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Photo by Sarah Jane Sanders
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Photo by Sarah Jane Sanders
Barbecue lingo dissected, excerpted from “The Kentucky Barbecue Book” by Wes Berry
Baby back ribs: Small meaty ribs cut from the blade and center section of a hog’s loin, called “baby” because they come from smaller (and usually younger) hogs. Larger loin back ribs are often called “baby backs” on restaurant menus.
Bark: The darkened exterior of smoked meats, favored by lovers of smoke and big flavors. Because of greater exposure to heat, bark is drier than the interior meat.
Beef brisket: A cut from the foreshank (breast or lower chest) of a beef cow, notoriously tough until tenderized by low and slow cooking. The “flat” cut is leaner than the “point” or “deckle.” The tastiest cut is the full brisket, which has plenty of fat layered in.
Chip or chipped: A style of barbecue preparation popular in Union County and Henderson County, where heavily smoked exterior pieces of pork shoulders, hams, and mutton quarters are chopped and mixed with a thin, tangy dip sauce, a bold flavor creation that’s salty and good as a sandwich.
City ham: Hams partially cured in sweet brine before being lightly smoked and cooked. Many western Kentucky barbecue joints smoke city hams and precooked turkey breasts to imbue them with a deeper smoked flavor.
Masonry pits: Pits built out of cinderblocks and mortar, stacked a few blocks high and covered with flame-proof material like roofing metal. Meats cook on wire grates inside the pits. Once the blocks get hot, they hold heat well. Besides the oldest barbecuing methods, like digging a hole in the earth, masonry pits are the most traditional BBQ pits in Kentucky, favored by many pitmasters in the western part of the state.
Mutton: Mature sheep, either female or castrated males. Mutton is Kentucky’s claim to barbecue fame, although only about 10 percent of the barbecue places in the state serve it.
Naked: Refers to pure meat served without the application of sauces.
Pork shoulder: The cut of a pig or hog that includes the front leg and the area above it. Shoulders are often butchered as “Boston butt” – the meaty upper portion – and as “picnic” or “picnic shoulder,” the upper part of the hog’s foreleg.
Rick: A measurement of firewood stacked four feet tall by eight feet long. Kentuckians use the term loosely to name a goodly sized stack of wood; we aren’t too particular about the precision of the measurements unless we’re paying for it.
Smoke ring: The pinkish hue imparted to smoked meats (a very good thing).
Spare ribs: The whole rib, including the bony end piece, cut from the belly side of the rib cage. They are flatter than baby back ribs and have more bone than meat. They also have more fat (and flavor).
Texas crutch: A derogatory term to describe the wrapping of meats in foil to steam and tenderize them.