There's just something about eating a big pile of brisket off a butcher-paper “plate.” Don't ask for a fork; the best BBQ is for fingers only. And great barbecue is not the state's only fun food.
At festivals, rodeos and fairs much of your meal can be served on a stick, from corny dogs to chicken fried steak. In Austin, food trucks rule. And we haven't even dug into the Tex-Mex scene.
Here are Texas’
best food experiences.
Barbecue
America's greatest contribution to world cuisine has a hefty following in Texas, and the flavors, styles and recipe secrets are as diverse as the state itself.
Texans know their barbecue. They eat it at home, at famous hole-in-the-walls or bought from a roadside smoker. It's in central Texas that you'll find the state's unofficial BBQ capital, Lockhart.
Tex-Mex
A regional variation on Mexican food, Tex-Mex includes Americanized versions of Mexican dishes, as well as American dishes with a Mexican twist.
Don't spend too much effort trying to sort the two: unless you're eating at a spot that serves “authentic” or “interior Mexico” dishes, you're probably going to have some Tex sneak into your Mex.
A few popular dishes include breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros and tamales.
Corny Dogs
Cornbread-batter-dipped-and-fried hot dogs on a stick were created in 1948 by Neil Fletcher for the State Fair of Texas. Fletcher's still sells 'em there; they're now available with jalapeño too.