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Product Review: The White Sauce

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Monk: Earlier this year, Anna from The White Sauce out of Flintstone, GA (right across the state line from Chattanooga) reached out to me about her family’s White Sauce that was created in 1978 but had just recently begun to be bottled. While I’m not normally a white sauce kind of guy (though I have dabbled in making my own), I figured something that’s stuck around for over 40 years is worth trying.

For a white sauce, chicken wings made the most sense and I just happened to buy a 2.5 lb bag of frozen chicken wings at the beginning of the “shelter at home” order here in NC. I was inspired by Sweet Lew’s in Charlotte, whose smoked chicken wings I’ve tried before are also finished with an Alabama white sauce (though that doesn’t appear to be on the normal menu, just a smoked half chicken). I sprinkled the wings with Matt’s Rub from Midwood Smokehouse and put them on the grill. Once they were nearly done, I tossed the wings in The White Sauce and finished them back on the grill.

The wings came out fantastic. The tangy white sauce was not overly sweet and perfectly counteracted the slight heat of the Matt’s Rub. It also provided a nice change of pace from a sweeter, ketchup-based sauce like Sweet Baby Ray’s or Stubb’s that I tend to use for grilling chicken. I’ve since used it on grilling bone-in chicken breasts and it only cemented how much I enjoy the sauce.

The White Sauce boasts that you can use it on “salads, dips, veggies, potatoes and more” and while I haven’t done that quite yet, I will definitely be using it on wings again. And perhaps eventually on some actual smoked chicken.

Link to The White Sauce website

Description:

Alabama is famous for its “White Sauce”. The traditional white sauce from Alabama is horseradish based and pretty tart, but our white sauce is the perfect blend of creamy and sweet. The White Sauce was first created back in 1978 by our mom as a sauce to put on smoked chicken but over the years it has been used to compliment not just meats, but also salads, dips, veggies, potatoes, and much much more! 

Our dad was a baseball coach in Chattanooga, TN, where the baseball team was responsible for running the concession stand at all home basketball games. Basketball games became synonymous with “Coach’s” smoked turkey sandwiches and white sauce. Even fans from visiting teams would come to games asking if we had the white sauce. We have never seen anyone try it and not like it! No lie!​​

We have sold The White Sauce out of our family’s restaurant in Chattanooga for years, but had not bottled it…until now! The White Sauce is now available for you to purchase and enjoy in your own home!! So order some today!

Friday Find: “The 84 Year Old BBQ Legend of Texas – A Frank Experience”

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Host (and from the looks of in, relative newcomer to barbecue) Frank Pinello spends a Friday night at Snow’s BBQ with the legendary Miss Tootsie, pitmaster Clay Cowgill, and owner Kerry Bexley. From basting pork steaks, chicken, and ribs to picking out the done briskets to taking orders in line, he tries just about every task at Snow’s, even if very briefly. He even gets scolded by Miss Tootsie for slamming the smoker door too heavily.

Description: Frank Pinello is back in Texas with another episode of A Frank Experience. This time, he’s in Lexington, TX and is learning what it takes to make world-class barbecue for the masses at the legendary Snow’s BBQ.

Famous for their dry rub and onion-based mop, Snow’s specializes in barbecue brisket, but also makes world-famous ribs, jalapeño cheddar sausage links, chicken and pork steak. Frank works the pit all night, trying to keep up with 84 year-old pit master Tootsie Tomanetz, who’s been making barbecued meats for the people of Lexington for over 50 years. After mopping the meat, Frank tries his hand working the counter (and an electric carving knife) with the Snow’s staff to serve the lengthy line of customers who start queuing up at 8am for proper Texas BBQ.

Hubba Hubba Smokehouse – Flat Rock, NC

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Name: Hubba Hubba Smokehouse
Location: 2724 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock, NC 28731
Order: Indecision Plate (pulled pork, sliced brisket, pulled chicken) with vinegar slaw and tangy baked beans; half rack ribs plus burnt ends special and apple crisp (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Hubba Hubba Smokehouse is a wood-smoking hidden gem barbecue restaurant in western NC that has been around for well over a decade. It is open from March to October and appears to do steady business from tourists coming through Flat Rock (home to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site), particularly during apple picking season after families have finished up at one of the many orchards in the Hendersonville area.

Pitmaster Spencer Purcell is a Chicago transplant who has the enormous responsible of smoking all of the meat served at Hubba Hubba on a huge brick masonry pit (not too dissimilar from something you might find in Lexington, NC) originally built by owner Star Teel about 15 years ago. Spencer has been at Hubba Hubba for a little over a year after getting a call from Teel, who took him under his wing. While he had spent some time in school working for a barbecue joint up in Chicago, it wasn’t until Hubba Hubba Smokehouse that Spencer began to take barbecue seriously as a craft. He toured barbecue restaurants in North Carolina and Chicago last off season and even spent a week training at the famed Southern Soul Barbecue in Saint Simon’s Island, GA to continue to learn and hone his craft.

At Hubba Hubba, Spencer learned from the classically trained Teel not only the smoking of the meats but also the science and art of fire control. He smokes with all native hardwoods in the form of hickory and both red and white oak. And he churns out some damn fine barbecue

The burnt ends were on special the Saturday I was there and was my favorite of all the meats I tried. I was fortunate enough to get them pretty fresh off the smoker but I liked that they weren’t overly sauced like Kansas City-style burnt ends tend to be. The meaty ribs sprinkled with a savory/sweet finishing dust were a close second. Turns out both of these are Spencer’s favorites at the restaurant, and for good reason.

The “Indecision Plate” is their sampler of pulled pork, sliced brisket, and pulled chicken. The meats aren’t pre-sauced, which I appreciate, and a sauce station more than has you covered with a variety of traditional and non-traditional barbecue sauces. The pulled pork was decently smokey and moist but still benefited from the tang of the eastern NC vinegar sauce. The brisket wouldn’t be considered a central Texas brisket but still had a nice if not overly peppery bark. The pulled chicken was a tad on the dry side and lacking discernible smoke on that day, but I am not normally a huge fan of smoked chicken anyways.

I enjoyed my sides of vinegar slaw and tangy baked beans, but I especially enjoyed the sweet cornbread that come with every plate. The warm small apple crisp dessert was a nice way to finish the meal.

If you are reading this before October 26th, 2019 and are near anywhere near Asheville or Hendersonville in NC or Greenville, SC, do yourself a favor and head to Hubba Hubba Smokehouse before they close for the season until March. This year, they are closing a little earlier than normal for owner Starr Teel to open a small plate/barbecue spot down the street called Campfire. That restaurant has apparently even built a small brick pit and will be utilizing a Santa Maria-style grill from J&R Manufacturing (the folks behind Oyler) at that establishment, which definitely sounds worthy of a visit once they open in the December time frame.

For a wood-smoked barbecue joint in a very scenic part of North Carolina, more people should know about Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, and not just as a lunch stop after apple picking at one of the many nearby apple orchards. Head there to check out the old style brick masonry pit and the cool courtyard which sometimes have chickens roaming free (thankfully not the case on this day for the sake of Mrs. Monk), but mainly to check out the impressive array of smoked meats from Spencer Purcell.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Brisket – 3.5 hogs
Ribs – 4.5 hogs
Burnt Ends – 4 hogs
Chicken – 3 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

Hubba Hubba Smokehouse Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

On Chicken Bog

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Chicken Bog at Buxton Hall Barbecue in Asheville

Monk: Chicken Bog is a South Carolina Pee Dee regional dish with Gullah 
Geechee roots that’s at least 300 years old but if you were to ask someone outside of that small region, chances are they have never heard of it. Per DiscoverSC.com, it’s most popular in the stretch of SC between Horry County (think Myrtle Beach) to Florence in the eastern part of the state. Loris, SC (30 miles inland from Myrtle Beach towards the NC border) has been home to the Loris Bog-Off Festival since 1979. Personally, it wasn’t until a little over 2 years ago that I first encountered and tried it at Buxton Hall Barbecue (in the mountains of NC no less). Though if you know Buxton Hall, that’s not so far-fetched because pitmaster Elliott Moss is originally from Florence and has brought his family’s recipe for the dish to western NC.

I liken chicken bog to a SC version of jambalaya. It’s base ingredients are rice, chicken, and sausage and from there its anyone’s call. In that way, its a bit like Brunswick stew where everyone has their own version – some have various veggies while others are pretty simple with just the main ingredients and everyone’s spice mix is a well-kept secret. The version I made with my neighbor for an oyster roast this past weekend was on the simpler end of the spectrum. My neighbors have been having oyster roasts for a while now and initially would cook a chili to accompany the steamed oysters. A few years back, they made the switch to chicken bog and it was such a fan favorite that they haven’t done chili since.

I don’t have the recipe but the version we made was pretty simple (check the Discover SC page above for a more exact recipe). In two large pots, we placed 3 whole chickens, chopped smoked sausage, and spices into water and brought to a boil which both cooked the chickens and also created the stock we would later cook the rice in.

Then, the chickens were taken out of the stock and pulled into coarse chunks and set aside. Combining the stock into one pot, the rice was boiled and once cooked we added the pulled chicken back in and stirred the entire pot up. Spoon that mixture into bowls, add some hot sauce if you prefer, and its done – simple as that. It was a huge hit, and its so easy that you should do it too at your next oyster or even pig roast.


For more on Chicken Bog:
A Taste of SC: Just What Is Chicken Bog?
Elliott Moss’ Chicken Bog recipe
“On South Carolina, Gullah Cuisine and the History of Chicken Bog” by RL Reeves Jr