The history of Texas barbecue begins with celebration. In the early days, barbecues catering to thousands of guests celebrated community achievements.
In later years, meat markets became the source of Texan’s growing appetite for barbecue. Sometimes we just want to eat our chopped beef sandwich without being serenaded by a fiddle and harmonica.
Follow on Instagram for future dates and locations: @deckle.and.hide
Contemporary barbecue mostly hews to that commercial tradition. Recently, though, pitmasters are going beyond cutting and serving brisket to revisit the tradition of celebration.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
GUIDE: Houston's best barbecue joints
Such is the case with a barbecue pop-up called Deckle & Hide.
Helmed by pitmaster Ralph Palmer and pit builder Daniel Andrade, Deckle & Hide offers a dizzying and wholly original vision of Texas barbecue as a fete of creative smoked meats, music, performance art and pop culture.
Take a recent pop-up event, Trash Fiction, for example. It took place at the eclectic Northside bar Trash Panda Drinking Club and featured a theme inspired by the movie "Pulp Fiction." Palmer, Andrade and team dressed up in black suits and skinny ties like the movie’s characters and served dishes like a brisket burger (“smoked Royale with Cheese”), a chili-cheese sausage/hot dog called “The Wolf” and a “Honey Bunny” banana pudding.
Such theatrics may be interpreted as obscuring deficient barbecue, but that would be incorrect. Palmer is one of the most talented new pitmasters in Houston and has worked with and taken inspiration from Texas barbecue greats like Evan LeRoy of LeRoy & Lewis in Austin and Jonny White of Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
For Palmer, the barbecue bug took hold in 2018 during a work assignment in Anchorage, Alaska (his day job is in oil and gas). Co-workers offered to treat him to the Texas barbecue available there, such as it is. Which is not very good.
Palmer, an experienced backyard pitmaster at the time, offered to cook a brisket for his co-workers to show them real Texas barbecue. Working on a small backyard smoker, he nailed it.
“That night I made the best brisket I made in my entire life,” said Palmer. “At that point, I was really hooked.”
Palmer continued mastering the craft in his backyard throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and started doing pop-ups in 2021 with original partner Brendan Burke. After Burke left to pursue other interests, Andrade, a welder by trade, was brought on as a partner and pit builder.
Andrade built both a 250-gallon trailer smoker (“Shotty”) and 500-gallon version (“Dante”). Andrade’s family is from Colima, Mexico, and his culinary contributions reflect that background. One of their signature dishes is a smoked pork steak topped with a Colima-style mole and pickled radish and red onions.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Other dishes reflect the culinary diversity of Houston, including mulberry-infused pulled pork that’s stuffed into bao buns and topped with pickled carrots, jalapeños, cilantro and sesame seeds. Classic Central Texas-style brisket, as well as house made sausage and boudin, are part of the action, too.
After a couple of years doing pop-ups and saving the proceeds, Palmer and his wife, Jannica, bought a plot of land in Houston’s East End along Navigation Boulevard with plans to open a permanent location with Andrade.
The Deckle & Hide team have ambitions for more than just a barbecue joint, though. The idea is to create a community event space that celebrates their unique vision of Texas barbecue as well as the many other influences that make Houston such a vibrant and eclectic city.
Deckle & Hide pop-up brings the party back to Texas barbecue
20
0
29.03.2024
The history of Texas barbecue begins with celebration. In the early days, barbecues catering to thousands of guests celebrated community achievements.
In later years, meat markets became the source of Texan’s growing appetite for barbecue. Sometimes we just want to eat our chopped beef sandwich without being serenaded by a fiddle and harmonica.
Follow on Instagram for future dates and locations: @deckle.and.hide
Contemporary barbecue mostly hews to that commercial tradition. Recently, though, pitmasters are going beyond cutting and serving brisket to revisit the tradition of celebration.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
GUIDE: Houston's best barbecue joints
Such is the case with a barbecue pop-up called Deckle & Hide.
Helmed by pitmaster Ralph Palmer and pit builder Daniel Andrade, Deckle & Hide offers a dizzying and wholly original vision of Texas barbecue as a........
© Houston Chronicle
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Rachel Marsden
Donald Low
Bradley Blankenship
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
Michael Kwet
