It's a barbecue flare-up!

Coke vs. Pepsi bubbles on. Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Domino's still fling sauce whenever they can.

[Professor Chaos]

99% of the BBQ sauces on the market are just like mixed ketchup and sugar.

Next time try Stubb's Mopping BBQ sauce. Best damned BBQ sauce you can buy. Vinegar based. We tried it once and now we're hooked.

[yum]

Vinegar based is the way to go. Love that little bite you get. I'll have to remember to pick up Stubb's and give it a try.

[Really]

Try making your own BBQ sauce:

Wisk-together 50% Beer + 50% Ketchup.

That's the "base". Add to it whatever you like, including vinegar, Worcestershire, hot peppers, honey, OJ concentrate,..... whatever.

No law says that BBQ sauce needs to be either vinegar or tomato-based. It can have both.

[Notorious Deuce Dropper]

As far as commercial brands, I've always thought "Bone Suckin Sauce" was the best. When I need a quick bbq at home and don't want to make one from scratch, I use Sweet Baby Ray's Honey bbq and mix in apple juice, that is wonderful for sweet bbq sauce.

[Grandmas]

Nope, the very best is the recipe off the jar of Grandma's molasses or go to the website.

[Homer]

Vinegar or Tomato based? It does not matter, just make sure it is on pork. Umm pork!

[Nash]

Maulls St Louis Style, yummmmm

[Really]

I never really heard about the vinegar vs tomato "controversy", only the debate over sauce vs no sauce at all.

When I eat-out at Grumpy's or Fat Daddy's, I skip the sauce altogether, and enjoy the hickory flavor. Nothing beats Fat Daddy's BBQ Beef Rib!

[ZuzusPetals]

So glad to see the Lehigh Valley get some holy evangelization to the gospel of flavorful food with some real taste and zing.

Food culture is so entwined with southern culture in a way people here just can't fathom. It is why southern food has such rich diversity and rich flavors---because of the rich diversity of those smoking, cooking, flavoring the foods, melded and refined over generations.

People in the south eat to enjoy, to savor, to share with friends, to raise a glass in a toast to good times. From my observation as a local newbie here, people here tend to rush in, stuff it in and leave. Then loudly grouse that the food didn't arrive to table fast enough (as they sit and nervously fiddle with their cutlery). They tend to get antsy too when eating at someone's home! Egad!

Why spend all day lovingly cooking for people when they don't taste, chew and enjoy? Food should be about more than keeping bodily functions regular or eating the same darned thing over and over and over just because you aren't willing to try something new because it might be "too spicy".

It all comes as a package deal with culture, community, friendships, trying new things as a form of openness, good manners (kissing the cook and not rudely complaining about Every. Darned. Thing.) and patience.

You can't have good 'Q without the cultures that birthed it. You can't have those cultures with out black people. Period. You don't have southern cuisine without soul food. End of discussion. All of the very best pitmasters of time have been black men. Anyone who has lived in the south knows this. And even the meanest, nastiest racist will still turn up at a great Cue joint to eat the food smoked by a black man. That just would not happen here.

Barbecue joints (and food venues in general) are one of the places where whites and blacks in the south come together and have for a long time. The love of decent 'cue is sacred--a shared tradition. Maybe the real subtext of this article shouldn't be read as a cute rivalry in the Tar Heels state but how they have grandly "moved on" socially past a painful and often brutal past--but have not sacrificed tradition, heritage and cultures of merit--such as food cultures.

Maybe the folks here in the Valley should embrace the foods/cultures of some of our newest ethnic residents more readily? Gee, who knows what y'all are missing? Good eats can change attitudes more than a bunch of talk. Maybe our local ethnic/racial balm CAN be painless and deliciously edible? Who knows? Maybe it will be so tasty y'all will be pleading for seconds?

[Jarhead84]

My personal favorite is a good thick red sauce. The best chain IMHO for Q is Famous Dave's. You can have your ribs wet or dry. Grumpy's and Conway's are OK. I'm just not a fan of their sauces. I was stationed in NC for about 9 years and tried a pulled pork sandwich. In Eastern NC they like to put coleslaw directly on the sandwich. Well this Northerner did not know the Piedmont style and since I don't like slaw in the first place it was not a good experience.

I am a fan of many styles of food. My personal favorite for store bought sauces is Tony Roma's. I blend the hickory and honey together for a nice smooth sauce. I don't truly Q at home. I'll boil my ribs in Yuengling and let them soak in the sauce overnight. When I cook them up the next night all I have to do is carmelize the sauce coating the ribs because the rib was cooked the night before. I know it's the northern way of getting it done now. But I take my time with some corn on the cob and cornbread maybe with a brew. Who knows when I retire I'll be able to perfect the slow cooking method. It's almost summer and time to enjoy food, friends and the weather.

[Pard]

Really wrote:

I never really heard about the vinegar vs tomato "controversy", only the debate over sauce vs no sauce at all.
When I eat-out at Grumpy's or Fat Daddy's, I skip the sauce altogether, and enjoy the hickory flavor. Nothing beats Fat Daddy's BBQ Beef Rib!

True the real divide the sauce or no sauce debate. Personally Memphis style of the dry rub prok is my favorite. Basically Pork beats beef and no sauce is best--its about the meat

[Pachacutec]

Geez, I've gained 50 lbs. just reading the article and these posts!(smile) I have to admit, I'm an afficiando of the vinegar based sauces myself, but I'll happily consume tomato-based BBQ, too! However, you gotta have good 'slaw to go w/ the BBQ and if you're eating the 'Q in a sandwich, that slaws' gotta be on top!

ZuZuPetals, you make some interesting points! I LOVE to try regional cooking when I travel and that is my biggest beef (pardon the pun) against the chain restaurants; they taste the same, no matter where you go, and they're killing off the regional foods. As my Moms' family was from the Lehigh Valley area, I know that they've got some good cookin' up there, as well; goodies such as shoofly pie, lettuce with bacon dressing, red beet eggs, chicken pot pie (not the stuff in a crust), I could go on. Don't see this stuff in restaurants much anymore, but yes, there's nothing like a long, leisurely meal with a lot of good talk, at the dinner table! Eat and run? Not in MY family! I agree 100 percent with your comment that people should embrace the foods/cultures of new ethnic residents; we have many ethnic markets and restaurants in my area, and I LOVE patronizing these places!(one added benefit - in many of the markets the produce and meat is a LOT cheaper than the supermarkets; and many times the quality is better)

[ZuzusPetals]

Pachacutec--Dude, you hit the nail on the head. It is ALL about REAL food. Amen and hallelujah! Doesn't much matter whose food. Just that it is real food. Like the distinction between real aged cheese and Cheeze Whiz. Which is why I was floored that the "famous" Philly cheese steak sandwiches everyone gaws about have Whiz as their "cheese" ingredient. C'mon....

But real and fresh foods---This is why we are in heaven here by buying from our local farmers markets and enthusiastically embracing local growers. Even if it sometimes does cost a bit more. What is better than talking with the guy who loves his product and can give you endless tips on prep and cooking???

Why more folks here in the valley are not incurable foodies blows my mind. This place easily grows such incredible varieties of foods. You have enormous choices here and don't have to rely on stuff from California. And if you take some time out to can/freeze foods in season, you can eat well all year long. We have made an effort to find locally owned restaurants and shops to patronize as well. Why more people don't do this is really a shame and a constant source of amazement. Why eat at Taco Bell when you can eat much better and practice your high school Spanish on the charming waiter at the place run by real Mexican immigrants? Si, senor. Muy Loco.

[slovak34]

Eastern NC BBQ is the way to go. I like to put a little hot sauce on it. Maybe mix in some slaw (which isn't mayo based like in the eastern PA).

[chef2646]

A good dry rub, sloooooooow roasted pork and a vinegar sauce is the way to go, at least for me.

[Maryland Native in the LV]

Hey, as long as it's in a sauce - either vinegar-based or tomato - it's all good! I also like the dry rub variety.

Growing up in the D.C. area, it was quite common to see trailers along the shoulders of the major arteries where I lived (such as MD routes 5, 210 and 4) bearing N.C. license plates...all of which billowed the most heavenly scented smoke of hot barbecue being prepared. Stopping at them from time-to-time was a summertime ritual for me. Plus, the plethora of family-owned "Q" restaurants was a definite to-do for my family. Some ribs or pulled pork...potato salad (with no mustard in it, thanks!), cole slaw and baked beans. MMMMM!! Only the homemade strawberry shortcake could out-do it!

The stuff The Ritz insists is barbecue is a travesty to the genre. IMHO, it's nothing more than wet, shredded turkey that, for some reason, people insist on covering with relish...! Ugh! And what's with "hamburger barbecue" around here? Isn't that just a sloppy joe?

For me, the best sauce is from Sticky Fingers. Yes, it's a chain; but it's Southern born-n-bred. The mustardy Carolina Style...smoky Memphis Original...or Tennessee Whiskey. Love 'em all.

I'm definitely glad to see some good Q joints popping-up in the valley. I always thought PA Dutch and Southern cooking could co-exist!:-)

[TRIPLE K]

I like a dry rub myself, smoked paprika, dark brown sugar, kosher salt, powered garlic and onion, and cummin... mix that together and put in on pork steaks, ribs and leave it on for 24 hours and a quick dousing just before you put it on the upper level of the outside barbe, or 250 in the oven for about 4 hours, good lord you will need a serta sleeper tied around your chin to catch the drooooool......

[TRIPLE K]

Did anybody ever go down Route 13 once you get outside of Salisbury MD toward Virginia, WOW, there are some roadside Barbeques that offer everything from Brisket to chicken to ribs, especially those little towns once in Virginia, there is this black family right near Cape Charles, VA, on the right side of Rt 13, I see them every year, they make theeeeeee best chicken and ribs I have ever eaten in my sad pathetic fat @$$ life of mine...I cant wait till August..A nice family as well and I love their homemade root beer...plus when you get to know them they have other liquid goodies as well....

[Pachacutec]

ZuzuPetals, I agree; I don't even eat the Taco Bell-style tacos, anymore. I like the slow-cooked beef (not ground beef) tacos w/ some spring onions on soft tortillas; you get the flavor of the meat, not the salty "taco mix" seasonings. My local Latin American market has the freshest veggies, yummy seafoods, and, as we're talking BBQ, some GREAT ribs! I live in a fairly urban area so there's not a lot of farmer's markets close by.(boo) When I can, I got to Eastern Market in DC; there's something kinda fun in shopping for tomatos and melons literally in the shadow of the US Capital building! "Maryland Native" as my father was from Georgia and my Mom was PA Dutch, southern cooking and PA Dutch cooking DID co-exist in my house! And my goodness, yes, I know what you mean about those BBQ trailers by the side of the road - I'd gain weight just driving by them!

[Fred Flinstone]

I tend to lean towards the tomato based sauces. I also like the vinegar as a change. When people in NC say slaw, think pickled cabbage. Some even insist that pickle juice is the only way to make slaw.

I prefer my ribs dry with sauce on the side.

For chicken I've become a total convert to white sauce.

Bottom line. It's all good. I admire anybody that takes time and pride in preparing good food.