Barbecue Confidential: A Personal Passion

New Orleans is a great place to live for a multitude of reasons. One reason is that even though its fall, you can still barbecue outdoors. Actually, you can barbecue here year round.

The Best of Barbecue!

Barbecue is a major fixture in my life. I think about barbecue at least once or twice a day, and even more on the weekend. I’ve come to realize that barbecue has become more than just a hobby to me, it has become a passion. A passion so intense that it has left me just short of the seeking long-term psychiatric therapy.  Although there are a few family members and friends that would say I definitely need barbecue therapy! 

I initially learned the finer points of barbecue when I lived in San Angelo, Texas. Beef brisket ribs are the mainstay meats in Texas, so they were my favorite meats and cooking comfort zone. Then, when I moved to Memphis, TN a number of years later, I learned even more about barbecue and widened my barbecue experiences. Pork ribs and pulled pork are the mainstays in much of the South. To this day pork ribs remains my favorite meat to barbecue and eat. However, it wasn’t until I moved (yes again – with my company) to Chicago, Ill., from Memphis that I got involved in judging barbecue and seriously cooking it myself.   The reason I did was that I missed traditional Southern barbecue so much, and was told I needed a hobby. So, the natural course of events was for me to select barbecue as that hobby. And it was in Chicago that my barbecue hobby eventually turned into a passion; which has continued to grow stronger year after year.  

I had an epiphany when thinking about writing this blog, realizing that barbecue is more than just a general experience, it is a personal experience. While barbecue people are always willing to discuss grills, cooking techniques, sauces, rubs, and their favorite places to get great barbecue with anyone, there are certain nuances about barbecue that appeal to us as individuals.

These are things that we may or may not ever share, or things that other people may not understand about us.  Some examples of this that I’ve heard of are… always using the same set of tongs whenever barbecuing, taking a shot of Jack Daniels before lighting the grill, wearing a particular shirt when barbecuing, and taking photos of each barbecue product they produce and placing them in a ’cooking album’. Additionally, everywhere barbecue is prepared there is always a discussion, or heated argument, over what is the proper method for cooking the particular meat to be served. This is what makes barbecue personal.

So, I’m going to “come out of the pantry” and reveal my personal barbecue nuances, the things that make barbecue personal to me. 

1. Trying new dry rubs and sauces. This is one of the things I love most about barbecue, much to the detriment of my cholesterol and blood sugar. Like pork, sauces rule!  Sampling different brands, styles, and regional sauces is a big rush to me. And experimenting with them with various meats and seafood makes the experience more enjoyable. My pantry is always filled with a double-digit number of ”to be tried” bottles of sauce. 

2. Trying new barbecue restaurants. This is also a personal rush for me.  Barbecue has become a huge business over the past few years, and new restaurants are opening all over the country. Great barbecue can be found in places never believed possible before. For example, Chicago has a number of excellent barbecue establishments within a one hour drive of downtown. Also, Mike Mills’ original

17th Street

Bar  Grill, voted ’Best Barbecue in America’ in 2009 by Bon Appetite magazine, is located 5 hours south of Chicago in Murphysboro, IL. My favorite axiom when evaluating a barbecue restaurant is this, if you don’t smell smoke when you initially walk in, walk out!

3. Documenting all the products I’ve tried  restaurants I’ve eaten at. Yes, this seems a little extreme, but  there are a number of reasons why I do this. First, I often get asked what sauces and rubs I prefer and where is the best place in town to go for barbecue. Having the list helps me make better recommendations and allows me to provide more detail in my recommendations. This in turn helps people make the best choice. Second, there are times when I want to use a dry rub or sauce I’ve used before to create a certain flavor profile and the list helps me remember what product that is. Third, it prevents me from accidently purchasing a product again that I didn’t like the first time. And finally, the listing is a written record of my barbecue experience and history. This is important to a true barbecue enthusiast.

4. In search of the “perfect” rib. As I mentioned, pork ribs is my favorite meat to barbecue and eat. When I go to a barbecue restaurant for the first time, I always order the same thing: pork ribs, BBQ beans and cole slaw. This is my initial judgment of the establishment and serves as an even playing field to compare all the other restaurants I dine at. 

When I judged a Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) barbecue contest in Wisconsin a few years ago I ate what I consider to the most “perfect” rib I’d ever tasted. The meat was smoky, tender, and nicely spiced; and the sauce was sweet like a glaze with a bold, rustic flavor. As it was a professional contest, I wasn’t able to find out ‘who’ cooked it and ‘how’ they cooked it.  

Finding that “perfect” rib and discovering how to replicate it is one of my ultimate barbecue quests. There may always be a better “perfect” rib out there that I need to find, maybe more so than the one I found in Wisconsin. So, I guess I’ll probably always be searching. 

5. Obsession with smoke. There are many great things about barbecue, but the meat itself is the greatest to me. And it has to be smoked low slow. True barbecue must have an excellent smoke flavor, no matter what type of wood is used.  After all, that’s what we strive to achieve when barbecuing. It’s also what makes us “urban legends” in our neighborhoods and with friends and family when we can do it well. I love the taste of smoke on all meat, as well as salmon. Excellent smoked barbecue is addictive.      

While some of these things may not seem all that crazy to a lot of people, or maybe they do, they fuel my barbecue passion. So, find your own personal barbecue experiences, hold them close to your heart, and have fun with them.

While barbecue is our culinary heritage, the fastest growing culinary segment in America, and a community event, it also can be personal.  Or stated in classified terms…it can be “Barbecue Confidential”. 

Marc 
Where there’s smoke, there’s probably barbecue!

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