Lately, Texas barbecue joints have been battling the high cost of raw ingredients like brisket, even to the point of possibly replacing it with other cuts of meat. They're facing other challenges, too — including in labor and staffing.

Consider the meat cutter, a sacred tradition in Texas barbecue. At meat market-style joints, we step up to the chopping block and place our order with the person actually cutting the meat, aka the “cutter.”

How hard can this job be, you might ask? After all, we all cut meat. At a steakhouse, we are dutifully presented with a steak knife just before the arrival of our charred and crusty rib-eye, with which we happily slice off mouthfuls of delicious (if expensive) bite-size portions from our slab of beef.

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