Today I finally made the connection: I met Ed Mitchell and ate his BBQ at the Southern Foodways Alliance meeting last October. I already knew of the famous encounter with Yourpalwill, I simply didn’t put it altogether. Now I realize I brushed
greatness twice and remained blissfully ignorant.
The very first evening I arrived there was an outdoor BBQ in a former (electric) powerhouse now museum in Oxford, Mississippi. Walked into the parking lot to see a large tractor-trailer with a number of smokers set up along the length of it.
This is the morning after, which gives an idea of scale:
I arrived to find most of the participants milling around drinking cocktails and catching up. By the smokers where the pit masters were working busily was hardly a soul, so I walked to the pits to watch them work and chatted whenever they had a free moment. They gave me a sample of the pulled pork, which was absent a smoke ring. The next day I was on the phone with Gary learning the absence of a smoke ring, which is temperature dependent, does not mean it wasn’t properly prepared.
Prior to serving dinner, we were obliged to participate in a pork tasting survey. To fulfill this survey, we were given red, white and blue evaluation sheets, which matched the red, white and blue plates of pulled pork. Each plated sample differed in how the pig was fed primarily during its’ lifetime: 1) Pig taken from a feed lot diet unknown; 2) Pig fed barley/soy and 3) Pig fed barley/corn. I was very interested in whether I would be able to tell the difference. Juggling papers, pulled pork and my purse, I found a place to perch. My first bite concluded the survey very fast: the pork had been dressed in vinegar, which really took away subtle variations we were expected to observe. What really differed from portion to portion was the quantity of vinegar the pit master had used. We were also supposed to evaluate color, which again was impossible due to the party lit mostly by less than full spectrum street lights. The only thing I could potentially respond to was texture, but even that is challenging because much depends on how long it was cooked.
Pulled Pork
Survey aside, I really enjoyed my dinner prepared by the Mitchell BBQ crew. I took a few ribs though I really concentrated on the pulled pork. They had really wonderful sides.
Creamed spinach on the left and lima beans with fat back.
The creamed spinach possessed a spicy kick, which I never encountered before. The lima beans were their lovely mushy selves with a touch of fatty goodness.
Mashed sweet potatoes topped with praline layer then covered with mini marshmellows.
I treated my second portion of sweet potatoes as part of my dessert along with an excellent bread pudding.
Certainly there was more food at this dinner, these dishes were the highlights.
Regards,