Family bbq dinner...again!

Just when you thought we had stopped eating pork for a while, here comes another pork post! Granted in between we had sauteed Rock on Tues and rock stuffed with crabcake on Wed. However, on Thurs my brother comes in town and well...we ordered bbq! Of course! From the BBQ Joint in Easton. They have a platter that has brisket. Ian's homemade pink slaw. Andrew's potato salad with fresh dill (love it!). Baby ribs. Pulled pork with lots of sauces to choose from if you wish. The grand finale...oc french fries with CHEESE on top, my favorite way is finished off with a sprinkle of their sweet chicken rub. I don't know why, but that is soooo goood and yet soooo bad! Sorry, cholesterol levels but forget you today, we're having some delicious stuff.

Readers, you will not be surprised after all this research that I have concluded one thing. The bbq you crave the most is always going to the one you can come home to. Since these are my friends that make it, the fact that it is cooked perfectly just makes it all the better...I love my neighborhood joint!

But since I'm home, I served it with the perfect martini too. Yum, yum, yum. Atmostphere: Authentic yet hip. Barbecue: No sauce needed, but all of them taste so good you have to dip your fries anyway.

Today's Fish Special!

Is anything anything anything better than fresh caught rockfish from the chesapeake bay? That fish can invoke memories in me of briny air, clear open skies and being covered in salty film from the water splashing over the bow. The sweet meat is not in need of anything but a few simple spices. Today, I marinated mine in oregano, cilantro, old bay and a swirl of EVOO for a few hours. Then I sauteed in butter in a cast iron pan. No real lessons needed here.

Yes, the tricky part is getting your friends to bring you fresh rockfish!

Tomorrow I will stuff the rest with crabcakes and serve with a lemon butter drizzle. Anybody want to bring me wine for a fair share of fish?

A Few Notes to Wrap-up the BBQ Adventure

As I think back over the weekend...and tried to decide which BBQ was best...I had a problem. Was anyone perfect? Did anyone earn a hundred percent? More importantly, did anyone cook it as well as I do, or as good as my grandma makes her collards? Probably not. However, I have to give an explanation that explains my total immodesty in that last statement. The one thing good food has in common, always, is the love of the people behind it shining through. At all of these places, the waiters and cooks, owners and cashiers we encountered were incredibly polite and accommodating. I really felt that each and every one of them wanted us to enjoy the food as much as we did. The question is: do you see this in other forms of cuisine? Is it as easy to see years of tradition on a plate when looking at a stuffed rockfish, as it is when you see a hot smoky pile of meat that you knew that took many hands and years to create? To me, it is not. No one can recreate tradition without truly participating in the culture that surrounds it. To understand that a customer needs a pitcher of tea, and a sink right in the middle of the dining room shows not only concern of the technical aspects of cooking a meal but also concern for the customer’s general well being. So if I had to rate my grandma’s collards against everyone else's, they might get nines. But she gets a ten because she chopped and cleaned and seasoned, not because she wanted praise, but because she wanted me to eat my vitamin D. That’s good cooking.

New Ideas But Same Traditions

We were not sure how to get through Virginia Beach without getting lost let alone finding the best BBQ. We took a chance off of a recommendation on the Internet and went to Whitney’s BBQ. This contemporary version of an old BBQ house sits in a strip mall and is entirely staffed by young people. The decor is modern, but humble with chalkboard menus and plank board tables made to look old. The menu claimed old fashioned roast BBQ. The contemporary presentations, such as pork rolled up in tortillas or BBQ and sausage combos, had me wondering what we were going to find. Luckily, the friendly demeanor of the cashier put me at ease as we decided on our choices. I got the BBQ plate with collards and slaw. Sarah gambled a bit and got a burnt ends and sausage sandwich with mashed potatoes. We sat down.  A server brought the BBQ to the table after we ordered at the counter. The first thing I noticed was the extreme brown bits in the BBQ and the overall sun burnt color that differentiated it from the classic North Carolina BBQ. We had crossed the state line and my fears were realized. The BBQ had changed. Although it claimed to be North Carolina eastern shore style, there was clearly something different that was happening on this plate. I sighed and prepared to take a bite… would it be desperately sweet with slimy tomato sauce that messed around with my pork?  The first bite revealed that appearances weren’t always what they seem. The delicate caramelization of the meat yielded a rich roasted flavor that was a delight. The bite of the meat was again tender but not squishy. It was gently pulled into bite-sized pieces and not senselessly chopped. The unusual dollop of some sort of tomato sauce added to the flavor when in fact I was quite expecting it to put acid back in the mouth that would ruin the meat. While the slaw looked like it was going to have that stringy slimy feel, it was surprisingly light. The recipe contained the right amount of vinegar to make it pleasantly crisp but not too sour. Sarah’s sandwich was non-traditional, but surprisingly nice. The pickles, burnt-edges, sausage, and slaw really fashioned the ideal sandwich that still had some traditional value, but with it’s own modern twist. The collards, while not too spicy and not too sweet, were cooked well and delicious. We both agreed, real butter, and not your traditional pork fat, might have been in play at this restaurant. I looked forward to trying the other tempting things (such as the dirty rice, pork, and collard roll up) on a return visit.
No sauce needed! Authentic, if playful, bbq atmosphere.

The Ones That Got Away

 
 
Like I mentioned before, we are taking the scenic route home. One of the first things you might notice is the little white fluffy piles along the highways. Most people would think it was trash, people from Delmarva might think chicken feathers, but if you are a student of the region, you know it's fluffs of cotton off the trucks. As you past acres and acres of the low laying plants with the little puffy white heads, you realize that there are many people for whom picking cotton is still a livelihood. Despite it’s sad history, the legacy of cotton and tobacco still permeates the culture and the countryside. Small shanties and houses in between the fields delineate the age old farms and their careworn fields. Here and there you’ll see tobacco, goat, pigs, and horses; the people who tend them right by there sides. This brings me to “the one that got away” and the title of our story. Luckily for the people who live down here, they really do have fresh meat. Right on the side of the road, Sarah and I saw a side for fresh cured ham. Throwing on the brakes, we made a swift right hand turn to see if we could get some. We passed the farm with the fresh ham sign out, but there was no indication that they were open on this Sunday afternoon. Darn it. That would have been great.

A little farther down the road, we got teased again. The sign proclaimed: Tarheel BBQ serving families since 1960. Closer inspection, however, revealed a small handwritten sign that said, "closed Sunday and Monday". A couple of cars pulled in with people in their nice Sunday clothes made me pause; there might be a private party, for locals only. Too bad. On the road again.

As Sarah and I contemplated our next move, we saw what might be someone’s BBQ platter in the future. Right on the side of the road, there were dozens of hogs. Porkers and sows and piglets were laying and playing and munching in their makeshift home. Some were on the outside of the fence, some were on the inside; it didn’t seem to matter much. Dozens of goats milled about aimlessly too, amongst junk cars, flowerpots, and various castoffs. There was a small ram-shackled house at the back of the property. The size was such that unless the humans that inhabited it enjoyed piling up like the pigs, there couldn’t have been more of them than the animals surrounding them. Only the threat of a farmers shotgun aimed at me kept me from saying “Sooey sooey pig!” as Sarah struggled to capture the implausible picture of modern man at his most rustic moment. As we drove off, the thought of a little pig roasting on a spit, clearly raised natural and organically in the truest sense of the word, made us hungry again. Where to go next?

The Long Trip Home...Right after some BBQ

Sunday morning. While everyone was preparing for church, Sarah and I were preparing for a long trip home. Since we knew the chances for unique BBQ on route 95 were slim, we let Tom Tom plot a meandering course up the east coast back roads. Ira and Debby had suggested an out of the way BBQ place near the hospital in Greenville, NC. Just when we were getting ready to plug “hospital” into the Tom Tom, a giant shimmering parking lot full of cars overshadowed by a towering Parkers sign caught our attention. When we pulled in and saw the line of about fifty people that were pouring out the door, we knew this was the spot. Totally blindfolded, I could have told you from the noises and sounds that I was in a line for some classic southern BBQ. The clicking of the heels and the pearls of the mothers chasing after their children, the anecdotes of so and so getting married and so and so getting divorced, the beckoning call to papa from grandma to hurry on up because the table was ready; it was very reassuring. But now to the food: right off the bat, I was impressed because the waiter brought little pitchers of iced tea, not just a little glassful. To make it fair, I have been ordering the BBQ plate with pork and slaw everywhere. So far, this generous portion of vinegar sauced Carolina BBQ is my favorite. Gently pulled, but chopped just a little bit, tender but not mushy. The pungent vinegar permeated the meat just right, and those little pepper flakes studded each bite with a spicy kick. Alongside the BBQ, the perfect slaw finally arrived. Beautifully green, slightly crunchy, not too wet. That slaw merged in your mouth with the BBQ and it created the perfect bite. At the end of the meal, we were surprised to find they didn’t take visa. Haha. Remember to check that next time. Conveniently, there was a southern bank chain next door which would spit out cash for a mere $3.50 extra fee. the old southern boy network at its finest.  Ambiance: Authentic. BBQ: No sauce needed.

A family style dinner and some more BBQ

Not too many minutes later, and certainly not when I was hungry again, we ended up at yet another family dinner. It is the south and we eat a lot together. And when I say together I mean everybody. Growing up, we were never worried about the quantity of food, but the quantity of chairs became an issue. It never failed: if you set 10 places, you would need 12, and if you set 12, sure enough you would need 14. My aunt, who we love dearly even though she was the first catholic the family had ever had, and a Yankee to boot, luckily has a wonderful sense of family tradition from her own childhood. She had just purchased a dinner service for thirty. Good timing, because when cousins come to town, it's always a party. Since she is from New Jersey, the menu was lasagna, not BBQ or fried chicken. However, knowing of our secret mission, my uncle Johnny  snuck by the Carolina BBQ buffet and brought us a little bit of pig for an appetizer. Carolina BBQ Restaurant provides two types of BBQ for us to  taste. Chopped with vinegar sauce, and pulled with more of a tomato base.I didn't find much to brag about in the vinegar base, but Sarah and Uncle Johnny thought that the tomato base was a least good enough for it to be scarfed in a matter of minutes. The slaw, although finely chopped how I like it, was not as good as it looked. It it just didn't have the sweet and sour taste I have grown to love.

After searching the house for extra chairs, and counting again and again to make sure we had enough place mats, we finally sat down for the main course. It was 14 in all sitting down to mixed matched chairs and a table full of lots of food. Lasagna, of course, a salad, cheesy bread, fresh cantaloupe, and Grandma's deviled eggs with apple pie and lemon cake for dessert. We eventually decided that we should probably go on off to bed, so we hugged our relatives goodbye and drove on back to Joan's house.

Jackson's and Smithfield's

collards, yams and fried okra

bbq plate

Brandon with bbq sandwich - slaw included

With a limited time schedule, Sarah and I had to start eating BBQ fast. Hungry or not! In between Joan's chili, Grandma's breakfast (pork chops, eggs, sausage, toast,  grits, orange juice, and don't forget the chocolate milk), and Deb's hotel pan of lasagna we had to complete our mission. After breakfast, we headed over to Jackson's Big Oak BBQ. It's been in its current location since 1984. However, it's legacy begins with  the legendary Skinner and Daniels in the 1940's. Jackson's is owned by a grandson, and he continues the BBQ tradition in his own restaurant in Wilmington. This Carolina style BBQ house is classic. You can feed a family of five, like we did yesterday, for around thirty bucks. The texture was perfect though we did need a little sauce. I like mine a little spicy. This one had baskets of hush puppies for the table to share and tender sweet collards.

Right after eating BBQ at Jackson's, we were fortunate enough to pass a Smithfields. Smithfields is an old BBQ name, but they have modernized and formed a little chain. So, for atmosphere in this particular new outpost they don't get many points.  However, I am willing to give the food a chance. I was glad to see the smoke stacks on the new roof even though it looked like a McDonald's. There just might be some cooking going on here after all! Since we had only eaten about ten minutes before we just ordered a small BBQ plate to share. Classic BBQ plate: BBQ and slaw; nothing else. This pulled pork had a nice strong flavor, no sauce needed. But the slaw was not to my taste. Too "mayonaissey", too stringy, and not much flavor. In their favor though, they did have a sink by the entryway which is a classic southern tradition. It allows you to quickly wash up before and after those messy ribs and sandwiches. That old-fashioned touch does make me smile.
As part  of the afternoon, we stopped in at my #2 dad's house to see my brother and his kids. Sarah and the children enjoying kayaking in his backyard. I, on the other hand, grabbed Ira's last Pabst Blue Ribbon. It only could had been better if I had been eating BBQ with it. But, my dear reader, classic southern BBQ houses and liquor licenses don't usually appear together.

BBQ Party

Sarah had a long weekend so we decided to go visit some relatives down in North Carolina. In my mind, There needed to be something to make the drive entertaining. We were staying with my husband's Aunt and Uncle's house. Although we knew they had a big dinner planned for our arrival, we decided to get a late lunch at our first BBQ restaurant in NC. We all think we know the best BBQ places because of our years of eating in them. But do we? With age comes wisdom, and I have come to realize that there is more than one way to roast a hog. We drove through Rocky Mount and saw many signs for Gardeners, a BBQ place we always enjoy. The Tom Tom took us in circles until it eventually led us to a smallish nondescript building, obviously not the flagship restaurant but an offshoot. Inside, it was set up like a fast-food restaurant, however, people brought the food to your table. We ordered. Sarah had a BBQ sandwich and me a plan old BBQ plate. The service was fast.  The coleslaw was finely diced just how I like it. The texture of the BBQ was also very nice. No sauce needed here. French fries were of meaty quality and fried to a nice crisp.
Atmosphere: Authentic
BBQ: No sauce needed
Collards: Didn't taste them at this restaurant
Additional Comments: They had bagged pork skins that were hanging on the wall for sale. It made my mouth water. Maybe next time.

The Fantastic Farmers Market

There are some things that taste better not because of the spices you use, the way you cook, or the recipe you use, but the where the ingredients come from. I've noticed that the farmer's market is the best way to go. Not only because of the taste, but because of the culture. I've met so many nice people and have bought delicious products at my local food market. It's amazing how much better your dish will taste just by using local ingredients instead of going to the grocery store. But analyze the products, not all farmers markets are local. Some just buy the products from somewhere else. Ask the farmers where their farm is, and you'll know if they don't know. Also, go to the people who specialize in only a couple items. If they have more items it usually means they are not focusing on the best taste. And don't forget to bring cash like I did! Farmers market's won't take cards.

Heres some of the ingredients I got. Including zebra striped tomatoes and purple peppers.