In Texas we do things right. It’s just who we are. And when it comes to our BBQ, that standard is our battle cry.
David Herrera, owner of Dave’s Old Fashioned BBQ in Fredericksburg, Texas is always up by the crack of dawn. He doesn’t see what he does as work, because he loves what he does.
What he does is barbeque and he does it right.
At 5am David and his pit man are building a fire, from the mesquite wood stacked along the back fence. Their goal is to get a good bed of coals to transfer to the pits. They burn their wood separately and then transfer the hot coals to the pits. Once they get the heat just right they will throw Mesquite chips and shavings in to get some smoke going. David doesn’t over emphasize using heavy black smoke to get a ring, because his primary aim is flavor and well cooked meat. “It comes down to a balance of heat and time” David says. And so begins the slow smoke to perfection.
You can smell the smoking meat from a ways off. David calls it “the smell of goodness” and claims it’s like an invisible hook that grabs folk coming down Main Street and going to and from Enchanted Rock. His establishment is right at the turn from town to the state park.
What is the secret to good BBQ, you might ask? As I was listening to David rave about how he makes his barbeque, I was wondering just that.
David has people asking to buy the special rub he uses to season his meats, thinking that it is the secret to the taste. He just chuckles about that, saying it is nothing special, but salt, pepper, garlic and a few other things.
David inherited his sauce recipe from the previous owner, although he has tweeked it a bit. It’s a Hill Country sauce and not overly sweet, like you might expect elsewhere. A lot of people love that sauce and wish he would bottle it. He has people that will come get a quart of sauce and just eat it with bread.
“The secret to good barbeque” David says, “is not in one particular thing. It’s not just in the smoking, or the seasoning, or the sauce, it’s all of it and how it comes together”. He says that overall, “the secret is in the hands that prepare it”. His hard work clearly pays off, because his customers come back again and again. The long lines on the weekends, especially, are what tell him that he is doing something right.
It’s been said that the best measure of love is what you do and how you do it. By that measure, David Herrera really does love making good barbeque. From starting his fires at 5am every morning, and spending the day slow nurturing his meats until he gets them just right. Preparing the many sides that complete the ideal BBQ meal, such as their handmade potato salad, beans, coleslaw, peach cobbler, pecan pie and bread fill the rest of his day. It all speaks to how much he loves what he does. In talking with him, his genuine smile speaks to how happy he is doing it and doing what it takes to do it up right.
Dave’s Old Fashioned BBQ
342 W. Main Street
Fredericksburg, Texas
830 997 7753
