"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across the Dallas-Fort Worth area to find the best barbecue in the city. They'll be visiting four locations in two days to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
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00:00All right, my man, best barbecue in Texas.
00:03We are starting off this adventure
00:05here in Dallas-Fort Worth.
00:06Dallas-Fort Worth is the most populated area in Texas
00:09and the fourth largest metropolitan area
00:12in the United States.
00:13Now, why am I telling you that?
00:14That's because there's a lot of people here
00:15and they all love barbecue.
00:17I've never been to Texas before.
00:18First time here.
00:19What do you think?
00:20I'm enjoying it so far.
00:20It's hot.
00:21It's very large.
00:22I'm spending a lot of time in cars again.
00:23It's an adjustment from London.
00:25But when Brits think of American barbecue,
00:27Texas is probably the style that we're thinking of.
00:29Is that right?
00:30Yeah, I know there are lots of other places that do it,
00:32like the Carolinas.
00:33Yeah, Kansas City.
00:34Kansas.
00:35Yeah, Memphis.
00:35But I think Texas, from a British perspective,
00:37is probably the number one.
00:39So I'm really excited to try it.
00:40Yes, yes, yes.
00:41Texas Monthly, every four years,
00:43does a 50 best barbecue places in Texas.
00:47Right, like the Barbecue Olympics.
00:48Yeah, the Barbecue, yeah, exactly.
00:49The last one came out in 2021.
00:51We're currently shooting this in 2024.
00:53So as of right now, the list we're going up still stands
00:55and there's something like 12 of the top 50
00:58that are in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.
01:00Now you can see why we're starting here.
01:02I can, yeah, they're doing barbecue.
01:03They're doing it well.
01:04We're starting off this adventure
01:05here at Panther City Barbecue.
01:08I mean, they were number 10 on the list.
01:09That's a pretty big deal, right?
01:11This place is iconic.
01:13Panther City started as a food truck,
01:15I think about eight years ago,
01:17doing barbecue competitions.
01:19Eventually got to own Brick and Mortar Spot,
01:20which we're here at.
01:22Now, at all the places we're gonna be going to
01:24on this trip, definitely gotta do brisket.
01:26Brisket is like kind of the unofficial meat of Texas.
01:29Also gonna do ribs, mostly pork, sometimes it'll be beef.
01:32We'll be doing some fun sides or specific menu things
01:35that each place has to kind of get a feel
01:37of what they have to offer.
01:39But yeah, this is gonna be really awesome.
01:41We're gonna eat a lot.
01:42It's gonna be a lot of fun.
01:44I'm also worried about our health.
01:46So I mean, coming from the UK,
01:53we don't really do barbecue
01:54the same way that you guys do barbecue.
01:55I think what we call barbecue,
01:56you guys would more call grilling.
01:58Ah, yeah, yeah.
01:59Quickly cooking things over high heat in your backyard.
02:01Yeah, the terms kind of overlap.
02:03So for real barbecue, especially Texas barbecue,
02:05the name of the game is low and slow.
02:07Everything that we're gonna be eating today
02:08is probably cooked somewhere around 250, 275.
02:11I don't know what that is in Celsius.
02:13I mean, they're cooking this meat for hours.
02:15I think the guy in the pits said he got here at 4 a.m.
02:17Ooh, no thanks.
02:19I'm not a morning person, are you?
02:21No, are you kidding me?
02:22There are very few things I love enough
02:24to get up and do them at four in the morning.
02:26Are you kidding me?
02:27You see me at a place of business at 4 a.m.,
02:29it's because I'm robbing it.
02:31Anyway, I'm starving, dude.
02:33Me too.
02:34It is a little past 10.
02:35I'm ready to eat some barbecue.
02:36Yeah, it seems like barbecue early is a thing over here.
02:39People getting in line.
02:40I think it's time to go order.
02:44Okay, I am beyond excited.
02:46Right?
02:47This looks phenomenal.
02:48This looks absolutely incredible.
02:49Number 10 in the entire state,
02:51and now we already can see why.
02:53All right, we got the brisket,
02:54as described before, slow cooked for hours and hours.
02:57Look how juicy that looks.
02:59Then they got the ribs over here.
03:01They got sausage over here.
03:02Jalapeno popper burnt ends.
03:04Thank you, Texas.
03:06Thank you, Texas.
03:08God bless America.
03:08You read my mind.
03:09God bless America.
03:10This should be on your flag.
03:11Yes.
03:12And we got the brisket elote,
03:13which clearly they shaved up some brisket,
03:15put it on, delicious corn,
03:17and I don't know, some beans.
03:19Some beans.
03:20Making me feel at home with the baked beans.
03:22I got you beans.
03:22I appreciate that.
03:23Yeah.
03:24Where do you want to start?
03:25Oh, I don't know, man.
03:26It all looks so good.
03:27Brisket, I guess.
03:27Yeah.
03:28It's kind of like the go-to.
03:29And we got this piece right here.
03:31So you can barely even pick it up
03:32without it falling apart.
03:33Mm-hmm.
03:34Oh, look at the color of that bar.
03:35I know.
03:36Look how good this looks.
03:37Oh, man.
03:38It's incredible.
03:38Oh, yeah.
03:39I'm going to talk about this bar
03:40in a second.
03:41Cheers, man.
03:42Yeah.
03:45Oh my God.
03:46Dude, that's perfect.
03:48That's so, I can't talk.
03:51That'd be like usually a salt and pepper rub,
03:54like a coarse black pepper and kosher salt rub.
03:56Yeah.
03:57Also, to bind everything together,
04:00some places will use apple cider vinegar.
04:02This place specifically does a mustard
04:04that's cut with pickle juice,
04:06which hearing that, I'd be like,
04:07what's that all about?
04:08But it adds an incredible tanginess
04:10to the flavor of this entire meat,
04:12which is unbelievable.
04:14That bark is perfect.
04:16You can tell the brisket is just so unbelievably juicy.
04:21Look at the juice in this thing, dude.
04:22Brisket especially can be a bit of a fattier cut of meat
04:25because it's like right up here.
04:26It's like right where the cow's got arms
04:28and it's like here or whatever.
04:30And because of that,
04:31it has a lot of connective tissue and fat.
04:33When you cook it slow and low in one of these pits,
04:36two things are happening.
04:37Number one, the connective tissue and the fat is melting.
04:39So all of that is kind of just absorbing
04:42into the meat, right?
04:43And that's why brisket, when cooked properly,
04:46just falls apart, melt in your mouth.
04:48Don't need, you can cut it with a spoon.
04:49Really nice.
04:51Various areas of the country in Texas
04:52prefer their different types of wood.
04:54This place specifically, Panther City,
04:56is doing a post oak
04:58and that has a profound effect on the flavor.
05:02So good.
05:03Like the texture,
05:04it's just not something that we get in the UK.
05:07What do you think no one's doing in the UK?
05:08There's a lot of tradition and history behind it,
05:10I'm sure, in the US that I guess we just don't quite share.
05:12Yeah.
05:13You going in on the ribs?
05:14I'm tempted.
05:15Like, just look at the color on that.
05:16The bark on those ribs.
05:18I love ribs so much.
05:18Yeah.
05:19These look absolutely incredible
05:20and they're just so...
05:22Again, like the juiciness, man.
05:23It's that slow cooking, right?
05:24Mm-hmm.
05:30Absolutely wow.
05:31Oh yeah.
05:32Absolutely wow.
05:34A little sweet,
05:35a little, not too sweet,
05:36a little tiny bit of sweetness.
05:38Sweet kissed.
05:39Mm-hmm.
05:40The texture on that is so good.
05:42I think when we had the LA barbecue,
05:44I was talking about like how I like my ribs.
05:46Yeah.
05:47And this is like pretty much exactly the texture I want.
05:49Really?
05:49Because I wouldn't say it like falls off the bone.
05:51Like you can tug it a little bit
05:53and it's not just going to slide clean off.
05:55I love it.
05:56A little bit of bite to it.
05:57I love it flimsy.
05:57I love it falling off the bone.
05:59Yeah, I love that.
06:00Same with the brisket.
06:01Obviously cooked for hours.
06:03All that flavor's locked in there.
06:05Right?
06:06Look how juicy those are.
06:07The way they're doing the bark here as well
06:09with the ribs particularly.
06:10Yeah.
06:11It forms this kind of like distinct,
06:12like crispy skin layer.
06:14Almost like a sort of like rib candy.
06:16They got sauce on the table,
06:17so they're encouraging us to sauce.
06:19But as of right now,
06:20I've not tasted anything where I'm like,
06:21I should put sauce on this.
06:22No, me neither.
06:23Let me do a little sauce bump.
06:25Good sauce?
06:27Yeah.
06:28Tangy, vinegary.
06:31It's got some heat to it.
06:32Yoo-hoo!
06:33Yoo-hoo!
06:34Ooh, yeah.
06:34That's really good.
06:36A little something if you're a little homesick.
06:37Sausage, a banger as you would call it.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Right?
06:41We've got beans and sausage.
06:42I feel very much at home.
06:43That's right, man.
06:43It's like a little bit of UK on the plate.
06:44So this was jalapeno cheddar.
06:46Yeah.
06:50Whoa.
06:51It's frustrating.
06:52Oh.
06:54That's one of the best sausages we've ever had.
06:56That is an incredible, incredible sausage.
06:58So good.
06:59Now, these sausages are made in-house
07:01and they cold smoked them.
07:02Wow.
07:03Which I'm assuming means that when they're smoked,
07:04that's not the cooking process.
07:06More just for like the flavor.
07:07Yeah, let the flavor seep in.
07:09Mm-hmm.
07:10You definitely get the smokiness from it.
07:11My man.
07:12Yeah, we gotta try these things, so.
07:14I've never even seen something like this before.
07:16That's so nice.
07:18With the jalapeno, with the cream cheese,
07:20obviously bacon wrapped, because why not?
07:22There's so much going on here
07:23that you need the bacon to like bind it all together.
07:24Yeah, bind it all together.
07:25All right, I'm gonna try and get everything in one bite.
07:27So ready?
07:28Cheers, man.
07:29Cheers, buddy.
07:33This is wild.
07:35There's so much going on there.
07:38I think if you gave one of these
07:40to like a Victorian British child,
07:42it would just kill them on the spot.
07:44It sure would.
07:44Yeah.
07:46It's so good.
07:47So I definitely get more spice from the jalapeno here
07:49than I would from like the jalapeno cheddar sausage.
07:51Correct.
07:51I mean, you're just mainlining jalapeno.
07:53Yeah.
07:54The burnt end, man, it's nice.
07:55I have to say, it's a bit saltier than I was expecting.
07:58I think it's like right on the burnt end.
07:59Hydrate.
08:00Hydrate today.
08:01It's hot, salty food.
08:02This brisket elote has been like staring me down.
08:05Yeah.
08:06So elote, it's kind of like a Mexican creamed corn
08:08dish thing, right?
08:09Yeah, sometimes it can be on the cob.
08:11There's always a cheese element to it.
08:13The coriander, we've got the lime.
08:16I mean, we've got a pretty substantial plate here,
08:17but I feel like even this, like that is a lunch on its own.
08:20That's fantastic.
08:21Like a cup of this.
08:22That is fantastic.
08:23Try that, you're gonna love it.
08:23Look how much brisket they packed in there.
08:25I'm trying to get down into the corn.
08:27I gotta be honest.
08:33I wasn't expecting much from that.
08:34No?
08:35That's actually amazing.
08:37That is amazing.
08:38I'm trying to get more of the corn out.
08:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:39It's buried under this massive brisket.
08:41There you go.
08:42There you go.
08:43Just go corn?
08:44Straight corn.
08:46Unreal.
08:47Unreal.
08:49I wanna go for a little more.
08:50Wow.
08:51That might be hands down the best corn dish I've ever had.
08:55That's so good.
08:56It's so creamy.
08:57Yeah, and then we cut it with the brisket,
08:58which is like a really tender meat.
08:59Meaty.
09:00It's also really fatty.
09:01Also with the lime in there, the chili, the cilantro.
09:03Like, man, that's phenomenal.
09:05Right?
09:06Wow.
09:07That's really jumping out at us.
09:09Yeah.
09:10That's really fantastic.
09:11This is the first spot we've hit,
09:13and already I'm like, this is incredible.
09:14Yeah.
09:15Where are we going from here?
09:16Other places might be in trouble.
09:18This is a high bar already.
09:20Beans, beans, beans, beans, beans.
09:26You have not had beans like this.
09:27No.
09:28And that's all the eating I will do.
09:30Tapping out.
09:31Ooh, there's like the meat in there.
09:32Yeah, it's got bacon in there.
09:33It's got bacon in the beans.
09:34Too funny.
09:35Under no circumstances will you not eat meat
09:37when you eat here.
09:38Even the veggie sides, even the beans and the corn
09:40have meat in it.
09:42Right?
09:43That's so incredible, isn't it?
09:44That broth that they're using,
09:46that is so much flavor in that.
09:49Right?
09:50You can see why this is like top, top.
09:52Yeah.
09:53Why they're like, this is one of the best in the state.
09:55Like, people take this very seriously.
09:57Yeah.
09:58This is a, it's not like a, it's not a hobby, is it?
10:00It's like a lifestyle for a lot of these people.
10:00Yeah, exactly, yeah.
10:02The consistency that they have on the plate here,
10:05everything is 10 out of 10, A plus.
10:08I mean, this has been an incredible start.
10:10Like, this is so good.
10:11Everything is amazing,
10:12and it's very different to anything
10:14that I can get in the UK.
10:14Hang on, my man.
10:15We still have three more places in Dallas to go,
10:18and let's hit the second spot right now.
10:20All right, let's go.
10:22Hi, we're on the way to the next place,
10:25and Harry insists on watching a soccer game on his phone.
10:27It's not just a soccer game, Joe.
10:29England are in the Euro semi-final,
10:31and unfortunately-
10:32A semi-final of what?
10:33The Euro Championship.
10:35What?
10:36There's always a tournament over there.
10:37Never heard of the Euro Championship.
10:38It's all of the best nations in Europe competing
10:41How many are there in total?
10:43Loads.
10:44In Europe?
10:44Yeah, loads of European nations.
10:46There can't be more than 12.
10:47Don't be such an American.
10:48There are way more than 12 European nations.