There\u2019s queso, and then there\u2019s queso laced with Thai Panang curry.<\/p>\n
New cookbook \u201cAsian Smoke\u201d<\/a> \u2014 one of our favorites of the year so far<\/a> \u2014 shares this and other sweet-spicy, smoky-funky recipes for the likes of crying tiger bao buns, brisket curry, smoked chicken pho and beef cheek barbacoa pad see ew.<\/p>\n It\u2019s written by the trio of friends behind Texas and Tennessee restaurant Curry Boys BBQ<\/a>, who combine Southeast Asian flavors with classic Texas barbecue technique, and their book is just as much about reinventing the craft as it is revering it.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas barbecue is steeped in such rich, deep tradition that I think there\u2019s a lot of people who are kind of afraid to buck that,\u201d said Sean Wen, who operates Curry Boys BBQ with Andrew Ho and Andrew Samia. \u201cWe treat it like a religion in Texas. But I think because there are so many more first-gen immigrants and people who have grown up with this food and this idea of Texas barbecue, it\u2019s just become second nature to us to start trying these things with our flavors. \u2026 I think the tide is slowly turning, and I think it\u2019s a really cool thing to see where barbecue is going.\u201d<\/p>\n Ho\u2019s parents often grilled steaks and would serve those or Texas barbecue leftovers with homemade Vietnamese dishes, while Wen\u2019s family would combine Taiwanese and Chinese classics with buckets of fried Church\u2019s Texas Chicken. As they reached adulthood, this blending of flavors spelled comfort.<\/p>\n All three of the restaurateurs were raised in Cypress, Texas, just outside of Houston, though they connected later in life. Ho and Wen cooked together in college and later opened an Asian-inspired curry and seafood boil spot, which closed during the pandemic. Then they tapped pitmaster Samia \u2014 who also owns South BBQ \u2014 to smoke meats with Southeast Asian flair for a Curry Boys pop-up, which became so popular the trio opened a bright pink brick-and-mortar. Then they opened two more.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve racked up two James Beard Foundation Awards semifinalist nods, flowers from Texas Monthly, CNBC and others, and now, a hot-pink cookbook to match their restaurants\u2019 aesthetic.<\/p>\n It\u2019s filled with 120 recipes, many of which require a smoker and\/or a grill, though some \u2014 such as their salads, curry pastes, fish sauce cheddar bay biscuits, Vietnamese-meets-Cajun seafood boil and calamansi bars \u2014 do not.<\/p>\n They walk the line of balance, using the tang of fresh citrus, the funk of fish sauce or the searing heat of spicy curry paste to cut through big, rich Texas barbecue meats.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got super fatty brisket and you mix that with something aromatic and bright and fresh, I think that\u2019s just what your body craves,\u201d said Wen. \u201cI started realizing, every protein we smoke, everything we do, I\u2019d always love to dip it in lime or fish sauce because it mellows out the meat a little bit, or the fat. I think that\u2019s a big part of why it works.\u201d<\/p>\n L.A. locals are also blending these flavors. Winnie Yee of Smoke Queen Barbecue<\/a> introduced her Chinese American smoked meats and sides through pop-ups and a Smorgasburg residency, and now operates a full restaurant in Garden Grove. Chad Phuong, who goes by \u201cthe Cambodian Cowboy,\u201d<\/a> pops up throughout L.A. with Battambong BBQ. Full Send BBQ\u2019s Dominic Cagliero<\/a>, another familiar face at Smorgasburg, weaves Filipino recipes through Texas-style smoked meats.<\/p>\n Wen, Ho and Samia hope their new cookbook can introduce home cooks to this wave of barbecue, with reverence for both Southeast Asian and Texas traditions. And they hope it inspires others to follow suit in sharing their own stories and cuisines.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were excited by the idea of being able to share our food, but it was also just a really cool opportunity to be able to tell our story and how our upbringing as Asian Americans affected the world of barbecue,\u201d said Wen. \u201cI thought that was just a really cool perspective that we wanted people to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n Visit the L.A. Times Food and Now Serving booth at the Festival of Books<\/a> on April 18 and 19 at USC for signings with cookbook authors Roxana Jullapat of Friends & Family<\/a>, Nikki Hill and Claire Wadsworth of La Copine in Yucca Valley<\/a> and other writers from L.A. and beyond. <\/p>\n Eating out this week? Sign up for Tasting Notes<\/a> to get our restaurant experts\u2019 insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they\u2019re dining right now.<\/p>\n Curry Boys BBQ\u2019s Curry Queso<\/p>\n Try your hand at Curry Boys\u2019 global barbecue with this recipe from their new cookbook. This curry queso found its way to the menu after Wen, Ho and Samia created it for a Fourth of July hot dog special. Impressed with the nutty note that Panang curry paste lends to the creamy, classic dip, they added this queso to all three of their locations and it\u2019s become one of their most popular items ever since. It\u2019s served simply with chips, and also smothers their pulled-pork nachos. (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You are reading our Cooking newsletter Sign up to get a taste of Los Angeles \u2014 and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[93736,56909,93738,93741,93737,66225,93735,43572,43567,25103,93742,93740,41021,93739,27,29,28,16820],"class_list":{"0":"post-246401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-caribbean-recipe","9":"tag-curry","10":"tag-dish","11":"tag-good-caribbean-restaurant","12":"tag-hot-sauce","13":"tag-hour","14":"tag-jerked-catfish","15":"tag-l-a","16":"tag-los-angeles-times","17":"tag-minute","18":"tag-restaurant-expert","19":"tag-scotch-bonnet-pepper","20":"tag-spice","21":"tag-spice-courtesy","22":"tag-texas","23":"tag-texas-headlines","24":"tag-texas-news","25":"tag-time"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776004208_856_.jpeg\")
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Get the recipe.<\/a>
Cook time: About 20 minutes. Makes 1 quart.<\/p>\n![\"Curry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776004209_185_.jpeg\")
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