There are easier ways to make barbecue. We just haven’t found many that make it better. Some things are Texas standards. Others started with “We wonder what would happen if…”
Salt. Pepper. Smoke. Time. Lots of time. We start with a high-quality whole beef brisket, trim it by hand and season it copiously with our “salt” and coarse black pepper. Figure at least 14 hours under smoke to develop that coal-black Texas bark, followed by roughly another 14 hours resting before it’s ready to eat. There’s a right way to slice a brisket, too. Ship will show you. One tip: only slice what you’re going to eat.
Big, beefy chuck short ribs. Smoked low and slow until probe-tender, simply seasoned with Ship’s “Salt” and coarse pepper. Spritzed when needed, then patiently rested for rich, sliceable ribs that can feed a hungry crew. Brisket-tender—but with a bone that’s going to drive man’s best friend nuts. The rack comes vacuum sealed and ready for reheating or refrigerating/freezing.
Clean bite. Not fall-off-the-bone. We start with high-quality pork spareribs, season them simply with “salt” and pepper, then give them a dunk in SBBBQ Rib Glaze about halfway through the smoke. We’re looking for one thing when they’re done: can you see your teeth marks in the rib after you take a bite? That’s a properly cooked rib. From here on out, expect a slightly fuller spare-rib cut with a little more meat left where it belongs — on your plate.
We don’t buy sausage. We make sausage. It starts with brisket trim and pork butt — typically 50/50 — cubed and ground twice. Then comes our house spice blend, an overnight cure, natural casings and a long, slow trip through smoke. The links finish with an ice bath to help produce that all-important snap. Choose The Original or Jalapeño & Cheddar — zesty, cheesy and flavorful, not burn-your-face-off spicy.
The sleeper hit. Whole chicken is spatchcocked, split, trimmed and partially deboned to make eating it easier, then seasoned with our house chicken rub. Eat it fresh from the pit and you get crisp skin. Reheat it later and you’ll understand why we’re so focused on keeping smoked chicken juicy. It has quietly become one of the most popular things we make.
Not just for Thanksgiving. This is the whole turkey breast and nothing else. We lightly brine it, trim and debone it when appropriate, tie it into a roast for easy slicing and season it with the same house rub we use on our chicken. After a gentle four-to-five-hour smoke, the outside develops a salty seasoned crust while the inside stays remarkably juicy. Ship’s family favorite use for the leftovers? The TBLAT: turkey, bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato with homemade chipotle aioli on crunchy bread.
Built to eat fresh. Dry-rubbed wings get smoke, seasoning and enough heat to finish with the texture we want. They’re packaged warm and ready to serve. Unlike most of the BBQ, wings are not really a sous-vide product — they’re at their best when you eat them while they’re fresh.
Trust us on this one. We trim them, build a crusty smoke-darkened bark, then let them cook confit-style in beef tallow until all that connective tissue turns silky and rich. Imagine smoky, fatty, intensely beefy brisket — only maybe better. People are skeptical right up until they taste it. You must try them. We dare you.
Big beef. Deep smoke. No shortcuts. Beef short ribs bring the richness of brisket with a character all their own. We build a dark bark, give them the time they need in the smoker and let the meat turn tender without cooking away everything that makes a short rib worth waiting for.
Smoke first. Sear hard. Slice it right. We smoke the tri-tip gently to a medium rare temperature to build flavor, then finish it over high heat for a deeply browned crust. After a proper rest, it’ll be ready for slicing across the grain for tender, beefy bites from edge to edge.
This isn’t the pork chop you grew up eating. Unless your grandfather cooked it. We source Heritage Duroc pork, brine these monster three-rib chops for 48 hours, air-dry them, season them with our house pork rub and give them a slow four-to-five-hour ride in the smoker. At Ship’s house: homemade applesauce and Boursin mashed potatoes. Salad is optional.
Do you like bacon? That’s a rhetorical question. Everyone loves bacon, right? Bacon comes from pork belly—which comes from a pig. Follow? The difference is that bacon is cured or brined, giving it that familiar salty flavor and firm texture. Smoked pork belly is a little more refined, with a rich balance of meat, fat and smoke and a pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth texture. We leave the skin on, smoke it for three to four hours with our standard Ship’s “Salt” and pepper rub, then finish the skin-turned-cracklings in a super-hot oven. The result is exceptionally rich and juicy pork belly topped with a salty, shatteringly crisp crust.
The good stuff, turned into meat candy. We cut rich, smoky beef into chunky cubes, season it, toss it in a sweet, buttery glaze and send it back into the smoker until the sauce turns dark, sticky and caramelized. Sort of like meat candy? Yeah—exactly like meat candy.
The surprise hit from the surprise hit. After months of messing around with copycat chicken-salad recipes, something finally occurred to us: we make really good smoked chicken. Our version is a little chunkier than supermarket chicken salad, with cream cheese replacing most of the mayonnaise and plenty of actual smoked-chicken flavor. What started as a way to use the extra chickens may now rival the reason we smoked the chickens in the first place. Take that, you Cajuns.
Cool, crisp and made for barbecue. Shredded cabbage and carrots get a fresh, tart lift from green apple in a creamy slaw that cuts through the richness of smoked meat.
The loaded baked potato moved to the cold side of the plate. A creamy potato salad finished with bacon, cheddar and green onion — hearty enough to stand beside the biggest thing coming off the pit.
Bright, creamy and a little unexpected. Sweet corn is lightly charred, then tossed with cotija, jalapeño, scallions, cilantro, fresh lime and garlic in a creamy chile dressing. Tangy, savory and just spicy enough to stand up beside a plate full of Texas barbecue.
This is one of those dishes where a handful of simple ingredients somehow turns into something much bigger. Crisp-tender asparagus gets tossed with savory leeks, pancetta, garlic, orange zest, parsley and buttery pine nuts. The rendered pancetta fat and just enough butter bring everything together without burying the fresh flavors. It’s bright, salty, crunchy and ridiculously hard to stop eating—which is exactly how it earned its name.
Deeply savory and ready for the plate. Pinto beans simmer with beef, bacon and peppers until rich and full of flavor. They come packaged warm and ready to serve beside whatever came off the pit.
Smoke you can take with you. Beef jerky with plenty of smoke, seasoning and chew. Keep it for the road, the trail or wherever a plate and fork would only slow you down.
Made for our barbecue. Our Mustard Sauce and Sweet Sauce are bottled in-house and served alongside the food — there when you want them, without covering up the smoke and work already on the plate.
