To go from vegetables and greens to blocks filled with the smell of roasted pork and beef was a big change for me. I must admit the smell was intoxicating and I wanted to taste everything. I came close to doing so.
We have to mention Blue Smoke and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que for being willing to put their goods alongside the big boys of BBQ. Unfortunately it only highlighted that what we accept in NY is a pale imitation of the real thing.
Ubons is something special, Now they do serve it with a red sauce which is not something I usually enjoy but the one they make is vinegary and spicy, not sweet and cloying like the sauces with a corn syrup base. The real secret of Ubons is the rub. It contains a LOT of citrus with just the right amount of everything else and their Boston Butt is lightly smoky, falling apart tender and succulent beyond words, even without the sauce. Leslie and her mother were so kind and gave me a cup of the rub to take home.
Best in Show was Ed Mitchell of The Pit this is worth a trip to North Carolina. No culinary school for this master of the BBQ, he learned from his mother. As a kid he had no sisters and he was forced into the kitchen. Now grateful for the training he knows what to do with a hog.
The whole pig is pulled right off the BBQ and the skin set aside to go back on the BBQ to dry and crisp. The sauce is vinegar based and not at all sweet, just enough spice to tickle your taste buds. The proper way to make a sandwich is plenty of pulled meat, some crispy skin and Cole slaw. I was truly in BBQ heaven.
Comatose I packed some prunes and almond in my back pack after the festival was over and got on the train to New Jersey for the opening night of Full Monty with Elaine Stritch.
As expected Stritch makes magic doing a real character. Anyone in the tri state area...it's worth the trip.
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