BBQ Battle: North Versus South

Years back, my bestfriend Dolly, moved to Jonesboro GA. On one of our visits there she took us to a place called "McGhee's" - the sauce, as you have said, was tomato-based. Not bad, but not Eastern NC barbeque by any stretch of the imagination!lol I would say it was good, for a tomato-based sauce. I would eat it again. Still, if you have grown up on the vinegar based sauce, you are most definitely hooked for life! I've been to Florida several times but never have ordered any barbeque there. Seems I am drawn to the Cuban food and the seafood there. Don't even remember seeing any barbeque down that way but maybe some of your other readers have. By the way,Bill, you are so mean - making me hungry even after I have had breakfast! lol ;)

Outside of eastern style bbq, my only other favorite is my dad's homemade. Whenever he would grill steaks, he would throw one or two extra on (marinaded with a special blend of spices). After they were cooked to medium rare, he would let them sit and then thinly slice them. The next day, he made his own ketchup based bbq sauce and pour that over the steak strips and heat thoroughly. Served on a toasted bun....oh, my, my! Delicious!

My pastor made a Tennessee style BBQ and it was right tasty. Still prefer the good ole' eastern style here but I also thought the TN was good.

Good BBQ anywhere else? I should refuse to answer for fear of self-incrimination. I'm a Texas boy, as you well know. What I have tried to learn in my travels is that there are good points to be enjoyed in all regional inclinations and that it is a culinary adventure to accept and enjoy these regional specialties on their own merits.

One myth I would like to address is the myth that Texans slather sauce on their barbeque; I hear that a lot. Generally, brisket is the meat of choice in Texas and the meat is expected to stand on its own merits, cooked very long and slow over indirect heat, with maybe a dry rub and at the most a simple basting mixture to seal in the meat flavor. Use of a sauce is voluntary and it should be served on the side as a condiment. Good brisket (a very tough cut of meat) should be moist and fork tender. Ben's in East Austin was my favorite place when I lived there.

I find all this emphasis on sauce amusing.

Melvin's on James Island (near Charleston) is by far the best SC, mustard-style I've had. YUM! Also a great place in the stockyards of Fort Worth that has a killer brisket.

I was born and raised in eastern NC and know that my brother-in-law cooks the best pork BBQ this side of TN. He makes his own vinegar based sauce and cooks it long, low and slow. Not on gas. But I have a mustard based BBQ sauce recipe that is to die for. My husband and kids love it. The rest of my family too. It is delicious on pork or chicken and the longer it cooks the milder and sweeter it gets. It has lots of mustard, sugar and black pepper. So mustard does have its place, just not on my brother-in-law's BBQ.

I have an Eastern NC style sauce recipe that I think is the absolute best. Many of my friends that come to my cookouts agree. Eastern NC style is my favorite, however, I was in Lexington SC (near Columbia) years ago visiting some of my wife's folks and was introduced to the mustard based sauce there. I must admit that I enjoyed it very much. You can find some of the mustard based sauces in the local grocery stores if you look. Sheeley's (that's right Sheeley's not Shelly's) is my favorite. I have had BBQ in NC, SC, Texas, Kansas City, Nashville and Memphis and NC is my favorite. Probably because I was raised on it though.

Yes, there is great barbecue outside of NC, but like people in NC, it is something you are raised on your entire life.I was born and raised in Macon, GA, and the barbecue sauce is red and thick.When I first came to NC and ordered barbecue, I had no clue what I was eating.I have now been in Eastern NC for 20 years and have grown to enjoy this barbecue as well.I will not lie,it was hard, but I managed. However,when I go back home to GA, I have to have at least one(ok,2)GA barbecue sandwhich(es). I can tell you there is a huge difference between middle GA and Eastern NC barbecue, but it is all in what you were raised on your whole life. Though I miss GA barbecue, it is not enough to take me back home for good because my heart has always been here. As for the best barbecue here, my first choice would be, hands down, McCall's; my second choice would be Wilbur's. This just goes to show that no two barbecues are the same, even when one is right next door or across the state line.

I've never tried the SC mustard sauce, so I can't give an opinion. It's got to go some to be better than NC BBQ, east or west!

Mustard? ew.

:-)

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