🚀 go-pugleaf

On 21 Jul 2001 15:56:23 GMT, srt@nospam.unt.edu wrote:

>suzanne <suzanne47@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> Real Tennessee BBQ is served with the sauce on the side.  It is
>> hickory smoked pork shoulder.  The sauce is thin and usually vinegary.
>> The hot sauce is usually similar to Tabasco in heat and consistency.
>> The mild sauce is often sweet and vinegary.
>
>No, no, no, no, no......  I grew up in Alabama, and lived in Nashville
>for quite a while, and still stop by and eat TN style BBQ whenever the
>chance arises.  I've eaten at all the best BBQ places in both
>Nashville and Memphis (and quite a few that weren't "the best"...)
>"thin and usually vinegary" sounds like North Carolina style BBQ --
>nasty stuff in my opinion.  TN BBQ usually has strongly smoked pork
>shoulder (always hickory smoked) and a tomato and mollases based
>sauce, and as such is usually pretty thick.

That tomato and molasses based sauce is common for ribs but I have
always seen a thin Tabasco-like sauce with pulled pork sandwiches.  I
have spent very little time in either Memphis or Nashville.  Most of
my experience has been small towns in west TN.

>There's a chain around here called "Red, Hot, and Blue" that serves
>fairly authentic TN style BBQ.  *Pulled* pork, not chopped (they do
>also offer beef for the heathen Texans).  They don't seem to have "the
>touch" on getting the meat right (it's often too dry), but the sauces
>are pretty authentic.

I had a friend from Mississippi tell me that Red, Hot, and Blue was
pretty good in Jackson, MS.  I haven't tried them.  This whole thread
is crossposted to all the Texas food groups.  I am in San Marcos and
the only time I get that far north is when I'm headed back to TN.

Beef and pork require different temperatures to be their best.  The
cooks at the TX locations probably dry out the pork by trying to cook
it like beef.

Suzanne