In other news (apolitical thread)...

[Cincydawg]

y'all would be culture shocked to enter a BBQ joint in eastern NC... they base off vinegar.  pulled pork in vinegar and tabasco or texas pete... or some variation thereof... the thing is, it isn't bad at all- it's actually pretty dang good- but it isn't and shouldn't be called BBQ by my reckoning (and I'll be careful entering public for saying that the next few weeks just in case anyone around here sees this)...

I call it BBQ because it's slow cooked with an offset fire.  It is very differcent.  When I first moved to NC, I thought it was awful, then I got to liking it.  It reminds me of Cincy chili in that sense, your first experience is likely to be "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS????" and then perhaps you try it again and start to like it, maybe.

A lot of places here serve pulled pork as is and you add your own sauce, and they may provide mustard based, vinegar based, and then two tomato based, mild and hot.

[utee94]

I much prefer dry ribs, I find "wet ribs" are all sauce, they taste like a McRib.

Well, not usually.

Oh yeah, I don't bother with wet ribs.  McRib is the appropriate comparison.

to me, either beef or pork ribs are the measure of a persons skill of smoking... and a bath of sauce is just hiding their lack of ability to make them right. 

Word up, I absolutely agree on not needing a bath of sauce.  A simple rub, smoke, and time.  That's all it takes.

[betarhoalphadelta]

but it isn't and shouldn't be called BBQ by my reckoning 

cooking it low and slow for up to 30 hours

I don't know how something cooked low and slow on a spit over a fire would not be called BBQ?

I mean, there are a lot of different types of BBQ. I get how BBQ fanatics get annoyed by people claiming they'll be "having a BBQ" and yet they're just throwing burgers and hot dogs on a grill. 

But in any possible definition within the panoply of things that can legitimately be called "BBQ", whole hog slow-cooked over a spit fits. 

[Cincydawg]

They offered "ribs" on the cruise ship and I tried them with predictable results.

The famous place in Cincinnati for ribs is called "Montgomery Rib", because the original is in Montgomery, Ohio, and the owner is known as the Rib King.  The ribs come slathered in sauce, and you can buy their sauce in stores even here.  It's pretty traditional sauce in my opinion.  

The Original in The Village of Montgomery | Hours + Location | Montgomery Inn

[Drew4UTk]

it's actually NOT called BBQ around here, it's properly called a Pig Pickin... because that's literally how it's done.... the pig is picked apart either by someone preparing it as such and serving it on platters or bowls, or if it's straight up traditional- tongs or a big fork and knife are used to rip it away from the carcass and torn up with a fork as the sauce is introduced.  hushpuppies are often served with it instead of cornbread... the further west you head the less common the hushpuppies are. 

others are the one who called it NC BBQ... 

if i called it a pig picken to someone from your neighborhood 20 years ago, they'd ask "whuh?".... though it's more known what that's all about, now.  If someone around here says BBQ, I expect they're speaking of smoking... if they say "grilling", that's your average steak or burger event. 

[847badgerfan]

y'all would be culture shocked to enter a BBQ joint in eastern NC... they base off vinegar.  pulled pork in vinegar and tabasco or texas pete... or some variation thereof... the thing is, it isn't bad at all- it's actually pretty dang good- but it isn't and shouldn't be called BBQ by my reckoning (and I'll be careful entering public for saying that the next few weeks just in case anyone around here sees this)...

there is something primal and pleasing about tossing a piglet, gutted and cleaned but skin and all, on a grill that has an axle and a 2" ball receiver tongue- cooking it low and slow for up to 30 hours- dousing it with vinegar and hot sauce every hour- and then picking up a leg and the bone falling out... then shredding it in a mixture of more vinegar and hot sauce.... serving it with coleslaw and homemade macaroni with a chunk of cornbread and serving spoon or two of green beans... or collards... and i don't approve one bit of collards... it's the 'feed a lot of people quick and easy' thing for the warmer months... it flips over to low country boils in the cooler months- which is a massive pot poured out on a table and served on paper as you grab what you like... in the winter it's Brunswick stew- which is difficult to make properly- made in a huge pot or even a barrel, the oar used to stir it mush stand on it's own for it to be considered proper, and there can be zero scorch... that isn't easy to do i'm told- and people here love it... i don't.. i'll eat it, but won't seek it out. 

the very best of the best local meal has been stolen and extorted from this area and far ranging distortions are offered worldwide... which is shrimp and grits.  when done properly, they are incredible.  the best of the best are at Chelsea's in New Bern NC.  They add an ingredient that i can almost identify but haven't nailed down yet, and they aren't sharing what it is....

back home it was hotdogs and burgers... there isn't really a meal that represents the area, and that's a shame... well, unless it was ramps... and i don't eat those things... they used to have a festival when i was a kid, and right at the start of school--- the kids that attended and ate those things were excused for three days until the smell dissipated... they're a wild onion of sorts that grow underground and pigs used to be used to find them.  Other than that, I can't think of a single meal that represents that area of Appalachia.

Memphis BBQ, StLouis BBQ, Texas BBQ... fried seafood on the coast of the carolina's and into fla... seafood with an italian  flavor from VA north until Mass, then it turns to a British Scottish derived thing... i don't know what georgia is known for, but there is a decided Creole influence heading through bama, mississippi and Louisiana... jump texas and including texas and the SW spanish influence emerges, no?  I really like that... i WILL go out of my way for a street taco done authentically- there are migrant workers here who's wives serve them out of their vans at work sites at lunch... and that for dang sure isn't below me. 

question:  If you broke the nation down in regions divided by the influence of foods (traditional), what would be on your MUST HAVE list?

I've been there and had it. Edenton.

[Cincydawg]

There is also a "pig pickin' cake", which is quite excellent.  A lady in Cincy once insisted on making me a birthday cake and wanted to know what kind, so I said "pig pickin'".

She made the best PP cake I'd ever had, and I've had a few.  Internet.  She was a good cook too.

But I always called eastern Carolina pork BBQ, and the joints BBQ joints.  This was my favorite place back in the day, in Durham.

Bullock's BBQ
Bullock's BBQ

[MikeDeTiger]

My boss in grad school would scrounge the building for chemicals and store them in a closet near our lab.  He found a 5 kg bottle of caffeine for example in powder form, that was useful at night for me.  He also had a smaller bottle of capsacin, which I ignorantly sniffed the lid of once, never again.  If you want heat, just get capsacin. 

I like modest heat with a lot of flavor.

Interestingly, capsacin is a fairly potent topical analgesic. 

I've used capsacin patches many times before.  I didn't know you could eat it.  

[Cincydawg]

I've used capsacin patches many times before.  I didn't know you could eat it. 

Capsaicin is the component in peppers that makes then hot.  In pure form, it is raging hot, lethally so in some cases depending on dose.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, you CAN eat it... But please don't 

[MikeDeTiger]

Louisiana Hot Sauce > Tobasco

Slap Ya Mama > Tony Chachere's



They can take my Louisiana card, but they can never take my enjoyment of seasoning.  

[FearlessF]

I like the Tony Chachere's seasoning salt

[Cincydawg]

My wife has 50+ salt variations in the spice cabinet.  She swears by sea salt, I don't.  To me, the dominant flavor in ANY salt is ... NaCl.  If you want some other nuance, just add that.

I mostly use garlic and "Italian spices", a blend of stuff, salt, pepper, chili powder in chili, etc.  I throw in some Indian stuff with soup.

Pure capsaicin would make pretty good crowd control stuff.  I know of a few compounds that would.  

[FearlessF]