-We're in the middle of Texas,
and there are people online
from all over the world
to try this food.
I'm working with masters here
that have been working
with barbecue their entire life.
Miss Tootsie is in her mid 80s.
She does not stop.
After one day of this,
being up all night, I feel shot.
♪♪
It's 4:00 in the morning,
the cows are mooing,
it's in front of Snow's BBQ.
They're known for having some of
the best barbecue in the world.
Briscuit, sausage, pork.
- This one is the chicken.
-Ooh. [ Laughs ]
Look at those beauties.
-They all went on
at 2:00 o'clock.
-Tell me about the ribs.
Like, what's the style of ribs
that you do?
Is there a dry rub, or...?
-Yeah, everything is dry rub.
Everything is just
salt and pepper.
That's all she had used
for years
and that's all
we've used from day one.
-Do you love coming down here
in the morning?
-If I didn't,
I wouldn't be doing it
over 50 years, if I didn't.
-That's a good point.
-There's not a kid,
no one
that can keep up with her.
She's 84 years old.
-I believe it.
-You want a mop?
-I don't want to get in the way,
Miss Tootsie, so whatever, uh --
however I can help, you know...
-I can tell you if you get
in her way, she'll tell you.
-The reason I call it mop is
because my stick actually
is like a miniature house mop.
So, this consists of bacon
and onion and chopping it up,
boiling it until it's clear,
then I add a pound of margarine,
then add dried mustard,
Worcestershire sauce,
and vinegar.
To me, I always consider basting
by using a brush,
and I do this various times
during the morning.
No particular time when I do it
or why I do it now or so forth,
it's just something that I do
during the time
that I'm cooking.
-Can I help you?
And rub on this row
right here, right?
Do you dip every time
you hit a new one, or...?
-You can go two or three
as long as you're...
-I got enough on it.
-...your mop is still wet, damp.
-What do you think
the temperature is of these?
-Hmm, I have no idea.
I don't use gauges.
I never cooked with a gauge.
My temperature
is the feel of the hand.
Go ahead and shut it.
I'm gonna put more fire under it
because it -- it's very cool.
♪♪
-Flaming hot.
And how many briscuits
do you go through?
How many chickens?
-Normally, chickens is about
three to four cases.
Pork shoulder steak will be
130 or 140 pounds of pork steak.
We've been kind of steady on 45,
50 sides of ribs,
anywhere from 60
to 80 briscuits, usually.
This is still ongoing.
It's never automatic.
It's different every day
how the fire will burn,
how the wood will burn.
You're learning all the time.
When you think
you've mastered it,
then there's always
something to learn.
-When did you guys start here?
How long have you been around?
-Opened up March of '03.
And what made you get
into the business?
Uh, Miss Tootsie had had
a market over here katty corner
and cooked on Saturdays
the whole time I was growing up.
I just felt like the combination
with us would do good.
I wouldn't have done it
without her.
A lot of people
in this neighborhood
have grown up eating
Miss Tootsie's food,
eating at the market.
-Is this your job?
Is this all you do?
-No, no, no, everybody --
Miss Tootsie still works
full time
for the Giddings school,
my daughters,
the ladies inside,
we just open it on Saturdays.
-As a kid growing up, three,
four years old,
I mean, the meat markets
here in town
would always have barbecue
on Saturday.
-Briscuit has become, like,
a huge commodity item
these days.
What is it like
watching that change?
-When we had our meat market,
briscuit was just coming in.
Uh, I had meat salesmen
that would have
a box of briscuit on the trucks,
and they said, "You need to try
this briscuits."
-So it wasn't even popular
back then?
-It wasn't popular back then,
mnh-mnh.
Mnh-mnh.
-What do you think caused
the briscuit
to become
the main item in barbecue?
-Well, actually,
it was the cheapest cut
of meat you could buy.
But somebody has gone
and cooked it and seasoned it up
and cut it the proper way,
and have a delicious briscuit.
-Well, Miss Tootsie,
is that a nickname,
or is that the --
-No, that's a nickname.
My uncle, when I was an infant,
came over and he said,
"I got to go in and see
my little tootsie wootsie is."
Tootsie stuck.
-Yeah, that --
-I had a cameraman here one day.
He wanted a picture
of the fire boxes.
The damn crazy bastard,
pardon the way I say it,
laid down between those two --
"It's hot down here."
Well, what do you expect
laying between fire?
People say, "I know everything
there is to know
about barbecuing."
Well, good.
I can't see it that way.
-What is your routine like here
on a normal Friday night
into Saturday?
-Well, I get here at 2:00, I put
my onions on to start the mop,
put the fire under the pits
for the meat,
put the meat on,
the chickens and pork, ribs.
Clay comes in Friday night
and there's no sleeping then
on Friday night.
-I love what I do.
I love it.
I used to take naps.
Now I don't have to take a nap.
It's usually close to 30 hours
by the time I go to bed.
-So this is your main gig?
-Yeah.
-You don't have something else
during the week?
-No, I can't, I can't.
-There's too much going on.
-Well, I don't want
to do anything else.
-Right.
-This is kind of like --
This is it.
I don't make a ton of money,
you know?
Once I started cooking here,
it was like,
I'm happy right where I am.
-Being able to be around people
like Kerry and Tootsie
and kind of soak up
some of that knowledge.
-Get to know the woman
that's been doing this
for 50 years that I've idolized.
-I had some cooks in Brooklyn,
especially Di Fara's
or Mark at Lucali's.
I would just go there as a kid
and stand
and watch them, you know?
-Yeah.
-Just -- just to go watch.
-Yeah.
-And now I'm able to do it
on my own and, uh,
it's very fulfilling.
-So, this is the briscuit.
Everything's wrapped in tinfoil.
So I'm looking for a jiggle.
There's always gonna be a break
in the middle
of the point and flat.
-Oh, I see what you mean,
that jiggle.
-Want to go look at some ribs?
-Beautiful.
I'd love to.
-So I'm gonna have you mop.
Just gonna be like that.
-Got you.
A little baste on top.
Do you dip it every one?
-I do.
It's gonna have, like,
a crust to it,
almost like a jerky crust.
And these ribs are cooked
bone-side down the whole time.
In Texas, we don't take off the
skin on the back of the ribs.
I guess that helps me
out a little bit.
So basically, I'm just watching
not to burn the bone side.
-It smells delicious.
Just the time that goes into it
and basting it every so often,
they're just gonna
be next-level.
This is beautiful, man.
This is what it's all about.
-Pick up one of these.
Definitely feel it.
-So this is one that's done.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you can see the --
the meat kind of coming apart
when you bend it a little bit.
-They'll sit in here until 8:00,
so they're gonna soften up
a little bit more.
-Even as these are coming out,
we're still gonna add
a little bit of flavor to these,
let it kind of soak in
while they sit and rest.
-All right,
that's it for right now.
♪♪
-It's 7:23 right now,
the sun just rise.
So, the briscuits,
they're about ready.
-Feel every one.
Feel free.
Feel them all.
Because if you feel one that's
a little stiffer, you tell me.
-That one's --
Oh, they feel perfect, yeah.
Oh yeah.
This one right here Clay
was just telling me it's money.
You can see when you bend it,
it's got that jiggle,
the juices dripping off.
-Are you ready for the test?
-I am ready for the test.
-All right, go find me
three on there that are done.
-Let's do it.
I mean, this one --
this one feels good.
It's got some of that juice
that's coming out
like the last few.
Hopefully I don't disappoint
the pitmaster. Whoa.
Oh, I dropped it a little hard?
Can I bust it
by dropping it too hard?
Yeah.
Yeah, okay.
I'll make sure
I'm a little more careful.
I just got my first little
bit of sass there.
-Yeah, yeah.
It's all right.
I knew that was gonna happen.
-I feel welcome.
-Yeah.
You're initiated now.
-Working with Tootsie,
what has it been like for you
learning from someone
with knowledge like that?
-You know, I couldn't ask
for anyone else to learn from.
Working with her, I was nervous
when I first started.
I wasn't used to staying up
for 24 hours with her
and doing all this,
so it took a while.
-This Texas heat,
after one day of this,
kind of being up all night,
getting here early,
I feel shot, so I could imagine
how she's doing right now.
-For her, you know,
she's probably a little tired,
but that's not gonna stop her
from going home,
doing all of her chores.
-You're here all week long doing
stuff, but what does Tootsie do?
-So, she's a custodial director
for the school.
She does that five
or six days a week.
-Wow.
-She loves barbecue,
but she loves to work hard.
-There's nothing like
a hard day's work, right?
You get home, you just
feel good about yourself.
-You feel great, man.
You feel great.
-What do you think, man?
I tried, I came in here,
I got to spend
some time with you,
I got yelled at a little bit
by Tootsie, not too bad.
-You did great.
If you got yelled at,
you're doing great.
That's how you move forward.
-That's how you move forward.
-Thank you so much.
-Thanks, man.
-That means a lot to me.
8:03 in the morning
right now, folks.
We have a line outside.
These guys have a cooler full
of free beer, have a tip bucket.
You get inside and it's
a beautiful setup
with delicious barbecue
and friendly people.
-Can you help me get
some jalapeño and some chicken?
-Some jalapeño, some chicken?
You got it.
Wow, those sausages look great.
Got some chicken,
got some jalapeño links.
Right behind you.
Pardon me.
And scoop them there.
All right, what can I get you?
-Can I get a pound
of moist briscuit?
-One pound of moist briscuit.
Straight down?
Go ahead, show me the trick.
-Okay.
You can even stand it up.
-Oh, that makes sense.
And you follow the bone.
Damn!
I'ma hand it over
to the pros now.
-You done already?
-I --
You know I've been here
since 4:00, right?
You know, it's not
as easy at it looks.
It takes a little time
and practice to get it right,
whether it be cutting ribs
specifically, cutting briscuit,
slicing the pizza.
You know, it never really comes
naturally the first time
you do it.
It takes a little muscle memory.
We have the pork shoulder,
we have a half chicken,
this delicious briscuit
with an amazing crust on it,
we have pork ribs, the sausage
that's really special,
and then, of course, the sides.
I mean, coleslaw, beans.
Here in Texas,
this is how you do it.
Oh, man.
Wow. Those ribs might be
my favorite thing on this plate.
Just has a texture on the
outside that's delicious,
meat falls apart in your mouth.
It's fatty,
but it's not too fatty,
you get a lot of meat in it,
kind of sucking it off the bone.
Proper Texas barbecue.
What more can you ask for?
Salud.
What really tells me that they
are true masters and great cooks
is that they even admit
that there's no such thing
as not learning anymore.
There are different variables
that you have to work through,
whether it's the atmosphere,
whether it's the heat.
This is one of those places
that they get all that,
they understand
that no matter how long
and how hard you try
to understand
something like barbecue,
you'll never learn it all.
I feel the same way about pizza.
This place really touches
my soul
because there's no pretension.
There's just good food
cooked with a lot of time,
a lot of experience,
and served in a very casual way.
No frills, no bullshit --
great barbecue.
♪♪
Not doing?
No?
You tired?
-I'm worn out.
-Yeah.
Go home.
-I have too much work to do.
-[ Laughs ]
