Houston barbecue joints share stellar sides recipes (2024)

My colleague and Chronicle barbecue columnist J.C. Reid frequently leads multiple-stop tours of the region's best barbecue joints.

The first time I joined him and a group of smoked-meat lovers on one of his forays, he said, "There are only two rules on my barbecue runs: One, pace yourself. Two, no sides."

The latter sent shivers through me.

No potato salad? No cobbler? No way.

At Snow's BBQ, once declared the state's best by Texas Monthly, the beans alone are worth the two-hour drive to little Lexington.

And in Houston, many barbecue joints have elevated their sides to star status.

Take the fried corn on the cob at Ray's BBQ Shack. It is lightly battered, buttery and mind-blowing.

Ditto the creamed corn at Killen's Barbecue in Pearland.

A trip to Goode Co. Barbeque wouldn't be the same without a thick slice of jalapeño cheese bread.

And don't get between me and the peach cobbler at Tin Roof B-B-Q in Atascocita.

Be they savory or sweet, sides are an essential part of my barbecue experience.

I have some barbecue experts on my side of sides, too.

"I love sides," says Misty Roegels, who along with husband and pitmaster Russell operates Roegels Barbecue on South Voss.

The restaurant offers one of the largest variety of sides on any traditional barbecue-joint menu in Texas.

The Roegels menu includes the holy trinity - potato salad, coleslaw and beans - but raises the sides ante with green beans, loaded mashed potatoes, dirty rice, marinated cucumbers and tomato, mac and cheese and Texas Caviar.

"I get potato salad everywhere I go," Roegels says. "I'm not a fan of mustard-y potato salad."

Roegels' version features dill and mayonnaise, but she admits "it is a work in progress. It's missing something." (She said the last tweak made was adding some sweet dill relish.)

All the recipes are relatively new at the restaurant, which transitioned from a chain (Bakers' Ribs) to an independent business in December 2014. The transition required the Roegelses to come up with new recipes for everything from meat rubs to cobbler.

One of the most recent additions to the menu is collard greens. The greens originally were just a garnish for lamb chops that Russell Roegels smoked for a barbecue competition.

"People kept coming back for more greens," Misty Roegels recalls. Today, even though she cooks two large batches a day, the pork-spiked greens still sell out.

Though Pizzitola's Barbecue has solid savory sides (love the pico de gallo-topped pinto beans), it is the desserts that keep me going back.

Two favorites: banana pudding and pineapple-filled coconut cake.

The recipes date to 1983, when Jerry Pizzitola took over the 70-year-old pits once manned by Texas barbecue pioneer John Davis.

"My mother made the desserts when I first got here," Pizzitola says. "People were asking for desserts. She started making pudding and cake. She delivered them every morning."

Pizzitola says his mother, Margaret Raley, was known to the family as Sugar.

"She took so much pride in her cooking," Pizzitola says.

Describing the way his mother would pat the flaked coconut into the cake's icing, he says, it was like someone "gently putting powder on a baby's bottom."

Pizzitola's mom was the restaurant dessert maven for more than 25 years. Her recipes are used today, although he says no one has been able to replicate her chocolate cake.

"It's just not the same," Pizzitola says.

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Collard Greens

Courtesy of Roegels Barbecue

4 slices of thick-cut bacon (see note)

¼ of an onion, chopped

1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)

48 ounces chicken broth

8-10 bunches of collard greens (depending on size of bundles)

6 ounces Kosher salt

4 ounces black pepper

Instructions: Sauté onion and bacon together. Add the crushed red pepper. Add half the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add half the greens. Add half the salt and pepper.

Once the greens are cooked down, add the remaining greens, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Note: Misty Roegels uses leftover smoked pork most days, so feel free to substitute for the bacon. She also likes her greens to have some texture, so "don't cook them until they are completely soft."

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Banana Pudding

Courtesy of Pizzitola's Barbecue

2 boxes (4.6 ounces) of vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

6 cups milk

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 box of vanilla wafers

4-5 large bananas, cut into slices

1½ cups heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions: Combine pudding mix, eggs, milk and vanilla in heavy bottom sauce pan and cook on medium heat for about 45 min. Stir slowly and constantly.

Remove from heat. Let stand for about 2 hours.

Place wafers flat side up in single layer in bottom of cake pan. Place one slice of banana on each cookie.

Ladle pudding over the layer and smooth out.

For second layer, place cookies four across and six down.

Place banana slices on each cookie and also in the gaps.

Pour the rest of the pudding over the top of the second layer

Mix heavy whipping cream, sugar and remaining teaspoon of vanilla in mixer and whip until you reach stiff peaks.

Spread whipped topping on pudding.

Sprinkle with wafer crumbs and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Creamed Corn

Courtesy of Killen's Barbecue

8 ears of corn

1 cup cream

1½ cups milk

1 stick unsalted butter

¼ cup sugar (can use more or less, depending on corn sweetness)

¹⁄8 teaspoon white pepper

¹⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Instructions: Shuck and cut corn off ears.

Bring milk and cream to a simmer and add corn cobs to infuse for about 30 minutes.

In a separate pan, melt butter and add corn niblets; sauté corn over low heat for about 20 minutes.

Remove cobs from milk/cream mixture and scrape off all milk. Discard cobs.

Add ¼ of the sautéed corn to milk/cream mixture and blend until smooth. Add the rest of the corn and simmer till thickened, usually about another 30 minutes. Season to taste.

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Jalapeño Cheese Bread

Courtesy of Goode Co. Barbeque

Makes 1 loaf

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

¼ cup finely minced green jalapeño (seeded, ribs removed)

1 envelope active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water (110 degrees)

1 cup milk, at room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 large egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature

2½ to 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1½ cups plus 1 tablespoon semolina flour, divided

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ pound white Cheddar cheese, grated (about 2 cups)

Instructions: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over low heat. Add jalapeño and saute until softened, 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Stir yeast into water and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add milk, the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and egg; mix well.

In medium bowl, combine 2½ cups flour, 1½ cups semolina flour, sugar and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to milk mixture; mix until a stiff dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, adding remaining ½ cup all-purpose flour as necessary. Form dough into a ball.

Generously grease a large bowl with butter. Add dough and roll it around to coat with butter. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead cheese and jalapeños into it, about 2 minutes. Form into a rectangular loaf. Grease a 9-by-5-by-3-inch baking pan. Dust pan with remaining semolina flour. Place dough in pan and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set aside in warm, draft-free place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake bread in center of oven until it is golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom (about an 1 hour). Cool in the pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.