Stockyard BBQ

4/24/13 11:48am - I can think of a few places close by, I would drive past to get to Stockyard. I would not drive across town to eat here, but I would drive 15 minutes to eat here. If this your favorite place and its close by, hold your head up cuz this is good 'cue.

I scored Stockyard an 83 out of 100. This is Reserve Grand Champion Texas BBQ.

Smoke: Oak and pecan. They proudly display their Olyer wood fired smoker. For urban 'cue, this is about the best you can hope for.

Brisket: Very Good. A very impressive bright red 5/16in smoke ring. Thin black bark. Snap apart tender, no knife needed and moist. Near perfect tenderness. Was disappointed in the mild smoke. Geez, you got the equipment, where's the smoke? No detectable rub. Due to mild smoke and no rub zing, use the sauce.

Ribs: Good. Soft clean bite, clean bone. Very tender but finished a little dry. Nice black bark finish. I could see the rub but could not taste the rub. Again the smoke was too mild. Over flavor was good, but it still needs the sauce.

Sausage: Good. Pork traditional spice sausage. Mild overall flavor and mild after taste. Little smoke. Nothing special, use the sauce.

Sauce: Fair. Thank goodness the cue here is good enough without sauce, cuz this stuff was jazzed up ketchup. Looked like ketchup and tasted like ketchup. Its OK to have ketchup as the base of your recipe, but it should not be 90% of your recipe. I tried their spicy BBQ sauce and its tasted like hot ketchup. Never been fan of spicy BBQ sauce.