If you live in the South, you eat barbeque. A lot of it. Often. I'm talking about actual barbeque too. For those of you from "up North" barbeque is a food; it's not an action or another word for a grill. It's food. And around here, it's most often shredded or chopped pork with either a mustard based sauce or a spicy vinegar based sauce. For us, barbeque is a celebratory food. We serve it when we have casual outdoor parties, we serve it for birthday get-togethers, it's an absolute given that we'll serve it on the 4th of July, and it's commonly served around Memorial and Labor Day too. We buy it, sometimes we cook it ourselves or if it's a big occasion, we'll even hire someone else to cook it in our backyard for us. You'll find barbeque at open houses, family reunions, church or school fundraisers, wedding receptions and rehearsal dinners.
Which brings me to last night.
Our friends John and Anne are getting married today. Yesterday we went to the Seibels house for the rehearsal then headed to a secluded hunt club called Millaree for the rehearsal party. This place was way cool. It's a true, active, hardcore hunt club. Rustic building with bunk beds, open air picnic building, dressing room (not for trying on clothes girls!) and acres and acres of land right next to the swamp. A perfect place for a BBQ rehearsal dinner.
It was catered by Hudson's Barbeque, a well-known barbeque house over in Lexington.
Now here's the thing. I love BBQ as much as the next guy, but I rarely rave about it. There are aficionados out there, to be sure. In fact, I used to work with a doctor who was such a connoisseur, you could name a town in SC and he could tell you where to get BBQ. So for me, barbeque is sort of a staple in Southern cuisine. It's almost never bad, but some is definitely better than others. Last night is a great example.
The pork was prepared exactly the way I like it. Chopped fine, the fat and gunk removed, and some little charred pieces mixed in. I like to dress mine first with a little vinegar sauce then top it with mustard sauce. We had traditional accoutrements: baked chicken (for the pork-less), green beans, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, white bread, & bread and butter pickles. The macaroni was outstanding, the sweet potatoes had a heavenly dose of cinnamon and the pole beans were perfectly seasoned and cooked just right. I could have eaten an entire plate of green beans to tell the truth. I mean, that's a good green bean huh?
So I thought I needed to share this BBQ experience with you. It was really fantastic and it's making me happy just thinking about it. The only thing that would have made the night more complete would be if a giant, nasty, angry wild boar had charged up out of the black swamp and someone would have dropped it right there in the picnic shed with a single shot to the head. Yeah I know; that's a really weird thought. But knowing that black, inky swamp was right there, it coulda happened.
Which brings me to last night.
Our friends John and Anne are getting married today. Yesterday we went to the Seibels house for the rehearsal then headed to a secluded hunt club called Millaree for the rehearsal party. This place was way cool. It's a true, active, hardcore hunt club. Rustic building with bunk beds, open air picnic building, dressing room (not for trying on clothes girls!) and acres and acres of land right next to the swamp. A perfect place for a BBQ rehearsal dinner.
It was catered by Hudson's Barbeque, a well-known barbeque house over in Lexington.
Now here's the thing. I love BBQ as much as the next guy, but I rarely rave about it. There are aficionados out there, to be sure. In fact, I used to work with a doctor who was such a connoisseur, you could name a town in SC and he could tell you where to get BBQ. So for me, barbeque is sort of a staple in Southern cuisine. It's almost never bad, but some is definitely better than others. Last night is a great example.
The pork was prepared exactly the way I like it. Chopped fine, the fat and gunk removed, and some little charred pieces mixed in. I like to dress mine first with a little vinegar sauce then top it with mustard sauce. We had traditional accoutrements: baked chicken (for the pork-less), green beans, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, white bread, & bread and butter pickles. The macaroni was outstanding, the sweet potatoes had a heavenly dose of cinnamon and the pole beans were perfectly seasoned and cooked just right. I could have eaten an entire plate of green beans to tell the truth. I mean, that's a good green bean huh?
So I thought I needed to share this BBQ experience with you. It was really fantastic and it's making me happy just thinking about it. The only thing that would have made the night more complete would be if a giant, nasty, angry wild boar had charged up out of the black swamp and someone would have dropped it right there in the picnic shed with a single shot to the head. Yeah I know; that's a really weird thought. But knowing that black, inky swamp was right there, it coulda happened.
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