Wallace “Moose Head” Peterson cuts wood at his business next door to Arrowhead Trading Company in Kyle. (Photo by Wes Ferguson)
by WES FERGUSON
Wallace Peterson cuts wood. Pecan wood. Mesquite wood. Post oak and blackjack. Hickory.
“There ain’t too much I don’t know about any kind of wood,” said Peterson, who was splitting logs on a recent evening in Kyle. “A lot of people think wood is simple, man. But really it isn’t.”
Not if you’re serious about your barbecue.
“Wood is not just wood,” he said, “when it comes to cooking.”
Peterson knows. His mama cooked for 12 kids on a wood-burning stove, and he’s been cutting wood for his own family since his boys were babies, nearly 30 years ago. Now he sells wood, too – firewood and barbecue wood – on the lot next to the Arrowhead Trading Co., on S. Old Highway 81 in Kyle.
He’s also got a full-time job at a steel mill in Seguin, where he’s worked for 33 years. If you show up looking for wood when Peterson is away at work, just drop into the Arrowhead next door. Shop owner Cathy Shaw will help you.
“Usually on the weekends we’re up here to greet everybody,” Peterson said. “We just like to cut wood, eat barbecue and sit around.”
Peterson gets most of his wood from some family property between Luling and Belmont. He hauls it to Kyle, splits it and stacks it in long, neat rows.
Each type of wood has its own purpose. The pecan is best for chicken. Dry mesquite is best for steaks. The dryness is important because it burns hotter, so the steaks grill faster.
As for brisket and ribs, try mesquite mixed with a little post oak, and you can’t go wrong. Since you want the meat to cook slowly, use wood that’s about three months old. The moisture in the new wood will help the meat stay moist.
Peterson barbecues under the name Moose Head. He has a handful of grandchildren and two grown sons. Lately he’s been training one of the sons, as well as a nephew, to compete in barbecue cookoffs.
Barbecue runs in the Peterson family. Peterson’s brother – Hays County Pct. 1 Constable David Peterson – is known to be a good cook as well.
“My brother thinks he can outcook me,” Wallace Peterson said. “But he can’t.”
