THOMPSON: Why barbecue isn't cooking outdoors on a grill

  OPINION Summer is a time for cooling off by the pool or at the lake, refreshing drinks, and barbecue. I’m not talking about cooking outdoors on a grill, what most Canadians think of when you say barbecue. In the U.S., it is something you eat, a noun not a verb. In the Deep South it is almost always pork — ribs, pulled or sliced pork shoulder or butt. In Texas, it is almost always beef - ribs or brisket. Ask a hundred people to describe what makes good barbecue, and you might get as many different answers. Barbecue - also variously known as barbeque, barbicue, barbique, bar-b-cue, bar-b-que, bar-b-q, BBQ and countless other unintentional misspellings - can be found throughout North America. And, yes, you can have barbecued chicken or barbecued sausages (notice here it’s an adjective)…but in the South and Texas, if you ask someone, “Do you want some barbecue?” In their mind’s eye they’re seeing a slab of ribs (pork or beef), pulled pork or brisket…and at a big event…all of the above. Every region in America - indeed, all 50 states - has barbecue, but make no mistake…there’s more bad barbecue than good out there. You won’t find me looking for barbecue in Montana or New Hampshire or even in Kentucky (more or less a Southern state) because too many people insist on taking something simple - slow cooking meat with smoke - and making it something different. First of all, most great barbecue is cooked in a real pit smoker. It will always have a so-called smoke ring whether pork or beef…an eight to ten millimetre layer of pinkish meat beneath a nice crust. If you’re cooking at home, barbecue can be done in a good oven…and few people can tell the difference. The truth is barbecue is about as imprecise a science/art/voodoo as you’ll find among culinary categories. I proved this 15 years ago when I travelled across 11 Southern and Mid-Western states in as many days…eating nothing but barbecue…three meals a day…in search of the barbecue Holy Grail. Some states - for instance North Carolina - can’t even settle on what barbecue is from one end of the state to the other. There’s Eastern style - using the whole hog or as they say, “everything but the squeal” - which is sauced after smoking with vinegar and pepper…no tomato sauce at all. Then, Western style - also called Piedmont or Lexington style - uses vinegar, tomatoes, red pepper flakes and other spices. Likewise, you won’t get any agreement on coleslaw - a standard side dish throughout the South - some use mayonnaise, others not. Some eat coleslaw on a pork barbecue sandwich…others…not so much. Barbecue is…well, complicated. South Carolinians make barbecue with a tomato base…but they also have a mustard base sauce called Golden Carolina that many swear by…and I love it as a change of pace. Georgians tend to eat barbecue with a sweet, sometimes hot tomato-based sauce…often called Memphis style. In Alabama, you’ll find tomato-based, both sweet and hot, and uniquely…a mayonnaise-based sauce. If the South ever tries to rebel and secede from the Union again…the whole thing can be stopped by simply proclaiming one style of barbecue the “Official Barbecue of the South.” No one agrees…even within the same state…much less among 13 states. That said, my family and friends in Canada love my take on a pulled-pork sandwich…so much that when you say pulled pork-pork sandwich at my house…this is what you get. I start with a seven-pound, bone-in pork butt or shoulder. The bone adds flavour. I rub a blend of coarse salt, pepper, brown sugar, chilli powder, smoked paprika, cumin and minced fresh garlic over the entire piece of pork…put it in a large zip-loc plastic bag and then let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours. After that I add a cup of dark rum…and back in the refrigerator for another 24 hours. I pre-heat the oven to 425-degrees F and roast the pork for 25 minutes uncovered to build a crust. Then, I reduce the temperature to 225-degrees F, add another cup of dark rum and tightly seal the pork with aluminum foil and cook for six hours. I use large forks to shred or pull the pork. The magic comes - according to my friends and family - with how I put the sandwich together. I pile the pulled pork on freshly griddled brioche buns, add slices of Brie cheese, drizzle some homemade raspberry coulis on top, add a few hot chilli peppers, a spoonful of either my tomato-based sweet BBQ sauce or my South Carolina Gold Mustard BBQ sauce. Then, I top if off with a huge French-fried onion ring and the other griddled bun. The juxtaposition of flavours make this pulled-pork sandwich like no other. If you want a detailed recipe, email me at iwrite4aliving@gmail.com mailto:iwrite4aliving@gmail.com , and try it out on your family and friends. — Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor. mailto:news@infonews.ca