Jiggs Smoke House

Where To Eat Meat Along Old Route 66

For BBQ and jerky, you can’t beat Jiggs, a shack by the side of the old Mother Road through Oklahoma. Just off I-40 Exit 62, it has a front porch for settin’ a spell. Interior accommodations include construction spools transformed into eating surfaces, as well as some kitchenette tables in a small annex near the meat counter. Wood-paneled walls are decorated with patrons’ business cards, a jackalope head, and odes to meat-eating heroes John Wayne, Bob Wills, and Marty Robbins. Washrooms are labeled “Toms” and “Hens.” At Christmas, a door between two of the restaurant’s rooms sports a wreath made of red and green shotgun shells. The smell of smoke and meat perfumes the whole restaurant. It likely will perfume your clothes for hours after you leave.

Jerky Is One Mighty Chaw

Jiggs built its reputation on beef jerky — a tough and delicious chaw. The meat men dessicate slices of loin as big as a handkerchief in a dry mix of brown sugar, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Then they slow-smoke them over coarse-ground hickory sawdust for up to 24 hours. The result? Gnarled burnt-sienna-colored patches that pack a resounding harmony of beef, pepper, and smoke.

BBQ, Oklahoma Style

Unlike the powerhouse jerky, Jigg’s barbecue is all gentle tenderness. However, tackling one of the kitchen’s specialty sandwiches demands serious eating skills. The Wooly Burger, for example: thirty-one ounces of smoked ham and summer sausage plus cheddar cheese, chow chow relish, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce. The menu calls it “2 lbs of fun!!!” Jiggs’ pigsickles, which are slabs of rib meat (no bones) with cheddar cheese and sauce, come in as doubles and triples. Normal-size sandwiches also are available; sausage and beef brisket rate high. To accompany BBQ and jerky, don’t expect any vegetables other than perfunctory beans, potato salad, and potato chips. Plus, naturally, jalapeno peppers.