Pizza Today - October 2017 - 36

* How it is cooked? High
heat, grill, barrel, low heat, wood,
charcoal or smoked?
* How is it pre-prepared?
Rubbed, cured, brined?
* What is in the sauce?
Vinegar, fruit, tomato, molasses,
citrus, soy or tamarind?
* How are you going to serve
it? On pizza, on paper, on a bun,
plated, stuffed or in the hand?
NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT
STYLES OF BARBECUE.
* NORTH CAROLINA: The

old-school Eastern Carolina
barbecue is whole hog and slow
cooked on steel rods. This pork
cooks fat-side-up in brick pits
filled with smoldering oak
embers. You won't find ribs or
brisket here. (Don't even mention it. They'll think you're from
Texas.) It's all about the pulled
pork or chopped whole hog with
a vinegar-pepper sauce they call

a "hog wash." Some older joints
slather this over the hog while
cooking and serve it on the
side with creamy coleslaw. The
Piedmont style is usually from
pork shoulder or butt cooked in
a barrel over oak or hickory and
has the almost identical Eastern
sauce made with ketchup called
"dip." The "red slaw" on these
plates is mixed with the dip.
* KANSAS CITY: This is slowly
smoked over different woods
and covered in a spicy-sweet
molasses-tomato based sauce.
A wide variety of meats are
smoked here - chicken, turkey,
pork, beef ribs, burnt ends and
even brisket. They serve this
with French fries, cole slaw and
Kansas City baked beans.
* MEMPHIS: Pork is king here
and ribs and shoulders rule even
though restaurants in Memphis
are serving beef and chicken.
This protein is slow-cooked

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and pit smoked. There are two
ways to eat your ribs here,
either "wet" or "dry." Dry ribs
are covered with a dry rub of
paprika, cayenne, salt, onion
powder, garlic powder, chili
powder, pepper and celery salt.
Wet Memphis barbecue sauce
is ketchup-vinegar-sugar and
spice sauce. Turnip greens,
potato salad and cornmeal
fritters (called "Dog Bread,"
because dem dogs love 'em)
accompany this barbecue.
* TEXAS: Barbecue in Texas
is best summed up as an argument just waiting to happen
depending where you live in the
state. East, Central, South and
West have their own versions.
South cooks in the Mexican
"Babacoa" style sometimes in
a hole in the ground. In the
South, you can also find thick
molasses sauce. Central Texas
is just rubbed with spices and
cooked over pecan or oak. East
Texas style is cooked slow and
long and served with a sweet
tomato sauce. West Texas is
cooked over Mesquite. In Texas
barbecue beef remains the most
common in the pits and a lot
of places don't even have sauce
with the most concentration
being the quality of the meat.
White bread, crackers, sliced
onion, jalepeño, pickles and
fajitas accompany this barbecue - and cole slaw is not
welcome here.
* ST. LOUIS: Famous for the
style of spare ribs cut with the
rib tips, cartilage and sternum
bone removed. This creates easily-cooked, uniform ribs which
are grilled at lower temperatures around 300 F rather than
smoked. These ribs are served
with a heavy, tomato-based
sauce that is slightly acidic and
very sweet. (St. Louis consumes
more barbecue sauce per capita
than any city in the nation.)
Pork steak, rib tips, bratwurst

and Italian salcissia also reflect
the city's Italian and meatpacking past. Pass the white bread
please.
THE BONE DOCTOR'S BARBECUE DECONSTRUCTION

Here are some suggestions
for the components of a great
barbecue sauce containing the
four components of sweet,
acid, depth of flavor and spice.
Remember that a lot of mixes
contain alcohol and sweetness
to make the barbecue most
delicious. The alcohol burns off
leaving the sweetness to bond
to the meat and burn a nice
char under heat.
SWEETNESS: Sugar, maple
syrup, molasses, sorghum,
brown sugar, agave, sweet wine,
pineapple, orange, cantaloupe,
cherry, blueberry, blackberry,
pear, fig, apple, apple sauce,
honey, palm sugar, coconut
milk, sweet sodas, balsamic
glaze, ketchup, mango, banana,
grape.
ACIDITY: citrus, citrus zest,
vinegar, lemon grass, ginger,
mustard, Worcestershire sauce,
dried peppers, red wine
vinegar, Pico de Gallo, tomatillo, pickled peppers, chimichurri,
tamarind,and sour fruit.
DEPTH OF FLAVOR: Coffee, chocolate, molasses, meat
drippings, whiskey, rum, scotch,
sake, coloratura, fish sauce,
dark sesame oil, shallot, tomato
paste, coriander, cumin, fennel,
rosemary, oil cured olive paste,
mint, cilantro, basil, paprika,
oregano, sage, annatto seeds,
thyme, sumac, cinnamon,
allspice, garlic, onion, radish,
mustard, fennel, truffle, Dijon
mustard, dashi and porcini.
HEAT: chilies.

Dr. (Ghost) Pepper
Glaze
We've been blessed with
many farmers growing really
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Pizza Today - October 2017

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