The Defense of True "Cue"
 

The Fight for Authentic Barbecue - The New Yorker

The debate over hardwood, gas and electric heat.

At this point, only fifty or sixty barbecue places in the state have been certified by the campaign as cooking exclusively with wood. That’s more than John and Dan expected to find, but it still accounts for what they estimate is only about ten per cent of the barbecue purveyors in North Carolina. And the trend isn’t moving in their direction.

Sounds like if you want NC barbeque from hardwood smokers, you better get there soon.

It's funny, as much barbeque as I've eaten, I don't think I've ever had any cooked with wood. Most of it is cooked on home made gas cookers made out of 250 gallon oil tanks mounted on a set of wheels.

great passage I will steal for future use:

the Barbecue Easement, promulgated in Missouri by the Joplin rebbe, a renowned Talmudist and pitmaster: any farm animal without scales that is subjected to slow heat from a hardwood fire for more than six hours is kosher.

MMMM I thought meat, and the smokey black stuff on it would kill you with cancer? :D


I'll take my ribs smoked please!

I grew up in Georgia, so I have a certain expectation for BBQ. Most of what's available around here is more like tree bark. There's a place in Sparks called Carolina Kitchen that has excellent meats and sides (I always get the fried okra), but their "sauce" is such that I don't generally bother with it. I seems to be white vinegar tinted pink with something, I'm not sure what.

I've got a BUD smoker...55 gallon drum (Big Ugly Drum) that I made a few years ago. The lid is from a large Weber that I picked up when dropping off scrap steel. You can actually buy kits with all the needed parts to turn a drum into a smoker for under $100. I also have a Masterbuilt electric smoker that does well, too.

Lately, I've been using the electric smoker the most, due to the ease of use. Set the temp, add the chips, set the time, and walk away. I'll check the internal meat temp every couple of hours or so while I'm adding chips. It's so damned simple to use that it takes much of the work out of it. You don't have to babysit the smoker.

At the moment, I've got another 4 pork shoulders on. I take them to an internal temp of 203, then let them rest for a few hours before shredding it, repackaging in vacuum seal bags, and tossing them in the freezer. We do the same with Italian sausages...usually about 20 at a time, and repackage in 5 link packages. Just thaw them a bit, toss on the grill or in the cast iron pan on the stove, and enjoy. Good stuff.

As for the argument of what real BBQ is...it all depends on what you are willing to do and how you like your food. I'm not a BBQ snob by any means...so long as it's tasty.