Posts
 |
| Barbecued short ribs with sauce |
Memphis. Smithfield. Kansas City.
No vacation to the South is complete without
barbecue. Just like the accent, each Southern state has its own
version, with various 'subsets' in between. While there's really no
substitute for a good barbecue sandwich, this tasty treat has a wide
range of uses to fit pretty much anyone's tastes.
Most of the variations of barbecue (also referred
to as BBQ or Bar-B-Que) are based on the sauce, but sometimes there's
a difference in the way it is cooked. For instance, 'pit barbecue'
is just that-the meat (mostly pork) is speared by a stick and placed
on a rack called a 'spit' over a fire that is built in a small pit.
The source of the fire plays a big part in the flavor-meat cooked
over mesquite has a different 'smoky' flavor than meat cooked over
hardwood, etc. The meat is then 'pulled' (shredded) and served with
or without sauce.
There's also 'grilled barbecue' where the meat
(and sometimes, the entire hog) is placed on a grill. If you ever
visit North Carolina and are invited to a 'pig pickin', that's what
you can expect to see-the whole hog placed on the grill with the
shredded or chopped meat put in a shallow dish and placed in the
(sanitized!) hole in the side of the pig. It's kind of creepy-looking
at first, but the meat is really good! You can also get beef barbecue
or pork made from the 'shoulder' region of the hog, which are also
good. Ribs are usually grilled too, although it is possible to cook
them in a slow cooker. Ribs can be cooked with sauce, although places
such as Memphis use a 'dry rub' mix of spices and serve the sauce on
the side.
Like I said before, the sauce plays a big role in
the overall taste. The sauce used in my native North Carolina-where
the 'Smithfield' I mention is located-is kind of 'vinegar-y', but
some places use honey, molasses, tomato paste or mustard as the
'base'. Many sauces-such as the one I mention above-have multiple
'bases', which can vary by region. At least, that's what I've had;
others may differ.
If you don't care for either pork or beef, you can
usually find barbecued chicken. I make it using chicken breasts
covered in a smoky-flavored tomato- and molasses-based sauce brushed
over chicken and baked, but I've had it grilled and shredded. I've
seen shrimp and bacon-wrapped scallops speared, grilled and covered
in sauce, but I'm not sure if other types of seafood are used. You
can always experiment and get back to us!
If you'd like to get an idea of which barbecue
restaurants to visit this summer, check out
Travel and Leisure's and the Huffington Post's suggestions. They're not all in the South, but you know what
they say-imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment