Barbecue Sausage — The Last Recipe From the Backyard, and the First From What Comes Next

Five years of writing for RecipeSpinoff. Two hundred and sixty weeks. And this is the last one from the backyard. Not the last one ever — I'll keep writing. But starting next month, the cooking happens in a restaurant kitchen on Washington Avenue, not in a home kitchen in Alief. The backyard smoker — the original offset, the one I bought from a welder in Rosenberg twenty years ago — will stay home. The new smoker, Tyler's custom 1,000-gallon beast, lives at the restaurant. I'll still cook at home. But the professional cooking, the feeding-of-strangers cooking, the cooking that started with a twelve-year-old girl signing me up for a food blog — that moves to a building with a sign and a permit and a red wall. Five years in review: Year 1: Bobby starts writing. Tyler plays baseball. Emma learns to cook. Lily eats her first pho. Ma has a health scare. Year 2: Harvey. Tyler gets his license. Emma wins a cooking competition. Bobby enters his first BBQ contest. Year 3: Bobby wins first place. Emma stages at a restaurant. Tyler graduates. The pop-up begins. Year 4: The pop-up explodes. The Chronicle writes the story. The restaurant is leased. Then COVID. Year 5: The pandemic. Ma gets COVID and survives. The freeze. The vaccine. The sign on the wall. The restaurant opens in four weeks. Five years. Two hundred and sixty weeks. Every week a recipe. Every week a story. Every week a fire tended. The cast: Bobby (the pitmaster), Tyler (the mechanic-turned-pitmaster), Emma (the chef-in-training), Lily (the brand manager), Ma (the source), Huy (the memory), Mr. Clarence (the teacher), Bill (the sponsor), Hector (the friend), Christine (the co-parent), Ashley (the girlfriend), and a smoker that outlasted everything. The recipe: fish sauce. Patience. Fire. Showing up. The story: a man who broke and rebuilt and kept cooking. Thank you for reading. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you're cooking tonight — thank you. You gave a grumpy Vietnamese-Texan man with a La Croix and a sobriety chip a reason to write every Monday for five years, and that gift is worth more than any trophy on any shelf. The restaurant opens May 1st. 1847 Washington Avenue. Houston, Texas. Smoke and Fish Sauce. Bobby Tran BBQ. Come eat. The fire keeps burning. The fire will always keep burning. See you Monday. At the restaurant.

If I’m being honest, I spent a week trying to pick something clever for this last backyard post — something Vietnamese, something nostalgic, something that would make Ma cry or make Tyler roll his eyes. But in the end, the answer was obvious: fire and sausage over smoke, the thing that started all of it, the thing I’ll be doing at 1847 Washington Avenue starting May 1st. This barbecue sausage recipe is not complicated, and that’s the point — twenty years of learning taught me that the fire does the work if you let it. Consider this one a handshake between the backyard and whatever comes next.

Barbecue Sausage

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 lbs smoked sausage links (beef, pork, or a mix), cut into 3-inch pieces
• 1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce, plus more for serving
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (if grilling)

Instructions

1. Make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Set aside about 1/4 cup for serving.
2. Prep the sausage. Score each sausage piece with 2–3 shallow diagonal cuts on each side — this helps the glaze get in and gives you better char on the edges.
3. Heat your fire. Preheat a grill or smoker to medium-high heat (around 375°F). If using a grill pan or cast iron skillet, heat over medium-high and brush lightly with oil.
4. Grill the sausage. Place sausage pieces on the grill and cook 5–6 minutes per side, turning once, until heated through and grill marks form.
5. Glaze and finish. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, brush sausages generously with the BBQ glaze. Turn once more, brush the other side, and allow the glaze to caramelize and tighten over the fire — watch it closely so it doesn’t burn.
6. Rest and serve. Pull the sausages off the heat and let them rest 3–4 minutes. Serve with the reserved BBQ sauce on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 17g | Fat: 28g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 980mg