The Goat Pen

I like Carolina barbecue - it's good, but the vinegar sauce has an extra layer of complexity when tomato is added.

I agree...

What? You're a tomato-based now??

As a general rule, I just prefer savory to sweet. And I've always found the tomato-only based que's to have at least an undercurrent of sweetness to it, no matter how hot they try to make. And some of them are just intolerably sweet. I don't like sugar on my meat (fire away). Putting vinegar on pork might seems odd, but it works. I don't question it and I'm sure I'd prefer it no matter where I lived. They make a mustard style barbecue in SC, I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll like it, for the reason stated above. As another general rule, I much prefer mustard to ketchup, on french fries or whatever...

"What? You're a tomato-based now??"

No, I thought what you said was you didn't mind a small bit of tomato-y style sauce added to a vinegar-based 'cue. I don't mind a touch of something added, as long as the dominant character is the vinegar tang. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that tang, which is why I think I will probably like mustard-based 'cue...

I really don't even like wings much, certainly not at most restaurants, b/c they are slathered in that thick, unctuous sauce (if you can even call it sauce, it's more like a blanket). I prefer the more ethereal, vaporous, even ghostly compliment of vinegar, which is not even detectable as far as mouth feel. Most wings places (and Texas style barbecue) it's almost like you're drinking a milkshake while you're eating, due to the thickness of the paste they usually apply. That's one of my main objections to tomato-based sauces, i.e., pastes...

Don't go backtracking now.

Sounds like you'd like Dreamland sauce. It's tomato-based, but its thin. Not pasty at all - with a high vinegar content.

If the mustard based sauce is as thick as the tomato, which I suspect it is, that would detract from it. But I think I'd like the flavor...

You've never had mustard-based? Ever? You live just north of the real Carolina. Get some?

As long as it's thin with a clear vinegar tang, I call that vinegar based, whatever the other flavors added to it. The Dreamland sauce sounds good. I like straight vinegar on barbecue, but of course most sauces around here have at a minimum some hot pepper seeds added, as well as black pepper and I'm sure some salt. You can get as creative as you like from there, as long as it's liquid-thin and has an immediate vinegar tang when you taste it...

See, to me, the main difference b/w eastern NC bbq and most others is that we chop the shit up. It's almost like eating pate or tare tare. You don't have to pull anything off or bite it off a bone, nothing. You hardly have to chew it if it's cooked right. And you don't get shit all over your fingers and mouth. Even at a pig picking, with vinegar sauce, your fingers don't even get messy. The vinegar is actually cleansing, it's like hand sanitizer...

Do you think you would like scotch flavored ice cream? Or scotch the consistency of, say, motor oil? Maybe as a lark (and even then, maybe not), but that's my feeling about vinegar based sauces. That's the ghostly property I was referring to...

Did someone mention The Lark?

That must've thrilled you as a wee lad when you read it...

I actually don't really remember it.

At your tender age when it was composed, it likely scalded your eyeballs. You've come a long way since then. It's been fun watching you grow into adolescence. You've made us proud...

Dreamland is okay. Full Moon gives Dreamland a run for its money with just a hint of chow chow.

I don't like full moon near as much as Jim and Nick's.

I haven't tried Jim and Nick's. Or Baumhower's. I wasn't impressed by Costa's at all.