Snooty Barbecue

 

Elaine Viets

Just holding an Economist magazine makes me feel smarter. Inside, along with serious articles about finance, I found a juicy tidbit about my hometown of St. Louis, tucked into a story called "Fire in the Hole":

The snoot sandwich is St. Louis’ contribution to barbecue.

Danny Meyer, the chef who runs Blue Smoke barbecue restaurant in Manhattan, said that.

Mr. Meyer is a St. Louis native, so he may be biased.

If most barbecue lovers knew mac and cheese cost $7.95 in Manhattan, they’d think I was blowing smoke – and not Blue Smoke, either.

As a St. Louis native, I was proud to see our pig parts get international recognition. Our city not only has pig snoots, we serve pig ear sandwiches. I had Josie eat a pig ear sandwich from the fabled C&K Barbecue Restaurant in North St. Louis County in my new mystery shopper mystery, "Death on a Platter." C&K attracts savvy locals as well as visiting celebrities. You can savor the experience second-hand in this scene:

Josie stared at the massive pig ear sandwich in front of her, a mound of food nearly five inches high. She was grateful the pig ear did not look like it had once been part of a porker – it was simply a deep-fat fried hunk of something.

But what? Were pig ears like rubber? Gristle? They sure didn’t look meaty.

Focus on the potato salad, she told herself. And the barbecue sauce. The red sauce smells delicious. The bread is plain old white. I like both of those. If I close my eyes, I can do this. Josie wished she could enjoy their picnic at Deer Creek Park. The sky was a blue china bowl and the trees were blazing with fiery color. But Josie didn’t notice the fall beauty. She didn’t even see Ted, who looked absurdly handsome with his square jaw and broad chest.

All she saw was that pig ear sandwich. It seemed to get bigger by the second, throbbing, morphing into a red-spattered monster. Josie had to eat it. She had a duty as a mystery shopper. Maybe she should just take Ted’s word that the sandwich was good. No, Josie wouldn’t chicken out. She would pork out or else. She lived by her code, and her code said she had to taste the sandwich. One small bite for the honor of St. Louis.

"What’s the matter?" Ted asked. They sat side by side at the picnic table. Ted was ready for his snoot.

"I’m trying to get up the nerve to eat a pig ear," Josie said.

"Just take a bite. You’ll love it. I promise. Doesn’t that barbecue sauce make your mouth water?"

"Yes."

"And the potato salad is amazing. Here, try that. We’ll approach the wild sandwich one step at a time." He scooped some potato salad with a plastic fork.

Josie allowed herself to be fed like a toddler. "That is good," she said. "I’m trying to get up the nerve to bite a pig ear."

"Please don’t keep me waiting. I want my snoot. We’ll dig in on a count of three. Come on. One."

Josie picked up the huge sandwich with both hands. Bright sauce dripped on the newspapers she and Ted had spread on the table. A clump of potato salad plopped out on her paper plate.

"Two," Ted said. "Three!"

Josie bit. Yum! She took another bite. It was even better. By the third bite, she was painted with barbecue sauce and splashed with potato salad, but she didn’t care.

"Fabulous," she said. "You were right. I thought a pig ear would taste rubbery, but it’s crunchy. Kind of like those pork rind snacks, only better."

"I told you." Ted chomped his sandwich with a resounding crunch. "Wanna try some of my snoot?"

"No, thanks," Josie said. "But you have barbecue sauce on your snoot."

"Before I finish, I’ll be basted in barbecue sauce," Ted said. "That’s why I wore this red shirt."

"Plaid shirts are chic," Josie said.

"So is barbecue," Ted said. "New York is finally discovering the joys of this American art form. Barbecue experts say the snoot sandwich is St. Louis’s contribution to barbecue."

"I thought it was our sweet spicy sauce," Josie said, licking her fingers.

"That actually comes here by way of Kansas City," Ted said. "Sweet tomato barbecue sauce is served throughout most of the Midwest. Barbecue is different in other parts of the country. North Carolina ’cue is mostly pork. They wait and add the sauce when they sit down to eat. They may use a vinegar sauce with pepper flakes. Or it might have some tomato. Some eat the barbecue plain.

"Memphis likes its barbecue with a rub of spices but no sauce. Texas goes for thick spicy tomato sauce and beef brisket. That’s cattle country."

"And this is based on your hands-on knowledge," Josie said.

Ted chewed thoughtfully, then said, "Some. The rest comes from The Economist. It’s important to have an intellectual foundation for personal experience. I’m prejudiced, but I like St. Louis barbecue best. We’ve been undiscovered and unappreciated for decades. You’d think there would be a shortage of food this good. Pigs only have two ears."

"Do you really think anyone in a rich neighborhood is going to demand pig ear sandwiches?" Josie asked.

"Why not?" Ted said. "Too snooty?"

Josie groaned. "I can’t see McDonald’s serving a McSnoot."

So what’s your favorite ’cue: beef, pork, chicken? Which state has the best barbecue? And have you ever eaten a pig snoot?

 

Comments

[gaylin in Vancouver]

I can honestly say I have never eaten snoot . . .

We have a BBQ restaurant in Vancouver called Memphis Blues, I would guess that this is Memphis style bbq. I quite like it and usually have a hard time deciding between ribs (pork) and beef brisket.

I was there one day when they had suckling pig, oh yum!

I have eaten at a friends family place and had roasted pig on a spit in the back yard, that was pretty darn wonderful as well.

[Alan P.]

In St. Louis I like C&K and there was a place on Kingshighway and St. Louis Ave., but they closed. I like Bandana's as well. Bandana's does have an advantage of being in better neighborhoods, but good ribs are worth the risk.

It is hard to go wrong with BBQ in Kansas City. I am a traditionalist, Arthur Bryant's or Gates. One day my father had a one day meeting in Kansas City. He brought a cooler with him and picked up Arthur Bryant's on his way out of town. It was still warm when he dropped off some for me. I was at work. My boss thought driving 300 miles for ribs was excessive. I gave him one. He asked for the address.

We traveled to Tennessee one year. I tried Memphis BBQ. Most St. Louis school cafeteria's serve better pulled pork. Do have to give them credit on the hype machine.

I just finished Death on a Platter. Two sauce covered thumbs up.

[William]

I've never had a snoot or ear sandwich, but the BEST BBQ in the world can be found here in Texas; BBQ is some serious bidness down here. Although, there was a gas station plaza on I-10 in Louisiana that came in a *very* close second. Like pizza, there's no such thing as bad BBQ, but every sauce is different.

One day, I want to try St. Louis BBQ. For comparison purposes, y'all understand..:)

[Margaret Maron]

Here in NC, barbecue can be a fighting word between eastern and western varieties. Here in the east, it's hickory smoked, pulled or chopped pork basted with a vinegar and red pepper sauce with Texas Pete added at the table. In the western part of the state, it's a tomato based sauce. Each has its fervent defenders. I myself think it's a heresy to put tomato sauce on barbecue.

[Kathy Sweeney]

Carolina BBQ - pulled pork is the best.

Snoots? Ears? Not unless I had no clue what I was eating!

[Karen in OH]

We have Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati. Fabulous. They do pork and chicken, mostly. I prefer the pork.

Many celebrities have tried it and liked it well enough to have it shipped to them in large quantities. Bob Hope was an especially big fan.

Pig snoot? I might try it, but the pig ear, bbq sauce, white bread, and potato salad! combo sounds like a heart attack on a plate. Whoa.

Written on my Nook Color.

[Deb]

I haven't had BBQ very often, but I've enjoyed every mouthful as well as anything I could lick off my fingers. Last spring I went to my nephew's wedding in western NC. The bride spent the first part of her childhood in TX until her family moved to NC. The reception was an outdoor barbecue, with about five different kinds of BBQ sauce available. I remember that there was a taste of TX, as well as NC. I tried a couple different ones; sorry I can't remember exactly what I had but I LOVED both of them!! One had whiskey -- mmmm, so good! and oh, gosh, I can't remember what the other one was but I know I enjoyed it. And the side dishes - oh, so yummy; new to me, but I'm willing to try almost anything.

To my knowledge, I have never had pig ear or snoot, but maybe I did somewhere along the lines of my life, but nobody told me. As I said, there's not much that I'll refuse to eat. Around thirty years ago, I went to a party at the home of someone who was originally from the Phillipines. I didn't recognize anything I ate but had to try really hard not to make a pig of myself (speaking of pigs, Elaine:-) The hostess wouldn't tell us what we were eating - she said we'd never again want to eat anything that she had prepared if we knew what she had served. Anyone here from the Phillipines who can suggest what we might have been eating that might not appeal to someone who didn't grow up with it? (I'd eat it again, whatever it was!)

[xena]

We got lechon asado here in Miami.
First you dig a hole. Soak a pig in mojo (garlic-citrus marinade) then start a fire under a grate and cook that sucker until it is really dead fall off the bone done.
Takes a day to do properly and about a case of Presidente beer.
People probably eat the snoot and the ears but I can only see the "chunks on a platter" part. It's like tripe. It grows on trees, right?
The pork rind part is most likely to be snacked on and from Josie's description reminds me of the chicharonnes.
I recommend a Corona, right out of the cooler, straight up, not shaken for this specialty.

[Pam aka SisterZip]

The Dixie Pig in Blythville, AR. Wonderfull!

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

I LOVE North Carolina vinegar barbeque! (With cole slaw.)

And my life is, and will remain, snout free. Snoot free. Whatever.

[Ginger Rush]

Grew up in Arkansas on Memphis-style, moved to Colorado and learned to love Texas-style and the chili-rubbed beef slow-cooked in a pit eaten as a combination of a taco and a bbq sandwich, now live in Raleigh, NC with friends from Shelby and Asheville. I like it all - Eastern, Western, Lexington, whatever. Cleveland does a twist on a sandwich they call a Polish Boy that has a Polish sausage boiled, slashes cut across it to let out the grease,quick-fried and then served on a bun with french fries, cole slaw and bbq sauce. If you get the Deluxe it has a 1/4 pound of pulled pork on it too. St. Louis style sauce. Went to St. Louis a few years ago, was there 4 days and ate at Bandanas at least 4 times, then brought sauce home. There's no such thing as bad barbeque! Friends make pig's feet and I've eaten them. I'd try the snoot, and the ear does sound like eating a chicharonne sandwich. Colorado has those too. NC has pork rinds, which is just fried skin but good!

[Diana in STL]

Like Kathy I would have to not know what I was eating to try the snouts and ears. I tend to prefer the sweeter sauces though not always. Lots of St. Louis BBQ cooks have Budweiser as an ingredient in their sauce with generous portions of Bud saved for the cooks.

I finished Death on a Platter the other night and can't wait for Helen in May and another Josie next November. Josie just keeps getting better and better. I'm surprised Josie didn't need to visit Crown Candy Kitchen for the chocolate portion of her tests though.

[Elaine Viets]

I've had North Carolina BBQ, Margaret, and it is fine indeed. I'm thinking a TLC BBQ tour -- Missouri, Arkansas, the Carolinas (for comparison, of course), Texas and more.

[Laura (in PA)]

Karen, I don't think anyone is claiming that BBQ is health food. ;)

I am not a connoisseur, but I'm definitely a fan. I prefer the pork.

Thanks for making me hungry, Elaine!

[Laura (in PA)]

We should do a blog on regional food sometime. This BBQ discussion reminds me of trying to get a good Philly Cheese-steak outside of Eastern PA, or decent chicken wings outside of NY State. ;)

[heather graham]

We have barbecue in Miami, but it's not our top type of food, though I'm not sure what is--except we probably do have the best Cuban food outside of Cuba, along with all kinds of South American and Central American and Island food.

A custom is to dig a hole and slow roast a whole pig for days.

It doesn't work for me. I don't like food to look at me. I can't eat it then. Not even fish, and I think that they are pretty darned cannibalistic!

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

ANNOUNCEMENT---The winner of Rochelle Staab's Who Do Voodoo (now a national best-seller!) is

Mary Lynn!

Hurray! Please send me your address via my website, and I will send you the book!

[Nancy Pickard]

Don't tell anybody in my native Kansas City, but North Carolina pulled pork bbq is my favorite. Hat tip to Margaret,the pork pusher.

Lately, I've noticed local menus are getting quite blunt: I recently had "Beef Cheek Ravioli." It was delicious, but it took me several visits to the same restaurant before I could bring myself to order it. And me the former wife of a cattleman!! I have eaten fried calf testicles, but couldn't bring myself to eat a steer's cheek?

[Elaine Viets]

Beef cheek is too much information for me, Nancy, though pork butt is pretty much to the point.
Alan, I agree the best BBQ restaurants tend to be in iffy neighborhoods. C&K is in a former gas station. The sauce is mouth-watering. Nothing like it here in Florida.
Heather, my Cuban hair dresser would agree with you about Cuban food. He has given me high-octane cafe Cubano and I've eaten ropa vieja (sp?) at the hole-in-the-wall cafe near his salon.

[Storyteller Mary]

I tried a bit of the ear (or was that snoot?) at Pudd'nhead -- but wouldn't seek it out. Pork steaks are better -- and if one could live on chocolate, I'd stick with the Kakao for life! I have eaten tongue, not bad, and escargot -- but after hosting Prince the Tree Frog for a winter, I doubt I'll ever have frog legs again. It would be like eating family . . .

[Mary Stella]

I used to order pig ears by the large box as a special chew treat for my dogs. I always laughed that the box said, "Not for human consumption" on the outside. Who the heck would eat pig ears? Just recently on the Next Iron Chef - Super Chefs each contestant had a whole piglet to butcher and use whichever cuts. They were serving up pig ears and pig cheeks as delicacies.

I think it's one of the odd quirks of humans - including myself in this - that we salivate over other body parts like ribs and rumps and loins, but get a little squeamish over snouts and ears.

Decades ago when visiting friends' cattle ranch in Colombia, my mother was served a beefy delicacy that she very much enjoyed. Dad didn't tell her until after that the delicacy was available because they'd castrated some bulls earlier.

I used to love messy, sauce-coated ribs. Now my barbecue preference runs to baby back ribs with a dry rub and a selection of sauces on the side so I can dip my ribs lightly. I've had a yummy honey-bourbon sauce and some terrific traditional molasses-tomato mixtures.

For pulled pork, the Carolina variety with the vinegar and spices bursts with flavor and makes my mouth so happy.

In terms of favorite food items from St. Louis -- friends introduced me to Bissinger's chocolate. Oh my sweet Jesus and chocolate loving soul, Bissinger's is pure magic. Just thinking about it now saddens me because I don't have any. *sniffle, gnashing teeth, choked back sob*

[[email protected]]

We're pretty bad at BBQ in coastal Massachusetts. We do make good fried clams though. And we do put BBQ sauce on our roast beef sandwiches. Does that count?

[Alan P.]

Until I tried Bandana's, I didn't think you could get good BBQ in good neighborhoods. One of dad's favorites was a church on Caroline and Cardinal on the near north side. Every weekend the church ladies would do awesome rib tips sandwiches. After about three years of every weekend the health department said they were a restaurant and either needed to close up or meet code. Bye, bye sweet old ladies and their backyard grills.

Several south side bars used to have pig roasts on Saturday. I would see them starting on Friday night.

How could I forget our nation of immigrants! Olive has several Hong Kong style BBQ shops. The whole chicken (feet and heads included) hanging on a hook is not for everybody, but the beef and pork is top notch!

Hong Kong BBQ is what got my dad in the immigration business. Trader Vic's wanted to bring a cook from Hong Kong to the US. He wanted an air conditioned kitchen (this was the '70's, nobody had A/C in the kitchen) and his smoker to BBQ. The smoker needed its own room and ventilation. He got it. That got dad into immigration. He helped bring dozens of Chinese chefs to the midwest. Want to impress a date? Chef's would come out of the kitchen to say hello to me and ask about dad.

[Elaine Viets]

Closing a church because it was running a restaurant? Let me guess, Alan, it was an African-American church. All the white Catholice churches in St. Louis have been running fish fries for decades.
No, Brunonia, BBQ sauce on roast beef sandwiches does not count. Real barbecue takes infinite amounts of patience and secret recipes.
Mary Stell, Bissingers ships during the winter. And think about Kakao chocolate -- their dark chocolate bark with freshly ground Goshen coffee is a religious experience.

[lil Gluckstern]

I haven't even had breakfast yet. I'm drooling,bbq, yes, fried calf testicles, not so much.

[Elaine Viets]

BBQ for breakfast is so much better than sugary cereals?

[William]

Elaine suggested a "TLC BBQ Tour".

Y'awl c'mon down to Texas... we'll show y'all how it's done!

[Harley]

I am so sorry to admit this publicly, but I can't even bring myself to buy pigs' ears for my dogs. My vegetarianism is growing, like a disease.

I shall therefor recuse myself from this discussion. I mean no disrespect to my carnivorous friends.

[Lisa Alber]

Oh, I'm a little squeamish about exotic animal parts. I love bar-b-que, but I'm a bore about it. No ears, no snouts...

The best bar-b-que on the planet is in Brazil. Beef, not pork. Churrasco, it's called, and it's delicious. Someone once told me that part of the secret is marinading the meat all night (or all day) in beer! And they cook it slow too.

[Doc In CA]

I have never met a style of barbecue I didn't like, and I've tried dozens. North Carolina? Love it! Texas? Hell yes! KC? St. Louis? Hawaiian? Cuban? Korean? Bring 'em on!

I will say that as far as sauces go, I like mine smokey and a bit spicey, but I won't kick the others outta bed.

I'm not a fan of chicken and despite loving me some beef, I've gotta say that the noble pig is my favorite animal to barbecue or just plain eat. I think the pig should be our national symbol. All of those tasty parts coming together in one unified whole creature.

By the way, did you know that pigs are way smart? how smart? Well, the average pig is smarter than the most intelligent dog in all problem solving tests. The smartest pigs are smarter than the average chimpanzee in those same tests.

If pigs had opposable thumbs, they might be chatting about those delicious human ear sandwiches.

[Doc In CA]

Harley, don't feel bad about not feeding your dogs pig ears. Most of them come from China, which is famed for not giving a fuck about using poisons in animal (and human) food. I don't buy any pet products that come from China.

Also, pig ears are fattening, which is why Lucy & Winker, my two Canine American Princesses, get thick slices of raw sweet potato as treats.

[gaylin in Vancouver]

Sigh, I can't eat the vinegar style bbq sauce, makes my tongue blister . . .

I used to be able to get bbq duck at a Chinese grocery near my place. It was marvelous, the building got torn down for condos. Such is life in Vancouver.

[Elaine Viets]

Harley, don't feel bad about being a vegetarian. You are more highly evolved than I am -- I love animals, but still like to eat meat.
Alan, how could I neglect Chinese BBQ? Think global. Think global.

[Reine]

What Margaret said!

And there's a place in Brookline, Mass that has really good dry rub beef ribs that I love.

There was a place I went to in Dallas . . . Colton's(?) . . . that had the best smoked brisket I've ever had. Actually that was the first time I'd ever heard of smoked brisket, and I went on a great cross-country search for more like it. Never did find!

[Elaine Viets]

William, we may have to start TLC's BBQ tour in Texas at Colton's in Dallas. It's dinnertime, folks -- and after reading your descriptions of BBQ, I'm starved.

[Storyteller Mary]

Harley, if I had to choose between giving up meat and giving up chocolate, I'd keep the chocolate. I am amazed to learn that dogs like sweet potatoes . . . as do I!

[Elaine Viets]

Me, too. Doc, you always have the most amazing information.

[Mary Stella]

Harley, I love every vegetarian cell of you, my friend.

I don't feed pigs ears often to Nat & Pyxi because of the fat content but just like I enjoy (Harley, close your eyes) really crisp bacon from time to time, I figure once in awhile is a nice treat for carnivorous Cocker Spaniels.

I wish they'd eat sweet potatoes and carrots, but so far, no go.

Storyteller Mary, I love meat, but I'm with you. I'd give up filet mignon before chocolate.

[Elaine Viets]

I'm still trying to picture carnivorous cocker spaniels.

[Margaret Maron]

For what it's worth, buzzards prefer herbivores to carnivores if they have a choice.

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