Fav style of BBQ

[oreally]

Last food thread for awhile, promise.......I love any quality BBQ and all the types listed, but NC East (the vinegar based) is my fav.

[silenus]

Oh, yeah. This will end well.

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by silenus

Oh, yeah. This will end well.

Wait until the chili thread.

Beans!

[oreally]

Originally Posted by silenus

Oh, yeah. This will end well.

lol

What we have some BBQ groupies here?

[Fenris]

Just a few, yeah.

[oreally]

Cool

Again I love it all so what-evah.

[silenus]

Order of Preference:

1. Whatever is in front of me

2. Western North Carolina (Lexington #1!)

3. Texas, Lockhart, (Smitty's)

4. Eastern North Carolina, Shelby (Bridge's)

5. Kansas City (Gates)

6. Santa Maria-style tri-tip

Then everybody else. There are a number of places on my list to get to, mostly in Texas.

[CrazyCatLady]

Western Ky barbecue, all the way.

Then Lexington style, then SC mustard sauce, with the other types trailing waaaaaaay behind.

[drastic_quench]

Grew up with Memphis, so I'll always love it, but now that I'm doing my own BBQ from rubs to sauces and even curing, I do like the Carolina styles a lot. That vinegary tang really plays off of a super savory piece of meat like a sloooooow-smoked Boston butt.

I highly recommend Steve Raichlen's book that's dedicated just to sauces, rubs, and marinades.

[dogbutler]

I eat Eastern Style Q, but the Lexington heretic sauce is OK. I was not impressed with Memphis style "BBQ"

[pulykamell]

What about Owensoboro mutton barbecue?

I picked NC east, but any of the Carolinas will do.

[Bill Door]

I picked NC East, because the only Carolina is East Carolina. That mustard based stuff is an abomination, and the less said about that tomato flavored corn syrup the better. Today I'm doing a couple of briskets for a change, but normally it's dry rubbed slow cooked Boston Butts.

[Fear Itself]

I like it all, but NC is my favorite. I am not familiar with the difference between east and west NC.

I am becoming an almost exclusive pork proponent. I have never had beef brisket that matched a good pork butt.

[Barking Dog]

Originally Posted by silenus

Oh, yeah. This will end well.

Lol Yeah, better alert the medical staff. Somebody's gonna end up getting hurt.

ETA: I'm a Texas boy.

[drastic_quench]

Let's talk smoke too!

I started with hickory and apple, but now I'm using a lot of oak with pecan. I've done some experimental stuff too like smoking with a ton of saved up pistachio shells. It was slightly nutty tasting if you're wondering. If I repeated it, I would shoot for an Asian style Q as that nut flavor profile would fit nicely in that cuisine.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by drastic_quench

Let's talk smoke too!

I started with hickory and apple, but now I'm using a lot of oak with pecan. I've done some experimental stuff too like smoking with a ton of saved up pistachio shells. It was slightly nutty tasting if you're wondering. If I repeated it, I would shoot for an Asian style Q as that nut flavor profile would fit nicely in that cuisine.

I usually do a mix of white oak with a little bit of hickory for flavor. I've also recently become quite fond of maple. For me, the equation is fairly simple. I start with some mild woods for the base smoke flavor (like oak, apple, or maple or, more often, a mixture of these), and then I add hickory for a little bit of "bite." Even more sparingly, I use mesquite for brisket, but I find mesquite quite harsh, so I am very careful with it.

[ShelliBean]

How timely for me - I'm getting married next month and we are setting up a BBQ bar for people to pick their area sauce for the Boston butt or pulled pork. We have some north Alabama white sauce fans, which I don't get at all, and my husband to be claims that real vinegar sauce should separate at the table. I am going with a more Dreamland style (BBQ place famous here in Bama) and its peppery vinegar taste. Of course I will provide the abomination that is sweet sauce for those that insist on fucking up a perfectly good piece of meat...

And now we have entered the mayo vs vinegar based slaw negotiations to go with it.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

I like it all, but NC is my favorite. I am not familiar with the difference between east and west NC.

East is straight pork shoulder or whole hog with a thin, vinegary finishing sauce that contains no tomato products. West is the same with a thicker sauce (though still not syruppy think like some KC styles) that contains tomato products (usually ketchup, or what ends up being a homemade version of ketchup.) It's got a sweetness that balances the tartness of the vinegar, but it's not overbearingly sweet (at least not in the incarnations I make or have encountered.)

I am becoming an almost exclusive pork proponent. I have never had beef brisket that matched a good pork butt.

I used to be this way but, man, when you get a brisket that is just cooked perfectly, wow. The first time I smoked brisket I almost wet my pants it was so good. Tasted nothing like the brisket I've found in restaurants up until that time (although I have not explored Texas barbecue on its home turf.) That said, there is a reasonable local rendition of brisket at Smoque barbecue. Still, I like it better when I make it at home.

As for Memphis, I do like Memphis barbecue. Had a great time there. The absolute best pulled pork sandwich I had was in a little shack in Eads, Tennessee, Morris Grocery. It's just a tiny grocery store that happens to have pulled pork sandwiches. Here's a more in-depth review with pictures at a local food board. Now, if I hadn't tried it myself, I would have been taken aback by the sweet sauciness and creamy coleslaw of this concoction. But, man oh man, that may have been the absolute best barbecue I've ever had anywhere, period. It really made me re-evaluate my ideas about barbecue.

[MsRobyn]

Considering that I now live in a part of the country where "barbecue" refers to what the rest of the world calls "sloppy joe", I am proud to claim my Texas heritage, which extends to barbecue.

I generally want a nice big hunk of dead cow. I don't want meat that I can floss my teeth with, I want meat I have to cut with a knife and fork, or ideally, put between two slices of mushy white bread. And sometimes I want sauce, and sometimes I don't. I don't want my meat drowning in sauce. Any kind of sauce.

Frankly, I don't even like most Carolina BBQ. Just give me that nice dead cow, and keep it coming!

[carnivorousplant]

South Carolina mustard.
Barbecue is like sex.
Any barbecue is better than no barbecue.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

Any barbecue is better than no barbecue.

People say this about a lot of things. I just wonder if they haven't had really bad versions of those things. (Or perhaps I'm pickier about sex.) Bad barbecue (and I've made my fair share when I was learning) is terrible and I wouldn't inflict it on any of my friends. And I've had plenty of bad commercial barbecue here in Chicago, too. There's maybe like a half dozen barbecue places I even consider eating at anymore.

[Chronos]

I picked "other". My favorite is the free kind. If you invite me over and serve me, I'm probably happy with any species of meat, any kind of sauce or dry rub, and any cooking method, that you put in front of me.

[pulykamell]

Well, sure, free food almost always tastes good. I can't think of a single time I've ever been at anyone's place and not enjoyed the food and company completely and thoroughly.

[silenus]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

South Carolina mustard.
Barbecue is like sex.
Any barbecue is better than no barbecue.

1. Heretic

2. Do you mean low and slow or getting sauce all over your face?
There are few things as over-rated as bad sex or as under-rated as a good shit.

3. Bad BBQ is an affront to all that is Holy.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by silenus

3. Bad BBQ is an affront to all that is Holy.

Calm yourself.
You're gonna bust somethin'.

[TriPolar]

I said other because I like most of those styles. My favorite would be more of a generic southern barbecue that covers Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, among other locales. Open pit smoked with wood and a dry rub is what I'm after. The type of rub can vary, most are very good.

For wood, I use hickory, maple (preferably sugar maple), or apple.

[Tamerlane]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

South Carolina mustard.

Have to say that much to my own surprise that's the best bbq I've had to date.

Out here in the SF Bay Area bbq is mostly Texas-style which I like just fine, but I find the most convenient local joints maddeningly inconsistent. The same place can be pretty good one day and dried out crap the next, which tends to put me off it a bit. Meanwhile purported KC-style joints in CA ( I've never been to KC itself ) have mostly failed to impress.

[ExTank]

Grew up with St. Louis style (not officially recognized, but still a style), and split the rest between KC and Memphis. Memphis is probably my fave.

Second the idea that the best BBQ is the one I'm being served; style-wise, I've never had bad BBQ; the only bad BBQ I've had was just good meat ruined by incompetence.

[pulykamell]

Oh, I wasn't referring to style. All styles of BBQ I've had have their merits. But there is badly done barbecue out there. A lot of it.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

But there is badly done barbecue out there. A lot of it.

Ex-Tank has never eaten my ribs.

[drastic_quench]

Oh, yeah. There is bad stuff out there. For too much of the Midwest BBQ can be pork cooked in a Croc Pot with a bottle of sauce stirred in. And then you've got people who call direct grilling barbecued. Some of my favorite cooking memories have been serving real pulled pork to these people. You can't convert them all though.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by drastic_quench

Oh, yeah. There is bad stuff out there. For too much of the Midwest BBQ can be pork cooked in a Croc Pot with a bottle of sauce stirred in.

Oh, I'm not even talking about that stuff that they call "BBQ." I mean real honest-to-goodness barbecue slow cooked and smoked. There is definitely a lot of skill involved in being a good pitmaster, and there's a lot of mediocre-to-bad pitmasters out there.

[silenus]

Originally Posted by drastic_quench

You can't convert them all though.

But you can try.

Bad BBQ is everywhere. In my experience, some of the worst is being done by upper-class white guys/corporations. The most horrific example being the late and surely unlamented foray of RUB into Las Vegas. Gawds, that was bad. The sides were tolerable, but the meat was just...inedible.

I like Calvin Trillin's ideas for finding good BBQ while traveling: he first asks if the place has plates. If the answer is "Of course!" then he keeps looking. He knows he's hit paydirt when someone says "Well, there's this old black guy out off Loop 7, who is only open 4 days a week...ornery cuss."

[ThisIsNowhere]

Originally Posted by ShelliBean

How timely for me - I'm getting married next month ...

Wow.

Third time's the charm?

[Atomic Mama]

In my book, "Other" = "All"

I'm willing to experiment :-)

Rite now I prefer Memphis Dry Rub or Kansas City Wet. Had some extra-thin-sliced Texas beef ... something-on-a-bun once, somewhere south of Oklahoma, with jalapenos that was EXCELLENT & very different to me. Would like to try Kentucky goat and the East Coast mustard-style.

Just feed me ... goin' out to the Four Points BBQ in Winterport, ME tonite for (probably) their Carolina Chopped Hog + Live Blues. YUM.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNowhere

Wow.

Third time's the charm?

Was for me.

[Atomic Mama]

Whoops. Make that KY MUTTON ...

I'm thinkin' of the the goat Q that can be had in Hill Country, Mississippi, along with a fife & drum band ... I WISH. Never had the goat, but have heard the fife & drum in situ. Great stuff!

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by ShelliBean

How timely for me - I'm getting married next month and we are setting up a BBQ bar for people to pick their area sauce for the Boston butt or pulled pork. We have some north Alabama white sauce fans,

"Yeah Baby!"
I love a good white sauce, but it's very hard to come by even in central Alabama. (There's a legendary place in north Alabama called Greenbrier's that sells white sauce by mail if you're interested, and any north Alabamian who says they love white sauce and says they haven't heard of Greenbriers is lying about something. (And congratulations, btw.)

It has recently come to my attention that Chloe Sevigny loves barbeque.

[Chronos]

And here, I didn't know that there was anywhere in the country where mutton or goat was a standard dish. I'll definitely have to try those, if ever I get the chance.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Chronos

And here, I didn't know that there was anywhere in the country where mutton or goat was a standard dish. I'll definitely have to try those, if ever I get the chance.

Yep. Owensboro is know for its mutton barbecue. Moonlite is the most well known place, but there's also Old Hickory, Ole South, and George's. My favorite was Old Hickory for the mutton BBQ, and George's for the burgoo (a local style of thick stew. Awesome stuff.) Evansville, IN, also has some mutton. The sauce ("mutton dip") they use is interesting, too. It's thin like a Carolina vinegar sauce, but heavy on the Worcestershire, like up to equal parts vinegar and Worcestershire.

[ShelliBean]

Thanks, and we are actually having his family from the area bring us some Greenbrier's sauce! I have never had it but my parents and his family all swear by it. Like I said, I tend towards the Dreamland or Ollie's.

[carnivorousplant]

The only time I heard of Americans eating goat was one that pulled a cart for my Mother as a child ran away with my Mother and Aunts to be aboard.

My Grandfather had it barbecued.

[An Arky]

If done really well, every one of those styles can be sublime. I embrace the diversity of BBQ styles. I hate that it's been turned into a competitive sport. BBQ Pitmasters? What a bunch of dicks. They poison their BBQ with that attitude.

[carnivorousplant]

An Arky, have you eaten at the Whole Hog?

[Fenris]

I know objectively that mustard-based BBQ is legit, but....somehow it doesn't seem like BBQ to me.

I like to combine KC and NE--I like tomato/ketchup but I want a crapload of vinegar too.

[Chronos]

Say, weren't you the one that posted the BETTER THAN SEX BBQ recipe a while back?

[drastic_quench]

Originally Posted by An Arky

If done really well, every one of those styles can be sublime. I embrace the diversity of BBQ styles. I hate that it's been turned into a competitive sport. BBQ Pitmasters? What a bunch of dicks. They poison their BBQ with that attitude.

Meh, its affects on BBQers are the same as the influence of MLB on a backyard game of catch.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Fenris

I know objectively that mustard-based BBQ is legit, but....somehow it doesn't seem like BBQ to me.

I like to combine KC and NE--I like tomato/ketchup but I want a crapload of vinegar too.

It was strange for me, too, raised on The Shack's vinegar based sauce. But I became a convert!
Before the Shack shut down, I dated the daugther of an employee and was privy to a story of rats dragging a rack of ribs across the kitchen floor. She would not eat there.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Say, weren't you the one that posted the BETTER THAN SEX BBQ recipe a while back?

Yes. Which used a ton of vinegar, chili sauce and lime-juice.

Only thing I'd change is I now have a smoker, and while you can do wonderful things with propane grills, it simply can't do true bbq as well as a low-and-slow charcoal smoker. That recipe still makes pretty damned good pulled pork, but if you use a charcoal bbq/smoker, it'll turn out even better.

[BrassyPhrase]

Originally Posted by ShelliBean

north Alabama white sauce fans

I'm afraid to ask, but what the hell is that? What is a white sauce with regards to BBQ?

Btw, I picked Texas BBQ, b/c I prefer cow bits, but I'm like many here that said they each have their plusses and minuses and FREE is the best kind ever!