What is considered "true" Southern BBQ?

[tlg4942]

LOL... you guys were no help at all!  Just kidding, I was not sure if anyone knew of what is considered "traditional" in the Atlanta area.  I knew the "South" was wide open as to

  "LOL... you guys were no help at all!  Just kidding," and now you know the true secret of Southern BBQ...    Kidding too..
Cajun said:  "The meat of choice should probably be pork as in ribs and pulled pork. Sauce I'm guessing might be along the lines of something sweet and vinegary." And I would tend to agree.
 The meat needs to be just about falling off the bone for short ribs and the pulled pork.. slow cooked to around 192-200. The bone should pull out easy and meat very easy to pull apart.
Ask him what BBQ sauce he likes from the store. That would give us a better idea of the type hes referring too maybe.

[TentHunteR]

Ask him what BBQ sauce he likes from the store. That would give us a better idea of the type hes referring too maybe.

Now THAT sounds like a good game plan!

And I agree that BBQ tends to be such a regionalized thing.  Having lived in the Burlington/Greensboro area of North Carolina for a number of years, I can tell you they are definitely proud of their pulled pork! 

[TMB]

Y'all make good points, I was gonna say anything cooked/BBQ'd below the Mason Dixon line is real Southern BBQ 


OK, sitting down now

[DWard51]

Well, I guess for once being from Atlanta is a plus!

I don't know that I could say that Atlanta has a style of BBQ or any other cuisine for that matter.  It's a huge melting pot of many styles.  But as to the more popular BBQ joints, their house favorites tend to be the pulled pork followed by ribs (actually it is more of a chopped pork than pulled).  Beef is not even offered in may local Q joints.  The house sauce is sort of a blend between a thin vinegar based Carolina style and a tomato based sauce.  It's no where near as sweet as the Kansas City style, but it has a vinegar base.

Typical plate is pulled/chopped pork with sliced white bread or Texas toast slices for bun, side of Brunswick stew (Brunswick GA version of course), cole slaw, and a good sized piece of cracklin cornbread.  The thin vinegar/tomato sauce comes in varying degrees of heat but is usually just labeled "regular" and "hot" (same as regular with cayenne pepper sauce added).  Oh, and the drink of choice would be sweet tea of course.

To me classic GA BBQ comes from "joints" and not from restaurants.  Fresh Air in Jackson, GA, Daddy D'z near the stadium, Southern Pit in Sunnyside/Griffin, Fox Brothers in the Candler Park area, etc...  One judge of the quality of a "joint" is if you feel like you need a tetanus shot after leaving, it's a joint (and probably a good one).  Fox Brothers does not fit this mold, but it's good Q and worth visiting.

[DWard51]

And for those of you familiar with Atlanta BBQ, you will notice I left Harold's BBQ off the list.  Unfortunately the Hembree family no longer owns either of the old Harold's locations.  When Harold and his family ran them, they were on the "must visit" BBQ lists for the south.  The original Harold's BBQ was near the Federal Pen on McDonough Blvd in Atlanta and close to the old GM Lakewood plant.  His daughter opened a 2nd location on Hwy 54 in Jonesboro.  Alas, Harold passed years ago and the family kept the legendary pit's smoking, but finally sold the business to new owners.  I think they are both closed now, but if not, I would no longer recommend them I did visit after the sale. The new owners do not produce anywhere near the quality BBQ that Harold and his kin did.  I'm pretty sure they are closed for good now for the above reason.

RIP Harold's.....  Another great Q joint will fade into memory.  IMO they made the best Brunswick stew and cracklin cornbread in Georgia!

[Saber 4]

After reading all of this I am grateful that I am here in the Republic of Texas and don't have to weigh in on "True Southern BBQ"
 
But I will show the Atlanta favorites of DWards to my wife who is visiting her brother in the area in May.

[DWard51]

I'm not saying this was representative of "true southern" BBQ.  The conversation drifted towards what is traditional "ATLANTA" BBQ.  "True Southern" BBQ is a very wide topic encompassing many many styles of excellent BBQ!

[Big Dawg]

The meat of choice should probably be pork as in ribs and pulled pork. Sauce I'm guessing might be along the lines of something sweet and vinegary. Don't they mop meats as they cook in that area?

Agree.  In the south, anywhere outside of Texas anyways, I think the pig is pretty much king.

Ask him what BBQ sauce he likes from the store. That would give us a better idea of the type hes referring too maybe.

Now THAT sounds like a good game plan!

And I agree that BBQ tends to be such a regionalized thing.  Having lived in the Burlington/Greensboro area of North Carolina for a number of years, I can tell you they are definitely proud of their pulled pork! 

And you were right on the border of the Lexington (pork shoulder only) Eastern (whole hog) divide.  That what I would call BBQ Heaven!




BD

[RG]

I guess this Georgian will weigh in. Georgia absolutely has it's own style of BBQ. It is very similar to NC style, with the sauce being more closely related to western NC with being a tomato vinegar concoction. Fox bros, listed above is just okay to me (2 brothers from Texas), Community Q in Decatur blows it's doors off. If you want a real taste of GA BBQ though, head to Dean's BBQ in Jonesboro. They smoke fresh hams, not butts and if you've never attempted to smoke a fresh ham you know that it's MUCH leaner than a butt and hard to get right. Get it right they do though! Their pulled pork sandwich has been voted the best in the state numerous times. They have been open since 1947 and it's easy to see why. Simple goodness.

Brunswick Stew is another GA BBQ tradition. You won't find that in many Southern states. Brunswick GA lays claim that it was created there as does Brunswick VA. Who knows? All I know is that I like it, lol. I actually make it myself, got a pot bubblin' right now as a matter of fact

One thing ALL Southern BBQ has in common, whether it be the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc....PORK IS KING! Beef in Texas and Kansas, some places like Mutton, we in the South like our swine Except Florida.......they're their own breed of folk, different than the rest of the entire country LOL!

[DWard51]

I guess this Georgian will weigh in. Georgia absolutely has it's own style of BBQ. It is very similar to NC style, with the sauce being more closely related to western NC with being a tomato vinegar concoction. Fox bros, listed above is just okay to me (2 brothers from Texas), Community Q in Decatur blows it's doors off. If you want a real taste of GA BBQ though, head to Dean's BBQ in Jonesboro. They smoke fresh hams, not butts and if you've never attempted to smoke a fresh ham you know that it's MUCH leaner than a butt and hard to get right. Get it right they do though! Their pulled pork sandwich has been voted the best in the state numerous times. They have been open since 1947 and it's easy to see why. Simple goodness.

I'll have to give Community Q a visit.  I have heard others say good things about them but have never eaten there.

I did consider Deans, but Deans was closed on 12/31/2015, so I did not post it.  Good news is I now see it has been reopened since.  Apparently one of the family members is trying to terminate the least on the homestead (where the shop is located) so they can sell the property as commercial property.  It did close for a while, but there was a rather large community complaint over this (all over $575).  It's not so much about the missed payment as it is selling the land and loosing a GA BBQ legend in the process.  The story is about the closing, but there is video of the shop in the video as well.

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/deans-barbecue-in-danger-of-closing-after-68-years/npq98/

My office used to be across the street from them and we ate there a lot!  $5 lunch special was a chopped pork sandwich, bag of chips, small cup of stew, pickle, and a can of soda in a brown paper sack to go.  Yes their chopped pork and brunswick stew were excellent!  It's been years, so I doubt that price still applies as just the pork costs have tripled since then.  So if you are in the area, I do also recommend Deans BBQ on South Main Street in Jonesboro, GA!!!!

As a side note, the owner, Roger Dean, was also prosecuted by the GA Attorney General for stealing sales taxes collected from customers in the 1990's.  At one time he worked for the GA Dept of Revenue from whom the taxes were stolen, so that was somewhat ironic.

http://law.ga.gov/press-releases/1998-01-30/attorney-general-prosecutes-sales-tax-violator

There is an interview with Roger Dean and several other Georgia BBQ joint owners in the Georgia section of the Southern BBQ trail site. They also have interviews from Fresh Air BBQ and Harolds.  Here is a link to the Georgia section:

https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/southern-bbq-trail/georgia-bbq/

[Ericd3043]

I think Raising Cane's is purely a fried chicken place (chicken fingers, whatever they are).

I never thought of the Atlanta area as having their own style of barbecue or any "local" barbecue dishes. I googled "Atlanta style barbecue" and the first link was an article (here) that pretty much agreed with that. All the other links were about where to get decent 'cue in (not of) Atlanta.

Sounds like your boss doesn't know what he's talking about so you can hope he forgets the topic, educate him gently, or tell him the truth straight out. Hopefully it'll be one of the first two. The naked truth option is not recommended since he is your boss and the process is likely (at best) to be akin to wrestling a pig (No one wins, everyone gets muddy, and only the pig is happy).

Good luck.

Ok, that is funny.... I think I will offer to do a BBQ for something we call Fika Friday.  As for Atlanta, I was seeing the same thing - in other words, nothing specific.  He may just be referring to southern BBQ.

I do not plan to do the naked truth - new job not worth the effort!