7/31/04

South Carolinian barbecue

Schuler's in Latta, South Carolina, being on its northern edge, serves rather North-Carolina-like barbecue; you have to pour the mustard sauce on the side to give it the true SC tang.

It's very good pit-cooked 'cue (tho they do use commercially bought coal briquettes instead of starting from hardwood), coarsely chopped and juicy; the mustard sauce gave it that little extra something to make it stand out from its northern cousins.

It's served on buffet with excellent sides, from softly salted lima beans to fresh-baked buscuits, to robust turnip greens.

Not to mention tremendous ribs--crispy burnt ends that lead (as you chew along the bone) to meltingly soft smoky meat.

The desserts are glorious--peach cobblers where the crust is sweet and the peaches tart, blueberry cobblers where your teeth bite into crunchy buttery sugar, a red velvet cake with icing to die for,  and these crispy chocolate cookies with chunky chips and walnuts that I had to load into my pockets, just so I can taste em at home.

It's maybe not the best barbecue place I've been to (to date, that honor belongs to Allen & Son in Chapel Hills, and Wilbur's in Goldsboro), but it's easily the most beautiful, with picture windows in the back that open out to a meandering little stream with ducks and geese (tossed em some biscuits and the damned fowl almost attacked me).

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