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Q tips: Mustard vs the rest (BBQ)
The State ^ | September 2, 2001 | CAROL J.G. WARD

Posted on 01/03/2002 5:04:58 AM PST by aomagrat

You heard it here first: Mustard-based sauce is best for barbecue. No, ketchup-based — no, vinegar-and-pepper . . . In S.C., the debate never ends. But here are some places to eat while you argue.

If you enjoy fireworks, just say the word “barbecue” in a crowd of Southerners and sit back and enjoy the show.

Barbecue rouses unshakable convictions about what’s the best, and most folks are more than happy to voice an opinion.

Yet, despite all the passion it arouses, the debate really isn’t even about barbecue, said Chuck Kovacik, a professor in USC’s Department of Geography and author of the “Barbecue Map of South Carolina.”

“This will never be about barbecue. The passion is about place. Wherever I’m from, it’s obviously the best. ... You’re not arguing about the quality of the barbecue. You’re arguing about the quality of the place,” he said.

The owners of local barbecue restaurants agree barbecue is about much more than food.

It’s also about family ties, said Fred Mathias, co-owner of Four Oaks Farm in Lexington. “We were all kind of raised on it. When families get together, it’s just a tradition,” Mathias said.

For Carolyn Myers, co-owner of Myers Barbeque House in Blythewood, barbecue represents a way of life. “(It’s popularity) has to do with the country-time atmosphere we’re in,” she said. “Lots of South Carolinians, in particular, are country at heart.”

The styles of barbecue are numerous. What someone likes often depends on where he grew up. Here in what’s known as the Barbecue Belt — North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas — the meat of choice is pork.

But travel the Carolinas and you’ll find a range of sauces. Toward the eastern shore of North Carolina, they finish their Q with vinegar sauce, while their neighbors on the western border favor a thick, sweet-sour, ketchup-based sauce.

In South Carolina, there are at least four barbecue regions, Kovacik said.

“The (barbecue) debate is even greater here than what we’ve been led to believe by our neighbors to the north,” he said.

“You hear so much about North Carolina barbecue. æ.æ.æ. They like to say that North Carolina is a valley of humility between two mountains of conceit. When it comes to barbecue, North Carolina is an incredible mountain of conceit.”

In South Carolina, vinegar-and-pepper sauces are popular in the northeastern corner of the state. In the Upstate along the border with North Carolina, tomato-based sauce combining sweet and sour flavors is the standard, while along the western border with Georgia, ketchup-like sauces reign.

Here in the middle part of the state running to the southern coast, mustard-based sauces rule, an observation borne out by the notes and e-mails we received when we asked for readers’ favorite barbecue restaurants.

“Mustard base is the way to go. ... (It) takes my vote for the best that there is,” wrote Marti Olivarri of Columbia in a note that summed up many of the recommendations we received.

But it takes more than good sauce to make a restaurant special. Many readers mentioned a family atmosphere, friendly service and touches such as checkered tablecloths.

“The country setting and friendly atmosphere, plus the great barbecue, combine for a winning combination,” Stacey Charles of Saluda said of Wise Bar-B-Q House in Newberry.

Please note the above statements are simply examples — and are not meant to be interpreted as any type of barbecue resolution. This debate will never be settled, so perhaps it’s best to heed one reader’s philosophical approach.

“Sauce is everything ... (but) different sauces for different sections,” said James Alford of Dillon, who prefers the “red gravy” at Country Cousins in Scranton.

Besides, if you don’t like the sauce where you live, drive a few miles, and it will change.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bbq
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To: TroutStalker
Kansas City.

Have to agree. After having had BBQ all over the US the best for my taste has been in Texas and KC.

I'll also pass along a comment I've heard from cooks in the best joints in both places; sauce is for when the cooking method and meat aren't any good and you need to cover it up.

241 posted on 01/04/2002 4:00:50 PM PST by Proud_texan
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To: IceCreamSocialist
meat must rest/age to come out of rigor mortis

Don't know about the rigor mortis aspect but marinate in beer overnight that should take care of the tenderness problem.

242 posted on 01/04/2002 4:07:48 PM PST by Proud_texan
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To: XBob
X, you misunderstood my post....we are second and third generation Americans of Serbian descent. We live here in the good ol' USA. We do keep up our religious and family traditions of the old country though.
243 posted on 01/04/2002 5:01:27 PM PST by MadelineZapeezda
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Comment #244 Removed by Moderator

Comment #245 Removed by Moderator

To: epow
I can tell you it was open 2 years ago. My parents live in Winter Haven, and we ate there the last time I visited. And the building hasn't gotten any better with age.
246 posted on 01/05/2002 3:00:01 AM PST by ekyjim
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To: IceCreamSocialist, RobFromGa
Much obliged for you responses. That "closed rack" approach is what I have been using in the oven; now to crank the temp down to, say, 250 for much more time.
247 posted on 01/05/2002 8:54:26 AM PST by UScbass
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Comment #248 Removed by Moderator

To: IceCreamSocialist
Tomorrow I'm making a rack of pork ribs using David Rosengarten's recipe. Takes about 7 hours. I'll let you know how they turn out. The wood is a dust and you only use a few tablespoons total, you move the closed smoker/cooker between the cooktop (to get things smoking inside) and the oven every hour or so. It seems complicated, but if it works, it's a perfect excuse to FReep all day and cook for a few minutes every hour.
249 posted on 01/05/2002 3:55:17 PM PST by RobFromGa
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To: rdb3
Exactly. Don't get me wrong, though. I've had some wonderful sauces (although none with any mustard). But they added to the overall flavor of the meat, but did not make the meat.

Real barbecue is good sans sauce. Real, if you can find find someone who can make it (wink, wink).

Okay, for clarity: I rarely barbeque, but I grill and broil frequently.

You are talking about grilling.

Shrimp with lime and ground black pepper on a mesquite grill? I love it!

A fat ribeye marinaded in a garlic sauce? HEAVEN with a butterry baked potato!

Swordfish marinaded in lemon juice with ground black pepper? Throw it on the fire, quick!

But none of these things is BBQ!

BBQ is a hog slow-cooked over hickory coals with a sweet mustard sauce. The sauce is applied to the meat every hour or so after the first 5-6 hours of cooking

Now, I am going to give a little on this issue: This type of thing has been around here(SC, USA) for a while, but is beginning to spread elsewhere. Once you try it you will know.

And as much as I love Sheally's, the best is really always homemade. But you can use Sheally's sauce.

The rason I rarely BBQ is because I can't afford to buy a hog often.

250 posted on 01/05/2002 4:20:49 PM PST by Yeti
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To: Yeti
You are talking about grilling.

How do you figure? Grilling is placing meat directly above the source of heat. This is fine for certain meals, but it is definitely not barbecue!

Barbecue can be either pork, beef, poultry, venison, mutton, or curry. I have no idea where barbecue can only be pork came from since barbecuing actually refers to how the meat is cooked (slow and by an indirect heat source of wood and/or charcoal). Saying that barbecue can only be pork makes no sense to me.

Those meals you described about grilling sure made me hungry.

Where's my wife? Papadeaux's is in order tonight!

251 posted on 01/05/2002 4:32:15 PM PST by rdb3
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To: rdb3
Barbecue can be either pork, beef, poultry, venison, mutton, or curry. I have no idea where barbecue can only be pork came from since barbecuing actually refers to how the meat is cooked (slow and by an indirect heat source of wood and/or charcoal). Saying that barbecue can only be pork makes no sense to me.

By your line of reasoning, it could also be bear, fish, elk, etc...

I don't know how I would BBQ curry...although I could sure grill a curried pice of meat. In fact, I think in some places "curry" might mean lamb seasoned a certain way.

As I have said in some previous posts, it is a dialect thing. When you say BBQ here(SC, USA) you are talking about a hog slow-cooked over hickory with a sweet mustard sauce. Tell someone to get you some BBQ for lunch and that is what they will bring. When someone says that they want BBQ, that is what they are talking about.

Now, your assertion regarding the slow-cooked, indirect grilling sounds like it might not be from webster's dictionary, either. And you aren't from Australia, either.

My ever-evolving assertion is this: the position that I have maintained on this and other threads regarding BBQ will eventually win a worldwide culture war. If you ever taste it done properly you will understand why BBQ will mean this substance, and all others will be qualified(BBQ chicken, BBQ beef, red BBQ sauce, etc...)

Especially when eaten in the context of the traditional July 4th or Memorial Day 2-day party(drinking binge) nothing by the same name can compare.

I have lived on the west coast, and I have lived in the midwest. I love Tex-mex, I love all kinds of good food. BBQ ia not my favorite food in the world! But the honor of the name belongs to the best, and if you'll have it you'll know:

Barbeque is a hog, slow-cooked over hickory coals with a sweet mustard sauce.

252 posted on 01/05/2002 5:49:25 PM PST by Yeti
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To: MadelineZapeezda
sorry, I guess I did misunderstand you. However, in certain resturants in Cairo they make a very different, and very good lamb barbeque.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the recipe when I lived there and have been trying to find it, without success.

If you ever go to Cairo, you should try it.

254 posted on 01/06/2002 2:47:29 AM PST by XBob
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To: Peter W. Kessler
You may have gone to the best known drive-in in Spartanburg, The Beacon. This is the place where they know how to serve good food fast. If a customer hesitates even for a few seconds when ordering, they'll say "Step back, Go to the back of the line until you've made up your mind." "Let's gooo, keep it movin'!"

An interesting place, but not if one is on a diet.

255 posted on 01/06/2002 3:26:36 AM PST by CWRWinger
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To: CWRWinger
I'll have a "Pork 'a Plenty". (Beacon- Spartanburg,SC)

That place is an institution.

256 posted on 01/06/2002 8:39:53 AM PST by RobFromGa
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To: WindMinstrel
I know you are being funny...BTW, ever tried Bulls Eye? If you have to resort to the store bought stuff, try it.
257 posted on 01/06/2002 8:59:28 AM PST by H8klintoon
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To: H8klintoon
Yeah, I was just trying to be silly. I may be a Yankee, but I was in the Army long enough to live in places where they take BBQ seriously. One of my favorite memories of basic training is I was eating bbq chicken with my fork and knife, yankee style. A squadmate looked up, bbq sauce dripping from his face and hands and said, "(Windminstrel), what the HELL are you doing??". We got smoked, but it was still funny
258 posted on 01/07/2002 10:38:18 AM PST by WindMinstrel
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To: steveisright
TRUE BAR-B-Q HAS AND NEEDS NO SAUCE! TRY IT THE ARGENTINE WAY, BEEF AND TONS OF JUICY FAT!!! That's BBQ!

What about chimichurri? That's a sauce...and a darn good one.

But I agree with you--I'll take an Argentine parillada anyday over these American slabs of beef slathered in thick red goo. Give me some good vacio, a few chorizos, a churrasco...Mmm!

259 posted on 07/17/2004 9:11:00 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (We're all DOOOOOOOOMED!!! < /DNC talking points>)
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