Road Trip by Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Anderle [Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642023152
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-05-29T22:00:00+00:00

James licked sauce off his fingers, his brow furrowed in concentration. He had just finished downing three pulled pork sandwiches. According to the waiter, they were supposed to be Piedmont style, which would make them a North Carolina style variant. The tang of the apple cider vinegar was there, along with notes of ketchup and a nice balanced heat from red pepper flakes. That didn’t bother him. He needed it. Expected it, really, given the style. In addition, salt and sugar were present.

The problem was what else was there. There was some other subtle flavor in the sauce, a faint aromatic note he couldn’t identify. It took him off-guard, and his quick devouring of the sandwiches was more his desperate attempt to identify the ingredient than hunger.

I don’t know what it is. That means it has to be something I’ve not had, or something I’ve had but haven’t identified. Some Oriceran spice, maybe? I don’t remember eating anything like this at any of Nadina’s other places.

While James didn’t object to Oriceran spices, he had no interest in using them himself, which meant his experience with them was limited. He’d faced off with a few other pitmasters using them, including Nadina, sometimes winning and sometimes losing. Those results suggested they had their value but weren’t inherently superior to Earth spices.

“How is everything?” a soft female voice asked from behind him. “I see you’ve tried ribs with several different sauces, several different types of sandwiches, and many different types of meats. Hmm. All live-sourced meat, though.”

“Some’s good,” James admitted without looking behind him. “Some of it is very good. The pork is great. Most of these sauces are great. Not gonna say she nailed the Tennessee, though. It’s maybe even a straight-up miss.”

“Oh?”

“The flavor was a little weak, but the standard Texas and Kansas City are great. Beef and chicken are decent, but not at the level of her pork work. Not gonna say I love all these other weird-ass meats, but the KC-style emu was tastier than I thought. I’m not going to add it to my menu anytime soon, though.” He grunted. “I ended up deciding to give the synthetic meat a try, but it’s always the same.”

“The same?” the woman asked, sounding amused.

“I know they say you’re not supposed to be able to tell the difference.” James shook his head. “But I can always tell. I guarantee, if you put a blindfold on me, I could tell.”

“Interesting. Have you tried any of the vegetarian options?”

“Hell, no.” James picked up a half-eaten rib as if he could ward off the Vengeful Spirit of Vegetarianism. “Barbeque is about meat. Synthetic meat might not grow on an animal, but at least it’s meat.” His nostrils flared. “So, overall, all the pure meat options are good to great, nice sauce work, good bark technique, good temperature control. Are there some individual styles I didn’t like? Yeah, sure. Occasionally she does something with a spice that doesn’t work for me, but I’m sure these rich people from Denver will eat it up.

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