jr conlin's ink stained banana

i must be weird.

Tonight, Anne Marie and i went to Andy's Barbecue. Long hailed as "the best barbecue in the South Bay". i'm a good deal more depressed about finding good barbecue now.

Understand that i grew up on Carolina barbecue, which is mostly pork, and mostly consists of taking said pig and spit cooking it for anywhere from eight hours to several days. It's served with a vinegar sauce and slaw with peanuts.

Thing is, there's not a lot of fat.

i hate fat.

If you watch all the cooking shows or other foodie kinda things, they always go on and on about their love of "rich marbled meat". Sorry, no thanks. You can keep your super fatty Kobe, for me the best cuts are from an Angus flank, grilled, with a good char on the outside. Gimme thin cut, bone in pork chops seared on the stove, then finished in a 350° oven 'til they're the consistency of lean bacon. Extra points if you trim the outside fat off. Sausage just ain't right 'til it cracks and is crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside.

To me, fat waters down the taste of what you're eating. Get rid of the grease and you really taste the flavors and seasonings.

That's kinda why i wasn't that into Andy's. i ordered the brisket and got through maybe two slices of the small mountain of meat in front of me. The rest? Well, i'm thinking that if i fire up the grill and cook it at 300° for another 3 hours, it'll be worth dabbing with a bit of sauce, but for now? i think there was less fat in the golfball sized wad of butter they dumped on the baked potato.

Oh well, next time i want barbecue, i guess i'll have to do it myself.