Food
Wyatt McSpadden talks about the delicious subject of his Texas BBQ photo book
Web exclusive
• Jump to images from the book
If you can't get to the Lone Star State for its legendary barbecue, you can at least behold it in Texas BBQ: Photographs by Wyatt McSpaddden, a large-format, full-color photographic odyssey representing 20 years of documenting one of the great Texas traditions.
Smitty's Market in Lockhart, Texas
The photographer, Wyatt McSpadden, talks with C&I in this web-exclusive interview about his 20-year photographic sojourn into the heart of Lone Star barbecue — and the book that captures it.
Cowboys & Indians: You're a Texas boy and no stranger to barbecue. How did you get to Austin from Amarillo?
Wyatt McSpadden: It was a long journey. I was born in '52 and didn't leave Amarillo till '92. I'd like to tell you it was for the barbecue, but it was a romance-divorce move. My kids were in Austin with my ex. [My current wife] Nancy was associate art director of Texas Monthly. I'd stop at Texas Monthly to try to hustle up work and got a new wife. Obviously a good move.
C&I: Is Austin where you developed a love for 'cue?
McSpadden: I didn't really know too much about barbecue in Amarillo. I ate it and would fix it in my backyard. Amarillo didn't have anything that was like these ancient places in Austin — multigenerational family-owned places that are rare and kind of unique to this area. I made a new friend when I moved here — John Morthland. He's been a writer on food and music for decades. He took me under his wing and started hauling me about 35 miles south of Austin down 183 to go to Kreuz Market [pronounced Krites] in Lockhart. He knew the ropes. He explained to me how you had to get there early in the day before the lawyers ate all the prime rib. We'd leave at 11 and get there at 11:30. He was right. The lawyers never beat us there.
C&I: And now you've been documenting Texas barbecue for 20 years. …
McSpadden: It all started at Kreuz's — eating there regularly and falling in love with not just the food but the space. It's a magnificent building, and they've been cooking in there for more than 100 years. They moved in 1999 from that location; he built a new place out on the edge of town. The old place is now Smitty's, which is every bit as good as Kreuz's. Those of us who were barbecue fans were very anxious about this. What would happen to Kreuz's? What it did was double the great barbecue places in Lockhart.
C&I: Are you pretty good with a grill?
McSpadden: I've got a Weber grill, but I can't do what these people do. And I'm spoiled. They have these magnificent brick pits — cord after cord of wood. You can't do in your backyard what they do in those places.
Images from the book
And of course a lot of the love of a barbecue joint is the joint itself. These places seem to be from another era — and for me that's part of the charm. I found them all over the state, and always discovered a casual hospitality in the way folks allowed me to come in and shoot around them. These folks are there doing the same thing every day. I took pains not to be a nuisance. These are people who like people. Barbecue is a very social food. As long as you treat them with respect — don't go in at noon and expect to be shooting pictures during the lunch rush … I found the most productive time for my shoots to be the very early morning hours when they just get the pits going, their routine going on, and there aren't customers yet.
C&I: Some of these guys have been there forever. …
McSpadden: Of the six pitmasters we interviewed, the longest tenure is 60 years; that's Vencil Mayers, who opened his place in 1949 in Taylor, the Taylor Café. He's still doing it. The rookie of the bunch is probably Roy Perez at Kreuz's; he's been at it for 25 years and they're still not sure if he's going to make it or not.
C&I: I assume you ate wherever you were shooting. Have a favorite thing to order?
McSpadden: I've been eating this stuff for a long time. Texas barbecue is unique because the foundation food of it is brisket, unlike most other regions, which are more pork-oriented. This is not a best-of book. I've been out with writers on that kind of project. You typically have the brisket — everyone will have it. I don't really have a favorite brisket. The thing I like the most, particularly at Kreuz's, is the pork loin. They take the whole loin and smoke that. It's just pretty great. My buddies and I don't really care much about the side dishes. Everyone has the standard beans, potato salad, and coleslaw. Kreuz's has German potatoes and sauerkraut. The ones in Lockhart were very slow to even take on beans. These are places where it's about the meat and the smoke — that's it. Kreuz's doesn't even have sauce. You get your meal on a piece of brown paper. No forks — you get a plastic knife. There's a sign in the hallway that says "The forks are at the end of your arms."
C&I: So how do you judge?
McSpadden: The best places in my opinion are the ones that make their own sausage. They grind meat to the mixture they want of pork and beef and get the casing where they like. That's a real testament to the dedication of the place. And then there's the crunch. …
C&I: This project was a real family affair. Tell me about working with your wife and son.
McSpadden: My son Stuart shot video [see the video of Smitty's Market above]. And Nancy, who was associate art director for 23 years at Texas Monthly, did the design through Nancy McMillen Design. We made it part of deal with University of Texas Press that she design it. It was a labor of love for both of us.
C&I: Besides traveling Texas for two decades eating and shooting barbecue, any food fantasies you'd like to share?
McSpadden: Well, there are three guys in the food business in Texas that I'd love to have together at the same time: Rick Schmidt, who owns Kreuz's — he's a post-oak guy. Tom Perini in Buffalo Gap — I think they are mesquite. The other guy is Jim Goode, who has a small and deliberately contained empire of great restaurants in Houston: Goode & Company and two seafood places, which make the best redfish I've ever had — all mesquite grilled. They are all men who cook with wood. I would really like to get the three of them together with a case full of beer and a bottle of whiskey and have them talk about their experiences. With these guys alone, you'd have over a hundred years of experience.
• Buy the book from Amazon or from University of Texas Press
• See more behind-the-BBQ-scenes videos and stay current on the Texas BBQ book
• See Wyatt McSpadden's porfolio
• Read the Cowgirl Chef feature "Barbecue!"
Issue: July 2009
