Posted on 06/24/2014 7:16:57 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
In the 19th century, the French declared the mother sauces. Bechamel, veloute, espagnole, tomate, and hollandaise all became the bases for other sauces in classical French cuisine. Barbecue sauce is sort of the same deal. Key ingredients such as vinegar, tomato and mustard have all come to define regional barbecue in the United States.
While sauce on its own is never enough to save bad barbecue, it can perfectly complement the flavors of good barbecue, giving it an identity and elevating it to greatness.
So, what are the "mother sauces" of barbecue?
(Excerpt) Read more at seriouseats.com ...
I’ve never really understood the big barbecue battle. I’ve had excellent sauces from all the major schools, executed properly they can all be delicious. Tomato and vinegar base is probably my favorite, though in practice my favorite is “what do you got”.
I have a covered porch that leads out to my patio. My barrel BBQ sits out of the weather so I can grill or BBQ in just about any weather.
I agree with you dmz...
Living in the Northwest, I don’t feel tied to any one area of BBQ. That being said, when I cook pork ribs I prefer no sauce as my rub, low/slow cook over apple or cherry wood give enough good flavor. When I do pork butt (pulled pork) I rub, then inject/baste with a spices,vinegar and apple juice mixture. I have a couple finishing sauces for people to put on their sandwiches. One is tomato based and the other is Mustard based. Both have vinegar, some heat and some sweet. Neither would be confused with the store brand bottled types.
I haven’t tried smoking a brisket yet. Plan on doing one sometime this summer.
I don’t like tomato based bbq sauces at all.
I wonder what type sauce would best compliment that?
I guess your photo of the smoker is my cue to admit my shame in a confession:
I bought an electric smoker earlier this month.
... get a rope.
I think people in NC hate meat. They just want to kill the taste of it.
Actually, you’re 1/2 right. Yes on the Whiz. No on the Steak-Um. Sliced Ribeye.
I went to that famous place, what was it called, in Philadelphia and that’s what I got, Steakum and Cheez Whiz in a hoagie bun. Was it Gino’s? Been a while, but I was shocked and very disappointed. Our “fake” ones are better than that.
“I don’t like tomato based bbq sauces at all.”
That is truly unfortunate...although we like most barbecues of all kinds, our childhood norm is a delicious tomato based barbecue pork sandwich. We very slowly cook cubed pork in the barbecue sauce for many hours in a pot, until the meat is ready to fall apart. We remove the excess grease in the pot, separate the meat fibers, add more barbecue sauce, and slow cook a short time further until the meat is tender and has absorbed the barbecue sauce. It is served on your favorite sandwich bread.
Some will regard crockpot “barbecue” as anathema, but one of my aunts did pulled chicken that way, made her own sauce, sort of on the sweet side and even that was awesome. Not too many styles that I dislike. The Mustard style is easy to ruin and hard to find good examples in a restaurant, imho. What passes for barbecue in states with no firm tradition can be a shredded muddle with poor flavor. But generally speaking, it’s good eating whatever the style if they know what they’re doing, even the Alabama white. The idea of it put me off but the reality of it was quite good.
Both Geno’s and Pat’s serve Ribeye. Not Steak-ums. They differ in the thickness of the slices and the way they are cooked, but it is all Ribeye.
Jim’s is better than either, and there are probably another 6 or 8 better than Jim’s.
Go to the market and get a Dinic’s roast pork. That is the true best sandwich in the city.
Something I wrote a few years ago:
BBQs are animals, not, a way of cooking meat.
They are pink, porcine looking creatures that walk about on two legs with a top hat, a walking stick and sometimes a Tux.
While smiling a lot, they can be rather fierce, specially if they have been eating lots of peppers, vinegar, mustard, or other hot spices.
If you should fear confrontation from a BBQ, one should have a fork and plate ready, with a loaf of bread, Brunswick Stew or rice hash, and a large Sweetened Iced Tea. Armed thus, the BBQ will vanish pretty quick.
While I think Sconyer’s BBQ and his sauces are the best in the Universe, I know that there are some very good Mustard and tomato based sauces out there. Dry rubs are great too.
But, like Alton Brown says, if the meat isn’t smoked right, it doesn’t matter what you pour on it, it’s still gonna be bad.
Bravo!
I developed a taste for Brisket in west Texas... At the end of my 18 hour workday, I would stop and get a pound of fatty smoked brisket in Monahans to eat with my fingers on the 90 mile drive back to the hotel in Hobbs... I never ever liked sauce... but they did have sauce on the side you could get, so I tried it once and it was pretty good... nice heat to it... a thinner sauce... not that thick brown goo that is all Karo syrup.
I liked how they did things out in the Permian Basin... I miss What-A-Burger.... the standard burger comes equipped with mustard. Ketchup is for kids.
Just the opposite, actually. That’s why God gave us the best ‘cue.
I’ve never had it in its native land, but thanks to a little barbecue joint in Castroville, CA I developed a real liking for Texas-style brisket. They smoked theirs dry and had a thin tomato and vinegar based sauce you could have on the side. Delicious.
Sadly, the place is closed now.
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