Yellow Pages
After one of the warmest and driest Junes on record, I think back to last year when the weather was the exact opposite — which reminds us all that as much as we like to think we can predict what will happen or we’re in control, all we can really do is take it as it comes.
But that’s the fun and excitement of life, right? You never know what’s ahead, so enjoy today.
Now as we start July, usually the beginning of our real summer, every red-blooded American’s head, heart and stomach turns to barbecue — or is it barbeque, Bar-B-Q or BBQ?
First, let me say, barbecue and grilling are woefully confused and anyone south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas would shoot you dead in your tracks for confusing the two.
If you watch the Food Network, you know some people in the South make a full-time job out of barbecue competitions, and that “real” barbecue is slow cooking a tough and fatty meat over low heat until it is edible — anywhere from six to 24 hours.
Grilling on the other hand is quick-cooking thinner, better pieces of meat, chicken, fish and also vegetables until just done and tender, on a, here’s the confusing part, “barbecue” grill.
We favor the latter here on the West Coast, with the colder climate keeping us indoors more, different food choices such as more fish, and a faster-paced lifestyle.
With real barbecue, the choice of meats and cuts varies from region to region, with certain areas of the country being well-known for certain types, such as Kansas City and Memphis for ribs, North and South Carolina for pork and Texas for beef brisket, with roots tracing back to the beginning of the country, and influenced by the cattle drives, when meat was either scarcer or in abundance, but either way had to be cooked in a way as to make tough meat more tender and taste good.
Cooking over fire has been used for thousands of years, but the perfection of “barbecue” is one tradition we can call “All-American.”
Barbecue sauces and rubs are another hotly contested subject. Real, slow-cooked barbecue starts with a dry rub, and later in the cooking process, mopping with a vinegar and tomato-based sauce, with the flavor of the smoked meat being the highlight, not the sauce. In the faster, hotter grilling method, a more sugary sauce is basted on at the end, so it won’t burn.
But the sauces and rubs have regional differences as well, giving purists something else to argue about. I found completely conflicting versions of sauces for the same region, with anything from vinegar or lemon juice; catsup or tomato products; brown sugar or molasses; garlic, onion and bell pepper; liquid smoke; mustard; cayenne pepper; black pepper and salt. Some are thicker and clingier, heavy on the tomato and brown sugar and are better on less fatty meats like ribs and chicken, and others are thinner and tangier, better with fatty meat.
Here’s an all purpose Memphis-style rub to get you started. It would be good on just about anything, including sprinkling on veggies.
Combine 1/4 cup paprika, 1 tablespoon each of brown and white sugar, 2 tablespoons salt, and one teaspoon each of celery salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, garlic powder and onion powder. Store in an air-tight container until used.
An easy way to get the outdoor result indoors, because the weather is still unpredictable, is to rub a 6- to 8-pound pork butt or shoulder with the above rub and cook on low in a slow cooker for 8 hours. Let the meat cool and pull apart, picking out any visible fat.
It pairs well with a vinegary North Carolina barbecue base from Allrecipes.com. This type of vinegar sauce goes better with the fattier, slow-roasted pork because the acid in vinegar helps counteract the fat, but really any sauce is good on it.
Combine 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar, 10 tablespoons ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste, 1 pinch red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1/2 cup water and salt and black pepper to taste. Combine all the ingredients and simmer until the sugar is dissolved.
But no matter which version of barbecue you favor, it’s really just an excuse for a party. So barbecue, the verb, as in “barbecue that meat,” at a “BBQ,” the noun, as in an outdoor party, this month. Either way it’s good to celebrate the independence of the citizens of this great country.
Erin Earles works at Epicure in Anacortes when she’s not busy with gardening and cooking. If you have a column suggestion or comment, or a question about food or gardening, please e-mail her at .
