BBQ pork sandwich....

I RARELY eat pork, and even tho I just spent nearly 23 years in Memphis, I don't know all that much about BBQ pork sandwiches. So this afternoon I was "corraled" by a gentleman outside his sidewalk "cafe" into trying a BBQ pork sandwich. I could tell you the rest of the "story" but I want to hear what folks on here think as far as a good or even great BBQ pork sandwich. Example? Should the pork be of the pulled, jerked, or chopped variety? Sauce that wets the pork or saturates the pork....and maybe even the bread/bun in rapid order? With or without something in/on the sandwich besides pork and sauce?

I realize every has an idea about the perfect sandwich...but maybe there is some kind of concensus?

My BBQ Pork is pulled, not soupy but juicy and usually on a bun.

My BBQ pork is Beef!

Less fatty and easier on the stomach.

I always prefer sliced to pulled (and ribs to both)..but it takes so long to cook it that way that I'll take pulled pork in a pinch. Especially if it's a sandwich instead of a proper plated meal with sides. Call me weird, but I really don't care for BBQ sandwiches. I'd rather have a full plated meal-if I wanted a sandwich, I'd go to a deli instead of having BBQ.

OTOH, one of the local places here in north GA has a salad and a baked potato covered with pulled pork on their menus. I like both. Their pulled isn't as dry as a lot of places serve, so sauce is on the side. Add as much or as little as you like.

Pulled with the sauce on the side. A little coleslaw on top is pretty good too.

Toyman01 wrote: Pulled with the sauce on the side. A little coleslaw on top is pretty good too.

Hell yeah!

Lately I have had a hankering for pulled pork tacos with slaw on top. They are awesome...and slightly lower in carbs.

Hole hog cooked over wood, pulled/chopped with vinegar/mustard sauce on the side. Good bun, not squishy supermarket junk (full disclosure: I'm a baker). Beans and slaw on the the side.

Now I'm hungry again.

Bouncing around the US, I've had every major style of BBQ, and have managed to sample most of said region's attempts at BBQ pork...

It's got to be pulled, and from Georgia or South Carolina. Everywhere else sucks. I'm looking at you, Texas.

I like mine in between two buns and tender, moist, and full of juices.......

Pulled, on a Merita bun. Gotta have pickle chips.

Gotta have sauce, too. If it's thick and sweet, it goes right on the sandwich. If it's thin and vinegary (carolina style) I like to get enough to dip the sammy in it.

But, seriously, the difference between my most favorite method and least favorite method is about that ---> <--- much. If the meat's tasty, plate me. I'm not gonna ask a lot of questions.

jg

I like my pork pulled (hurhur) with a little vinegar-based hot barbeque sauce on a toasted bun.

As far as beef goes, I like the Texas style sliced brisket the best. I haven't had it in years, so I may be powered by nostalgia, but whatever.

NSFW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BDM1oBRJ8

Couldn't help it....

First of all, I wouldn't tell anyone that I lived in Memhis 23 and had hardly eaten BBQ.

Taste in BBQ is like discussing religion, politics or women and can lead to as many fights. I grew up in lower part of SC and agree with Osterkraut. SC and GA rule. Just can't cotton up to the NC vinegar sauce. When I was real young I used to tell people I wanted to fall into a vat of Earl Dukes BBQ (Orangeburg, SC) and eat my way out. Earl Dukes suace is like no others sauce. If being Muslim means you can't eat pork, I fail big time. I don't care about no stinking cloven hooves?

I'll eat it chopped , pulled or sliced. I usually add sauce. I don't like it when the restaurant adds the sauce before serving. If you find some BBQ that is good without the sauce, you have reached Nirvana.

There is no such thing as a bad BBQ Pork sandwich. Slice it, pull it, braise it, boil it, mince it, sloppy, sweet, spicy...I don't care as long as its not sushi or truffles or tofu or other "gourmet" crap.

I'm with J.G. on the Carolina style but I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first.

Falling off the bone tender; pulled = breaking along natural lines, marinated and hosed in thick sauce.

Run a potato across a shredder to make little tiny french fries, 1/16 to 1/8" square, drop them in hot oil and then put that in the sammich.

Dan

A different direction. I used to have Bosnian Muslim neighbors. He was truly a Bosnian redneck trucker. But every year there was some holiday where he'd put together a big outdoor BBQ pit. His family would buy a whole goat, put it on a spit, and burn up about 200lb of charcoal in a pit. He'd start cooking in the morning, which was about the same time he started popping open beers. By the time I got home from work the goat was perfectly done. We'd sit there and carve meat off the slow turning spit while knocking back beers. We'd sit and talk about everything and anything. Guy had been through hell back in Bosnia. But sitting there, eating BBQ and knocking back a beer he was just a good old boy.

Sandwich = bread just getting in the way of pork. Make mine a pile of pulled pork, covered in sweet sauce. Screw NC and their vinegar. Proper sides can be cole slaw and any of a number of forms of potato. Sweet tea required.

Yeah, I realize saying you live somewheres that is HEAVILY associated with something, but have never tried that something sounds bad. However, I'm not a big fan of pork.

That said, my sandwich was of CHOPPED pork, and I had the choice of a "sweet BBQ sauce", or a "South Carolina BBQ sauce". I went for the sweet, because until today I had never heard of a South Carolina sauce as being noteworthy. Also, the sandwich was "to go" so while I don't know if that was the reason, or if the guy was stingy with his sauces, the sandwich was "okay" not overly "wet" and not parches your mouth dry. I realized after ordering that I should have gone for more than the sandwich. For another $2.00 I would have gotten a drink, cole slaw, beans, and maybe chips. Just the drink would have been a deal, but the sandwich wasn't "chokes you" dry, so it wasn't terribly missed. Ribs were also on the menu at this (little) hole in the wall sidewalk stand.

I'm thinking I'll go back, and try the South Carolina variety of sauce, and maybe add the cole slaw to part of the sandwich to see if that helps or detracts from the sauce's flavor.

At least the guy prepared the sandwich "to order" while I was there.

The swine is possibly the most delicious animal on the planet. It is full of bacon and ribs and tenderloins. When cooked in a hole in the ground, shredded and mixed with Sweet Baby Ray's and some spicy brown mustard served over a fresh sesame roll... it is even better.

any kind. sliced, pulled, shredded, wet, little sauce, no sauce. i live for smoked pork sandwiches and the only one i did not like was too heavy on the liquid smoke

Man, you guys are going to make me take a Pig & Chick run for lunch today.

The best BBQ restaurants are usually small hole-in-the-wall places. If the building is big and fancy (ie$$$) , drive on.

spitfirebill wrote: The best BBQ restaurants are usually small hole-in-the-wall places. If the building is big and fancy (ie$$$) , drive on.

I would add that they should have a tumbledown looking smoke shack behind the main building.

spitfirebill wrote: The best BBQ restaurants are usually small hole-in-the-wall places. If the building is big and fancy (ie$$$) , drive on.

My favorite BBQ joints look like abandoned buildings. The scarier the place, the better the BBQ. Ideally there should be some guy behind the counter who could pass as the local Hell's Angels chapter president.

My favorite place in Mableton is (was?) Old Hickory. I went in one night to grab takeout dinner with my Dad. The biker behind the counter took our orders. He then proceeded to walk back to the smoker and remove the smoldering meat with his BARE HANDS. He then used a machete to make our chopped pork, cramming it into a styrofoam container. The next part got me though. He grabbed up a few potatoes and rammed them through an old school fry cutter directly into the fryer. A few minutes later he took out the fries with a scoop, dumped them on the counter, salted them, and then picked them all up with his BARE HANDS to put in the container. When he handed us the food it was all still piping hot (I couldn't even eat a fry because they were still so hot). The guy must have had asbestos lined hands.