March 23, 2007: You Can Smell Tex's From Here

Photos and Story By Joe Zlomek

If you're looking for Steve Peyton, it's likely you'll smell him before you see him. That's no commentary on his hygiene, but it is one on his profession.

Steve "Tex" Peyton tends to his barbequed brisket in Royersford PA.

Peyton, who lives in Schwenksville PA, is a sensational smoker, a paragon of the pit, a master of the meat. OK, OK, he sells cooked foods. But not just ANY foods, he'll tell you. Tex, as Peyton prefers to be called, owns Tex's Barbecue.

His is a mobile affair: a large white pick-up truck, a cashier's trailer, and two huge barbecue smokers on wheels, fashioned out of what look to be former oil tanks. The set-up allows Peyton to travel from venue to venue -- wherever hungry potential customers exist -- and sell his product. The smell by which he can be found is the aroma of burning hickory wood, literally the fuel of his passion.

Early on a Friday morning (March 23, 2007), Tex occupies the corner of a busy car dealer's lot in Royersford PA, about 7 miles from his home. Thick, grayish-white clouds of fragrant smoke billow from his cookers. Its gritty pungency permeates almost everything within a radius of 30 feet. Clothing, shoes, skin ... Tex's visitors take the odor of his barbecue with them, even if they don't buy it.

Dressed in blue jeans, a red hoodie sweatshirt, boots with generous heels and a brown cowboy hat, Peyton drums up business simply by being seen. Hundreds of motorists pass Tex in the morning on their way to work, spend the day thinking about slow-cooked meals basted with his own special sauce, and are salivating for barbecue by the time they head home in the evening.

Creating meat so tender that it falls off the bone is hard work, according to the National Barbecue Association in Austin TX. The trade group says constantly regulating the process of slow (occasionally for up to 14 hours) cooking at low temperature can take its toll on the best barbecuers around. But Peyton's efforts pay off at dinner time.

Smoked beef brisket, smoked pork loin and ribs, and whole smoked chickens are his stock-in-trade, most of it retailing for $9 a pound. When the sides (cowboy beans and smoked baked potatoes) and something to drink are thrown in, the suburban family of four will dine on Tex's in the comfort of their own home for about $30.

Serving a couple dozen families a night will leave him with a smoky smile.