, except instead of cars, the men all stood next to their BBQ pits with a beer in one hand and a big spatula/fork in the other.

In Texas the men are called to show off their BBQ techniques at all different occasions, from Brisket Cookoff, Rib Cookoff, Pig Cookoff, Wildgame Suppers and of course for any occasion at home in their own backyards.

And there are all kinds of different sauces, or rubs they use on their meat too. Sometimes this is a touchy subject, but depending on what part of Texas you are cooking in, you could get into a discussion on what kind of wood is the best to use.

David took me to the Texas Monthly Annual BBQ Fest and I learned all about the different kinds of wood  used to BBQ.  Live Oak, Pecan, and in west Texas (as David calls it, Real Texas) they use Mesquite.  David wrote an article about this really fun event and you can watch the video where the expert panel will give you their insight on what kind of wood is the best and maybe learn some of their secrets.  Click on the hyperlink:  Real Texas Barbecue Festival

Getting back to my story…. David and I started seeing each other in June and Christmas was just around the corner.  (I start shopping for Christmas the day after Christmas! lol) What could I get a Texas man for Christmas? (David’s birthday is Christmas day too.)  It didn’t take me long to figure this one out.  He needed his own custom BBQ pit!

I knew just the folks that could build this…Larry and Neil Hallmark.  They agreed they would build the custom BBQ Pit as long as I promised to keep this a secret.  You mean I had to keep a secret for 6 months!!!

OK, I agreed….this was probably the hardest secret for me to keep and the further they got with the pit, the harder it was.  The reason was, the news was spreading all over town and all the men had to go to Larry’s shop and watch the progress of this BBQ Pit.

Finally Christmas Eve was here….we used a tractor to get the BBQ Pit from the shop and over our backyard fence.  I attached a string to it and ran the string through the house.  The guys waited in the backyard to see David’s reaction….David came home and followed the string to his new custom BBQ Pit.  What a Christmas present!!!  I won’t be able to top this present, but after 13 years, and 2 new houses, we still BBQ on it and he’s so proud of his custom BBQ Pit.

Here’s a video on David’s Custom BBQ Pit, built by Larry and Neil Hallmark.  They even made custom Mesquite handled tools and filled the wood box with Mesquite.

David has enjoyed his BBQ Pit and here is a video of his famous Real Texas Brisket: