Anyone Ever Been To Podnuh's BBQ In Louisiana?

[holdenf92]

I am from the Shreveport area, and we grew up on Podnuh's. As I know now from visiting the excellent bbq restaurants in Texas, Podnuh's bbq is extremely below average. HOWEVER, they have beans that are out of this world amazing. I've never had any beans that come close to these. I have tried unsuccessfully to replicate the recipe at home for a long time, and I even had the perfect opportunity as last year I worked at a bbq restaurant in a nearby town that had connections to Podnuhs and used the same bean recipe. The dang recipe was on the wall and I never wrote it down before I quit. I only remember like half of it and I was wondering if anybody on here has worked for Podnuh's or knows anyone who could have the rest of the recipe? The parts I remember are as follows:

4 large #10 cans Showboat Brand Pork & Beans
2 large #10 cans full of rendered smoked brisket fat
onions and bell peppers chopped finely
4 cups (I think) of bbq sauce (theirs is a tangy sauce that uses pickle juice in the base)
*Beans are cooked on the smoker in hotel pans

I know I am missing some other things. Can anybody help a brother out? Lol.

[Happy Hapgood]

I agree that their beans are off the hook good. Do not know the recipe but one thing I noticed is alot of finely chopped brisket meat in them.

[holdenf92]

Yeah its honestly a bit of a bad thing, because the fact that they use so much brisket fat and meat in their beans directly destroys the quality of the brisket that they serve to customers. When I worked at (unnamed bbq joint), the process I believe was the same as at Podnuhs. Briskets were smoked completely untrimmed with no seasoning. We then were required to do what they called "cleaning the brisket", which meant getting a pile of freshly cooked briskets on a table and one at a time scraping off all the fat and bark into buckets to be refrigerated and used later for beans. the bald brisket flats and points were then separated and wrapped in plastic wrap, then put in the walk-in fridge. They only used the flat for sliced brisket and chopped up the point for sandwiches, but the meat being served was always cooked and separated at least a couple days before and was reheated in the plastic wrap on the smoker before being held in a warmer and grabbed as needed. It was honestly a truly appalling practice if you know what makes good bbq. The brisket we served was always grey and steamed into oblivion in the plastic wrap by the time we got to slicing it, and naturally it would usually flake apart on the board as we tried to slice it. I always ended up slicing it extra thick so it would hold together better. Our managers were so hilarious and uneducated on bbq, they would actually have the audacity to tell a customer when he/she complained that they had ordered sliced brisket not chopped (which happened often) that the brisket was just "so tender that its falling apart". But I guess does allow for a lot of smoky fat and trimmings to put in the beans.

[Happy Hapgood]

I don't know about that unnamed place but at the Podnuhs I've ate at in South Shreveport and Bossier City They carve, slice, chop and weigh it right in front of you. It looks like good smoked brisket and tastes that way too. I've never had a piece of brisket fat in those beans. All meat.

[holdenf92]

I've been to those too and I'm pretty sure they have the flat separated from the point already sitting there under a heat lamp. They do carve it for you, but its not from a full packer brisket with a thick bark on it in my experience. And you are right, you don't get chunk of fat in the beans because they render it all down to liquid and they cook the onions and bell peppers and add that to the beans. its all mixed up together. its kind of like cooking in bacon grease at that point. Trust me if you ever get the beans and put them in the fridge over night they're basically solid the next day when they're cold because there's so much fat in them lol.

[ruger35]

No way I even consider
Podnuh's real BBQ.

[ericandcandi]

The brisket was off the chain when the old man opened up his first joint in Shreveport back in the early eighties. He sold to a larger company and they opened multiple locations around the area. I was able to talk with him before he past and asked him what the secret to his beans was and he said beans were always cooked underneath the briskets so the drippings gave way to all of that flavor. He also put mustard in them but didn't tell me how much. I agree that the meat flavor has gone down hill severely.

[rdtripp]

I am from the Shreveport area, and we grew up on Podnuh's. As I know now from visiting the excellent bbq restaurants in Texas, Podnuh's bbq is extremely below average. HOWEVER, they have beans that are out of this world amazing. I've never had any beans that come close to these. I have tried unsuccessfully to replicate the recipe at home for a long time, and I even had the perfect opportunity as last year I worked at a bbq restaurant in a nearby town that had connections to Podnuhs and used the same bean recipe. The dang recipe was on the wall and I never wrote it down before I quit. I only remember like half of it and I was wondering if anybody on here has worked for Podnuh's or knows anyone who could have the rest of the recipe? The parts I remember are as follows:

4 large #10 cans Showboat Brand Pork & Beans
2 large #10 cans full of rendered smoked brisket fat
onions and bell peppers chopped finely
4 cups (I think) of bbq sauce (theirs is a tangy sauce that uses pickle juice in the base)
*Beans are cooked on the smoker in hotel pans

I know I am missing some other things. Can anybody help a brother out? Lol.

I ate at the Barksdale BLVD location last week and it was seriously underwelming. The beans were a tasteless mush that I couldn't eat. I remember eating at the Benton Road location back in the 80's and it was fair Q and the beans were AWESOME. Will not be going back.

[KSUE]

I don't have any info on the bean recipe, but have to chime in on the sliced brisket part. I was in the Shreveport area for work and went by the South Shreveport location for dinner. I was highly disappointed. I asked for point or fatty end slices, and when the guy pulled out a new brisket I was like "yeah", but then he started slicing it left to right along the side I almost hit the ground! I was like he is shave cutting this!! I almost just said never mind, but I work retail, and didn't want to be one of the jerks I complain about that I deal with daily. Let's just say I will only be back for the beans...

[16Adams]

Chopped brisket, mustard and worchestishire. There are very similar red beans and rice recipes using smoked sausage. Perhaps he added and subtracted from a RB&R??

I used to attend a gathering near Bowie Tx. His recipe was nearly as OP described. He told me his secret ingredient was Molasses.