Barbecue is good for us.

Long overdue now, but still, the winning sauce recipe from this year’s “The Other White Meat” Pig Roast and BBQ Sauce Contest Jamboree.

HOG’S BREATH TEX-MEX BARBECUE SAUCE

• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1 cup minced onion or 2 cups chunked onion
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 small can chipotle peppers
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup soy
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup malt or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbl Tequila

1. Heat oil in saucepan. Add pureed onion, squeezed garlic & cumin (or may substitute oregano) and sauté over medium heat for
   five minutes.
2. Put chipotle & ketchup in blender (or food processor) and puree. Empty into pan.
3. Rinse blender first with soy & Worcestershire sauce and empty into pan. Rinse again with vinegar and pour into pan.
4. Add brown sugar and tequila & simmer, stirring until slightly thickened, about ten minutes.
5. Season to taste.

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The Nutshell

How much does the flavor of airport food benefit from a clientèle of tired, hassled, and hungry travelers with rock bottom expectations, excited to eat anything that even vaguely reminds them of food that is genuinely good? Quite a bit, I’d guess, which makes it hard to tell right now whether or not I’m honestly happy having just eaten at Brookwood Farms Carolina Pit BBQ at the Charlotte Airport. I am indeed tired, hassled, and achey, but all things considered, I have to say I’ve had much worse BBQ at full fledged restaurants with no good excuse for serving such crap.

The Place

As airports go, Charlotte is better than average. At the hub of the several airport concourses is an enormous glass atrium lined with eateries on one side and white rocking chairs on the other. The airport also provides free wifi, which at least where I tend to fly is a relative rarity.

The Meat

I had a plate of chopped pork which was served fairly hot and garnished with a sauce that was like a hybrid between St. Louis and North Carolina sauces. It wasn’t much for spice, but it had a bit of the tang of a good vinegar based sauce, but the sweetness and texture of a heavier tomato and molasses sauce. The meat had clearly been sitting on a steam table for a while, so the texture had degraded to something closer to sloppy joe. But there was a good amount of mesquite (?) flavor in there, nice pink smokey bits, a few of the awesome crusty pieces from the outside of the pork butt to remind me that they’re not just serving stewed pork with liquid smoke mixed in. Next time I’m going to order a sandwich instead of the platter, though. This pork needs a bun.

The Sides

At least they give you a decently sized plate of food. My pork came with a side of mac & cheese – very standard, not much except pasta and velveeta – which benefited from a hefty dose of black pepper. I also got some corn off the cob, similarly standard. My pellet shaped hush puppies were extremely tough and dense, but had a hint of flavor, and looked much better than the dried up cornbread option. Soaking up the sauce improved them quite a bit. The big surprise of my meal, whether by accident or by design I’m not sure, was a deep fried dill pickle. Imagine my face biting in to what I thought was going to be another hush puppy. I almost spit it out before I realized what I was eating.

In the end, I’m happy and full, and thinking I could have made out much, much worse. I will certainly eat here again when I’m passing through the Charlotte Airport (it’s the US Airways hub on the East Coast). And though I could follow every statement in this review with ‘…for airport food’ I’d recommend giving it a try next time you’re on a layover.

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Here is the second-place winning BBQ sauce:

Ancho Sun-Dried Cherry BBQ Sauce

• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 yellow onion, small dice
• 2 garlic cloves (preferably roasted), minced finely
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 6 oz sun dried cherries
• 2 cups ancho chile puree
• a 14oz bottle of ketchup
• 1 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil

1. Combine vinegars, spices in a saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce by half. (about 10-15 minutes) Set aside.
2. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until lightly browned.
3. Add brown sugar and molasses to the pan, stir until well mixed/
4. Add reduced vinegar mixture, stir well, being sure to scrape the tasty browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Stir in cherries, chile puree, ketchup, and water. Simmer for about 20 minutes
6. Season with salt and pepper, puree with an immersion blender or by transferring to a stand blender in batches.
7. Heat peanut oil, almost smoking, in a saucepan, add pureed sauce and refry for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add a bit of water if the sauce gets too thick.

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