difficult process that took seven or eight tries to get the grind just right. All the hard work did pay off in the end, as they are now sold as Red Rocket Wiener Wagon hotdogs, adding to their product lineup of homemade brisket and chili. Having lived the barbecue lifestyle her entire life, she also mentioned a few observations that may surprise some people. First, the meat should have a balanced flavor without being overly smoky. If the only thing one can taste is smoke, the chef did not cook with a clean fire. Second, burnt ends are an issue for her. “I’m always like, I don’t burn my brisket,” she says. “You want an end piece that has the seasoning on it, call it that, but
the day of service, they put it back on again to finish. For the ribs, they start somewhere around three o’clock in the morning, sometimes earlier, depending on the amount needed. So, the team works seven days a week even though the restaurant is only open for five of those. When asked what her method was, she was generous enough to share some pointers. “It’s a complete science. You’re always tending your fires and can’t let the brisket stall,” she says. Even though the process uses low and slow heat, a chef “might have to [turn the temperature] up a little bit at points. It just depends. You can’t just let it ride [at 250, 275 degrees Fahrenheit]. There
don’t say burnt tips. It drives me nuts. Do you want lean? Or do you want moist? It’s just that simple. You know, don’t try to use all this jargon.” Third, competition cooking is completely different from serving every day at a restaurant. “We don’t inject (to add flavor and moisture). We don’t cook to be pretty,” she says. “We’re cooking 50 to 60 briskets a day. They just need to be consistent, and they need to be done well.” Talking about her in-house favorites, turkey tops her list, while sausage and brisket chili follows. “I’m not a heavy meat barbecue eater,” she says. “But when we go out to eat, it’s usually sushi. Or at Suerte, one of our favorite places in Austin. It’s a Mexican walk-in style restaurant that is pretty amazing.” Perhaps surprisingly, she does not go out to eat barbecue as she works with it every single day. More than anything, she is looking forward to being able to travel
are a few other steps that go in there. I can’t give them all away, though—they’re our secrets.” The barbecue business is steeped in tradition. la Barbecue follows that path with their beef brisket that uses a conventional salt and pepper rub. They also make sure they source “happy cows” that are given nutritious feeds, especially after experiencing how much better the beef tasted when they were raised with better diets. While she adheres to the tradition for her briskets, Chef Mueller gets to be creative for other offerings by channeling her imagination the way she does during photo shoots. In fact, Chef Clem got mad at her during the pandemic because Chef Mueller kept creating new items on the menu, even saying that they would become “the Cheesecake Factory of barbecue if you don’t stop.”
“You want an end piece that has the seasoning on it, call it that, but don’t say burnt tips. It drives me nuts. Do you want lean? Or do you want moist? It’s just that simple. You know, don’t try to use all this jargon.”
again so she can bring more recipes back from her adventures. Currently, she is waiting for la Barbecue’s beer and wine license so they can stop giving away free beer. That and “slinging weenies (hotdogs) and keeping the doors open.” We can certainly all drink to that!
The ideas that ended up on the menu include a chipotle chili slaw inspired by her travels. They also have a sweet pepper cucumber kimchi that came about thanks to the couple’s visit to Korea right before COVID. As for the mains, some sausages are made a little differently with uncommon ingredients—such as homemade pickled jalapeños—that actually started as a project between herself and her father. As she was trying to make different kinds of sausages during the pandemic, she wanted to make hotdogs. It was a very
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