A Venerated Barbecue Chop Shop
New Braunfels Smokehouse
By Howie Doyle
Because I'm a fair weather chopped beef sandwich
fan, my recent visit to New Braunfels Smokehouse was
an experience worth sharing. When I get a good one,
it's high on my list of culinary pleasures. When I
get a bad one – and I mean a really bad one – then
it is generally a long time before I will even try
one again.
I figure it runs in five year cycles. I'll eat a
great chopped beef sandwich, and maybe have one or
two more that are acceptable-to-good, and then hit
that big chopped beef pothole in the road that
signals a multi-year hiatus.
What constitutes a bad chopped beef sandwich?
It's hard to totally mess up one by flavor alone.
Even though the sauce must be excellent to have an
overall excellent sandwich, even Denny's could
produce an acceptable chopped beef sandwich if they
could prepare the meat correctly.
The number one rating killer of chopped beef
quality is fat and gristle. Perhaps those who don't
eat chopped beef think of it as a dumping ground for
all of the parts of the cow that hifalutin' sliced
brisket eaters won't touch. By tradition,
restaurateurs have considered a hamburger bun the
rug under which the last of the fat trimmings are
swept. It is true that chopping the beef and
covering it with sauce makes it a bit harder to
detect imperfections in the meat. When you bite into
a chopped beef sandwich, it is an act of faith.
Because you trust the cook to prepare it the way you
would prepare it yourself, it is a shock (and a
betrayal of trust) to bite into rubbery gristle.
I know there are otherwise civilized folks who
like fat on their steak, for whom such an encounter
would be nothing but a minor inconvenience. Then
there are those like me, who react like a scorned
soulmate, forsaking chopped beef for years until the
harsh memory is forgotten.
Understanding this simple fat/gristle principle
virtually assures one of having a good chopped beef
sandwich. Whether the meat is cubed, chipped,
shredded or anything short of pureed, it will be a
good sandwich even if the sauce is canned.
A chopped beef sandwich as fantastic as the one I
had at New Braunfels Smokehouse, however, is a rare
encounter. Tangy, flavorful sauce tumbled a bit more
than sparingly with shredded, gristle-free beef,
served on a good old-fashioned hamburger bun. With
that act of faith – my first bite – the clouds
parted, the angels sang, and my tastebuds each had
its own epiphany in perfect unison. It was the
gourmand's equivalent of the perfect chord, and I
relished every morsel.
It is worth mentioning that I pushed my appetite
to excess with dessert, a cinnamon apple dumpling,
served with vanilla ice cream, a generous portion
that was so delicious I ate every bit of it – even
though I was “full” by my usual standards before I
took the first bite.
The fact that I was miserable when I left the
restaurant was no one's fault but my own (I “chopped
'til I dropped”). Under the best of circumstances,
chopped beef is probably a bit of an indulgence.
However, it will probably be a while before I eat
another chopped beef sandwich – just because the
memory of perfection is too recent – unless my
travels take me back to New Braunfels.
The restaurant is located on a beautiful
four-and-a-half acre tract under a bigger-than-life
canopy of stately oak trees. The business was
founded in 1943 – originally it was an ice plant
where customers would store their meat and have it
smoked – that evolved into a proper restaurant with
the addition of a tasting room in 1952. German
descendant Rocky Tays, the “Smokemaster” who
oversees all meat smoking and preparation, has been
doing that job (and well!) for over 40 years.
New Braunfels Smokehouse has opened two
restaurant locations in San Antonio, and has
operated a mail order business since the 1960s. In
1969 the company obtained USDA approval to ship its
products nationwide, fueling growth to the point
where they now print over a million catalogs
annually, and ship to about 150,000 customers. (They
also offer discounts for those ordering items as
corporate gifts.)
New Braunfels Smokehouse is located near
Interstate 35 at 140 Highway 46 South in New
Braunfels.
For more information:
New Braunfels Chamber of
Commerce
www.nbcham.org or (830) 625-2385
New Braunfels Smokehouse
www.nbsmokehouse.com or (830)
625-2416
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