learning about regional specialties and sauces
- Thread starter danmarks
- Start date
Eastern North Carolina: vinegar based (therefore clear) sauce, no ketchup or tomatoes.
Western North Carolina: ketchup based (therefore red) sauce.
Kansas City: they will smoke anything you want, not just ribs. Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, game, etc. Usually served w/ a mildly spicy/sweet thick ketchup/molasses based sauce.
Texas Hill Country (around Austin/San Antonio): generally served with NO Sauce. Rooted in German tradition of smoked meats and sausages for preservation of meat prior to refrigeration. They still resist sauce, although the times are slowly changing in a few of the joints. Meats are seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper, then smoked over post oak (Kreuz Market in Lockhart ), or mesquite (Cooper's in Llano) and many others.
Memphis is perhaps most famous for it's dry ribs, pioneered by The Rendezvous although wet ribs are also well known. Also, widely known for pulled pork liberally seasoned with a paprika based rub. Gaining a rep for secondary bbq foods, such as bbq nachos, bbq spaghetti, bbq pizza, bbq salad , etc. Usually smoked w/ hickory
The book "BBQ USA" by Stephen Raichlen is full of stories about bbq joints from everywhere.
And, its summertime: take a roadtrip, and go to some of the famous places.
For me personally, I don't use red bbq sauce (at home), of any type. Ever. Smoke and spices, sometimes w/ vinegar (white, apple cider, white wine) only. But I do eat sauce at bbq restaurants (When in Rome...). But to each their own.
Western North Carolina: ketchup based (therefore red) sauce.
Kansas City: they will smoke anything you want, not just ribs. Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, game, etc. Usually served w/ a mildly spicy/sweet thick ketchup/molasses based sauce.
Texas Hill Country (around Austin/San Antonio): generally served with NO Sauce. Rooted in German tradition of smoked meats and sausages for preservation of meat prior to refrigeration. They still resist sauce, although the times are slowly changing in a few of the joints. Meats are seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper, then smoked over post oak (Kreuz Market in Lockhart ), or mesquite (Cooper's in Llano) and many others.
Memphis is perhaps most famous for it's dry ribs, pioneered by The Rendezvous although wet ribs are also well known. Also, widely known for pulled pork liberally seasoned with a paprika based rub. Gaining a rep for secondary bbq foods, such as bbq nachos, bbq spaghetti, bbq pizza, bbq salad , etc. Usually smoked w/ hickory
The book "BBQ USA" by Stephen Raichlen is full of stories about bbq joints from everywhere.
And, its summertime: take a roadtrip, and go to some of the famous places.
For me personally, I don't use red bbq sauce (at home), of any type. Ever. Smoke and spices, sometimes w/ vinegar (white, apple cider, white wine) only. But I do eat sauce at bbq restaurants (When in Rome...). But to each their own.
cool... is the type of wood used also regionally emphasized?
also, NC brings the vinegar based, ketchup based, and mustard based (all rather thin and runny) bbq sauces.
would the NC ketchup based one be the influence for generic all 'American' mainstream bbq sauce like kraft, bullseye, even the bbq sauce from say McDonalds for the chicken nuggets etc? (I've never tasted ketchup based bbq sauce from NC).
also, NC brings the vinegar based, ketchup based, and mustard based (all rather thin and runny) bbq sauces.
would the NC ketchup based one be the influence for generic all 'American' mainstream bbq sauce like kraft, bullseye, even the bbq sauce from say McDonalds for the chicken nuggets etc? (I've never tasted ketchup based bbq sauce from NC).
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LarryR:
This isn't BBQ but it is grilling - Central California (coast and inland to the Central Valley, Santa Maria Style Tri-tip cooked over red oak. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Way to represent, Larry!
This isn't BBQ but it is grilling - Central California (coast and inland to the Central Valley, Santa Maria Style Tri-tip cooked over red oak. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Way to represent, Larry!
Jacob Samarin
TVWBB Member
thats right yall.central cali in the hosue!
Chris Derum
TVWBB Member
Guys is that all we have from CA? Don't get me wrong I love a Tri-tip cook, just wondering.
I keep telling the Mrs. that I'm going on a bbq, golfing, baseball road trip tour around the country if she wants to tag along. I just get the standard..."Ok babe".
I keep telling the Mrs. that I'm going on a bbq, golfing, baseball road trip tour around the country if she wants to tag along. I just get the standard..."Ok babe".
Well, from an "American Eats" show on History Channel a few years ago, the "generic all 'American' mainstream bbq sauce" was basically invented by Kraft Foods! It was originally a dry spice packet "Quick Mix 19 Herb Barbecue Sauce Blend" rubberbanded to a bottle of Kraft All Purpose Oil, and free with purchase. And Kraft introduced the first preblended bbq sauce in 1959.
Also on the show Ardie Davis (aka Remus Powers)(who does the Diddy-Wa-Diddy bbq sauce contest at the American Royal in KC) went on to say that quote "eighty percent of the contest cooks will start with Kraft as their base and doctor it up." close quote. !!!!!
I really find this hard to believe myself (eighty%??!!??), but he is in a position to have first hand knowledge.
Regarding the woods used: on the same show, Lolis Elie, author of "Smokestack Lightning" talks about how every region swears by their wood and product (beef, pork, etc) but really it comes down to what is available around them: Hogs over hickory in the Carolinas and Tennessee; beef over post oak or mesquite in Texas; Mike Mills using apple wood in Murphysboro {Apple City} IL; tri-tip over red oak in California; salmon over alder in the Pacific NW.
I love this quote: "Leave it to Texas to take an unsaleable cut of beef (brisket), cook it over a noxious weed (mesquite), and make them both famous" I read it online somewhere, maybe on TVWB, but don't recall the source.
So it really comes down to making do with what you got or can get cheap or free, whether its the meat, the pit (an open pit originally was just a hole in the ground), the trees that happen to grow in your area, as well as the spices on hand (everyone has salt and pepper and vinegar). Cook it good, and create regional loyalties that everyone will swear by!
Wednesday night June 11, the Travel Channel is showing (check your local listings) Barbecue Paradise with a lot of fun info, interviews, etc.
The American Eats show is usually reshown on the History Channel around July 4 so watch for it in the next few weeks.
BTW, my props to Cali on the Tri-Tip. Yum. Can't wait to go to The Hitching Post as seen in the movie "Sideways" and also featured on the above Barbecue Paradise show.
Chris: take that Culinary Tour: it is great fun...and fantastically delicious. I hit 7 famous ones on my trip last year, and have several more scheduled for the next few weeks in KC. I can't wait...
Also on the show Ardie Davis (aka Remus Powers)(who does the Diddy-Wa-Diddy bbq sauce contest at the American Royal in KC) went on to say that quote "eighty percent of the contest cooks will start with Kraft as their base and doctor it up." close quote. !!!!!
I really find this hard to believe myself (eighty%??!!??), but he is in a position to have first hand knowledge.
Regarding the woods used: on the same show, Lolis Elie, author of "Smokestack Lightning" talks about how every region swears by their wood and product (beef, pork, etc) but really it comes down to what is available around them: Hogs over hickory in the Carolinas and Tennessee; beef over post oak or mesquite in Texas; Mike Mills using apple wood in Murphysboro {Apple City} IL; tri-tip over red oak in California; salmon over alder in the Pacific NW.
I love this quote: "Leave it to Texas to take an unsaleable cut of beef (brisket), cook it over a noxious weed (mesquite), and make them both famous" I read it online somewhere, maybe on TVWB, but don't recall the source.
So it really comes down to making do with what you got or can get cheap or free, whether its the meat, the pit (an open pit originally was just a hole in the ground), the trees that happen to grow in your area, as well as the spices on hand (everyone has salt and pepper and vinegar). Cook it good, and create regional loyalties that everyone will swear by!
Wednesday night June 11, the Travel Channel is showing (check your local listings) Barbecue Paradise with a lot of fun info, interviews, etc.
The American Eats show is usually reshown on the History Channel around July 4 so watch for it in the next few weeks.
BTW, my props to Cali on the Tri-Tip. Yum. Can't wait to go to The Hitching Post as seen in the movie "Sideways" and also featured on the above Barbecue Paradise show.
Chris: take that Culinary Tour: it is great fun...and fantastically delicious. I hit 7 famous ones on my trip last year, and have several more scheduled for the next few weeks in KC. I can't wait...