BBQ = Not a Verb

There has never been a day that I don't remember not liking barbeque. In my Southern household, barbeque is a delicacy not to be taken lightly. It is a cause for a special occasion--an outing with Nanny (my grandmother), a birthday celebration, the Fourth of July, and other holidays. If we don't have barbeque when we're traditionally supposed to, it's practically an apocalypse.

In my TELE 3010 class last fall we watched this hilarious video that is oh-so-true about barbeque, and that--and Garden Mum--inspired this blog post.

The first thing to note about barbeque is that it is specifically meant to talk about a certain way of preparing meat. BBQ can refer to the barbequed meat (usually pork, but chicken, beef, and turkey also) and the sauce used. Don't believe Webster's or any other dictionary that tells you otherwise. If you come to the South, "a barbeque" does not exist. Yankees tend to confuse the words "barbeque" and "cookout." Not the same thing...trust me.

There are four main types of BBQ in the States (http://www.scbarbeque.com/History.html): vinegar, mustard, light tomato, and heavy tomato. The YouTube video also mentions Memphis dry rub and Alabama mayonaise sauce, but these four are definitely the most recognized and most common. I have had occasion to taste most of these. Probably my biggest favorite are the tomato-based sauces; I'm not a fan of the vinegar or the dry rub, and I've never been to Bama to taste the mayonaise. The mustard sauce is decent, but I've only had it from one restaurant in South Carolina, Bobby's Barbeque.

In the Augusta, Georgia, area there are three main BBQ restaurants I've grown up with. Sconyer's, of course, is the best by far. The atmosphere of the restaurant combined with the tender, juicy pulled pork and the sweet sauce is like Heaven to this meatetarian. The Christmas lights to the right are at Sconyer's. Edmund's is a little different; it's more of "fast food BBQ," I suppose. The sauce is cooked into the meat, making it super flavorful but at the same time it kind of hides the pork flavor. I still love it though, and make a point to go to one of the two restaurants whenever I'm home. Mott's is my least favorite. Like Sconyer's, the meat is not cooked in the sauce, but I do think the meat has a different flavor that I'm not partial to.

Now, whenever you get BBQ, there's a couple of sides that are pretty much requirements. First--sweet tea. Hash and rice are a must--that's what's in the bowl in the top picture. Potato salad as well, but I'm not a big fan of that so usually I opt for extra hash and rice. When we have BBQ at the house, usually someone makes deviled eggs (which I also don't eat much of) and baked beans (yeah, not a fan of those either). So take your pick, and for kids you can always get bread and chips.

Hopefully this video will work but if not, I'll post it later. Here's the URL just in case it doesn't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubTQfr_tyY