Couzin’s Texas Style BBQ —  delicious addition to community

Living in the middle of the United States, where several styles of barbeque converge can be confusing to one’s pallet. Yet, the confusion is a delicious dilemma to give customers lots of scrumptious options.

Zach Fletcher moved to the Ozarks from the Jasper County, Kirbyville, Texas area. Zach has Cajun family roots where everyone loves to cook. Rebecca moved to Clinton as a child. The two have been married for a year and a half and six-month old baby Barrett has joined the family.

“After five hurricanes in five years I was ready to escape the crowds, high taxes and have better weather,” he said.

Rebecca grew up helping her mom who was a baker and had her own bread route. So by the age of four or five she had a good understanding of baking and loved experimenting with curry and different flavors. She is not officially licensed as a professional chef, but did work for five years as a sous chef.

Zach’s cousin lived in this area and encouraged him to come up, and they started a food truck business. His cousin helped him with smoking meat for the new business until his health wouldn’t allow it. So Zach bought out his cousin’s part of the business. 

The food truck business got so busy, they ran out of kitchen space. So they rented the building on Hwy. 7 North for an extra kitchen. They have since sold the food truck and have picnic tables set up outside, or do a majority of their business as curbside pick up. “It’s been a big blessing since COVID to already have our business set up this way,” she said.

So how is Texas style barbecue different?

“I like to let the meat speak for itself,” he said. “Our homemade sauce is more of a vinegary sauce with a touch of spice,” he said. “We start cooking ribs really early in the morning so they are ready by lunch. We smoke all our meats with hickory and oak. We like to get our buns from Neighbor’s Mill. So we serve ribs, chopped brisket, and sometimes sliced brisket. We also have pulled pork, smoked chicken, brisket chili and Texas Twinkees. We also serve chopped beef tacos, and have started serving breakfast including burritos and breakfast tacos for the mornings.”

Rebecca admitted, “We don’t even have a stove. So everything goes over the pit.”

The side dishes are also freshly made from scratch which include brisket beans, coleslaw and potato salad. 

We all want to know, what’s a Texas Twinkie?  “It’s a jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, wrapped in bacon, brisket and smoked,” he said. There are times when he prepares his mom’s gumbo recipe. Just watch the Facebook page for updates.

Hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The address is 4622 Hwy. 7 North by Sansing Hollow Road. The phone number is 870-688-8394.