BBQ on the Road: Columbia, SC

I have finally gotten around to posting on this blog. You've been staring at Adam's smoke-tinged handiwork for a while now but I have had nothing to offer. I too practice the judicious application of hardwood smoke to meat when I can. One of my favorite things to do when traveling this vast land is sampling the local styles and flavors of BBQ.

My family and I are big University of Kentucky Wildcat fans and we travel to other SEC schools to watch basketball and football games. The great thing about the SEC is that it is also barbecue county. Every town in the southeast has good barbecue joints (although Lexington only has a couple) and they are all a window into the local culture.

That is just about enough philosophical blustering about BBQ and travel. Let's move on.

In South Carolina, they do BBQ a little bit different. Oh sure, everyplace has a different sauce but South Carolina is really unique. First of all you have the sauce. Everybody uses tomatoes, vinegar, and stuff like that but South Carolina uses mustard as a base for BBQ sauce. For some this is a polarizing thing because people seem to love or hate mustard. The typical mustard sauce has a nice sweet taste balanced with the tang of the mustard and the seasonings. Of course, there are the usual hot, smokey and other variations as well. The sauce also gives everything a bright yellow hue that is kind of fun, too.

The sauce is just the beginning. Probably the most unique thing is the favorite side dish for South Carolina BBQ known as hash. Now when you and I hear the word hash we probably start thinking about a breakfast of corned beef, potatoes, eggs, etc. In South Carolina, they will be thinking about a pork-based gravy served over white rice. Remember that BBQ has its origins as food for poor people and poor people use every last bit of what they have. So instead of just using the cheap cuts of meat, the fine folks of South Carolina make use of the organs and such. I don't really know how they make it but what I can gather is they cook up some meat and organs until it is super tender, chop it up really fine and make a sauce out of it. It isn't so great to look at but it really has a great, rich flavor that goes well with barbecue. Aside from the mustard sauce and the hash, you will almost certainly be served hush puppies along with the usual slaw, green beans, etc.

On a recent trip to see UK play USC in Columbia, (Kentucky won, Go cats.) we stopped in at our usual place in Columbia: Maurice's Piggy Park BBQ. Maurice's is pretty well known in South Carolina and Maurice is pretty infamous. He ran for governor in the 70's and is well known for his defense of the confederate flag. The restaurant has been around for a long, long time and was once a classic drive in. The car hops and mics are gone but the canopies remain for parking.

I was searching Urbanspoon to maybe try a new joint in Columbia and I was struck by what I found out. Scanning the menus at many of these smokehouses revealed they actually served very little BBQ. Some served only pulled pork or maybe chicken and were focused on hot wings and other bar food. All that stuff is well and good but when I want BBQ, I want to go to a place that is all about the Q. There were some places that appealed to this urge but they were too out of the way.

Here is a run down of what's good at

Maurice's:

Pulled Pork: The pulled pork here is nice. The style seems to be to add a little sauce before serving which OK with me. They don't douse it and that bright yellow color just pops. The pork had a great smokey flavor, was tender and moist.

Ribs: I'm a sparerib guy through and through. I always eat a couple of Maurice's ribs and they are good but they aren't great. They are always "fall off the bone" which means they are overcooked. They add too much sauce before serving and it really overpowers the meat in this case. Baste it on when cooking and let me worry about the rest.

Beef?: There was some sort of mystery beef in gravy concoction on the buffet that I didn't really want to taste.

Hash: The hash is great. It is a rich dish that I could honestly make a meal of. I am guessing that folks probably did just that in days gone by.

Sides: I was very impressed with the homemade mac & cheese, and green beans. The hush puppies are perfectly fried, slightly sweet and almost as good as mine!

Proof they use it all: Homemade Pork Rinds. Never let it be said South Carolinians are wasteful. There was a big pile of golden fried pork rinds unadulterated by powdered seasonings that were crunchy, puffy and delicious.

Other Notes: This last trip I tried the buffet just because I hadn't before. I wasn't unhappy but it wasn't really a good value. I usually get the dinner plate with pulled pork and 2 bones of ribs. This is plenty of food and basically what I ate off the bar. If you want to sample a lot of stuff the buffet is OK but quality always suffers on the steam bar.

Do yourself a favor and get an order of those pork rinds, the Big Pig dinner plate and a sweet tea. (Warning: Tea is super sweet so you might want to dilute a little unsweet in it.)

Before you leave, be sure to check out some of the southern heritage literature and grab a bottle of sauce to go. Be warned, however, that too much hash and mustard barbecue sauce might cause you to look like this guy: