According to my husband, there are 21 recipes for barbecue in West Frankfort, Ill. At least, that was the case 25 years ago, when he and his pal, “Dutch” Holland, ate their way through all of them in three days.
Every barbecue joint they stopped in – most being little more than a kiosk with an above-ground barbecue pit in the back – had its own sauce recipe. The entrepreneur would get up at about 2am, put the meat on to smoke, then make up the sauce while the meat cooked. They would open about 10:30 in the morning, and when the barbecue was gone, that was it.
Here in California, we tend to think of “barbecue” as a verb. It’s what we do when we fire up the outdoor grill and cook almost anything, from steaks to zucchini to pizza, and my fellow columnist Mitch L. Mariani II does a great job of guiding us through this process.
But in the south and areas bordering the south, “barbecue” is a noun, and it means “pork and sauce.” In some areas bordering the true barbecue belt, the pork is replaced by mutton or beef, but in general, pork and sauce is the defining combination.
The importance of pork has much to do with traditions of the south. Pigs were a low-maintenance and convenient food source, foraging in the woods on their own rather than requiring acres of dedicated pasture land. According to one Web site, the slaughtering of the pig was a time for celebration, and this neighborhood gathering became the basis of the festive plantation barbecue.
The plantation barbecue evolved into the centerpiece of church picnics and political rallies. The commercial barbecue pit seems to have come along at about the same time, during the second half of the 19th century.
The evolution of the sauce is more obscure, and the early versions, being mainly vinegar, weren’t inspiring to me. By now, there are dozens of varieties in supermarkets, and in some households they’re a staple condiment right up there with ketchup. My nephew, for example, eats it on just about everything except waffles and ice cream.
While I found a recipe for an open pit (as in, hole-in-the-yard) barbecue for large quantities, up to and including a whole pig, this seems impractical for the average family. So to start, here is a recipe for a backyard barbecue that can be prepared in a standard charcoal-burning kettle grill.
Elizabeth Gage is a writer who lives in Hollister. She can be reached at ee******@***oo.com.
John Egerton’s Backyard Barbecue
from “John Egerton’s Southern Food”
5-pound Boston pork butt
Salt
Black pepper
Mixture of half-vinegar, half-hot pepper sauce
Barbecue sauce (recipe below)
Step 1: Build a charcoal fire in a kettle grill, and let it burn down to low heat. Have a separate bed of warm coals nearby to replenish the main fire. Add some water-soaked hickory chips to the main fire to create heavy smoke.
Step 2: Bring the meat to room temperature and rub it with salt, black pepper and the vinegar-pepper sauce mixture.
Step 3: Put the meat on to cook, turning every 30 minutes to assure uniform cooking. Damp the fire and meat with a 7-to-1 water/vinegar solution if it gets too hot. Strive for a slow, steady fire.
Step 4: After three hours, the meat should be getting tender. Cook between three and four hours, basting once in the last hour with barbecue sauce.
Step 5: Shred the meat with a fork, cut the shreds into 1-inch chunks and serve with additional warm sauce and coleslaw on buns.
Craig Claiborne’s Lexington Barbecue Dip
3/4Â cup distilled white or cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup water
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
Step 2: Remove from the heat, and let stand until room temperature.
Craig Claiborne’s Goldsboro Coleslaw
1 small cabbage
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup finely chopped onion
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Step 1: Remove the core of the cabbage and any tough or blemished outer leaves. Cut the head in half and shred fine. There should be six cups. Chop the shreds and put them in a glass or ceramic bowl.
Step 2: Add the mayonnaise, onion, salt and pepper, and toss to blend well.
I like to add about a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of vinegar to coleslaw.
The following sauce recipe is from Greg Johnson and Vince Staten’s “Real Barbecue,” which is out of print.
Memphis-style Sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup vinegar
5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
Black pepper to taste
Dash cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
Mix all ingredients in a large sauce pan, bring to a quick boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Here is a slightly more elaborate, but worth it-sounding version from Martha Stewart.
Barbecue Sauce
2Â teaspoons whole black peppercorns
6 cloves garlic, smashed
4 fresh bay leaves
12 3-inch-long cinnamon sticks
8 hot dried chile peppers
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 cups apple cider
3 cups apple-cider vinegar
1 12-ounce can tomato puree
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
Step 1: Place peppercorns in a square of cheesecloth, and tie securely with kitchen twine. In a small stockpot, combine all the ingredients, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Step 2: Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer sauce until thickened, about 1 1/2 hours. Pass sauce through a strainer, and discard solids.
Hamburger buns make a perfect receptacle for the pork, cole slaw and sauce. The buns are even better when you spread both cut sides thinly with butter and let crisp on the grill for a few minutes before serving.
Be sure and provide plenty of paper napkins and dampened paper towels so stickiness doesn’t mar the fun.
