The BBQ Stop.com

[Email series excerpt # 4]

Today we’ll cover 3 types of American style barbecue. I’ll detail barbecue from the Carolinas and the “The Pork Barbecue Capital” Memphis, Tennessee.

In this issue…

- American Style Barbecue: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

American Style Barbecue

Although differences in barbecue are blurring as are many aspects of U.S. regional culture, variations still exist. The regional variations vary more widely than just state by state, but we can’t cover them all… that would take awhile! So, I’ll just break it down by state and hope we get enough in to satisfy everyone.

North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are multiple regional traditions, all based on the slow-cooking of pulled or chopped pork. On the east coast, the dominant ingredients to the sauce are vinegar and hot peppers. Proceeding west into the Piedmont (as in Lexington), the sauce becomes more tomato- or ketchup-based, but never as thick as commercial (Texas-style) sauces.

In the eastern part of the state, the whole hog is typically used; in the west, sometimes only pork shoulders are used for barbecue.

In general, a hog half is placed in a “hog cooker” over wood coals and cooked slowly, usually overnight. What wood to use is subject to some debate (often oak or hickory; never pine). In modern times, gas, electric, or charcoal heat are often used for sake of convenience, although most will agree that the long exposure to hardwood smoke improves the flavor of the final product and is generally preferred.

Other variations include cooking times, turning during cooking, and how finely the meat is chopped after cooking.

South Carolina

While the meat used in South Carolina is consistent throughout the state, slow-cooked pulled pork, three regional sauce variants can be found. In the Pee Dee and Lowcountry coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent. In the Midlands area around Columbia, a mustard-based sauce sometimes referred to as “Carolina Gold” is the predominant style. In the Upstate, or Piedmont region, it shares a ketchup-based sauce also seen in North Carolina.

Tennessee

Memphis is known for…

- wet ribs, made with a mild, sweet barbecue sauce that’s basted on the ribs before and after smoking;
- dry-rub ribs, made with a spice rub applied during or right after they’ve been cooked; and
- pulled or chopped pork sandwich topped with sweet, finely chopped coleslaw and served on inexpensive hamburger buns, which some locals insist is Memphis barbecue’s highest form.

For people who simply can’t get enough barbecue, there’s also barbecue spaghetti, barbecue pizza, and barbecue nachos.

Memphis is also home to the “Memphis in May” World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC), an annual event which regularly draws over 90,000 pork lovers from around the globe. The title of “the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world” was bestowed on the WCBCC in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records.

It is also home to over 100 barbecue restaurants, including Corky’s (http://www.corkysbbq.com/), Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous (http://www.hogsfly.com/), Gridley’s, the Germantown Commissary (http://www.gtownbbq.com/), Leonard’s (http://www.leonardsbarbecue.com/), and Neely’s. Several have been so successful that they have branches dedicated to shipping barbecue overnight via Federal Express.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue

( Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. )

One more American style barbecue to cover tomorrow… from Texas. I’ll also throw in a few International barbecue variations for your taste fancy.

Thanks,
Joe B Que

PS If you are saying… “Just one more American style barbecue?!?”, then I guess I left your state or region out. Don’t get too upset! I tried to find more information about other state barbecue variations ( including Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia ), but up until now have been unable to locate resources regarding specific differences. If you want to post about your favorite regional barbecue, please feel free.