Sausage Wars

The craft of making sausage is truly an art form. I have tried making my own before, and it was not easy at all. I give all the love to the barbecue joints who make it in-house. A lot of BBQ spots are coming up with unique and delicious options for their menu. The first ever Sausage Wars brought 10 restaurants together to see who had the best stuff around. Here are the pics from the sold-out event:

Brotherton's Black Iron Barbecue (Pflugerville) - Pork, beef, mango & habanero and Shrimp etouffee boudin

Buck's Barbeque Co. (Houston) - Buttered chicken

Harlem Road Texas BBQ (Richmond) - Venison and beef & pork

Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor) - Beef rib, hatch green chile & smoked Gouda

Reveille Barbecue Co. (Magnolia) - Chopped Screwed (pork taco) & Texas Tempranillo with merlot aged cheese

Smokin’ Z's BBQ (Hitchcock) - Loco Links (fire roasted poblano, cheddar & pepper jack cheese) and Not Your Madre's Chorizo (chorizo, scrambled eggs & pepper jack cheese)

Southern Q BBQ (Houston) - Ole School (pork & beef), Spicy Pig & Louisiana boudin

The Pit Room (Houston) - Crawfish sausage

Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue (Tomball) - Chile relleno (beef, fire roasted poblano pepper & white queso) and Barbacoa boudin (beef cheeks & cilantro lime rice)

Texzas Wood-Fired Pizza (Houston) - Mexican chorizo (beef, pork, cinnamon, cloves, habanero & pepper jack cheese) and Traditional link (beef, jalapeño & pepper jack cheese)

Tin Roof BBQ (Humble) - Smoked pepper jack jalapeño beef link and Smoked crawfish etouffee boudin

Winners
Judges' choice: Tejas' Chile relleno
People's choice: Smokin' Z's

If I was a judge, it would be hard to pick a wiener. The judges panel included Phaedra Cook of Houston Food Finder, Hank Lewis of Hank on Food, Leo Longoria of SpindleTap Brewery marketing/Texas Beer Experience, and Shane McAuliffe of The Texas Bucket List. They chose Tejas as the winner. That chile relleno sausage is a special one. It gets me all excited. The one from Louie Mueller was also a strong contender in my book. Smokin' Z's took home people's choice. Theirs were tasty. I need to make it down to Hitchcock soon. Their 'cue looks pretty good. I had a blast at Sausage Wars and was stuffed when we left. It was a well-organized and not crowded at all. I hope this becomes an annual event.

John Brotherton

Tejas' Chile relleno & barbacoa boudin and Brotherton's Shrimp etouffee boudin

Until next time, happy smoking...