You're stirring up heavenly memories of pork and making me VERY hungry!
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.
"People who think BBQ is baby-backs or some part of a Cow, please go read some other thread. "
I think you got your disposition AND your manners from the DU.
My favorite BBQ is Arthur Bryant's in KC.
(I'm a secret mustardy-BBQ addict, though. Back when I was Exec. Asst. at NOLA -- you can see why I've got plenty of "bimbo" habits still bleeding through -- I cornered all of our "free sample" opportunities for these jars of yellow barbecue sauce that were OUT OF THIS WORLD. Used it in all kinds of recipes on the fly, dipped everything from french bread to fried gizzards in there and even mixed it with balsamic to make salad dressings!)
Shhh ... don't tell the B. He's a Simpson's fan and this will ruin forever his one and only fast-food stop.
You're stirring up heavenly memories of pork and making me VERY hungry!
BLEEECCCHHHHHHH!!!!!!1
Hey VT...I know Paul Kirk! Da Baron Of BBQ!! I've spent many a long night with him...swappin' lies & smokin' Q in KC. Da Baron is a beef man, thru and thru.
For real good barbeque check out Maurice Bessinger. Voted best in South Carolina in 2001.
Dat's the mecca, mah frien....don't git no better than dat! I trek downtown 'bout once a month and get one of dem triple-decker samwiches & a mountain of fries cooked in hot lard!! In between, I settle for his *original* sauce on everything from meatloaf to grilled pork chops...always a couple of bottles of AB's Original in mah pantry!
I was taught how to Q by Paul Kirk many years ago.
He's like me. He doesn't limit himself to just pork. But you don't become 7 time world champion by just being a beef man.
He does it all.
I can relate to that nightmare. When i was 16, we went to Colorado. I went into this little diner and ordered a barbeque. They bring me this disgusting, stringy looking meat on a bun that was floating on the plate from the overflow of this nasty, syrupy looking red stuff. I asked the waitress what it was. She says, "it's a barbeque." I said, "no it ain't; I don't know what it is but it sure ain't a barbeque!" I lived in Colorado for quite a few years, but I never could cultivate a taste for that sweet ketchup stuff!
Don't I get some points for making up by posting "A Theological Fantasy".
There ARE dogs in Heaven!! (Else I'm not going.)
Tru dat. He does it all...then eats da beef!!!
(Maybe not)
Pre-Clovis Surprise
Excavations have revealed apparently pre-Clovis artifacts in South Carolina.
http://www.archaeology.org/9907/newsbriefs/clovis.html
They opened one of those in Colorado shortly before I left there. It was a good 40 minute drive from my house but I used to go eat there or get carry out sometimes. While I agree with you that it doesn't rank among the best when you're talking southern barbeque, it was certainly the closest thing to it I have found west of Arkansas. Maybe I was just getting real homesick.
Oh Yeah, I know Dick Valandingham - he's one of dat crew from the JCCJC - and YES...LC's is a solid performer in a city run amuk with world-class BBQ joints. Another one of my faves for burnt-ends ( they call 'em *beef brownies* ) is Sneads BBQ down south of the city...west of Belton...near Loch Lloyd golf course...on country gravel road crossroads out in the boonies!! Outstanding!!
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