(gentle music) Welcome to my world. (upbeat music) Two escargot, ponte, Frisee. - Two green salads.
- Okay. Lamb chops. Steak, frites. Shouldn't you be
doing something. Two full fillet
and a pepper steak. Come on, make the dessert. Chocolate tart, please. As a cook, tastes and
smells are my memories. And now I'm in
search of new ones. So I'm leaving New York City in hope to have a few
epiphanies around the world. And I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that. I'm looking for extremes
of emotion and experience. I'll try anything,
I'll risk everything, I have nothing to lose. My fellow American's, what is our one culinary
contribution to the world that's as original as jazz,
baseball, rock and roll? That's right, barbecue. Ribs fall right off the bone. It's all ours. Even the French can't do it. So what do I know
about barbecue? Yep, that about
sums it up for me. Good night, and
thanks for tuning in. (static) I kid, I kid. Actually, it turns out there's
a barbecue debate more heated than the last
presidential election. There is just no
element of barbecue that's not controversial. What could possibly be
controversial about barbecue? The cooking unit, the meat, fuel, the seasoning, and the most elusive, the
expertise of the chef. I grew up in the country sleeping on a tree limb
30 feet off the ground. It's only natural that I wind up cutting trees down and
cooking with them now. So, what does all
this madness add up to? It's the elusive
barbecue triangle. Three regions of the U.S.
locked in deadly battle over who does it the best. Kansas city? Kansas City is the barbecue
capital of the world. [Anthony] Texas? Nothing beats Texas-style
barbecue, but, you know, just be sure that you like it. [Anthony] And North Carolina. Everyone has they
special secret, so we got ours. Never fear, I, your intrepid
host, will investigate. I probably shouldn't
wear my white linen suit when eating here.
- [Man] Yeah. First assignment, Kansas City. Serious, serious
barbecue people. Kansas City is a microchasm
of the barbecue world. While other regions
specialize in specific meats, in Kansas City, they'll
cook anything, anyhow. If it moves, barbecue it. One thing I've learned, good
barbecue is not always pretty. Welcome to Oklahoma Joe's. Gas station, liquor
store, convenience store, some of the finest
barbecue in this country. If you want to get to
the bottom of something, you start at the top. So I make a dinner date
with Carolyn Wells, executive director of the
Kansas City Barbecue Society. What should I order here? My favorite menu item is the Carolina Pork Sandwich, which is a pulled pork
sandwich with slaw on top, served with Bubba sauce. But their ribs are great. And I think they're cooking up
some burnt ends just for you. Burnt ends, beef brisket. What is a burnt end? A burnt end is the
charred part of the brisket after it's cooked that
they used to throw away. Only in Kansas City,
that I know of, had they really
become menu items. Here, they collect them all week so they can offer them
one night during the week. Oh wow. Now this is finger-licking good. Flavor up the
ying-yang, it's great. So, are there barbecue nerds? Absolutely. Complete with the plastic
things in the pocket, with meat thermometers
sticking out. Who makes the best barbecue? Well, Kansas City, of course. Hmm. A bold claim. In order to properly evaluate, I need to find someone
in the trenches. A fellow chef. Ah, Sunday afternoon in Kansas. We're here to talk
about barbecue with the world-recognized
grand master authority on the subject of
Kansas City barbecue, Paul Kirk, known as
the Baron of Barbecue. I'm searching for
that ultimate barbecue. I've never found it. Paul Kirk is like a barbecue
prize fighter-turned-manager. He won loads of
international competitions and now he trains rookies. I decided to investigate, even if it means I
gotta do a little work. Maybe get my hands sticky. It's apron time for you. Jesus, am I putting on weight? [Paul] Okay, what I
have here, three briskets. I wanna know which one
you would pick and why. Like the feel and
the look of this guy. Nice fat layer, nice confirmation in shape, and I'm expecting it'll be a nice mix of fat and lean. So, how'd I do? Very good. I'mma show you how I trim 'em. And then I'mma let you
trim the other one. I'm gonna try to trim down to
a quarter to 1/8th of an inch of fat. - Now you get to do it.
- Alright. Time to show Paul a little
classically trained technique. Gonna take off some of this fat. I know what I'm doing,
I'm standing back. See me eating,
it's something good. Stop me. Alright, boss, how'd I do? It hurts, doesn't it? Okay, this is a
knife, not a saw. (grunts) You're going like that, you
forgot the most important part. Right, the right angle. So, not a complete disgrace, but definitely rookie status. Okay, maybe I've been
away from the kitchen a little too long. But not very good. Okay, we're gonna
season these up. Seasoning salt, celery salt,
onion salt, garlic salt. That's a basic rub. Now I tell my students,
add your signature. Pick out three seasonings. Some examples of seasonings
that people might use without being silly would be coriander? - Coriander? Oh. (Chuckles)
- I saw that in your book. - No?
- Oregano, cumin, all spice. Got that wrist action
down better than I did. Now that I've shown
Paul a thing or two, it's time to put the
brisket in the cooker. Oh, there he is. Now, how many hours
we talking about. We're talking probably, since it's certified
Angus, probably 14. (record scratching) 14 hours? I don't think we'll be
seeing barbecue brisket on Iron Chef anytime soon. That's one of the great things
about barbecue is that it's the absolute antithesis
of fast food. It's 15 hours. Nice
and moist, juicy. That's beautiful. See now, here's
a good smoke ring. Good color, good penetration. - It's moist, too.
- Yeah, it's beautiful. And there's bread, fix
yourself a sandwich. Will do. Sauce or not sauce? [Paul] One with sauce,
one without sauce. It's simple. It's perfect. Try a little with the sauce. Tough call.
Oh, it is, really is, yeah. This stuff is so good, I'm ready to vote Paul
Kirk into the White House. But it's not all
about the chef, is it? This does not look
like a backyard grill. - It doesn't?
- Nah. Now, that's an $8,000 pit. I design this and Klose Pits
down in Texas built if for me. One thing I'll say
about David is, first of all, you go around
all the different pits around. Look at the workmanship. So, we're talking
real craftsmanship here. Just when you think
you've seen it all, $8,000 barbecues? This will require further study. Looks like I'm off
to Houston, Texas. (country music) From Kansas to Texas. You'd think there's some
hard and fast rules, the individual way they do
things in certain states. But I gotta tell ya, I'm
getting pretty confused. But one thing I'm
not confused about is who makes, who builds,
designs, and constructs the best pits maybe
in the universe? This is the man, Dave Klose. And what's that grinding
sound in the background? That's of the making of... Just a bunch of guys
making metal stuff, you know. It's not safe around a welder. (metal scraping) [Anthony] No kidding. This place looks like an
episode of Monster Garage in a bowling plant
all rolled into one. If you think a pit is
just a hole in the ground, think again. You know, I actually believe we make some of
the highest quality and best engineered
pits in the world. And I won't stop, until I've made something
out of everything in the planet Earth. You don't wanna park a
car next to us, trust me. Okay, so you're in the
market for a barbecue pit, and you show up here. Dave is willing to
custom design a pit for your individual needs. You're military kitchen
coming up short on appliances? This is bullet-proof glass? Yeah, this is a phone
booth that was in the war in Sarajevo three years ago. These and the car pits,
where you build a car, a police car, into a
barbecue pit or something. The danger of that is
that you never know. You don't know if the
glass is gonna explode. Perhaps you're
tough on appliances and require a more
durable model. This is solid. You make solid objects. I can actually fire
a .357 Magnum in this. - You've tried that.
- Yes, I have. I've shot clean inside.
I'd do that. Maybe you're a hungry cosmonaut looking for a Dave
close encounter. I was working out
at NASA for years. Administrator at NASA's a woman. I told her I wanted
a pit on the moon. She said, "Why?" "Why do you want a
pit on the moon?" I said because when the
Russians or anyone else land, I want them to see
the worlds first Klose interplanetary grill. [Anthony] Maybe you
desire a simpler model, but souped up with
all the extras. Gas injected with
a burner on the side. Very small smoke stack in it. Adjustable fire rack, ash pan. Maybe you're thinking, "I've got too many
kitchen appliances." "I need to simplify." Now, this is a
14-foot beer bottle. In the neck is an
actual 3-gallon pony keg with a beer tap right here. You just take this
too your house, pull up, light it, pull
out a coupla cases of beer. The whole block will shut
down and have a party. [Anthony] No matter
what your needs, you never leave the lot
without taking a test drive. These are sausage-stuffed
and bacon-wrapped quail. These things are spectacular. Now this is the good stuff. This is my signature dish. This is actually eight
to 10 count tiger shrimp that are stuffed with
stone claw crab meat, wrapped with a malletized
chicken tender, wrapped in maple smoked bacon, and soaked in Cabernet
Sauvignon overnight. [Anthony] This guy
is full of surprises. I thought he was
gonna pull out some carbonized hot
dogs or something. This is an amazing dish. You cannot mess this up. If you do it bad,
it's incredible. If you do it right, it'll
take the top of your head off. Give that a shot. Damn, look at that. Oh Dave, this is amazing. [Dave] You gotta try
this quail, though. [Anthony] Oh,
you're not kidding. [Dave] This is spectacular. Oh, it's beautiful. This has gotta be
illegal somewhere. Oh yeah, that's way too good. Think I'm on the Atkins diet. That's like all meat, right? I haven't seen a vegetable
in like three or four days. Man knows how to cook. It's not just food, it's
not just a lifestyle, it's a calling, and...
It's an illness. Well, at least I didn't
try cobra heart, you know. I heard that you tried... I heard that you almost got
eaten by a lion in Africa. No, that's next season. So, Texans can
make barbecue pits. But can Texans barbecue? Dave says that he knows a place where they make some of
the best ribs and brisket in the nation. So, yeah, where are we, Dave? Yeah, we're at
Roy Burn's barbecue. It's been here
about 30, 35 years. Some of the best
barbecue in Houston. I just want Tony to
try it and see how real Southern hospitality
and quality lasts, you know. Southern hospitality? Good lord, it looks
like a decent sneeze would level this place. That doesn't seem to
stop the customers. People come from
all over Houston, southwest side, east
side, everywhere. They drive in traffic
to get over here and eat this barbecue. That is definitely
an endorsement. If you're willing to
suffer for good food... And he's probably got a
sauce that he wouldn't give up if you put a gun to his head. Anyone got a gun? (Chuckles) Despite outward appearances, Burn's barbecue is
a large operation. They have a sizable staff and deep pits
bursting at the seams with slow-cooking
ribs and briskets. Those right there,
be there for about, oh, five, six more hours. My choice is the ribs. I love the ribs. That's my specialty. [Anthony] According to Roy, the secret to his
barbecue lies in the fuel. Slow burning oak. Post oak, that's the
secret doing the slow. Hey, I'm sold. But you know what,
enough food for two is good enough for us. - That's real nice.
- Beautiful. Oh man, this smells
unbelievable. Alright, well thank you sir.
Want sauce on it? - You want sauce on it?
- Yes, please. Thank you, okay great.
We'll see them out front. Thanks, sir. We got two sample platters here. [Dave] Oh, that's good
brisket there, buddy. His ribs are delicious, man. Try some of that sauce. Yeah, believe me,
I've been mopping. That is some fine eating. You got a mustard-based
potato salad with pickles, it goes with the barbecue. What they call
asymmetric flavors. Everybody I've
met in Kansas City, and everybody I've met in Texas, they're (bleep)
damn intellectuals. I'm like always the
stupidest guy in town, everywhere I've been so far. Well, I didn't go through
the 3rd grade for nothing. That was the worst
nine years of my life. It's an amazing rib. Roy really understands
the business. The main thing is,
I tell my customers to come back and tell me if it's bad or good. So then I start looking
for ways to change. Right. Well, you know, when you see
cars lined up down the street, that's a good tip-off, right. Limos, and Cadillacs
will pull up here. Man, you never know
who's getting out. Burn's place may not
get a 30 for decor from the Zagats anytime soon, but Roy has mastered
the golden rule. Make good food. So if you're on a quiet
rural road in Houston, and you see a huge
line, get in it. You may just get to try one of the tastiest
secrets in America. My barbecue investigation so far has introduced me to
award-winning pit masters, and world famous
barbecue hotspots. But most of America gets
their barbecue from one place, their own backyard. In this case, we're in the
backyard of barbecue connoisseur John Lonergan. This is a strange and
exotic environment for me. I have this overwhelming
urge to put on an apron saying "World's Best Dad"
or "I'm With Stupid." I need a novelty apron. Nice and quiet. Nobody to bother you. Peaceful. Phone's not ringing. This is the essence of barbecue. Sitting in the backyard,
waiting for the ribs to cook, drinking beer, right. Think those ribs are
just about done, too. You wanna go ahead and pop
it open and take a peek? Of course I do. Rubbed with mustard and spices, these ribs cook for four hours. John pours on the slurry he
made from Coke and brown sugar. Oh yeah, that's delicious. And one hour later,
the perfect ribs. I'll get the plate out, and I'll let you do the honors and chop up some ribs. Oh yeah. We don't cook a
lot on this show. I'm actually touching
food on this episode. - Well you know, it's good.
- Putting me to work. All that beer you're drinking, you gotta get some exercise. Thanks. You're welcome. (Chuckling) So, we're ready to go eat.
Excellent. Alright. And we got some salad.
Salad? Wow. I've forgotten what that is. Got something for you here. Way too nice of you. (laughs) Well, I kinda get
my wish, don't I? Okay, I put this
right to work, yes? Yes sir. There's a knife for you. Let's see if you
remember how to cut ribs. If I don't stop working
with food on this show, people are gonna start
thinking I'm an actual chef. - I'm ready to eat.
- Me too. If I remember, the
dimly remembered past, I last saw one of these, I
think this is called a salad. Dig in. (stutters) Literally falling off the bone. It's terrible, here,
let me take that from you. Keep your eyes on
your own plate, buddy. When the meat and the
bone come apart that easy, you know you got some good ribs. A true American experience. Real backyard barbecue. This is the barbecue story
encapsulated, you know. Now, I can really say,
I've been everywhere. Barbecue burnout. Culinary peril of
the American south. Happily I find myself
at the final stop of the barbecue triangle. Where are we? North
Carolina, cradle of barbecue. Where most people will
tell you it all began. (pigs squealing) okay, what's the difference
between Texas, Kansas City, and North Carolina barbecue? North Carolina it's all about pig, pig, pig,
pig, pig, pig, pig. And when you're talking
about Eastern North Carolina, you're talking about nose to tail, everything
but the squeak. During my travels, I hear about
a joint called Mitchell's, where they proudly specialize
in whole hog barbecue. [Ed] Alright, let's go,
we're going to the pit now. I'm introduced to
proprietor Ed Mitchell, who promises to come clean
on their entire operation. First step, trimming the pig. We'll let Tony cut the feet. What am I thinking? I'm thinking an
episode of the Sopranos I saw a few weeks ago. [Ed] (mumbles) cleaver. Getting good at this, huh? Every now and then,
we get one like me, he's a little healthy. He has a lot of fat glands. A lot of actors in Hollywood
pay to have that done, you know, while
they're still alive. (laughing) Now this one, it got
all the good stuff in it. - The tongue.
- The tongue. - The brains.
- The brains. - Eyeballs.
- The eyeballs. - Thymus gland.
- Yep. This is good eating. Now she's ready to go on. Spank it. Now take a stroll on back. That is really a
symbolic of a salute. Because he's really gone
make somebody very happy. My old gym teacher used
to do that to me a lot. He's in jail now. He got his spanking now. He one of the boys now. You an official barbecue
man now, we got you now. Alright. [Anthony] It's
time to cook the hog. We allow it to cook
eight to 10 hours. We definitely don't like to
cook 'em anything under that. [Man] You guys wanna get some. Oh, pretty. [Man] And to me,
that's real barbecue. The pit crew goes to
work, deboning the pig, pulling off the ribs, and
hand chopping the meat. Gonna chop it just to
put it back into the skin. Okay, we're actually
letting Tony taste it, to make sure that it meets his approval. What we do here, we
wanna make sure that the tenderness is
there, that it's done. Mmm, that's delicious. That's fantastic. Just when I'm ready to dig in, Ed tells me it's time for
the most important step. We're getting
ready to season it. That is putting the vinegar
and pepper sauce in it. This is putting
icing on the cake. In Eastern North Carolina, you won't find tomato
in the barbecue sauce. Get out your recipe cards. For every 100 pounds
of pulled pork, simply add a load of
red and black pepper, lots and lots of sugar, even more salt, then
a real lot of vinegar, then just mix it all by hand. But it's not that easy. It's serious business. Tad bit more salt. A little bit of
white gold sugar. Did you put the crushed
red pepper in there? Tad too much. Yeah, little tad too
much vinegar in this. Oh yeah. Once Ed signs off, the meat is spread out
and sprinkled with bits of crispy pink skin cracklins. Yeah, I have been eating
barbecue for days, but I haven't seen this. This is beautiful. Crispy, crunchy,
cooked pig skin. All the things I
like about food, all in one dish. That is amazing. Okay, so what do you do
with a whole cooked hog? In Cook's Tour, we've seen
salad bars, tapas bars, and raw bars. [Ed] And this is
the famous pig bar. But a pig bar? We have the trotters,
as we call them, pig tails, the pig ears, and you gotta try the chit'lins. Yeah, if there's
a buffet in heaven, it looks pretty much like that. (angelic music) Best pig foot I've ever had. And I've had a fair
amount of them. The problem with
pork these days, they're pushing the
whole lean angle. This is a very bad way to go as far as promoting
the glories of pig. Little bits of crispy skin. Man, this is beautiful. Well, it's very
much my philosophy, if you're gonna kill a pig, you
should eat every part of it. I mean, if the pig ever
hunts me down and kills me, I hope that he uses every part. Just when I think my
investigation is over, I discover barbecue has
battles within battles. Turns out in North Carolina,
there's a barbecue civil war. Okay, when you're talking about
barbecue in North Carolina, you're talking about two
major significant styles. You got your East North
Carolina barbecue, which is kind of a
vinegary whole hog thing, and you got your western, or Piedmont-Lexington
style barbecue. And representing the west side
are Bill Leeson and Jim Tabb. Even in a real war, these
guys would be useful. Jim is an ex-pilot, and Bill is an expert
at blowing stuff up. But in the barbecue
war, they're generals. I asked them what
defines their territory. Is it true what they say,
is it about shoulder here? Shoulders. Pretty. Shoulder is a
juicy piece of meat. [Jim] It's got more fat in
the shoulder than the ham. Okay. Strategy number
one, moist shoulder meat. Yeah, let's throw
it on the grill. Strategy number two? Direct heat. Far as we're concerned, direct
heat is the way to cook. That's right, direct heat. Instead of a separate fire box, these guys cook right
on top of the flame. Right, how long do these go? Anywhere from 12 to 14 hours. Let's fire 'em up. [Anthony] But it
still takes 14 hours. That smoke's rolling now. Ready, Tony? [Anthony] That's pretty. Can someone hand me a knife? I know we won't need a knife. I'm furious if we need a knife. Okay. (Chuckling) [Bill] If you need a
knife, you got roast pork. See, it's just
coming off the bone? [Anthony] No reason to fret, looks like a knife
will not be needed. [Bill] No, will not be needed. [Anthony] In terms
of pulled pork, this is pulled pork as is. Looks mighty good. [Bill] Yeah, you can't
resist it, go ahead. [Jim] This is your
sauce right here. What do you do around
here, you dip, or you dress? We gon' dip. - Good life.
- Okay. Hell with decorum. Dip. Hey, hold on here. We're in North Carolina, and this sauce has tomatoes? Traditionally, the people east of
Carolina thought tomatoes were poisonous. As they came west, they began to add tomatoes. Little tomato. Tony, what we got here
is some pulled shoulder, some red slaw, and hush puppies. Perfect. That's what it's all about.
Piedmontstyle barbecue. I like it here, I
like it here a lot. This is great. I'm getting the idea that barbecue is an endless
learning process. And I'll be the first to say, we don't know it
all, but we feel like we do it in North Carolina
like it was originally did. We were barbecuing when
those people in Texas were chasing cows. (cows mooing) So, I've searched far and wide for America's best barbecue. Apologies to Memphis
and St. Louis. What is my one
absolute conclusion? Barbecue is not a cuisine,
it's an obsession. But the barbecue debate
should make us all proud. Barbecuers are free-thinking
individualists. So show the world what
you're made of America. Put on that apron and
light up those barbecues from sea to shining sea. Now, where can I
find a salad bar? (upbeat country music)
