Big Mike’s Hydraulic Sausage Press and the Six Million Dollar Man
“I would not bring the Six Million Dollar Man to a Houston barbecue joint if it wasn’t legit,” Guy Fieri declared as he rolled up to The Pit Room in his Triple D Camaro. And when Lee Majors himself shows up mid-cook, double-parked in front of the fire station, you know something special is happening in Big Mike’s playhouse.
The Pit Room represents exactly what Houstonians crave: a perfect marriage of Tex-Mex and barbecue. As one diner put it, “We Houstonians love our Tex-Mex and we love our barbecue, so he just combines all those so very well.” Everything here is made from scratch, smoked over post oak in propane tanks modified into 100% stick burners.
Building the Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage from Scratch
The star of this segment is the jalapeno cheddar sausage dinner, and watching Big Mike build these links is a masterclass in Texas sausage making. It starts with whole boneless pork butts, cubed up and mixed with a dry spice blend of cayenne pepper, kosher salt, paprika, and black pepper. That meat sits overnight to let the flavors develop.
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The next day brings the magic ingredients: pickled jalapeno brine (which helps the fat bind with the protein), chopped pickled jalapenos, and restricted melt cheddar cheese. This specialty cheese is the key—it gets warm and creamy but won’t melt and dissipate throughout the sausage. The mixture goes into a hydraulic sausage press with all-natural pork casings, formed into quarter-pound links.
The smoking process is a two-stage affair: two to three hours at 175 degrees in the first smoker, then about 30 minutes at higher temp in a second smoker to heat it through. The resting period between stuffing and smoking gives the sausage time to adhere to the casing.
That House-Made Barbecue Sauce
Big Mike’s barbecue sauce reads like a flavor encyclopedia. It starts with smoked beef fat, then builds with onions, Lone Star dark molasses, dark corn syrup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, minced garlic, cayenne, salt, chipotles in adobo, whole grain mustard, smoked paprika, black pepper, seasoning salt, dark chili powder, orange marmalade, cracked black pepper for texture, tomato sauce, and what Guy called “a tanker truck of ketchup.” That cooks down for about an hour and a half. Similar attention to layered flavors shows up in dishes like Quick Pork Chile Verde.
The Bionic Taste Test
Lee Majors got the first bite, along with the house hot sauce that had Guy warning him about the heat before he even tried it. The verdict? Guy called it “dynamite” with “just the right amount of heat” and praised the great snap to the casing. “The whole thing that I dig is the restricted melt cheese and the grind size,” he noted. Lee Majors kept it simple: “It’s bionic.”
The sausage dinner comes as a one-meat plate with two links, served alongside fresh house-made chicharrones. The combination of the spicy, juicy sausage with crispy pork skin and that complex barbecue sauce makes this a Houston essential. It’s the kind of thoughtful pork preparation you see across Triple D, from Scallops and Pork Belly to creative sausage-making operations nationwide.
As one customer summed it up: “The jalapeno cheddar sausage here is really flavorful, it’s super juicy on the inside. The barbecue sauce is also very delicious—I just dip everything in it. Always hits the spot.”
Find The Pit Room and more Guy-approved Texas barbecue spots in our restaurant directory.