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.
"Brisket isn't BBQ, it's roast beef."
Y'all are killin' me!! LOL!
I'm in OP. Check your FReepMail.
TS
ROTFL! You're a yankee ain't ya?
TS - If yer in OP...you prolly been to the new Jack Stack @ 95th & Metcalf...or lemme see...what's dat one @ about College & Antioch??? Not Boardroom BBQ...
Anywhoo...I don't compete anymore...haven't for several years. One of my buddies took the name of my team...and is carrying on the tradition....
I actually like a vinegar/tomato based sauce...much like Arthur Bryants sauce. Most of them are too thick & sweet for my taste....like Rich Davis' KC MASTERPIECE (glorified catsup, IMHO)
I have been trying out a plethora of sauces on beef ribs for the last 16 months.
Probably all that sickly sweet "BBQ" sauce.
The question was recently asked about the difference between a Yankee and a damn Yankee. A damn yankee is cluless and arrogant about it!
We can buy Maurice's , a mustard base. I don't like mustard base, at least none I've tried.
A sauce I really like , haven't found it lately, 'Texas Best'. Tomato based, not too hot and water based ( instead of oil). Brush it on, it thickens, brush on more, etc. So many oil based just slide off.
Yes, been to Jack Stack on Metcalf about a year ago, and enjoyed it. The one at College and Antioch is Haywards. It's been about ten years since I've been there, but it was sure fine at that time.
When you say mustard, I assume that you mean Gulden's Brown mustard. Not that yellow stuff.
Well you're as clueless as you were the other night. Better go run to the Moderators now. I've put you in the Askel5 school on Free Republic... BB material...
That aside, Paul Kirk and John Willinghan the 2 most famous people in the world when it comes to BBQ would say the same thing I do ... You're clueless.
The team was now a legend. The following day, the headline of the Memphis newspaper, the Commercial Appeal, read: "What?s the World Coming To When a Bunch of Yankees Beat You at Your Own Game in Your Own BackYard?"
I'm reminded of the "Simpsons" episode where the kids are stranded on an island.
"I'm hungry enough to eat at Arby's."
"Eeyyuuu!"
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