Smoke & Salt: Low & slow.
At home.
Smoked in your yard. Sliced at sundown.
The pit boardParties of 10–200
- Party of 10brisket, ribs & 3 sides$450
- Brisketpost oak, 14 hours$28/lb
- Sidesmac, slaw, pintos, by the pint$6
Post oak onlyParties of 10 to 200Austin & the Hill CountrySince 2018★ 4.9 · 212 Google reviews
How it works
We bring the pit. You bring the people.
- 01We tow a 500-gallon smoker to your yard before dawn.
- 02It smokes there all day on post oak, fourteen hours, while you get on with yours.
- 03At sundown we slice it on butcher paper, to order, until everyone’s had seconds.
The cook
Fourteen hours in your yard.
The log Wes keeps on a clipboard by the firebox, from a Saturday in October: the pit holding 250 to 275, the brisket climbing, stalling, wrapped, and off at 203.
- 12:30 AMWe pull in and light the fire
Quiet as we can. A coal bed of post oak in the firebox, the pit up to temperature by 3:30.
- 24:00 AMThe briskets go on
Salt and coarse black pepper, half and half. Nothing else, ever.
- 39:00 AMThe stall
The brisket sits at 160° for two or three hours while the fat renders. Nobody panics. Coffee.
- 411:30 AMWrapped in butcher paper
Paper, not foil, so the bark stays a bark. Back on the pit.
- 51:00 PMRibs and sausage on
Pork spare ribs and jalapeño-cheddar links, timed to come off with the sun.
- 64:00 PMOff at 203°
The briskets rest, wrapped in towels in the warmer, for two and a half hours.
- 76:30 PMSliced at sundown
On the board, to order, on butcher paper. Lean or moist, your call.
- 89:00 PMGone
Fire out, ash cold, yard raked, leftovers wrapped and labeled in your fridge.
The pit board
Everything we cook, and what it costs.
Every party gets pickles, onions, white bread, sauce on the side, butcher paper and a guy with a knife. Tax included; tips are up to you.
Meat by the poundCooked weight
- BrisketPrime, post oak, 14 hours$28/lb
- Pork spare ribsSt. Louis cut, by the rack$26/lb
- Jalapeño-cheddar sausageMade for us in Elgin$18/lb
- Pulled porkShoulder, 12 hours$20/lb
- Turkey breastButter and black pepper$24/lb
- Beef short ribOrder 2 weeks ahead$36/lb
Sides & sweetsPints
- Mac & cheese$6
- Slaw, vinegar not mayo$6
- Pintos with brisket ends$6
- Potato salad, mustard$6
- Creamed corn$6
- Banana pudding$6
- Peach cobbler$6
PartiesThe pit comes to you
- Party of 10Brisket, ribs & 3 sides$450
- Party of 25Brisket, ribs, sausage & 3 sides$1,050
- Party of 50Brisket, ribs, sausage, 3 sides & a pudding$1,950
- 100 to 200From $36 a head; anything on the board, a quote within the day$36+
Pit math
How much brisket is enough?
Half a pound of cooked meat a guest, three sides, and a little over. Slide to your head count.
- Briskets on the pit
- 2
- Racks of ribs
- 8
- Sausage links
- 40
- Pints of sides
- 30
- Hours on the pit
- 14
- About, all in
- $1,680
The pit
Her name is Hazel. She’s up before you.
A 500-gallon offset on a trailer, built from an old propane tank by a welder in Bastrop. The firebox is half an inch thick, which is why a brisket at 4 AM and a brisket at 4 PM taste like the same day.
- 500gallons of steel, welded in Bastrop in 2019
- 16briskets at once, or 40 racks of ribs
- ⅓ cordof post oak burned in a fourteen-hour cook
- 0outlets or hoses needed from you
What your yard needsThat’s it
- A flat spot 12 by 30 feetGrass, gravel or a driveway. We back the truck up to it.
- 25 feet from the houseAnd from fences, eaves and anything else that minds smoke.
- A heads-up to the neighborsWe bring them a plate. It has never not worked.
The pitmaster
I’m Wes. I’ll be in the yard.
I grew up behind my granddad’s feed store in Llano, where Saturday meant a brisket in a smoker he’d welded from an old water heater. He let me tend the fire when I was nine, and he let me slice when I was twenty-two.
I spent eight years on the pits at barbecue joints around Austin, where the line is out the door by ten and gone by two. In 2018 a friend’s wedding venue in Dripping Springs wouldn’t let us bring brisket in from outside, so we brought the pit instead. Smoke & Salt started that night, and I’ve cooked in about six hundred yards since.
That’s the whole recipe. Kosher salt and 16-mesh black pepper, half and half, then post oak and time. If a brisket needs more than that, it needed more time.
- Since 2018in Austin backyards
- 600+cooks, 9,000 lb of brisket a year
- Permittedmobile food unit, Travis County · insured
Recent yards
From the last few Saturdays.
Photographed by hosts and guests, with their OK.
Ranch wedding · Dripping Springs · 140 guests
Sundown slice · Wimberley
The wrap, 11:30 AM · Round Rock graduation- Party of 10 · Travis Heights
Reviews
4.9 from 212 yards on Google.
Order #0412★★★★★
“The neighbors smelled it at 6 AM and showed up at 6 PM. Wes had planned for that. Nobody went hungry.”
Dana M.Party of 50, Westlake
Order #0587★★★★★
“Best brisket I’ve had, and I didn’t have to leave my own yard. The kids watched him slice it like it was a magic show.”
Marcus T.Party of 25, Pflugerville
Order #0633★★★★★
“He was there at 2:30 in the morning and I never heard a thing. The yard looked better when he left.”
Rosa G.Party of 10, Travis Heights
Order #0649★★★★★
“140 guests at a ranch wedding, sliced to order for two hours straight. Our caterer said she’d never seen a line move that fast.”
Jess & KyleWedding, Dripping Springs
Where
Austin & the Hill Country.
No travel fee within 40 miles of downtown Austin. Fredericksburg, Llano and Burnet are $150 for the tow, and the pit has been as far as Kerrville for a wedding that was worth it.
- Austin
- Round Rock
- Georgetown
- Dripping Springs
- Wimberley
- Marble Falls
- Bastrop
- Fredericksburg
Questions
Before you book.
Do you really come at 2:30 in the morning?
For a brisket served at sundown, yes. We park, light the fire and stay with the pit all day. You don’t need to be up; just leave the side gate open.
What do you need from us?
A flat spot 12 by 30 feet the truck can reach, about 25 feet from the house. No power, no water, no kitchen. We bring the pit, the wood, the warmer, the tables for serving, the board and the knife.
What about the smoke and the neighbors?
Post oak burns clean once the fire is right, so it’s a thin blue smoke, not a cloud. We check your HOA rules when you book, and we bring the neighbors a plate.
What if it rains?
The pit doesn’t mind and neither do we. We bring a 10-by-20 canopy for the serving table. Lightning is the only thing that stops a slice, and then we slice in your garage.
How do the deposit and the final bill work?
$200 holds the date and comes off the total; parties over 100 hold with $500. Pay the rest after the last slice, by card or bank transfer. The guest count can change until a week before.
What happens to the leftovers?
They’re yours. We wrap and label everything and leave reheating notes on the fridge. Brisket keeps three days, and the second-day sandwich is half the reason people book.
Book the pit
Pick the Saturday. $200 holds the pit.
Spring Saturdays go by February and graduation weekends go first. Pick yours, tell Wes how many are coming and when you want to slice, and he texts you within the day.
Party of 10 $450 · party of 25 $1,050 · party of 50 $1,950 · 100 to 200 from $36 a head
- 1Service
- 2Date
- 3Details
This is an example website made by Humfrid, so nothing was booked and no card was charged. On a real one, the deposit is paid right here and the date is yours. Get a website like this