Whole hog at Pinkerton’s Barbecue Upper Kirby
J.C. Reid/Contributor
The dining room at Pinkerton’s Barbecue in Upper Kirby
J.C. Reid/Contributor
Beef link, biscuit, pork belly, hush puppies, sweet potatoes, cheesecake, stewed okra, pork jowl and pork shoulder at Pinkerton’s Barbecue Upper Kirby
J.C. Reid/Contributor
Piece of pork with dip at Pinkerton’s Barbecue Upper Kirby
J.C. Reid/Contributor
I’ve never been a big fan of Carolina-style barbecue.
To be sure, I’ve had great barbecue as well as bad in North and South Carolina, like anywhere else.
But even the great barbecue doesn’t particularly suit my personal taste. To start, I’m not a big fan of vinegar, tomatoes or mustard in barbecue, so the sauces don’t help.
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My impression of this barbecue is a plate of stringy bits of hog meat with a faint musty flavor, interspersed with tooth-shattering nuggets of crispy pig skin, and covered in one of those aforementioned sauces.
Certainly, this style represents one of the great traditions in all of American cuisine, and Carolinians swear by it and sincerely enjoy eating it. Respect is deserved. Whether it has evolved to meet modern tastes is another matter worthy of debate.
Carolina-style barbecue has never gained a serious foothold in Texas due to the entrenched smoked-meat traditions here, but I also suspect that there are quite a few Texans who share my lack of enthusiasm for the style.
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And yet, pulled pork is on almost every Texas barbecue joint menu, though often just as an afterthought.
Aside from ribs and belly, establishing a great tradition of pork in Texas barbecue has been elusive.
Enter the Upper Kirby location of Pinkerton’s Barbecue. Here Grant Pinkerton has introduced a new type of whole hog barbecue to Texas.
Unlike the well-known Carolina tradition where a whole hog is splayed and cooked flat on direct heat, Pinkerton leaves the relatively small 175-pound Duroc pig intact and smokes it in an Ole Hickory pit known for hog cooking in barbecue competitions as well as in places like Missouri and Tennessee.
After it’s cooked, instead of breaking it down into cuts that can be served quickly from the order counter, Pinkerton transfers the whole cooked hog to a smoker behind the order counter.
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Customers can point to the part of the pig they want carved off and served to them, or just order from a menu of the most popular cuts like belly, jowl (cheek), and loin.
Notably, Pinkerton removes the skin from much of the hog before cooking, allowing the hickory smoke and liquid baste to create a bark-like crust not unlike brisket.
The result is a new standard for pork barbecue in Texas. Take the belly for instance. As the hog cooks upright and intact, much of the juices (drippings) seep to the bottom and soak the belly with flavor.
Other cuts like the jowl and loin are carved off the hog and then coated with a “dipney” or dip which is a type of vinegar-based sauce or mop.
But instead of an overwhelming flavor of vinegar, it is balanced with a good amount of sweetness. It’s a great complement to the richness of the pork.
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Here, Pinkerton is transforming Texans’ image of pulled pork as dry and vinegary to a much more contemporary taste that’s tender, moist and slightly sweet.
And the ability to choose your exact cut at the counter taps into the performative ritual that Texas barbecue has become.
For now, whole hog is available only on Saturdays, as Pinkerton tests whether the concept will catch on locally.
It already has my vote as one of the most compelling barbecue offerings in Texas. And for Carolinians passing through, it may feel both intriguing, and maybe even inspiring.
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Pinkerton’s Barbecue Upper Kirby
3801 Farnham; pinkertonsbarbecue.com
Open lunch & dinner Tues.-Sun.
Whole hog available Saturdays only.