I really have no better title for this post than just that.

I’m watching a show called “Barbeque Paradise” on the Travel Channel and basically I’m drooling all over my laptop wishing I was licking my fingers at some hole-in-the-wall Texas BBQ joint.

Just to clarify: bbq = meat with sauce or rub (many times this meat is smoked low and slow); grilled = anything cooked over a fire.

So now that we’ve got the vocabulary out of the way, let’s talk bbq!  My love of flame-cooked food began during my middle-school and high-school camp days eating my Summer Sunday meals cooked over an open campfire.  Later, in my college years I spent a summer with my sister and brother-in-law and it was then that I fell in love with the art of grilling.  Of course, I have to thank my brother-in-law for his graciousness while I commandeered his grill all summer long.

Thus the beginning of my love affair with fire-grilled food.  I have created various sauce and marinade concoctions.  I learned almost everything I know about grilling and marinade-making from one of the first cookbooks I purchased, Grilling: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Flavor.  I love to grill smoked sausage and just at the end, I slather a bit o’ sweet n’ tangy sauce on there to carmelize over the flame right before serving.

Sometimes I’ll marinade some beef tips in a McCormick’s Mesquite Marinade Mix which is not only an amazing alliteration, but it is a delicious way to flavor your food.  My favorite use of these Grill Mates Mixes is to cut the meat small, skewer it along with my favorite veggies like zucchini, yellow squash, pepper and onion, grill and serve over steamed white rice…mmmMMMMmmm.

Seriously, can you HEAR my stomach roaring?!

But I lost my focus a little here, we were talking about BBQ, not grilling weren’t we?  Well, I’m certainly no expert on BBQ since I’ve really only had a limited sampling from those around Southern Texas.  But I can tell you about the ones I’ve tasted.  I was never a big fan of the franchise BBQ’s such as Bill Miller–not bad for a quick fix, but definitely not the best.  Rudy’s BBQ is next up the line with what I think is better quality brisket and tastier sauce.  But my all-time, finger-lickin’ hands down, favorite BBQ is found in Dripping Springs Texas at the cash-only Salt Lick BBQ.

*Drool*

Seriously friends, THIS is the place to go and if its not on your way, the detour is totally worth it!  I mean, where else can you BYOB and get free meat refills?  Yeah, let me say that again, when you order the family style dinner you get FREE. MEAT. REFILLS.  Yep, I swear its true.  And, you can ask for a to-go box when you’re too full to eat the rest.  Salt Lick uses a unique sauce and a slow smoke that is BBQ just the way I love it!

So tell me, where is your favorite BBQ?