Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Fatback - great for getting that smokey pig flavor in EVERYTHING

I like to add it to my egg whites and veggie frittata - a liberal dose of sriracha and a quick stir before letting it alone to set gives it a cool little swirl of hot throughout!

www.dallastacobracket.com ran a contest to find the best traditional and specialty style tacos in Dallas earlier this year.

In Big D, I'm partial to Cool and Hot (another 24 hour spot that's run out of a renovated drive thru carwash I believe). Probably some of the best al pastor tacos I've found in the city. Cuquita's does an amazing cabrito on the weekend - slowly steaming a whole goat.

Taco Joint ties in Texas with awesome BBQ pulled pork and brisket tacos. Good 2 Go Taco gets my vote for most creative tacos and hopefully their upcoming debut on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives won't ruin it.

It's all about the combo plates - my favorite meal and hangover cure is a couple brisket tacos with a side of migas doused in chili con carne with some rice and beans. Consider yourself useless for the next few hours but it's worth it.

I saw Blais at Tim Love's Love of Lamb burger cookoff in Fort Worth, Texas a couple months ago. He went head to head in a lamb cookoff with Ilan Hall Iron Chef style. He made a tzaziki sauce then using toothpaste that had all the judges going nuts - I wonder if he's using that at Flip, too. . .either way, I need to make a trip to Atlanta.

@unhatched - i tweet about food and tech mostly with some randoms thrown in

leg of lamb on a spit on the grill slathered in plenty of rosemary, garlic, thyme and some olive oil - we also every now and then slip an open baguetted right under the meat for a minute or two to catch any stray juices. . .yum!

I went with a couple friends down to Madisonville, TX (about 30 minutes north of the state prison in Huntsville for a BBQ Cook-off. At the campsite it's like a big reunion, everyone is up at 3am to throw stuff on the smoker, and again at 5 and again at 7 so there's no sleeping and the smells coming from all over make you want to eat and eat and eat. The most interesting thing I had was smoked and bbq-ed catfish (completely changed the flavor of the fish). All the meat was from animals slaughtered in the past 48 hours, and I spent 2 straight days wandering from camp to camp stuffing myself with homemade sausages, ribs, brisket, chicken, boar, pig. . .easily the greatest weekend of my life.

Bacon and apricot jam on an english muffin with a runny poached egg to dip it in. . .this was my breakfast growing up and it's still a favorite even though ti grosses my roommates out.

One of my graduation gifts was a really nice knife, 2 cutting boards and a hand me down cast iron from my mom.

She's the only one that got a thank you card because it's the only gift I've ever used.

If you're on a budget, a nice selection of spices would be a nice way to go too.

Grilled whole red snapper stuffed with a chili, lemon juice and crab mixture and a smokey adobo bbq glaze on the outside. My parents and grilling mentors finally conceded victory after that one.

I'll top my burger with some roasted jalapeno or fresco pepper (seeds and ribs still included) or mince them and put them in the meat mix.

For those of you familiar with Penzey's, they've got a great black and red pepper seasoning that's a little spicy and a little smokey and works great in the meat, on the meat or on the bun. . .last time I cooked with it I put a bit in with some melted butter and brushed the top of the buns with that. Heaven!