Across the United States, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day meals are shaped by tradition. Foods tied to luck, prosperity, and comfort return year after year, not because they are fashionable, but because they are familiar. In the South, black-eyed peas, beans, greens, cornbread, and pork dominate. In other regions, seafood, cabbage, or noodles take their place.
For many in Texas, the year ends and begins at the pit.
Texas food traditions are rooted in work, patience, and repetition. Two of the strongest are barbecue and tamales. Both demand time, physical effort, and generational knowledge. When they come together, the result is not novelty. It is continuity, a culinary art form built on fire and discipline.
That intersection is where Rita Olsen operates. Fire, tradition, and Feral Smoke & Fire are not ideas or branding exercises. They are the result of years of experience and hard-earned skill. Olsen is the owner and pitmaster behind Feral Smoke & Fire, a live-fire barbecue operation rooted in native Texas flavors and classic craft fundamentals. She describes the business as evolving rather than fixed.
“Currently, I’d consider us mobile. We have a commercial kitchen, but it is shared, so we aren’t there full-time. We do offer preorders and pickups at Alamo Ranch Food Truck Park in San Antonio, and also in Kerrville.”
While the business runs through scheduled pickups and catering, Olsen is clear this is not the finish line. “We are actively looking for a permanent restaurant home in the Kerrville area.” Feral Smoke & Fire offers catering throughout San Antonio, the Hill Country, and surrounding areas, maintaining flexibility as demand continues to grow.
Olsen’s path into food was not academic. Her education came from live fire and long days and nights, earned the old-fashioned way. “My first restaurant job was at age 15, and while I didn’t go to culinary school, I was fortunate to learn under fire from some of the best, and some of the not so best, both of whom taught me a lot.”
That hands-on background shows in how Feral Smoke & Fire operates. The cooking is smoke-first, practical, and disciplined. There are no shortcuts disguised as creativity.
When asked about the business launching in 2024, Olsen says, “Yes, I started Feral Smoke & Fire in 2024, and this summer, Clinton Davis of Dallas joined me as co-owner.”
Tamales, Labor, and Generational Knowledge
Tamales are not easy food. Anyone who has made them properly understands the work involved. The process is repetitive, physical, and time-consuming. For generations, women of Mexican descent have passed this tradition down through families, teaching children and grandchildren not just recipes, but patience and endurance.
In many Texas families, those lessons still come from mothers and grandmothers, learned by doing, not by writing. That context matters.
At Feral Smoke & Fire, tamales are treated as serious work, not a seasonal gimmick. Olsen’s smoked brisket tamales begin with fully smoked brisket from the pit, chopped to preserve texture and beef character, then folded into a scratch-made chile colorado built from dried chiles, onion, and garlic. The masa is seasoned with intention and enriched with rendered beef fat so it carries flavor on its own.
Her pork tamales use a blend of pork butt and cheek meat for depth and richness, paired with a pit-made salsa verde built from smoked or fire-roasted produce, green chiles, cilantro, and lime. The balance keeps them rich without becoming heavy.
Tamales at Feral Smoke & Fire are produced in volume and offered through scheduled pickup windows, and they frequently sell out. Each dozen is built to be substantial, using roughly a pound of smoked meat. These are meal-level tamales, not filler.
Two Texas Traditions, One Fire
Texas barbecue and tamales both demand respect for process. They reward patience and punish shortcuts. Through Feral Smoke & Fire, Rita Olsen brings those two traditions together, combining pitmaster discipline with a cultural practice carried forward through generations.
This is not trend food. It is work food. In Texas, that still matters. New Year’s food is about fire, substance, and feeding people well. Olsen’s tamales reflect that truth. Built on native Texas flavors, live-fire cooking, and deep respect for tradition, they are not a novelty. They are the result of hard work, cultural inheritance, and serious pit craft, exactly how Texas closes out one year and welcomes the next.
God bless Texas, and God bless Rita Olsen and the hands that carry these traditions forward.
Feral Smoke & Fire – Wild Food for Wild People
Mobile – Kerrville, Texas
Phone: (830) 777-5300 – The Best way to place an order
Email: rita@feralsmokeandfire.com – Almost the best way to place an order
Website: feralsmokeandfire.com
