The following feature article, which appeared in Viva Magazine July 23, 1993 gives a brief history of how Big Bertha got started.
Barbecuing excellent brisket and ribs that are so tender the meat falls off the bone is culinary art to North side’s Big Bertha Y Los Crudos, nine-member barbecue cooking team.
The team wants to enter the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo’s World’s Championship Barbecue Contest next year, says head cook Abel Nuncio, 30 who lives in the North side and is originally from the Denver Harbor area. “It was as if I had a vision. I could just see us at the Astrodome,” said Nuncio, describing the image he had of his goal.
Although the Big Bertha Y Los Crudos
cooking team has a commitment to get to the World’s Championship Barbecue
contest next February, they generously give their time and cooking skills to the
community. Recently, the team
volunteered to barbecue for a fundraiser at Vara’s Lounge, in the near North
side, for little Angel Garcia, who has Down Syndrome. Little angel’s parents needed financial support for their
rising medical bills. “We
barbecue for churches and others in the community because we want to help out and I love
to barbecue,” said Nuncio.
Nuncio’s love for barbecuing began
when he began dating his wife, Adriana. “My
father-in-law used to take me out back to the pit when my wife and I were
dating. I’d go pick her up and
she wasn’t ready so he’d take me out back and tell me what to do and what
not to do to the meat,” said Nuncio, who gives much of the credit of learning
how to prepare barbecue to Raymond Moses, Adriana’s father, who is originally
from Quemado, Texas. Moses gave
Nuncio the pit, Big Bertha, which is the cooking team’s mascot and where all
of Nuncio’s delectable meats are barbecued.
Nuncio put in many hours of work on his
pit to get it in good working condition. Nuncio
said his grandmother, Lucy Mosqueda was so surprised at the monstrous pit he had
built. So, he decided to name it,
Big Bertha. The other part of the
Big Bertha name, “y Los Crudos” was derived from Joe Gonzalez, one of the
team members. According to
Gonzalez, he arrived for a cookoff in Denver Harbor with a slight hangover (crudo),
and the name stuck. “Crudo means
hungover in Spanish, but that doesn’t mean we are a bunch of drunks".
The name is all in fun and we have a good time,” Nuncio said.
Nuncio put his culinary skills to the
test with his friends. He barbecued
the brisket and ribs so well that his friends encouraged him to open up a
restaurant. But instead, he decided
to compete in cookoffs.
The Big Bertha team has been together
for one year and already has trophies to show for it.
The first cookoff for the team was the
North Channel Crime Prevention Cookoff. They
placed 3rd in the brisket category.
Soon after, at the Pasadena Livestock Show and Rodeo, the team placed in
the top 25 percent out of 200 teams. But,
it was at the San Jacinto/Galena Park/Go Texan Cookoff where the teams efforts
were rewarded. They came in first
in the rib category out of 75 teams, and second in the brisket.
At the Pasadena Pod BBQ Cookoff the team placed third in showmanship.
Again, head cook Nuncio proved his brisket and ribs were hard to beat.
At the Laporte Harris County Go Texan Cookoff, the team placed first in
brisket and fourth in the ribs category. “Big
Bertha went up against some big pits and this LaPorte cookoff,” said Nuncio
proudly.
Sue Boehm, an original member of the Big
Bertha cooking team, has known the Nuncios all her life.
She is committed to the team’s goal.
“I believe in it. We have a goal and we want accomplish it,” said Boehm, who
also confirmed that Nuncio’s barbecue was the best in town.
Work as a team
It’s no surprise that the good-natured
Nuncio and his members work as a team. Gonzalez,
a mobile disc jockey and an original cooking team member, is one of the team
support members as well as Richard Cox, Tommy Heuerman, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe
Pena, and Mike Maldonado. " I do whatever needs to be done and play music
for the team,” said Big Joe, as he is called by his friends.
But in order for the team to get into
the Houston Livestock show & Rodeo World champion barbecue contest, Big
Bertha needs sponsors and needs to drum up points to qualify in the big boy’s
barbecue cookoff. “It’s a
matter of how many cookoffs you enter and how well you fare at each one, “said
Nuncio. “It takes quite a bit of
money and quite of bit of backing to get in," he added.
10-pound
minimum
In the HLS&R test of skill and
culinary technique, which draws cooks from the Go Texan area to produce the best
barbecue in the world, contestants must cook a minimum of 10 pounds of meat,
consisting of beef , pork or chicken. Under
the strict supervision or committee members and judges, the meat is cooked over
a wood burning fire. Judges have
included food experts, well-known personalities, Houston restaurateurs and
health experts. Trophies are
presented to contestants preparing the best chicken, best ribs and best brisket,
and an additional trophy is presented to the overall winner.
Trophies are also given to the most colorful team or contestant, the team
with the cleanest area, the team with the most unique pit and to the area Go
Texan teams for the best barbecue and for the most colorful.
An additional award will be given to the team with the best skit, which
most often depicts old western saloons and gun shootouts.
So be on the lookout for Big Bertha y
Los Crudos at HLS&R World’s Championship Barbecue Contest next year.
I just want to show the world that
Tejanos can cook, and all we have to do is take that step,” said Nuncio.
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Big Bertha Y Los Amigos was established in 1991. We began with a nine-member team, since then we have grown to twenty-four dedicated members.
The team's goal is to support BBQ cooking events which include support of various charities and scholarship programs throughout Houston and surrounding areas.
Big Bertha generates financial support through fundraising, team support and corporate sponsorships.
We hope that you have enjoyed your visit to our site.
If you would like more information about Big Bertha Y Los Amigos Cooking Team or would like to become a sponsor, please contact us via E-mail.