Century Old BQQ

The Eyes of Texas are Upon You
Part 6


Jaspers BBQ
105 Clifton Street
Waco, TX 76704
(254) 799-8351



Two days ago I finally made it to Jaspers BBQ, probably Waco’s oldest BBQ joint.
It has changed hands a couple times, or at least once that I know of, but it still has its following.
Every time I have driven by it, the lot was decently full and this time was no different.

So me and my father pull in and find a place to park, wasn’t too crowded and the lot is decently sized. We go in and get in line, which is about 4-5 people, and check out the menu. They sell meat by the lb, 1/2lb, complete plates, sandwiches and sides. The offer the basic brisket, sausage, ribs and bologna; with the classic sides of beans, slaw and potato salad, deviled eggs, and they don’t serve bbq sauce… but offer this stuff they call gravy (we’ll get to that later).

I order the brisket plate with slaw, potato salad, white bread, pickles/onions, bowl of “gravy” and 3 deviled eggs. The brisket isn’t sliced like most places, they just do a rough chop on it. They serve a decent size scoop of potato salad and slaw, with enough pickles and onions as requested. Once I paid up, one of the guys carried my plate and sat me at a table… as well as my fathers. Was rather unexpected and nice, none of the joints Ive been to have had that.

The first thing I try is one of the deviled eggs. They are made with dill relish, which give them a less sweet taste, but they still had a very nice flavor and consistency. I really liked the potato salad; it is a mustard mix, with chunky potatoes and still a creamy texture, complete with a nice sweetish flavor. The slaw was alright, not as sweet as I like and was a but tangy, but the veggies were still fresh and crunchy. The brisket was alright, nothing really special…. and maybe it was just the cut I got, but it was a little dry…. It still had a decent flavor and texture. My least favorite thing was the “gravy” which is a juice/sauce I believe is made from the brisket juices with some added hot sauce and seasoning (one of which I believe is cumin, cause it kinda reminded me of Mexican food grease.). I don’t mind the beef juice being used as a sauce, that’s usually one of the best things to use, but I didn’t care for flavor of this recipe… nope didn’t like it at all.

The overall atmosphere of the place was great. All the employees were very nice and helpful. They constantly had a line trailing toward the door, was never really long but stayed consistent. Right before I left I decided to pick up a shirt, but they were out of mediums… so they offered to sell me the one stapled to the wall and gave it to me at a discount… worked for me. Ill deff go back to try more of their stuff, cause I feel I just got a bad batch of brisket…. and that happens sometimes.

Home BBQ Adventures P2

So obviously I’ve been kinda slacking on my blog posts… For the last couple of months I’ve been fairly busy at work and havent eaten at any new places yet, but I have managed to squeeze in a couple of BBQs at Home. I’ve smoked a couple racks of ribs, a brisket, and have experimented more with my yellow potato salad, deviled eggs, sausage and ice-cream recipes.

The ribs have only been getting better and better; keeping the seasoning simple, the wood sweet and letting them cook till they peel right off the bone. Though my mom keeps asking me if I can make them “less smoky”… ya… smoked ribs “less smoky”. Besides that they are pretty awesome, cant wait to share them with the world one day. The last brisket I did came out alright, wasn’t too fond of the seasoning I used, but it made some great sandwiches and what we didn’t eat I vacuum sealed and froze for later sandwiches.

The newest addition to my culinary arsenal is a meat grinder and sausage maker… made by ACME, so hopefully it doesn’t blow up. But I found it on sale at Academy for $50, much cheaper than the one for $300. It came with 3 different blades and 3 different spouts. I’ve used it 3 times now, making 3 different types of Sausages. Eventually I also want to utilize it to grind my own beef for burgers and such. I made 3 kinds of sausages; Chicken/Spinach/Feta sausage, Beef/Green Chili sausage , and a Beef/Beer sausage. The first two were great hits. Every one who tried the chicken sausage loved it. For the green chili sausage I used authentic chilies from New Mexico that my aunt and uncle brought back to Texas for me. That one turned out pretty well, but several people thought it was a little too hot…. but they are just wimps. The last batch I made was beef and beer sausage. For the beer flavor I tried this de-hydrated beer product. It is a fine powder like substance, that contains everything that is in your basic beer. It smells just like bud light, and when added to water it tastes like bud light. Sadly though I apparently didn’t add enough of it to the sausage mix…. or at least for my taste, so next time I will have to add more to hopefully get a stronger beer flavor.

Deviled eggs are a bbq staple, so every time I throw something on the smoker I also make some deviled eggs. Trying different mixtures of mustard, mayo, relish, bacon and such… and trying different types of mustards too. Most of them turn out pretty darn well…. especially the last batch I made with apple bacon. I’ve also been experimenting with smoking the deviled eggs. I got the idea from one of my BBQ books where the author went to a restaurant and saw on their menu “BBQ deviled eggs”, only to be let down when they weren’t really BBQ’ed, they just threw “bbq” in front. So I thought, why hasn’t any one tried this? I haven’t seen any real BBQ deviled eggs in any books or at any of the places I’ve eaten, so I’ve been experimenting with them…. and I gotta say… they are awesome. I just gotta tweak them a little but more before I show them to the world.

The potato salad has been my biggest hit so far. I haven’t really gone with a recipe, I just took what potatoes I had in the house and prep them. Then started throwing mayo, honey mustard and such in and mixing it up. I like my potato style country style, so I leave some of the skin on and cube them up roughly. Then cook up some apple bacon and hard boiled eggs for flavor and texture. Overall I really like the product I made so far, and only probably only tweak it a little more. Next time I cook some BBQ though I think Ill try out some white potato salad.

The ice cream has just been something fun to mess around with. So far Ive made a cookie n cream ice-cream and then a cinnamon apple ice-cream. Once peaches come into season Ill make a fresh peach ice-cream.

Besides that; Ive been kicken ass and taking names at work, Looking for new places to eat at, and new recipes to try out at home.

The RITE Bar-B-Q

The Eyes of Texas are Upon You
Part 5

Clem Mikeska’s Bar-B-Q
1217 S. 57th
Temple, TX 76504
254-778-5481
http://www.clembbq.com/index.html

So for a couple months now I have been wanting to go down to Temple for a little BBQ, as I have heard and read that Mikeska’s is one of the best in the bizz. But I just never got around to it, something always came up and I really just didn’t want to go by myself. These trip are so much more fun with a friend or two. So Sunday morning rolls around and one of my friends (Ale) texts me, and suggests we go to Temple for lunch and hit up the mall, instead of just staying in town to see The Rite. I thought that was a great idea… not even a broken window on my car was gonna stop me from road-trippin’. (was robbed a couple days earlier- thanks to who ever f-up my SUV for a busted-azz Ipod) .

So after gorilla tapping my window up (stronger than duct tape), loading up the ipod and filling up the tanks we hit the road. What should be a 30-40 minute drive feels like a walk in the park, im not sure if it was the awesome company, the low traffic, great music…. probably a combination of each, but it felt like a short drive. So we exit off into Temple, Im checking the street numbers, looking for 57... I see 49, 50, 52, then all of a sudden I get Ave H and J what shit like that. Apparently I was looking on the wrong side o the road of the underpass and the numbers continued on the other side, so I had to pull a U. But whateve, it all worked out.
So we pulled in, I must say, this is one fancy place. Its huge, its well designed and decorated, it has a outside patio for dinning and a massive inside dinning area (with lots and lots of stuffed animals all over the walls.) Even got an ice-cream and gift shop area. The place looked very clean and shiny, people were friendly. I really liked the over all feel.

So next was the check out the menu, their menu is fairly basic like most BBQ joints. A single meat plate, 2 meat plate, meats by the lbs, sandwiches, sides, potatoes, and desserts. They are a buffet style restaurant, like most BBQ joints. You tell them what you want and they serve it up for ya down the line. I chose the 2 meat plate with Brisket and Turkey, and Ale chooses the sausage plate. For sides I choose the classic yellow potato salad and their cole slaw, a side of spicy sauce and chocolate moose & Oreos for dessert. Ale gets their yellow potato salad, mac & cheese and their regular sauce. Once you go through the line and pay your bill, you walk over the side bar to get your drink, breads, and side items like onions, pickles, peppers, etc. I got some Frost Bite Root Beer since Iver never had it, also picked up some bread and pickles.

The first thing I try is the turkey; It was juicy and had a good flavor. Next was the brisket; it had a nice deep colored smoke ring, was tender and juicy, and had a great flavor. According to his site he seasons the brisket, which I could taste some of. Was a nice overall flavor, but I couldn’t pick out any specific spices. It was some of the best brisket Ive had yet. The cole slaw was nothing very special, Id call it run of the mill Slaw; fresh, sweet, and simple. The potato salad, now this through me for a loop and Ale. The texture was slighty smooth, and you could tell it was fresh… but the flavor… It had this very different after taste, kinda reminded me of jalapenos and allspice, I wonder if there used sweetened jalapenos… cause those would’ve given it this flavor profile or something very close. It was something Id never tasted in potato salad before…. very different. I kinda liked it, it grew on me the more I ate it. The bbq sauce wasn’t anything out of this world, id had better and id had worse. It was your run of the mill tomato based bbq sauce. Last but not least, the Rootbeer, I liked it. Kinda reminded me of Barques Root Beer, but less “bite.”

Over all we had a great time eating lunch there, enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. It was definitely different than what either of us are used to eating in our home town…. but in a good way. Id like to go back and try their ribs and pork loin.

After lunch, instead of heading back to the 254, we decided to visit the Temple mall. Shopped around, walked around (had to loose the BBQ weight), got some Henna Tattoos and got to watch the RITE at the malls theater.

Had a great day with a great friend… and I hope there are more to come.