NC BBQ

Major Procrastination + Late Night Trip to Small Animal Emergency Room = Monday Post...that's what I call bad math.  Just a heads up, since I'm rolling "one day off" this week, you can expect the next post on the Fourth. (p.s. the cat is fine, having survived both the mystery symptoms and my overwhelming pleasure at getting to drive 30 minutes in the rain on a Sunday night)

Summertime in the South, the weather may be hot but it doesn't stop us from enjoying a cold beer and some outdoor eating.  With the Fourth coming up this week, I thought it would be a good time to talk about that Southern classic -- BBQ.

Now here in North Carolina, we take our BBQ very seriously.  I'll be the first to confess that I was a late convert to the joys of a "pulled" plate.  Growing up in the north, to me BBQ meant the torturously delicious smelling slow-roasted rack of ribs my mom used to make, smothered in a thick ketchup-y sauce that was worthy of a stack of napkins.  So you can imagine my surprise when I order BBQ in NC for the first time and someone put in front of me what at first glance appeared to be a plate fancy dog food.  But man-oh-man, I've been a Southern BBQ addict ever since that first bite.

Throughout the South, BBQ generally refers to pork that's been slow-cooked over coals and then served either chopped, sliced, or pulled and covered with sauce.  The Spanish explorers were the ones to introduce pigs to the Americas and the native Indians in turn taught them their slow-cooking process. A big shout out to both cultures for making American pork BBQ possible.

In the 19th century, especially in the rural South, pigs were a low maintenance, easily available food source.  Pigs could be released into the woods where they would forage for themselves and then easily brought down when food was needed.  Eventually, pigs were domesticated and kept on the farm to fatten up for feasting. 

Waste not, want not was a concept put to practice when it came time to slaughter time.  Every part of the pig was utilized and put to good use.  It was either eaten immediately or cured for later consumption.  All parts -- ears, organs, etc. -- were turned into something edible.  Though if you've ever been introduced to scrapple, I'm not sure "edible" is a word I would use personally.

Slaughter time became a great reason to gather everyone for a get-together and where the tradition of a "pig pickin'" started.  People would dig a big pit and put a whole pig in to roast, from which the slow-cooked tender meat would then get "picked" and served up with a sauce made by the person running the pit.  Add in some pot-lucked sides (or "fixins") and you had a good time on your hands.  The pig pits got some pretty good use and over time, BBQ joints sprouted up around many of these BBQ pits, many of which are still being run today.

In NC, I used to think we only had two styles of BBQ, but as it turns out, we have three.

On the eastern part of the state, pork is served chopped or sliced with a vinegar-based sauce, emphasis on the peppery. It's usually served with coleslaw and hush puppies.

On the western part of the state, pork is served chopped or pulled with a ketchup-based sauce and served with cornbread and sometimes a Brunswick stew (stew made with vegetables, wild game like rabbit, and chicken).

And in the middle of the state (west of Raleigh, but east of the mountains), it's a mix.  You get Lexington-style BBQ sauce which is a blend of vinegar and ketchup, and BBQ is served with cornbread or hush puppies, and red or white coleslaw (yes, we even have two types of slaw).

If you go to a BBQ place, you usually have the choice to order a "BBQ tray" which is pulled pork and coleslaw with a side of puppies or you can order a "BBQ plate" which is pulled pork on a bun, served with coleslaw and fries.  And the proper way to eat a pulled sandwich is with the coleslaw on the pork on the bun.  If you've never tried it before, do...it's a life-changer.

So there you go, NC BBQ 101.  Since I'm giving myself an extra day to pull something together this week, I'll see if I can scrounge up some good sauce recipes to share, and may a fixin' or two to go with.