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.
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.
Don't know about the rigor mortis aspect but marinate in beer overnight that should take care of the tenderness problem.
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.
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!
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.
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.
An interesting place, but not if one is on a diet.
That place is an institution.
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!
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