Barbecue: the ultimate Southern comfort food

[Gifted Gourmet]

The debate continues

That stuff we call barbecue - pork, beef, chicken, turkey, or any other slab of meat you can stick over fire or smoke - is a matter of both pride and prejudice. It can bring families together: The smell alone is enough to conjure memories of holidays and reunions and gatherings in back yards or beloved barbecue joints. And it can sometimes pit brother against brother - or sister as the case may be.

Chopped or sliced? Pork or beef? Sauce or rub? ..There are enough barbecue quibbles to keep down-home diners in debate long enough to slow-smoke a whole hog.

It doesn't really matter who's right or wrong, barbecue enthusiasts insist. It doesn't matter what style you prefer, what meat you cook or whether you smother the whole thing in red, white or even blue sauce. It is the quest that is important, the search for something new and different or old and familiar. Because barbecue, as much as anything in this part of the world, is life.

"It's probably the ultimate Southern comfort food," said Birmingham's Scott Walton, a certified barbecue judge and author of the Dixie Glove Box Guide to Barbecue. "It's the antithesis of fast food. It involves spending time with people and requires ongoing nurturing. It is a way of life. It represents a Southern way of life."

The debates, rather than detracting from one's barbecue experience, are a critical element of the meal, he said.

Your opinion? Is it comfort food? For Southerners only? What is there to debate anyway?

[enrevanche]

Having grown up in Eastern North Carolina, I know that "barbecue" is a noun, and it means slow-cooked, smoked pulled pork dressed with a simple sauce of vinegar and pepper. Preferably served on a bun with cole slaw, accompanied by some good hot hushpuppies. I never visit my folks in NC without bringing at least a few pounds of 'cue back in my carry-on bag, frozen for the trip and ready to be thawed and eaten once I return to the Heart of Barbecue Darkness that is New York City.

But honestly, I am capable of enjoying *any* slow-cooked, smoked meat, as long as it is prepared with as much love and care as the pitmasters of Carolina bestow on their pigs.

I have eaten and enjoyed Texas-style brisket, Kansas City burnt ends and ribs, Memphis-style dry-rub barbecue... I am also quite fond of Korean barbecue and Sichuan tea-smoked duck.

[fierydrunk]

I grew up in Memphis and lived a lot of my adult life there too and BBQ is one thing to me: A messy wet pulled pork sandwich with pickled slaw and spicy red sauce smothering it...on a white bread, soft round bun! I know there are famous ribs there, but I am not a rib girl.

It amazed me when I moved out to the West Coast how WRONG they get it. The sauces are just plain bad and no one makes any inventive cole slaws. It is odd b/c there are a lot (relative term) of African-Americans who have family in the South living here and a lot of Southerners period have transplanted here. Still, no one can make a pulled pork sandwich that I have found edible.

So yeah, I think everyone can appreciate BBQ, but no one but Southerners have the special bond with it that goes beyond comfort food. Transplanted Southerners always feel a little odd in other elements and I think the constant search for true BBQ and good Southern cooking is akin to finding the comfort we can only feel at home. I am sure New Yorkers feel this way about pizza and egg creams and Pennsylvanians about their "Dutch" food!

[bbq chef]

I think that there are a lot of people that can appreciate BBQ here in New York. I have been serving it at my restauraunt for more than 5 years and have quite an amazing following. Many of my customers come in and tell me after coming back from vacations down South that my BBQ is just as good if not better than just about any places that they tried.

[enrevanche]

I think that there are a lot of people that can appreciate BBQ here in New York. I have been serving it at my restauraunt for more than 5 years and have quite an amazing following. Many of my customers come in and tell me after coming back from vacations down South that my BBQ is just as good if not better than just about any places that they tried.

Dude! Coordinates for your restaurant, please. I will definitely come and check it out.

[fierydrunk]

I definitely said that everyone can appreciate BBQ, but as a Southerner it is just a little bit different than being a "favorite food", it is a reminder of home. No slights on NYC, half my family is from there! I am willing to give BBQ a shot anywhere I go and I have, but even in cities like Chicago, Oakland and NYC where there are many Southern transplants cooking good food, the BBQ is DEFINITELY not the same. Sometimes it is pretty good, but nothing has ever reached the heights of a Payne's pulled pork sandwich or a BBQ cornish hen from Cozy Corner. Try as they might!

[bbq chef]

Barnstormer Barbeque

50 Rt. 17K (Ames Plaza)

Newburgh NY.

845 568 5700