Hisako Roberts and Tim Ader
The Salt Lick Bar BQ
Driftwood TX
http://www.saltlickbbq.com
When Hisako and Thurman Roberts´ children became of school age, the Texas native and his Hawaiian-born wife decided to change their nomadic life of traveling around the state while he built bridges.
They drew up a list of what they could do to support the family from the resources of their 750-acre farm in Driftwood, a town of two hundred souls about thirty miles from Austin. At the top of the list of more than fifty options was starting a barbecue restaurant, and ever since The Salt Lick has been serving up beef barbecue and potato salad.
The barbecue sauce, a secret recipe that is mopped on the briskets and ribs as they grill and also flavors the potato salad, is a sweet and sour salad dressing with more than fifteen spices and Worcestershire sauce.
The Salt Lick takes two days to barbecue a brisket. Each morning Tim Ader, who has been using Roberts´ method since he started cooking at the restaurant, starts by placing cardboard boxes under the grills and creating a huge fire to burn off the barbecue sauce. He then creates a fire with mesquite wood, and rubs the whole briskets with a mixture of salt, black pepper, and cayenne.
On the first day, the briskets are cooked for twelve hours. After an initial searing of thirty minutes to seal the meat, they are turned over a 200 F fire every forty-five minutes, and are basted almost constantly with barbecue sauce.
That night, the briskets are chilled. The next day they are placed over an even cooler part of the fire, at the back of the grill, and cooked for four to five hours. The wood fire and mopping sauce work their magic over and over. Customers line up for the good stuff, and the Roberts top-of-the-list idea proves the best idea over and over again.
