It’s safe to say Karen and I put Tex-Mex at the top of our favorite foods list. Barbecue could be second. We both bootleg brisket from our hometown barbecue restaurant when we visit family. For me, its not a big deal — just throw brisket, sauce, beans, and potato salad in an ice chest in the back of the Tahoe, arrive home about 3 hours later and enjoy. Karen has more challenges getting her treasure back to Indiana. Her mom sometimes has a frozen brisket ready for her to pack and take home. The advance planning broke down once and she actually threw a hot, foil-wrapped brisket in her luggage on the way to the airport. Can you even imagine the reaction from the TSA canine security force? Drugs? Explosives? No, woof, woof! There’s beef in this suitcase!!
I have to admit to cheating on our first barbecue love in recent years because we just don’t get home often enough for our barbecue fix, and 
frankly, it is pretty easy to cheat in Texas. There is a barbecue place on practically every corner. Seriously. I’ve also started dabbling in some home cooking barbecue recipes as well. Not the slow, pit-cooked barbecue famous in Texas. I’m more about integrating interesting barbecue sauces into my every day recipes, and an opportunity recently presented itself when a pot roast I cooked did not produce the melt-in-your-mouth result I expected. In fact, it was so tough I considered throwing it out. Fortunately, I had just picked up a bottle of Meyer’s Elgin Smokehouse Original Barbecue Sauce, so crockpot barbecue seemed like a good rescue option. What did I have to lose?
I shredded the roast beef and threw it into the crockpot, covered it generously with Meyer’s Original Barbecue Sauce, and cooked it on low temperature for about 3 hours. As the beef simmered slowly in the sauce, the aroma whetted our appetites and Meyer’s definitely saved the day. The sauce had the expected spicy kick, but it wasn’t uncomfortably hot. The sweet balance was just about right, too. Best of all, the tough as cowhide roast beef was now deliciously tender barbecue on a bun, served along with German Potato Salad made by my grandmother’s family recipe. Happiness all around!
Since the roast beef rescue, we brushed Meyer’s Original Barbecue Sauce on burgers while they grilled, and had some awesome spicy barbecue cheeseburgers. We will be repeating that often during this grilling season.
The Meyer family began their barbecue dynasty in the late 1800’s with Harry Meyer making sausage from his German family’s recipe for friends and family. His son, R.G. Meyer carried on the tradition and founded Meyer’s Sausage Company in 1949. Another two generations later, great-grandsons Gregg and Gary Meyer preside over “Cue-topia”, a meaty empire of ribs, brisket, sausage, smoked turkey, and more available for online ordering. They also offer tempting sauces, rubs and marinades for barbecue DIYers. Check out their great barbecue combos, including a Texas BBQ Cookout package for $135 that feeds 20 people. Do the math on that deal, then add bonus points because you aren’t the one standing over the hot smoker for hours!
Meyer’s savory products are promoted on the website with a heaping side dish of sassy; these Texas guys definitely have a sense of humor as evidenced by their toll-free number: 1.800.MRS.OINK. I laughed my way through the entire website. Stop by Cue-topia online and prepare for your mouth to water! We are planning a trip to Austin in a couple of months, and we will definitely be traveling about a half-hour east to Elgin to experience Cue-topia in person.
Foods We Love 