Announcer: The ongoing passionate debate over who makes America's best barbecue may never be settled. Memphis, Kansas city, and just about every state across the south will tell you it's theirs.

Texas has a pretty good case for being number one and a bustling small town spot run by a woman who's been serving up barbecue for half a century might be the best of them all.

Steve Patterson has our Sunday Closer.

Reporter: She moves with a master stride managing the marble of the brisket, balancing both sides of every chicken.

Tootsie: Salt and pepper, tender loving care.

Reporter: Dancing with smoke, flirting with fire, a choreography of cooking perfected over a lifetime.

Reporter: You didn't cook with gauges? How do you tell without gauges?

Tootsie: I've just always felt of it. That's hot enough. I don't need any more fire under there.

Reporter: Every Saturday morning this is the scene at Snow's barbecue in Lexington, Texas.

Tootsie: Wasn't no secret recipe, I just don't have a recipe.

Reporter: At 83 years old, Snow's pitmaster, Tootsie Tomanetz, is a lone star legend.

Tootsie: It was by accident that I got into it.

Reporter: 50 years ago Tootsie would help out at her husband's butcher camp. when the market chef failed to show one day, she stepped in.

Tootsie: They said come back tomorrow, come back next week and, I mean, I worked there for ten years.

Reporter: The barbecue business has always been very much a man's world making tootsie's rise even more rare. She spent decades making a reputation locally. Snow's Barbecue only exists today because owner Kelly Bexley recruited Tootsie to work there.

Kelly: I wouldn't have opened this if she wouldn't agreed to come to work for me. I wouldn't have done this without her.

REPORTER: The pair made for a good mix. Quality meat quietly served one day a week ten years ago.  That quiet vanished for good.

Man: It was simply the best barbecue in Texas.

Reporter: Snow’s was voted the top spot in the state by Texas Monthly, basically the barbecue bible here, and overnight that small town charm turned world renown.

Man: If Snow’s Barbecue is the best barbecue in Texas and Tootsie is the pitmaster, that pretty much means she's the best pitmaster in the nation.

Reporter: Scores of people sometimes driving hundreds of miles for an hour's long wait in the hope that their favorite cut of meat doesn't sell out.

Reporter: Coming in at 4:30 in the morning, is it that good?

Man: It is!  Does it sound crazy?

Reporter: A little bit.

Man: Just taste it. when you pick it up, it falls apart. It melts in your mouth. How much more do you gotta say.

Reporter: But she's faced some tough times. Three years ago, husband “White” died after suffering a stroke. A few months later she lost her son, Hershey, to brain cancer.

Kelly: The week after they buried her husband she was here. The day after, whatever. She's just -- she's just a trooper.

Reporter: That dedication shines through on the plate. This year tootsie was a semi-finalist for the prestigious James Beard award. And just last month, she was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame. But she's taking the recognition in stride.

Tootsie: I just cook barbecue because I enjoy it. I don't cook it to gain all of this fame. I enjoy working. I'm happy to make people happy.

Reporter: This small town kingdom rising from the fire and smoke ruled by a lady known around here as the Pit Queen.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgkJzhP7kx0

Additional Information: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/meet-legendary-snows-bbq-pitmaster-tootsie-tomanetz/

Discussion Questions:

1. After watching this video, are you hungry for barbecue?

2. How does Tootsie cook her barbecue?

3. How did she get started, and why is she still cooking barbecue?

4. What did people say about the barbecue she made?

5. From the video, what is most interesting to you, why?

6. What qualities do you see in Tootsie the pitmaster?

7. Tell us of any famous cook or chef like Tootsie and what they cook.

8. Do you have barbecue places in your community?