Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
I think BBQ needs to be its own food group.
There was a very good turnout for tonight’s Cin-cue de Mayo BBQ meatup at Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ. To commemorate the occasion, Chrys had some appropriately themed door prizes
The BBQ meatups are always a good time. For the next meatup, keep an eye on the calendar at LowcountryBBQ.org.
BBQ action this evening was at Moose’s BBQ up in Moncks Corner. A bit of a drive out there from my place, but definitely well worth the 70km round trip.
This was actually my second trip out to Moose’s, and I was eagerly anticipating tonight’s visit out there. The buffet line is well stocked with a wide variety of items, but I think the highlight of the buffet is the brisket. Not that the rest of the buffet isn’t good, but for me, it’s the brisket that brings me back.
If you haven’t left Moose’s fat and happy, there’s something wrong with you.
Thanks to Chrys and LowcountryBBQ.org, a group of blogging and tweeting BBQ enthusiasts is starting to grow. Tonight some of us converged at JB’s Smokeshack tonight for good company, conversation and some mighty tasty BBQ.
Can’t really explain why I’ve been here so long without making a trip to JB’s until recently. Like most BBQ joints around here, it doesn’t really look like much, but what it’s lacking in appearance is more than made up for by the food.
The buffet comes in two sections, and it’s hard not to make at least two trips up to the buffet. Everything is drool-inducing good. At $8 ($11 for dinner), it’s tough to find a deal like this that’s much better.
To go along with the pile of smoked meat on your plate, there’s a variety of sauces on the table. The brisket carving guy recommended the mild sauce to go along with the brisket. Not too much of it though he said, or it will mask the flavour of the brisket. He was pretty spot on too, although I would expect that he knows what he’s talking about.
Definitely a place where you’ll never leave hungry (unless you’re a vegetarian).
Had a good time meeting up with people at Mama Brown’s BBQ over in Mt. Pleasant. It’s not a fancy place (the good BBQ places never are), but the food is tasty and they offer a number of dining options ranging from small to large plates and the all-you-can-eat buffet.
I went for the all-you-can-eat option.
Round 1: Pulled pork (vinegar based sauce), mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and red rice.
Round 2: More pulled pork, ribs, more mashed potatoes and some other kind of rice.
Afterwards, the Digitel folks recorded an episode of their DigiCast podcast and interviewed Chrys, the man behind LowcountryBBQ.org.
Based on this first visit, I’d say it’s hard to leave this place being anything but fat and happy.
One of the best things about South Carolina (next to living close to the beach and ocean) is the barbeque. I’m not talking about burgers and hot dogs on the grill. No sir. I’m talking slow cooked, wood smoked hunks of pig. Smoky juicy tender shreds of pork and slabs of falling-off-the-bones ribs. Mmmmm, oh yeah.
There’s lots of places to get barbeque around here. I haven’t been to all of them, or all that many of them. But the ones I have been to have all been good. I’d hazard a guess that you would be hard pressed to find a bad barbeque place around here.
But what’s a guy to do when there’s no barbeque place around? Well, you could do it yourself, but that takes a lot of time and babysitting. Definitely the way to go though if you’ve got a few hours to kill and are trying to avoid yardwork. But not everyone has that much spare time.
That’s where the slow cooker comes in.
I love my slow cooker. It is without a doubt my favourite kitchen appliance. My wife isn’t too wild about slow cooker food (she says all the flavours get melded together), so I don’t get to use it quite as much as I want to.
Slow cookers are the perfect appliance for busy people. Throw everything in before you leave for work, and when you come back dinner’s ready! And that makes it perfect for barbequing. Not real barbequing of course. That would require smoke, and slow cookers aren’t that good at smoking. But you can fake it pretty good with one.
So here’s what you do. Brine your hunk of Boston butt per Alton Brown‘s Pulled Pork recipe. Then go with the Pulled Pork Barbeque recipe from Slow Cookers for Dummies.
After brining your hunk of pork, throw it on a hot pan and sear the outside. Put the seared meat in the slow cooker, and toss some sliced onions and chopped garlic into the pan. Brown and add a half cup of your favourite barbeque sauce. Simmer for a few minutes, then pour over the pork. Pour in a couple of 18 oz bottles of your barbeque sauce, turn the slow cooker on to Low, and head off to work.
When you come back home 8 hours later (or however long your work day lasts), you’ve got a hunk of cooked pork in your slow cooker that’s so tender you’ll have a hard time lifting it out in one piece. Careful not to burn your tongue eating while you shred.
It’s not real barbeque, but it sure tastes damn good.