BBQ From The Carolinas
By Mary Miller
Everyone loves barbecue! Despite its popularity, one question
remains: where does barbecue come from? Most Americans are not
aware of it, but there is a great deal of history behind the
barbecue sauces of the Carolinas. In fact, when the average
American talks about one of the four favorite types of barbecue
sauce (vinegar & pepper, mustard, light tomato, and heavy
tomato) he or she is referring to a sauce that comes from the
Carolinas. North Carolinians use three of these sauces, and
South Carolinians use all four.
The first, and simplest, of the sauces is vinegar and pepper.
All that this sauce is made of is vinegar that has had red
pepper flakes soaked in it. No one really knows where this
particular sauce came from, but thousands of people up and down
the Carolina coastline love it.
The second sauce is the mustard sauce. It is unique to South
Carolina and has come to be identified as the definitive
barbecue sauce of South Carolina. The credit for this sauce
goes to the German settlers who called South Carolina home in
the 18th century. Even today, this mustard sauce is associated
with family names like Bessinger, Shealy, Hite, Sweatman,
Sikes, Price, Lever, Meyer, Kiser, and Zeigler.
The light tomato sauce is a simple sauce made by adding vinegar
and pepper to ketchup. It was first prepared around the early
1900s, and quickly became a favorite with those who wanted a
bit of sweetness in their sauce.
The heavy tomato sauce is hardly a half a century old, but has
been embraced with gusto across the United States. It is
available in the supermarket under such brand names as Kraft
Foods and KC Masterpiece. Americans love this particular type
of sauce and slather it over all their barbecued foods.
Barbecue would not be the same without this delicious type of
sauce!
About The Author:
Mary Miller contributes to several online
magazines, especially nugot.com and lerse.com
