Re: [gardeners] BBQ&Coleslaw????
Catharine Vinson (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 2 Jul 1998 20:20:19 +0000
Allen wrote:
> I'm going to remember while traveling through the Carolinas to be
> veerryy careful when ordering BBQ. I'll think I'll just stick to
> ordering a BBQ plate.
The only thing I have ever eaten worse than coleslaw on BBQ meat is the
barbeque in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cincinnati was once known as Porkopolis (no kidding).In the 19th
century, they ran the hogs through the streets, heading them to the
various slaughterhouses that served the Ohio river valley. I think they
finally figured out that hogs in the streets was never going to get them
the nod from Emily Post, so the city father's eschewed pigs in favor of
brewing beer. But that is another story.
Anyway, Cincinnati considers itself a mecca for a) chili (too disgusting
for words) and b) barbequed ribs.
The sauce is red, alright. I think it's 10% ketchup and 89% white sugar
and 1% liquid smoke. Bland, sweet, sticky. Yech. The meat is pork...or
short ribs of beef (gag). The meat is precooked by boiling. Yeup,
par-boiled pig parts. Tasty, indeed. The idea is to get the fat nice and
viscous....heaven forfend that any fat be "melted" off in the process of
cooking. Fat is a Good Thing to these people. Lots of it.
Once the meat is boiled to a tempting shade of coffin grey, it is
smothered by an small ocean of the sugar sauce. Then it is heated in an
oven until the fat flows freely. Then it is served. With Pride. First time
I ate it, I was certain I had been poisoned. I was right.
Catharine