Today, on this episode of "Nourish,"
I'm in South Carolina to talk BBQ sauces with my BBQ brother, Rodney
Scott. When you think about South Carolina barbecue,
what's the key ingredient? A couple of little secrets in between there... As a rocket scientist and pitmaster I know there is heated debate about barbecue techniques,
temperature, set-up time and and all of that.
But when you mention South Carolina barbecue, you better be ready to talk
sauce. I'm gonna test my work in your sauce. That work for you? That works, I'll
go with it. I'm not gonna tell you what I think I
taste, a little bit brown sugar? I can't tell you all that Rodney. Good, okay don't
answer. That's why I'm here in Charleston with James Beard award-winning barbecuer
Rodney Scott. Much respect for you. Likewise, man. Rodney has elevated traditional
whole hog barbecue techniques with a new level of ingenuity, but the fundamentals
are still the same. How do you define BBQ - just to kind
of start it off? Man, whole hog BBQ BBQ period just takes me straight
to pork. Straight to pork, that's what I want to make sure people understand.
BBQ by itself is whole hog. When do you apply your sauce to your barbecue? I
apply my sauce shortly after I flip my hog over while it is still on the
fire, the hog is hot and I'm trying to crisp the skin up is when I add my sauce. Now, for the
important debate - the sauce. What's the key ingredient what do you start with? Vinegar, I mean especially in the southeastern part of the state.
Okay, we also have debates on a few other ingredients in barbecue in South Carolina. Mustard, mustard is another ingredient and then you run into tomato when you get into the western part of state. It's one
of the only places in America where you find strong regional preferences for
these main sauce types. So, I'm from Clarendon County. You're from Williamsburg. In Clarendon County where I grew up in Manning, Paxville area, we have just kind of sauce. I know we, I'll take this side of it since I have mustard in mine, when I get
closer to the Williamsburg County line, sauce quickly transfers over to a
vinegar-pepper base. I like vinegar sauce best . I grew up with vinegar. I guess that's what I'm accustomed to. I've tasted some sauces
with mustard in it that wasn't too good and I've tasted some that I did like. I mean, you don't have to like my sauce. I like your sauce. I had your sauce. I had your pork, and, and I enjoyed it. I had two helpings. I didn't tell you that. Okay,
I appreciate it. When you went looking I went back. I can tell where family
members move from based upon their barbecue sauce preference. Well, if
they're from the Peedee region where I grew up, chances are they're in love with vinegar and pepper. Peedee region, that's in this part
of the state, named after the Peedee native tribe that occupied this area long before
the Europeans got here. Vinegar and pepper came with the earliest settlers.
I like the history behind your sauce with that vinegar-pepper base, knowing is
the oldest sauce in South Carolina as well as across the American South.
Absolutely right. And if they're on that Williamsburg - Clarendon County line they swear by vinegar-based barbecue sauce. You are absolutely right. I've cooked a lot of places and I can tell when somebody's from my area because, like you
said, they recognize the sauce and they'll say something like, "It tastes
just like home or reminds me of home." If they're from the Manning, Orangeburg,
Sumter, Columbia area and they request or ask for mustard, then I know they're from
the middle of the state area. Some credit early German settlers to this
area with adding mustard to the mix. But scholars say it is probably more due to the introduction of prepared mustard in the early 20th century. If they asked for a
tomato base, chances are they're from the western part of the state.
That's not so cut and dry either because where I am from, we use tomato too. Tomato also didn't really make it on the scene until ketchup became commercially
available in 1900's. In the Carolinas, we, want the tanginess of the vinegar to be present in the BBQ sauce. But now you got the Memphis you got like, ah, the Kansas City. When you go out to Texas, it's sweet. Like you said, Kansas City it starts to get a little
sweet. If you're in the southwest, dry rub is another thing that a lot of guys like
to stand behind, so you can pretty much tell the further you go West how it
changes. Well a lot of not real spicy but more on the sweeter side, I don't know if
they're using molasses or brown sugar but it's more on the sweeter, a little
thicker than what we're used to with the vinegar. The real issue is that all good
barbecuers keep the ingredients of their sauces tightly held secrets. I
don't know what's in his sauce recipe. I don't know, I'm not gonna tell you what's
in the sauce recipe because, the barbecue sauces are the pitmaster's, they're, that's their signature on their pork. That's definitely their signature, their secret and
a lot of 'em don't even write it down and they still don't want
you to see how they make it. They don't want you to see how they make it. So you see, we're not even making it for you all today. That's the crazy part, we're not
going to make it for you all today but we're gonna talk about. The ingredients that go in my sauce, of course, it's white vinegar, some people prefer
apple cider, I prefer white vinegar. I use black pepper. I use cayenne pepper. I use
crushed pepper. I also add some lemons some sugar and some other stuff - a little, couple of secrets in between there. I can probably make your sauce if I wanted to. I think I know some of the others I think know, some of those are those are definitely classic ingredients. Those are my basic ingredients. I'm gonna share with them with them a tip, Rodney, since we're talking about sauces. Okay. People think crushed red pepper is real hot. No, it's more of a decoration. Which one you think adds the heat to make a barbecue
sauce? Black pepper. I maybe shouldn't be telling 'em this, Uh huh... Another major secret I can share
is technique - the application. You know me I gotta talk science. A traditional South Carolina barbecue tool is the mop, but it only works with the vinegar and pepper
based sauce. Know why? Viscosity. Yeah... The viscosity of this is
a little thicker than this. If I take this and try to dip your mop in my
sauce. It'll never come off the mop. It would never come off the mop. It will never come off the mop. If we dip
your sauce in there on the mop, it just runs off. I used to see my dad's uncle with my
great uncle, that's how he did it. He would always take the vinegar with
the mop and put it on. He said that was quicker. If you think
about a rib brush, it's not real big. You take a rib brush when you're trying to
sauce a hog, you're gonna be there for a while. So, I grew up using it. That's
what I use now. A lot of old men in our part of the country use that mop.
Still do. Still do. How'd you learn how to barbecue, Rodney? My dad taught me how to barbecue just family tradition. We have a store in Hemingway and we cooked hogs
every Thursday to sell sandwiches and you know being a kid growing up in the
country part of your chore was to work. That was part of my chore, so I learned
by doing my chores, you know, cooking hogs every Thursday, helping out. Those were some great times though, man. Great times a lot of hard work. Oh, I don't miss that work. I love it though. I love being back in South Carolina. No
matter, no matter where I go, there's no place like home. No place like home.
So, what essential barbecue sauce ingredients make you think of home. Share them below and keep watching "Nourish." Think of it as food for your mind, body,
and soul. Only thing I'm missing with this meal right here is a slice of white
bread though. We can handle that. I'm from the country. You're in the South, we got white bread. What kind of white bread? This program is made possible by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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