Tootsie Tomanetz

Tootsie Tomanetz
Tootsie Tomanetz
Born	1934or1935(age 89–90)
Occupation	Barbecue pitmaster
Years active	1966-present
Known for	Texas hill country barbecue

Last updated December 15, 2024

Tootsie Tomanetz is an American pitmaster and restaurateur. She is pitmaster at Snow's BBQ.

Early life

Tomanetz was raised on a farm outside of Lexington, Texas.^[1] She was the oldest of three children.^[2] She recalls growing and canning most of their own food and homesewn clothing.^[3]

Barbecue career

Tomanetz is the pitmaster at Snow's BBQ in Lexington, Texas, which in 2008 was named the best barbecue in Texas by Texas Monthly.^[1]^[4] Her style of barbecue is a style originating in the Texas hill country.^[2]

Tomanetz began cooking barbecue in 1966 at City Meat Market in Giddings, Texas, when they were shorthanded.^[1]^[5] She learned from Orange Holloway.^[4] She became pitmaster at a second City Meat Market in Lexington, and she and her husband eventually bought it, selling it after her husband had a stroke in 1996.^[1] She got a job in the maintenance department for the local school district.^[1] In 2003 she started working Saturdays at Snow's; as of 2024 she was still working as pitmaster.^[1]

She was featured on 2020's Chef's Table: BBQ.^[4]

Recognition

Tomanetz was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2018. She was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef:Southwest the same year.^[4]^[3]

Personal life

Tomanetz married Edward Tomanetz, who worked as a butcher at City Meat Market in Giddings, Texas, in July of 1956 when she was 21; she was widowed in 2015.^[1]^[4]^[2] The couple had three children. Tomanetz lives in Giddings, Texas and as of 2024 was still working in the local school district's maintenance department.^[1]^[4] She is Lutheran.^[6]

Related Research Articles

Giddings is the county seat of Lee County, Texas, United States situated on the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and U.S. Route 290. Its population was 5,129 at the 2010 census.

Kansas City–style barbecue is a slowly smoked meat barbecue originating in Kansas City, Missouri in the early 20th century. It has a thick, sweet sauce derived from brown sugar, molasses, and tomatoes. Henry Perry is credited as its originator, as two of the oldest Kansas City–style barbecue restaurants still in operation trace their roots back to Perry's pit.

Barbecue sauce is a sauce used as a marinade, basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork, beef, and chicken. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the Southern United States and is used on many other foods as well.

Snow's BBQ is a renowned Texas barbecue restaurant located in the small town of Lexington roughly an hour outside of Austin, Texas to the east. Snow's is open only on Saturdays from 8 AM until they run out of meat, often around noon. The unusual hours were originally kept to take advantage of a weekly Saturday livestock auction nearby at 12:30 PM.

BBQ Pitmasters is an American reality television series which follows barbecue cooks as they compete for cash and prizes in barbecue cooking competitions.

Johnny Trigg from Alvarado, Texas is an American celebrity chef and competitor on the competitive barbecue circuit. He is a two time Grand Champion of the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational, and has appeared on TLC reality television show BBQ Pitmasters.

A barbecue sandwich is a sandwich that is typically prepared with barbecued meats. Several types of meats are used to prepare barbecue sandwiches. Some varieties use cooked meats that are not barbecued, but include barbecue sauce. Many variations, including regional variations, exist, along with diverse types of cooking styles, preparations and ingredients.

Melissa Cookston is an American chef and author. She is the chef/owner of two restaurants, the author of two cookbooks, and a seven-time world American barbecue champion. In addition, Cookston has twice won top prize at the Memphis in May American Barbecue World Championship and is the only female American barbecue world champion.

South Carolina is home to several distinct styles of barbecue characterized by different cuts of meat, types of barbecue sauce and preparation. It is particularly well known for the heavy emphasis on pork and the popularity of a mustard-based barbecue sauce in the central part of the state.

Jess Pryles is a US-based Australian chef, television show host of Aussie Barbecue Heroes, meat expert and a live fire cook. She co-founded the Australasian Barbecue Alliance. She is also the author of the book Hardcore Carnivore. She was born in Melbourne, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ</span> Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina

Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. Specializing in pulled pork barbecue and owned by Rodney Scott and Nick Pihakis, it opened in February 2017.

Kevin Bludso is an American chef, restaurateur, and television personality.

Blood Bros. BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Bellaire, Texas in Greater Houston.

Rodney Scott is an American chef and whole-hog barbecue pitmaster from Hemingway, South Carolina. In 2018 Scott was named Best Chef: Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, only the second pitmaster to win a James Beard chef award.

Holy Trinity Barbecue was a barbecue restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Kyle Rensmeyer established the business as a food cart in southeast Portland's neighborhood Creston-Kenilworth in 2019. Holy Trinity and its barbecue garnered a positive reception; The Oregonian deemed Holy Trinity one of the city's best new food carts and Portland Business Journal said its barbecue was "hailed as among the best" in the United States. The restaurant closed in October 2022 and Rensmeyer has since held pop-ups.

Southside Market & Barbeque is a historic barbecue restaurant and meat market in Elgin, Texas. It has since expanded into a chain restaurant.

Dominique Leach is the owner and chef of Lexington Betty's Smokehouse in Chicago. She has been featured on food television programs, including Chopped, Fire Masters, and BBQ Brawl.

A smoked hamburger is a hamburger patty that has been cooked by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. It is common in Texas.

Chuck Charnichart is an American restaurateur and pitmaster.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Vaughn, Daniel (2016-09-21). "Snow's Queen". Texas Monthly . Retrieved 2024-12-14.
1 2 3 Chef's Table:BBQ Tootsie Tomanetz . Retrieved 14 December 2024.
1 2 Meewes, Veronica (10 March 2023). "These Women Have Made Texas Barbecue So Smoking Hot". Food & Wine . Retrieved 2024-12-14.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Lundstrom, Kathryn (2024-11-25). "How This 89-Year-Old Became a Texas BBQ Legend". Elle . Retrieved 2024-12-14.
↑ Filloon, Whitney (2015-02-25). "How Snow's BBQ Rose From Obscurity to Texas Barbecue Stardom". Eater . Retrieved 2024-12-14.
↑ Jones, Jim (2022-12-08). "I'm a Lutheran: Norma Frances "Tootsie" Tomanetz". Living Lutheran . Retrieved 2024-12-14.