Taste-testing Greenville barbecue ribs: City Juice with John Malik
“These chefs are idiots.” — Some guy on Reddit commenting on my column about taste-testing gas-station and grocery-store fried chicken.
When I get hate mail, I’ve done my job because I’ve told an unpopular truth. So, let’s do it again with a tasting of barbecue pork ribs courtesy of six of our city’s favorite spots: Henry’s Smokehouse, Moe’s Original BBQ, Home Team BBQ, Mike & Jeff’s BBQ, SBH BBQ and Lewis Barbecue.
For this tasting I invited Jason Janson of Broadwater Shrimp; Mike Okupinski of The Community Tap; Bunny Bishop, the Tap’s culinary director; competition barbecue champion Hudson Denney; Diego Campos, executive chef of Camp; and our city’s only James Beard winner, Rio Oshiro of Undercurrent Film Co. All were forewarned that some guy on Reddit may call them an idiot.
For this exercise, each of us supplied a rack of pork ribs from one restaurant, purchased at 11 am. We met at The Community Tap and the ribs were ordered without sauce, judged blind and kept warm in a 160-degree oven during judging. We scored each on aroma, smoke, texture, salt, fat and overall flavor.
Hudson reminded us that in a competition, meat that “falls off the bone” will get you disqualified. The meat should require a little tug — “al dente,” if you will — but not be squishy. Sadly, two of our competitors would have been disqualified because the meat was so soft. One of those squishy examples tasted like the ribs were thrown into an oven with no seasoning at all. Jason Janson observed those ribs tasted like something his mother would cook. “She’s a terrible cook, she would just throw them in the oven.”
Hudson opined: “Maybe they got them close to the spice container?”
Several of the ribs still had the peritoneum membrane attached, which gets tough when cooked and prevents smoke from entering the meat. Another of our town’s favorites tasted so odd, Rio thought it was rubbed with Vietnamese fish sauce. After three portions of ribs, Bunny offered: “I had no idea we set the bar so low for pork ribs.”
Then redemption. The ribs from Moe’s were gorgeous. Smoked, then sliced, then glazed, then back on the heat, with great texture and succulence. Sadly, they lacked complexity.
Mike asked: “Why are they afraid of the saltshaker?”
The ribs from Home Team? Diego observed “nice smoke, and a pop of sugar and spice but too soft and lacking salt.”
Finally, the ribs from Lewis offered a dark, sticky crust and a fair amount of spice. After one bite Rio announced “Winner!” Bunny wrote “Ugly on the outside, beautiful on the inside.” And Mike declared “These are perfect, amazing flavor, beautiful throughout.”
We scored Lewis first and by a wide margin, Moe’s second, and Home Team third. The other three were quite a ways off. If you’d care to send hate mail, my email address is below.
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The post Taste-testing Greenville barbecue ribs: City Juice with John Malik appeared first on discover, dine, delight.
The post Taste-testing Greenville barbecue ribs: City Juice with John Malik appeared first on discover, dine, delight.
The post Taste-testing Greenville barbecue ribs: City Juice with John Malik appeared first on discover, dine, delight.
The post Taste-testing Greenville barbecue ribs: City Juice with John Malik appeared first on discover, dine, delight.