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Monday, January 11, 2010 - 3:51 PM
Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX. is considered the best BBQ place in the world by many. It has been highly acclaimed and visited by many food network and travel channel personalities. I recently visited the Salt Lick to see what was cooking! The BBQ here is definitely great BBQ. I have been to many a BBQ joint and am often disappointed. Too many proclaimed great BBQ joints are mediocre at best. You won’t be disappointed at the Salt Lick. Of course going to the Salt Lick is part of the fun as you leave Austin and venture into the Texas Hill Country. You can’t help but to feel as if you are making your pilgrimage to the BBQ Mecca. The place itself is huge as far as BBQ joints go. This isn’t just some shack in the woods. The fame of Salt Lick BBQ has made this place expand. There are two main buildings in which you can dine. I suggest requesting the smaller one on the left so you can see the big old style pit at work. The BBQ itself is like none other that I have had in Texas. In fact, it is quite different then most of the BBQ you will taste in Texas. I couldn’t help but wonder what history lingers behind this food. While eating their cole slaw, my wife commented to me that it had a bit of an Asian flavor to it. In fact, it had sesame seeds in it. Sure enough, after reading the history, Thurman Roberts, the founder of Salt Lick BBQ, was in the Navy and stationed in Kauai. There he met and married a woman of Japanese descent named Hisako. She must have influenced this slaw. Could she have influenced other flavors in this great BBQ as well? Salt Lick BBQ sauce is not your standard Texas BBQ sauce. It has a great flavor with a hint of spice and a nice bit of sweetness to it. It is a mustard based sauce, which I have never had on Texas BBQ before. Mustard based sauces or more common in the Carolina’s but this doesn’t taste like Carolina sauce either. Looking at the ingredients on the label you discover that the main ingredient is soy bean oil, then sugar cane, ground mustard and turmeric. The sugar cane gives the sweetness and the turmeric gives it that little something special that you long for in Salt Lick BBQ sauce. These Asian ingredients are the key to Salt Lick BBQ’s success. Does this mean that Salt Lick BBQ should not be considered Texas BBQ? On the contrary. Texas was founded on the dreams of those settlers who gave up everything in a quest for a better life. The settlers came not just from the US and Mexico. They came from Germany, Spain, and France as well. Germans, like Kosmos Spoetzel brought with them their beer making techniques which led to the creation of Shiner Bock Beer. The Spanish brought with them their wine making techniques. Two of those settlers were the grandparents of the current owner of Salt Lick BBQ. They came from Mississippi to Driftwood, TX in search of a better life. Texas began, and is today, a melting pot of different cultures all infused with Texas pride. When you have pride in what you do, you are more likely to end up with greatness. Salt Lick BBQ is just that. Great Texan BBQ founded on Texas pride.
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