Frank Reising Bar-B-Q
July 7, 2016
For several years back in the early-1950s, Mr. Frank Reising honored the employees of Reising Construction, Reising Cement Pipe Company, Reising-Sterling Ranch family, friends and family by throwing a huge Bar-B-Q —about once every year. It was a major event that drew Mr. Reising’s business associates from San Antonio — such as those from Alamo Concrete Company and various Texas cattle people — some of which flew in for the event. Cars lined the road in front of the Reising home.
As I remember, a few cases of Old Crow Whiskey were used to sauce up the cooks, participants and as an ingredient in the BBQ sauce too. Of course, there were tubs of iced Lone Star or Pearl Beer for the sissies that could not handle the whiskey. It was an all-male affair.
I snuck my first taste of whisky there and wondered how anyone could drink such horrible stuff. Hmmm. It was the only place where I ever saw my Dad take a drink — and it was just a small one.
The event was held among scattered ebony trees, on a side-hill east of Reising’s beautiful, austin stone, home, four and one-half miles west of Edinburg. A trench, maybe 50 feet long, four feet deep and four feet wide, was covered with heavy rebar rods that were tied with wire in a criss-cross pattern supporting a metal screen that held the cooking beef over the coals. This cooking wire structure was built in maybe 5 foot sections that straddled the pit and could be lifted on one side as needed. Mesquite wood was piled in the bottom of the pit and burned to coals during the night before. Another mesquite fire was also burned outside the pit so that coals from it could be shoveled under the meat when additional heat was needed.
Hundreds of pounds of prime Reising-Sterling crossbreed beef was cut into about 1.5 inch thick steaks and mops were used to apply the mouth-watering sauce almost constantly throughout the day. The guys that cooked used heavy leather gloves to turn the meat. The meat cooked all day and was served in the evening. It is difficult to remember how many folks attended this feed, but a couple of hundred seems to be a reasonable guess. I don’t remember any kind of entertainment or speeches, but Mr. Reising was a Catholic so there was likely some kind of blessing before eating. But, maybe after we had gone home to bed and the cleanup crew was finishing up the last of the Old Crow, it’s not too difficult to imagine a few slurred songs being sung.
OK, these events took place about 65 years ago, so forgive my imperfect memory. But, on the day of the event, I was impatient to arrive at the pit as early as possible. It was an exciting time. Of course, I (maybe 13 yrs old) was not part of the cooking crew or even officially invited but I was allowed to hang around the pit most of the day. At least, nobody ran me off. It was a very happy time listening to the conversations of the adults while they were in the process of being lubricated with Old Crow and Lone Star. There was an abundance of laughter, conversation and joking (in at least two languages) and never a cross word — that I can remember. All day long I was like a dog under the kitchen table waiting for a handout. Yes, the cooks were very generous with the handouts. A few smaller steaks were cooked more rapidly just for snacking. If I could somehow manage to look hungry, a chunk of BBQ would often be offered. By the time the meal was formally served, I ate a little potato salad or something because I was already full of meat — like a lion who had eaten a whole antelope.
When the party was over, there was usually plenty of meat remaining so we took a pile of it home, placed it in the refrigerator and ate it for days. To my boyish palate, it was the food of gods. The marvelous fragrance of BBQ remained around the cold pit for days and the idea that the next BBQ was a whole year away was an absolutely dreadful thought.
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