Looks Can Be Deceiving

Supper, Tuesday November 07: barbecue; polenta and feta; sauteed mixed vegetables.

This meal doesn't look like much but man o man was it good. First we have to dispense with a few definitions. This is for you Stephen. 

First, barbeque is an acceptable spelling. I like the q. 

Second, in eastern and central North Carolina barbeque means slow cooked pork over indirect low heat with smoke. You can achieve this a number of ways, open pit to electric with chips, but the goal is the same, tender, sweet, smoky, goodness. I need to be clear on this. Barbeque is not any old meat cooked on a grill and covered in glop. Barbeque is that method, slow, low, indirect, smoky, and the meat it renders. As for barbeque sauce, sauce is something you put on barbeque. The sauce is not what makes it "barbeque." The meat and the method does. The sauce is there to enhance the experience. If you can't eat it without the sauce then you have done something wrong. 

That said, for all its lack of visual appeal, this was the best pork shoulder I have ever smoked. After I brought it in and let it rest I started to pull the meat apart and the bones came out with 2 fingers. I didn't chop the meat. I just pulled it apart with my fingers. I added some Lexington style sauce to it. There are no words.

That polenta was pretty tasty too. It was made from roasted cornmeal a great smoky accompaniment. 

Oh, and you don't need anything more complicated than a kettle grill. Next time I will document.