The Lone Star State is big on barbecue, but its regional styles differ across Texas. For starters, the Central Texas approach to cooking is low and slow over indirect heat and with hardwoods such as oak or mesquite. The meat is also rubbed in salt and pepper and served straight from the pit that it's prepared in. As for South Texas, this region is generally related to barbacoa (a Mexican-style of meat preparation). East Texas is slow-cooked so much that the meat falls off the bone, and West Texas is noted for cooking more so on direct heat.
Where to eat: In Austin, Franklin Barbecue, for its 12- to 18-hour smoked brisket, pork ribs, beef-and-pork sausage and turkey; Lamberts, for its contemporary take on Texas cuisine; and Iron Works BBQ, for its beef ribs and traditional Central Texas beef brisket. An hour east of Austin, Snow's BBQ in Lexington is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. until it has sold out; Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano gives a taste of Texas Hill Country, in particular with its two-inch-thick, bone-in pork chop.
