High on the (Whole) Hog

Posted on April 20, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

I went to my first pig pickin’ this weekend and…¡Wow!

The Pig Kahuna

The Pig Kahuna

Growing up in Massachusetts, the only thing I can compare it to is a clam bake, which, oddly enough, usually centers around lobster. After having access to a whole hog on a smoker, I have a newfound appreciation for a) how difficult it is to get at lobster meat and b) just how much meat is on a pig.

The event, held in Durham’s Duke Park neighborhood, was the result of a backyard conversation between two neighbors and a ‘why not?’ attitude. As in, why not mix a 165 pound hog, salt and pepper, 10 hours over the (cough) gas cooker and a little dip? The result was a glorious bit of ‘cue-aided community building.  (Thanks, Doug!)

While Doug and his neighbor Jeff did use a gas cooker,  at least they had a pile of wood nearby to please the eye. Plus, they woke up at 5 a.m. to get things started, earning some nice legitimacy points.

some prime picked pork

some prime picked pork

While this should have been obvious to me beforehand, the best part of the evening was actually pickin‘ pieces from the smoker. Finding that perfectly crusty piece (like this little gem to the left) was an experience I’d love to repeat (and did quite a few times on Saturday).

True to my moniker, I enjoyed a rarity in NC barbecue–a rib. And ever the breadaholic since Passover’s end, I crafted a sandwich with hand-picked morsels. That’s it below, moments before departing this world. And, yes, that is a nice piece of “outside brown.”

If I have to split hairs, I thought the barbecue could have been chopped finer. But I can certainly imagine the cleaver guys getting pork elbow after working their way through most of that hog.

The kicker of the whole thing was meeting a nice Jewish family who’d moved to Carolina from Israel. Alas, being Orthodox, they didn’t partake of the pork. The poor souls. But, as a devout BBQ Jew,  I could understand their devotion. And we met in the middle at a keg of nice, local beer.

The grand sandwich

The grand sandwich

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

Passover Swine

Posted on April 10, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

It’s now passover, but I can’t seem to pass over any barbecue…

And that has led me to conclude: a barbecue plate fills in nicely for the Passover seder plate. Once you get past that kosher thing, that is.

The seder plate (courtesy of Sam Felder)

The seder plate (courtesy of Sam Felder)

What the barbecue plate lacks in tradition(!), it more than makes up for in taste. And it’s not hopeless on the symbolism front, either.

First off–the barbecue (or pork, for you heathens). You can’t tell me that some finely chopped N.C. barbecue doesn’t look a little like haroset, the apple-walnut-wine concoction meant to symbolize the mortar used to build the pyramids. Barbecue can play that role.

I’m willing to accept either slaw or fried okra as the karpas, symbolizing springtime and renewal. Best of all, you won’t have to dip the okra into salt water (representing the tears of our ancestral slaves in Egypt) because it’ll already be salty as heck. Meanwhile, collards can serve as the bitter herbs. Although they’ll probably have been boiled with enough pork to eliminate all bitterness and kosherness.

the barbecue plate (courtesy of Alaina B.)

the barbecue plate (courtesy of Alaina B.)

Hush puppies don’t really work with the whole not using flour modus operandi, unfortunately. While matzah meal hush puppies would be wrong on many levels, they might be worth asking for just to enjoy the blank stares.

For beverages, a glass of Cheerwine would substitute nicely for that tired old Manischewitz wine. And don’t forget to enjoy 4 cups, as we’re commanded!

On a final note: Good luck finding anything resembling a shank bone (in place of the lamb shank), or any kind of bone, for that matter, at a N.C. barbecue joint.

Happy Passover, y’all. Enjoy your “seder.”

Filed under: 'Cue Culture, Barbejews | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

Smokin Grooves and Hooves

Posted on April 3, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

BBQ Jews don’t spend all of their time lusting after the divine swine. We have our diversions, too. Like finding barbecue music.

On that note, there’s just something cool about a musician with a backing band called the Barbecue Swingers. Such is the case for Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers.

But these cats don’t just talk the talk about the hog. Not only do they have a song called “Smokin with Some Barbecue,” but in the video we see Kermit and the guys “swinging” some ‘cue from the smoker.

OK, so it’s not the best song in the world. But can you blame Kermit for getting distracted by the topic? His other work is better–real classic New Orleans Jazz. And with that many gigs scheduled, it’s no wonder the band took that name. Talk about working up an appetite for ‘cue!

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Whatchamacallit?

Posted on March 6, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

In addition to invoking an underrated Hershey’s candy bar, the title of this post refers to the numerous names for the divine swine: Barbecue, Barbeque, Bar-B-que, BBQ and so on.

As you no doubt have experienced, there’s a bit of a spelling free-for-all in hog heaven. The nomenclature can be puzzling. Heck, even we BBQ Jews are confused. As you can see, we roll with ‘barbecue’ in our posts, but ‘BBQ’ in our URL. What gives?

photo by Tadson via Creative Commons

photo by Tadson via Creative Commons

We chose ‘BBQ’ for our Web address mostly because we thought it looked cool. And it’s easier to type into a browser, which we’re sure our legions of fans will be doing quite frequently. So, yeah, you’re welcome.

We like to say that Barbecue puts the ‘Bar’ in Bar Mitzvah. On those grounds, we eliminated ‘BBQ’ as our primary spelling. And while ‘Bar-B-Q‘ and ‘Bar B-Q‘ were tempting, we deemed it too unorthodox (i.e. reform).

What about ‘Bar-B-Que,’ then? On the plus side, it’s even closer to Bar Mitzvah than ‘barbecue.’ But all those hyphens? Way too annoying to type. Plus, it makes me think of Barbie. And do you capitalize the second and third syllables? Bar-b-que? bar-b-que? Too many questions, let’s move along.

We use the ‘c’ instead of the ‘q’ because ‘barbeque‘ looks a little off. Plus, those French orthological roots pull pork in a different direction than we’d prefer. Sure, ‘que is fun to say and write. But so is ‘cue, and it doesn’t bring any English/Spanish confusions (¡Que delicioso ‘que, amigo!).

This discussion makes BBQ Jew think of the whole Hanukah vs. Chanukah vs. Hannukah vs. Hanu-Q-A thing. Only, that spelling debacle makes sense because the word is a Hebrew transliteration. What’s our excuse?

We’re curious: which spelling do you prefer and why?

Be honest, you won’t hurt our feelings.

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | 5 Comments »

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