Arts & Entertainment // Barbecue

Loaded baked potatoes are the workhorse of Texas barbecue-joint menus

The scene plays out every weekend at barbecue joints throughout Texas: an excited group huddled around a table piled high with smoked-meat delights, cameras at the ready, snapping pictures like paparazzi chasing the Kardashians. It's an unmistakable sign of the our state's barbecue renaissance.

Less noticeable is the adjacent table, where two or three people are eating without fanfare. These are typically the wives, husbands and friends who are along for the ride but aren't inspired to wax poetic about rendered collagen or take pictures of smoke rings and burnt ends.

What are these tagalongs eating? In many cases, it will be the unsung hero of many Texas barbecue-joint menus: a baked potato piled high with meat, sauce, cheese and sour cream.

The loaded baked potato, as it is known, is the barbecue dish for the rest of us.

Perhaps it is news to hard-core meat heads, but barbecue isn't just the subject of photo galleries and Instagram posts. The vast majority of folks who patronize barbecue joints are merely there for a square meal. The loaded baked potato serves that purpose.

The anatomy of a typical loaded potato - also known as a stuffed baked potato or just "stuffed baker" - is simple. The baked potato serves as an edible bowl that is sliced open and coated with a layer of butter and melted cheese. A big dollop of chopped beef soaking in a sweet-spicy barbecue sauce is piled on top and then finished with a drizzle of chives, sour cream and bacon bits.

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SouthernQ BBQ and Catering

16540 Kuykendahl

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It's an entire meal on one plate, not to mention quick and easily eaten with a fork. A typical office worker on his lunch break probably isn't interested in digging through fatty brisket with his fingers while wearing a white dress shirt and tie. For the barbecue joint, it's a profitable menu item - potatoes and chopped beef have a higher profit margin than whole brisket or beef ribs - whose components can be prepared in advance and rapidly assembled and served during a busy midday rush.

Though I'm usually part of the barbecue paparazzi, I occasionally have the opportunity to sit down and sample one of these workhorse menu items. One of my favorite stuffed bakers is the Big Poppa at SouthernQ BBQ and Catering in northwest Houston.

Pitmaster Steve Garner sources the biggest potatoes he can find - known as 40-count Idaho russets. This means there are 40 potatoes in one 50-pound box, with each potato weighing in at a little over a pound. After baking them until tender, he slices each potato open and adds a scoop of real butter and cheddar cheese to melt in the middle.

Then he adds a three-meat barbecue plate on top. Chopped beef is covered by strips of garlicky sausage and a whole bone of pork rib. A generous portion of not-too-sweet sauce is ladled on, then a sprinkling of chives and a drizzle of Garner's made-in-house bacon bits. A couple of dollops of sour cream are added for good measure.

The Big Poppa is easily 2 pounds of meat and potato for a hungry diner. At almost $17, it's really a meal for two, or a lunch and dinner combined. I'd also venture that it's the perfect hangover cure. A standard chopped-beef stuffed baker is available for $10.95.

Garner sells 12 to 15 Big Poppas a week, along with another 100 or so smaller stuffed bakers. Though they probably won't make it onto Instagram or the latest barbecue blog, loaded baked potatoes are traditional Texas barbecue crowd-pleasers that help mom-and-pop joints pay the bills.