BBQ sauce theory

[knyfeknerd]

I thought Carolina's were known for there mustard Q ??

That would be South "by God" Carolina mustard BBQ sauce, and it's really not that good. Any respectable Que spread in NC is going to offer the Western(sweet tomato based) as well as the Eastern(aka Lexington) Vinegar sauce as a condiment.
You apply the sauce. If the Que is really good, it probably doesn't need either one.......

[El Pescador]

The main thing I was getting at was that if you are making a BBQ sauce, and calling it a BBQ sauce, and it's sweet and tart and nothing else, you failed miserably.

I've eaten more than one "BBQ Sauce" that is pungent and sweet, and got nothing else going for it(hello, gourmet food store "habenero pineapple red wine jalapeno peach sauce"). I've also had many a coworker make a sauce and say "this needs something...fix it" and it's got no tartness at all, and they've heaped on the heat and the trick flavorings, and forgot to add any kind of acid other than what few tomatoes remain in it.

Whether you have tomatoes or not, and even if the smoke comes from the meat it gets put on(though why deprive the sauce of some smokey love?), it's gotta have the fantastic four! Or else you are serving smoked meat and a spicy syrup, hot vinegar, or a fancy ass ketchup.

I still don't know about this...some of my favorite BBQ is W Texas BBQ...and there's no tomatoes it in either Eamon. Come to think of it the only sauce on my white bread is the fatty au jus from the brisket. But if you think there needs to be tomatoes in your BBQ sauce more power to you...to each his own I say!

[The BoardSMITH]

King's BBQ. I remember it well from trips to Goldsboro to visit relatives. While in Goldsboro I remember Winburs, terrific pork BBQ. That was one of the favorite places my uncle would take us to.

There are three types of BBQ sauces in the Carolinas - Lexington style, tomato based with a lot of smoke flavor from the slow cooking; eastern with the heavy vinegar based sauce and smoke flavor from their slow cooking and mustard based primarily from SC. Personally, I can't stand the mustard based sauce because it takes away from the smoky flavor of the pork. I like the Lexington style so much I will go to Lexington, about 25 miles away, once or twice a month to get a chopped sandwich.

There is a new restaurant in High Point called BBQ Joe's and their sauce is on par with Lexington.

A good sauce will enhance the smoky slow cooked pork flavors but, IMHO, is not 100% necessary.

[RobinW]

My wife hates all smokey flavours and i love a good bbq sauce.... As always i loose out.

Now i'll just go and cry in the corner. 3 years in the US and we're now going back to Sweden. And i have not been able to explore all the variants of bbq sauce

[Duckfat]

...some of my favorite BBQ is W Texas BBQ...

From what I've seen in Texas BBQ sauce can be heresy in some areas. If you ask for sauce they just look at ya funny. Austin might be slightly .....different.
Deer season is just not the same with out a stop at Coopers in Llano even if there is better Q in the state.
All I wanna taste is meat and smoke.


Dave

[Eamon Burke]

I still don't know about this...some of my favorite BBQ is W Texas BBQ...and there's no tomatoes it in either Eamon. Come to think of it the only sauce on my white bread is the fatty au jus from the brisket. But if you think there needs to be tomatoes in your BBQ sauce more power to you...to each his own I say!

I was trying to shut down the tomato thing. I wasn't talking about tomatoes!!

That's the point, arguing over mustard, tomatoes, coffee, thickness, etc is all distracting from the core of what makes a BBQ sauce what it is.

As far as having tomatoes, that's really not up for debate--the VAST majority of que sauce has tomatoes in it. Google "BBQ sauce" and see what color the page is. BUT the roots of que sauce are not in tomatoes--it's in a flavor balance. The precursor to modern que sauce is Mojo which is made from sour oranges, garlic, oil, and spices. Not everyone had tomatoes, but everyone cooks meat.

I will, however, be as bold as to say that if you make a sauce that is spicy vinegar with no sweetness to it, it isn't barbeque sauce.
BBQ sauce is:
tart
pungent
smokey
sweet
And can be made from anything.

I only mentioned tomatoes because it's in massive majority, and I concede I should have said "most" not "all", but my kids were crying and I was rushed. Sorry for the textual crit failure!

[Eamon Burke]

From what I've seen in Texas BBQ sauce can be heresy in some areas. If you ask for sauce they just look at ya funny. Austin might be slightly .....different.
Deer season is just not the same with out a stop at Coopers in Llano even if there is better Q in the state.
All I wanna taste is meat and smoke.


Dave

That's up to the cook. Some cooks don't like to see salt shakers on the table, or butter dishes. IME it's not regional(unless it's a thing in the panhandle, the one part of Texas I've never spent time).