1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor, a Texas monthly. This is 2 00:00:09,279 --> 00:00:13,439 Fire and Smoke, the Texas Monthly Barbecue podcast, brought to 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,920 you by YETI. You know, like most people, the first 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,000 time I had a Greenberg smoke turkey, it came out 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,039 of a white cardboard box. It had no idea where 6 00:00:22,039 --> 00:00:24,800 it came from or how it was made. Really, I 7 00:00:24,879 --> 00:00:30,079 knew it was delicious, peppery and salty, incredibly smoky. It's 8 00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:33,640 really dark skin looks like no other smoke turkey had 9 00:00:33,719 --> 00:00:36,320 had before. I never realized what went into making one 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,439 of these turkeys until I met Sam Greenberg at Greenberg 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,799 Smoke Turkeys and Tyler Texas. The smokehouse at this facility 12 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,520 is just something so immense. It's incredible to behold. This 13 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,200 is not your humidity controlled gas fired you know, wood 14 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:57,600 chips and sawdust, electric rotisserie barbecue. I mean, this is 15 00:00:57,759 --> 00:01:02,600 real wood fired barbecue everywhere. It was really an amazing 16 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,959 thing to see, and it made me appreciate Greenberg Smoke 17 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,680 turkeys even more. I gotta have one every Christmas. It's 18 00:01:09,719 --> 00:01:12,680 part of my family tradition now, and I hope you'll 19 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,359 try one to so here it is the story of 20 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,959 Greenberg Smoke Turkeys. Rose Diamond once ruled the world of 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,239 smoke turkey. In nineteen thirty eight, customers in New York, Miami, 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,200 and Hollywood enjoyed her smoke birds, all shipped out from 23 00:01:30,239 --> 00:01:33,159 her home in Fort Worth. According to The Claude News, 24 00:01:33,239 --> 00:01:36,280 they brined for at least ten days, then smoked all 25 00:01:36,359 --> 00:01:40,400 day in a brick pit in Diamond's backyard. Properly smoked 26 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,680 turkey is a rare delicacy, the paper reminded its readers. 27 00:01:44,439 --> 00:01:47,680 By the next year, the Fort Worth Star Telegram declared, 28 00:01:48,079 --> 00:01:51,680 smoke turkey is the rage of the moment. Missus Diamond 29 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,239 was sold out in nineteen thirty nine, but a hungry 30 00:01:55,239 --> 00:01:58,480 soul in Dallas changed the tide of history. He requested 31 00:01:58,519 --> 00:02:02,000 a special delivery of smoke turkeys from Tyler instead of 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:02,560 Fort Worth. 33 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 2: My father's story was that he was always doing these 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,000 turkeys for family and friends here in the Tyler area. 35 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:10,599 Sometime in the early forties. 36 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,719 Speaker 1: That's Sam Greenberg, third generation owner of Greenberg Smoke Turkeys 37 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,199 in Tyler. His father, Zellech Greenberg, got. 38 00:02:18,039 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 2: A telephone call from a gentleman in Dallas, and he 39 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,479 he asked him if he would send him six turkeys. 40 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:26,479 And my father went down to a candy store here 41 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,360 in Tyler Downtown, got some candy boxes with straw, packed 42 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,400 the turkeys in the candy boxes, put the six turkeys 43 00:02:34,439 --> 00:02:36,199 on the train and shipped them to Dallas. And that 44 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:37,960 was when he started the mail order business. 45 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: Greenberg was sounding as if this wasn't the first time 46 00:02:41,319 --> 00:02:46,520 he'd told this story. The family owned smoke turkey business 47 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:50,400 was started by Greenberg's grandfather, also named Sam. He came 48 00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:53,240 to Tyler in nineteen oh three from Poland. He brought 49 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,560 with him a recipe for smoke bird from his mother 50 00:02:55,879 --> 00:02:58,560 and the skills of a shop shay that's a jew 51 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:03,319 certified to slaughter animals according to Kosher requirements. Sam built 52 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,840 a smokehouse at his dairy operation outside of town, and 53 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,360 word got around. Soon members of the Jewish community who 54 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,439 brought him animals to slaughter started asking him to smoke 55 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,719 them too. Greenberg told me the original smokehouse was a 56 00:03:16,759 --> 00:03:21,039 small metal building with wagon wheels mounted on the ceiling. Ducks, chickens, 57 00:03:21,039 --> 00:03:23,960 and turkeys would dangle on hooks connected to the wheels. 58 00:03:24,719 --> 00:03:27,400 Like many early barbecue joints. The smoke meat was the 59 00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:30,479 side business of the farm. The elder Sam also ran 60 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,400 a blacksmith's shop on the square in Tyler, but once 61 00:03:33,439 --> 00:03:36,759 the shipping began in nineteen thirty nine, Sam and Zelick 62 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,159 built five more smokehouses to keep up with the growing demand. 63 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,479 Just a few years later, sometime in the early nineteen forties, 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,280 it was all taken by a Christmas Eve fire. 65 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 2: On Christmas Eve, they took the ashes out of the 66 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,560 smokehouses and there were three free standing smokehouses inside of 67 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,879 this dairy barn. And about two in the morning, my 68 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,360 father got a call at the places on fire, and, 69 00:04:01,479 --> 00:04:06,159 of course, having straw and other farm stuff in the barn, 70 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,759 the place went up. My dad rebuilt the smokehouses and 71 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,360 parts of the plant that we still use today, and 72 00:04:14,439 --> 00:04:17,480 he rebuilt it in such a way that nothing around 73 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:21,439 the smokehouses is flammable or could ever combust like that. Again, 74 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:23,720 he had had enough of that situation. 75 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,759 Speaker 1: The flames from real hickory logs mixed with the dripping 76 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,040 fat of smoking birds can have that effect. It's why 77 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,199 commercial smokehouses use highly advanced ovens with temperature and humidity control. 78 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,920 Racks of meat are wheeled in and buttons are pushed 79 00:04:40,439 --> 00:04:42,959 sought ust to sprinkle it onto electric hot plates to 80 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,079 create wisps of smoke. And that's the process I expected 81 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,000 to find at the Greenberg plant. I followed Greenberg in 82 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,959 his Lexus, complete with a Giblet license plate, to the 83 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,399 front gate. When we pulled inside, I was surprised to 84 00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:04,439 see neat stacks of hickory wood. Smoke billowed out from 85 00:05:04,519 --> 00:05:08,240 under a partially open garage door. Inside. The air was 86 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,040 so thick with smoke I thought for a second we 87 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,040 were within some sort of large horizontal chimney. It was 88 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,040 the pit room. Pitmaster Ray Wallace is overseeing the operations 89 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:22,399 here for thirty five years. We spoke briefly because his 90 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,439 every utterance unleashed a series of coughs. He wore knee 91 00:05:26,519 --> 00:05:30,639 high boots, leather gloves, and safety glasses for protection. I 92 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,079 noted to myself that he would be well served by 93 00:05:33,079 --> 00:05:36,920 a respirator. A hairnet over his baseball cap seemed like 94 00:05:36,959 --> 00:05:41,519 comical overkill in this room full of nothing but wood, smoke, fire, 95 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:46,199 and sparks. There's no access to the turkeys from this room. 96 00:05:46,319 --> 00:05:49,240 They filled the twenty separate smoking chambers flanking the pit 97 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,519 room on the other side of the wall, Wallace can 98 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,000 only tend to the fires that fuel each chamber. He 99 00:05:55,079 --> 00:05:58,480 slides metal plates up to their open position as counterweights. 100 00:05:58,519 --> 00:06:01,279 Lower on the other side of the pulley system. Behind 101 00:06:01,319 --> 00:06:04,360 the doors are metal drawers full of fire. He slides 102 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:07,000 them out with a long metal rod. They ride along 103 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,480 a track built into the floor and look like iron 104 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,120 milk crates. Wallace sprays each one with the water hose, 105 00:06:13,399 --> 00:06:17,000 turning the red coals to a dull gray, rendering fire 106 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,959 into thick smoke. They want these birds to cook long 107 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,439 and slow, up to twenty four hours. You can't do 108 00:06:24,519 --> 00:06:27,800 that with a raging fire. The goal is to maximize 109 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,199 the smoke. Wallace jams a fresh cut fog on top 110 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,199 of the mound of coals and slides the fire drawer 111 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:38,560 back into place. Each smoking chamber has three drawers. After 112 00:06:38,639 --> 00:06:41,480 he gets through all sixty, it's time to start back 113 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,000 at the beginning. It's not easy to find this kind 114 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,040 of skilled labor, especially for seasonal work. Sam the Elder 115 00:06:49,199 --> 00:06:50,439 relied on Elva coal. 116 00:06:50,879 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 2: Elva Cole started working for my grandfather at his blacksmith 117 00:06:54,639 --> 00:06:57,839 shop when he was fourteen or fifteen years old in 118 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:04,199 near downtown Tyler, and after my grandfather passed away, Elva 119 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,759 continued working for my dad. He was a fixture of 120 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,920 my family and was definitely a fixture in this plant. 121 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,720 And Elva had nine children and they've all worked out 122 00:07:16,759 --> 00:07:20,120 here in some form or fashion to smoke the turkeys. 123 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,360 And Elva's son, Elva Cole Junior, is now the foreman 124 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:29,000 of the plant and oversees all the smoking operations, so 125 00:07:29,279 --> 00:07:31,800 we can't operate without the coal family. 126 00:07:33,319 --> 00:07:36,399 Speaker 1: Turkeys come into the plant fresh daily. The wings and 127 00:07:36,519 --> 00:07:39,600 any excess fat is removed and they're seasoned with the 128 00:07:39,639 --> 00:07:42,639 proprietary spice mixture. I can tell you that it's heavy 129 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,720 on black pepper. Slits are made into the meat to 130 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,920 get the seasoning deep into the bird. The exterior is 131 00:07:48,959 --> 00:07:51,920 covered and it sits overnight before being hung in the smokehouse. 132 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,120 There's no brining or wet curing. They finish at half 133 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,839 the weight of the raw turkey. It's a double whammy 134 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,720 due to the spike in turkey costs recently, but Greenberg 135 00:08:01,759 --> 00:08:04,839 didn't raise their prices to compensate. He still demands no 136 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,720 blemishes on the smoke skin, which he describes as majestic 137 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,319 mahogany in color. It's a great looking bird with a 138 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:14,519 heavy smoke aroma. 139 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,519 Speaker 2: Our turkeys are not for everybody. Not everybody likes apples. 140 00:08:17,759 --> 00:08:19,959 You know. People will complain from time to time about 141 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,040 a turkey being too salty or too dry, and those 142 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,600 I can deal with because everything's done by hand, and 143 00:08:27,639 --> 00:08:31,399 there's always the possibility of a turkey getting out and 144 00:08:31,439 --> 00:08:33,759 it stayed a little too long in the smoke ass 145 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,879 or it was got a little too much seasoning on 146 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:39,639 it made it too salty. I can understand that. But 147 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,559 there's one thing I don't ever apologize for, and that 148 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,799 is for the turkeys being too smoky. It's in our name. 149 00:08:46,279 --> 00:08:48,039 They are smoked turkeys. 150 00:08:48,519 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: Now, I've always eaten my Greenberg smoke turkeys at room 151 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,240 temperature on a sandwich with mayo, mustard, and horseradish. I 152 00:08:55,279 --> 00:08:56,720 asked Greenberg how he ate his. 153 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 2: Cut a slice off, put some mayonnaise on it, enjoy. 154 00:09:01,799 --> 00:09:06,519 Speaker 1: He has no need for bread, cheese, or other accompaniments except. 155 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,039 Speaker 2: A bag of fresh free toes and a good cold beer. 156 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 1: The season for Greenberg begins on October first and slowly 157 00:09:13,799 --> 00:09:17,200 ramps up. By mid October. They're smoking at full capacity 158 00:09:17,639 --> 00:09:22,559 by Thanksgiving they've smoked, packaged, and sold eighty thousand turkeys. 159 00:09:23,039 --> 00:09:25,919 Another one hundred and thirty thousand are expected to go 160 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,399 out the door by Christmas Eve. A crew of forty 161 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,720 employees monitor orders they come in from the website and 162 00:09:32,759 --> 00:09:35,679 by phone. He said the fax machine was being phased out. 163 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,919 It's been less than a decade since they've started accepting 164 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,120 credit cards. Before then, turkeys were delivered on the honor 165 00:09:42,159 --> 00:09:46,480 system with an enclosed invoice. Nowadays they're carried at Central 166 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,519 Market stores and a Brookshire, Brothers and Tyler. Of course, 167 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:52,879 you can also get them at the retail counter inside 168 00:09:52,919 --> 00:09:57,480 the Greenberg facility. Customers can order from gobblegobble dot com, 169 00:09:57,519 --> 00:10:01,519 a web address secured by Greenberg's genius nephew, but Greenberg 170 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:03,559 said that's the only side of the business where they 171 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,919 rely on anything high tech. The smoking will always be 172 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:08,519 handled with tradition in mind. 173 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,799 Speaker 2: I'm a caretaker of what my parents created. I don't 174 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,399 want anything to change in this business. I wanted to 175 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,480 say exactly the same, because it's not just the turkey, 176 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,240 it's the experience when they were young and their dad 177 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,080 would come home with the white box and the red print, 178 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,360 and they want that same tradition. 179 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: Today, a red turkey silhouette is the only sign outside 180 00:10:36,039 --> 00:10:39,080 the Greenberg facility. It's because the local tradition is so 181 00:10:39,159 --> 00:10:41,519 important they don't even need a name on the side 182 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,320 of the building, the same building where the old Greenberg 183 00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:48,559 Dairy once was. That fire seventy some odd years ago 184 00:10:48,799 --> 00:10:50,799 would have been enough to drive most out of the 185 00:10:50,799 --> 00:10:53,639 smoke Turkey business, but Greenberg told me the business was 186 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,399 lucky enough to have great employees. 187 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,320 Speaker 2: An old employee, ed Anda Wright, worked out here till 188 00:10:59,399 --> 00:11:02,440 she was like in her nineties. She and her husband 189 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,159 lived near the plant or the barn at that time, 190 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,720 and she knew that all the building information was in 191 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,639 the file cabinets, and she and her husband drug the 192 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,200 file cabinets out of the fire so that it would 193 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,080 save my dad's business. 194 00:11:19,799 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: It was certainly a tough Christmas for them that year. 195 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,480 They could have gone the way of Rose Diamond and 196 00:11:24,519 --> 00:11:28,480 the animals of smoke turkey lore. Instead, they rebuilt and 197 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:31,879 stuck with a traditional smoking method, the same method that 198 00:11:31,919 --> 00:11:34,399 had first grabbed the attention of that mystery customer in 199 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:36,759 Dallas in nineteen thirty nine. 200 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,960 Speaker 2: I know this isn't just conjecture or thought, I know, 201 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,679 I've got the best customers in the world, and on 202 00:11:45,759 --> 00:11:49,000 top of that, the best people working for me that 203 00:11:49,159 --> 00:11:53,720 anybody could ever have. And our customers come back every 204 00:11:54,039 --> 00:11:58,519 year for that same thing, and I'm just lucky to 205 00:11:58,600 --> 00:11:59,240 be part of it. 206 00:12:08,799 --> 00:12:11,519 Speaker 1: Texas barbecue is built from the ground up, from the 207 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:13,720 wood to the smoke to the meat. You have to 208 00:12:13,759 --> 00:12:15,879 have the right tools to create a masterpiece on but 209 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,080 your paper YEDTI coolers have you covered? Built to be indestructible, 210 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,360 keep ice for days, and keep a brisket hot for hours. 211 00:12:23,919 --> 00:12:28,679 Yetti is built for Texas barbecue. You've been listening to 212 00:12:28,799 --> 00:12:32,919 Fire and Smoke Texas Monthly is Barbecue podcast. I'm Daniel 213 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,440 Vaughan and I'll see you out there on the barbecue Trail.