Previous entry:
A Little Architecture About Town
Next Entry:
We're Not Kidding About Goatburgers
Home:
One Truth For All
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
Archives
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 1969
July 31, 2008
Overrated
In the couple of years since I started eating meat, I've come to realize that I just don't care much for it. Oh, there's bacon, but I don't eat that every day (and wouldn't want to). But the biggest disappointment has to be barbeque.
I swear that on a regular basis, maybe once a month or so, for all the years I've been in California, somebody has told me that they would not be able to be a vegetarian because they would have to give up barbeque. Now, given that I couldn't be a vegan because I would have had to give up brownies and butter-fried eggs, I expected barbeque would be something special.
It turns out that barbeque is meat with sugar syrup basted on it.
I'm sorry, but that is gross. I've had grilled meat, which is just fine, nice stuff, a great way to eat meat. But slather on a mixture of sugar and a few spices, and you've taken what could have been a great piece of meat if it had been minimally processed and turned it into an attempt at dessert.
The biggest disappointment is the local barbeque restaurants, touted to me as a great place for really good food. Not only is everything slathered in a fairly unappealing sugar sauce, but for the most part, the quality of cooking on the side dishes leaves a great deal to be desired. I'd order the vegetarian option but there usually isn't one, or if there is it manages to combine the worst of both worlds, slathering a piece of tofu with sugar sauce. And since tofu has no inherent fattiness or saltiness to balance the sugar, it ends up even more sweet.
The question I have is this: why can't you just cook the meat as meat? What's wrong with the taste of ribs that you have to make them so sweet? I can understand marinating a piece of meat before cooking to tenderize it, but does it need to be sugared to be edible? I've eaten ribs cooked straight up on a grill, and they seemed really good -- the meat had decent flavour, and they were cooked just enough to bring out the juices, so you got the flavour of the meat in every bite. It was delicious. Then I have barbeque, and I can hardly tell what sort of animal I am eating for the over-seasoning. What is wrong with meat-eaters?
Next week on the grumpy diner, corn bread: would it kill you to make it fresh every day?
Posted by ayse on 07/31/08 at 11:20 AM
Your kink is okay, etc., though I have to agree that often barbeque is over-sauced and over-seasoned. Also agreed that the pleasures of simply cooked food continue to be underrated.
It's been a long time since I went to Flint's, if indeed Flint's is still around. Is that one of the barbeque restaurants to which you refer? Their sauce always seemed more smoky and tangy than sweet.
It's mostly Everett and Jones that gets to me. Lots of sugar in their sauce, and they just pour it on in bucketloads. I wouldn't mind if it were just a thin film, but sugar stew with meat in it doesn't work for me.