A review of historical cycles in capitalist production — how products are made and consumed — might seem like an unusual way to begin an end-of-the-decade survey of contemporary Texas barbecue. But it’s especially useful to understand the rise of the craft movement that emphasizes uniqueness and quality.
This being Houston, let’s use gasoline as an example. With the rise of the automobile in the early 1900s, consumers faced a choice of gas to power their cars, from good quality (cars ran smooth) to bad (cars ran rough or not at all). Credible oil producers differentiated their good product with names such as “Premium,” “Supreme,” “Quality” and the most famous of all, “Standard.”
Indeed, Standard Oil Co. and its later incarnations were conceived in the belief that consumers didn’t want to think or worry about the quality of gas, that they just wanted a commodity — a standard — they could count on every time they filled up.
This commoditization of the gasoline industry lives on today; unless you drive a Ferrari, when was the last time you bought gas based on any other factor than price and convenience?
Gatlin’s BBQ
3510 Ella
Meanwhile, postwar America was marked by a wealthier middle class, which paralleled a rise in the number of restaurants where disposable income could be spent. But before the days of newspaper restaurant reviews and later Yelp, it was hard to know which restaurants provided quality and safe food to eat.
In response, entrepreneurs including Ray Croc transformed McDonald’s into the quintessential fast-food chain by emphasizing quality, consistency, convenience and cleanliness.
This commoditization of the food industry arguably reached its zenith in the frozen TV dinner, a product that sacrificed the differentiating qualities of flavor and freshness for convenience and pasteurized safety.
Barbecue did not escape the trend. “Modern conveniences” translated to the set-it-and-forget-it gas ovens that proliferated in Texas barbecue throughout the 1970s and ’80s. Like other industries, barbecue went from a spectrum of high-and-low-quality products to a spate of low-to-average-quality, commodity-driven smoked meats.
The backlash began in the 1990s. Our collective delusion about the benefit of TV dinners gave way to a growing demand for “artisanal” food preparation, with differentiation between good and bad more easily recognizable by the popularity of food writing and the launch of media outlets including the Food Network. Consider Lidia Bastianich, Martin Yan and Emeril Lagasse, all of whom promoted the diverse qualities of food cultures, ingredients and techniques rather than the homogenization that marked the recent past.
Pitmasters also discovered a pent-up demand for unique, high-quality products for which consumers were willing to pay a premium.
Beginning with Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Franklin Barbecue in Austin and Gatlin’s BBQ in Houston, barbecue that emphasized craft techniques and top-notch ingredients became the prevailing trend in Texas barbecue’s long history.
Curiously, the pendulum of this history may be swinging back to a form of commoditization.
For instance, pitmaster Aaron Franklin is well-known for his “no secrets” approach to barbecue in which he has created dozens of online videos detailing how to cook his version of Central Texas-style barbecue. Most of the new barbecue in Texas, the U.S. and around the world is based on this playbook, with the same techniques and ingredients.
Homogenization may have been a boon for the gasoline industry, but it is not necessarily a great fit for the barbecue business.
Also, craft-barbecue joints such as Pinkerton’s Barbecue in Houston have recently been in expansion mode, attempting what many thought impossible: producing high-quality smoked meats in multiple locations and at higher volumes. And in New York, Mighty Quinn’s BBQ is attempting to apply a restaurant-chain franchising model to craft barbecue.
It does seem like a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too moment for Texas barbecue. Replicating unique, high-quality, small-batch barbecue in multiple locations and at high volume may seem like a contradiction in terms. Yet as the cycles of history accelerate, we may already be seeing the beginnings of the commoditization of craft barbecue.
jcreid@jcreidtx.com
twitter.com/jcreidtx
"craft" - Google News
December 28, 2019
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10 years of craft barbecue: how we got here and where we’re going - Houston Chronicle
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