The Backyard Barbeque Qzine

August 2009 / Issue #4

BBQ From The Carolinas

Everyone loves barbecue! Despite its popularity, one question remains: where does barbecue come from? Most Americans are not aware of it, but there is a great deal of history behind the barbecue sauces of the Carolinas. In fact, when the average American talks about one of the four favorite types of barbecue sauce (vinegar & pepper, mustard, light tomato, and heavy tomato) he or she is referring to a sauce that comes from the Carolinas. North Carolinians use three of these sauces, and South Carolinians use all four.

The first, and simplest, of the sauces is vinegar and pepper. All that this sauce is made of is vinegar that has had red pepper flakes soaked in it. No one really knows where this particular sauce came from, but thousands of people up and down the Carolina coastline love it.

The second sauce is the mustard sauce. It is unique to South Carolina and has come to be identified as the definitive barbecue sauce of South Carolina. The credit for this sauce goes to the German settlers who called South Carolina home in the 18th century. Even today, this mustard sauce is associated with family names like Bessinger, Shealy, Hite, Sweatman, Sikes, Price, Lever, Meyer, Kiser, and Zeigler.

The light tomato sauce is a simple sauce made by adding vinegar and pepper to ketchup. It was first prepared around the early 1900s, and quickly became a favorite with those who wanted a bit of sweetness in their sauce.

The heavy tomato sauce is hardly a half a century old, but has been embraced with gusto across the United States. It is available in the supermarket under such brand names as Kraft Foods and KC Masterpiece. Americans love this particular type of sauce and slather it over all their barbecued foods. Barbecue would not be the same without this delicious type of sauce!

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Note From the Editor:

Welcome to the August Issue of Backyard Barbeque Qzine - our bi-monthly E-zine, filled with great information on cooking barbeque and traditional southern style dishes!

And welcome to our new subscribers! We look forward to having you as part of our community.

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Have a Great Barbeque Day!,

TC Mcrae

In this issue:

•BBQ From the Carolinas
•Andrea's Kitchen
•Review of Barbeque Meatball Grill Basket
•Barbeque Steak Recipes

Andrea's' Kitchen

Cognac Marinated Steak

I make this for my husband from time to time because he loves a good thick steak. He also loves cognac and cigars. I thought I would combine two of his favorites. But even I can't cook a cigar! You can substitute bourbon for the cognac.

Ingredients:

4 filet mignons or 4 New York Strips, ½ to 2 inches thick
Cracked black pepper
Salt, to taste

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cognac
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 clove garlic coarsely chopped

Directions:

Blend the marinade ingredients until the garlic salt dissolves.
Put the steaks and the marinade in a zip lock bag and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, no longer than 8 hours.
If you want deeper penetration of the marinade use a meat injector and inject some the marinade into the meat then refrigerate with the rest of the marinade.
Allow the meat to get to room temperature.
Pat the meat dry then brush with olive oil and coat the meat with cracked pepper; then sprinkle with salt.
Then grill over charcoal to the desired doneness.

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Featured Cookbook:

Serious Barbecue

This book is by Adam Perry Lang, a highly trained French chef who is also a very serious barbecue cook and thus the name, "Serious Barbecue". Now you may think that this guy's cooking style may be too high brow to be good at real smoked barbecue but you would be wrong. He has outstanding qualifications as barbecue cook. He took a first at the American Royal in pork shoulder and a Grand Champion at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa.

He has one of the best barbecue restaurants in the country and it happens to be in New York City. He is also a proponent of high heat grilling so his book covers all the bases of outdoor cooking (not just "low and slow" barbecue). He calls high heat grilling "Yankee" barbecue and "low and slow" southern barbecue. It's a great cookbook and I think you will enjoy it if you are a backyard smoker barbeque chef.Highly recommended for your "Q" library.

"Q" Cooking Tip of the Month!

Don't be an amateur rib cook! Amateurs boil their ribs to pre-cook them. When you do this you just boil the flavor right out of the meat. A good spare rib has great flavor. Don't spoil it.

Review of the Barbeque Meatball Grill

Most people have probably not heard of barbeque meatballs. Meatballs are something that you eat with a pasta dish in the experience of many. Now for those of us who are somewhat knowledgeable on the topic know that meatballs cooked on the grill (and especially the smoker grill) can be pretty tasty. The guys at the BBQ Brethren forum even have a barbeque meatball dish that they call MOINK balls that are made primarily of beef and wrapped in pork bacon.

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Great Tips For Better Barbeque Steak Recipes

It's time to fire up the grill again, and you're ready to tackle some new dishes. While chicken is always great barbecued, you may want to try your hand at some Barbeque Steak Recipes this summer. If you're not quite sure which sauces or marinades to use, here are a few suggestions.

It's important to pick very potent ingredients when you're marinating steak, since the meat is much thicker and tougher than poultry or seafood. Ingredients like vinegar and soy sauce are great marinades to use, since these are extremely salty and savory. They'll soak through the meat really well, and won't be too overpowering in most cases. If you're going to be putting your steaks on a traditional outdoor grill, you may also want to include oils in your marinade. This will provide a great crust for the meat, especially when you mix herbs and spices with the oil. Olive oil is the healthiest to use, but you can also use canola oil to reduce the fat and cholesterol.

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