Sometimes, when I am at home, I find myself yelling the weirdest damned things at my animals. For example, I just yelled “Rosie, stop licking the cat” and when I was finished, just sat there and thought about the absurdity of it all. For whatever reason, Steve was sleeping in a bed, and Rosie was just sitting there licking his back. I have no idea why.
Went out to eat tonight. Just me. Nice little family restaurant that I adore called Dovetail Fire and Ale. It used to be in Wellsburg, but they were in a space much too large and closed down after only a year. Fortunately, they opened up three weeks later in a much nicer, smaller venue, with much better foot traffic and in a bigger town (Follansbee). At any rate, I like the place- the people are nice, the food is yummy, and it is inexpensive. Tonight I had pulled pork and some coleslaw and chips, and a root beer that is ON TAP AND AMAZING. Came to 12 bucks.
The best pulled pork sandwich I ever had in my entire life was in Hope, Arkansas, which is better known as the birthplace of Bill Clinton. In 1999 or 2000, I don’t remember when, my roommate graduated from dental school and was going to Dallas/Ft. Worth to become an oral surgeon. For whatever reason, I forget the logistics of it all, he took a large uhaul with one of the cars, and his wife took a plane for some reason, so I drove the second car a couple days later. It was a fun drive- I went from Morgantown to Memphis the first day, stayed the night, and then drove from Memphis to DFW. I was just driving along and got hungry, and saw the sign for Hope, and knew it was Clinton’s birthplace, and decided to stop there and check it out.
Less than a half mile off the exit was a building that looked like an old Dairy Queen- you know the kind I am talking about- like this:
In the back was a smoke shack billowing clouds of smokey goodness. It had like only five items on the menu, and I went with the pulled pork. I got back in the car, got back on the highway, and let it cool down a little before eating. Eventually I took a bite, immediately got off at the next exit, drove back a couple miles to the bbq shack in Hope, and got two more sandwiches. It was that good. I’ve never had a pulled pork sandwich that even came close to as good as this one was. Ever. I dunno if the place exists anymore. Probably got paved over and they put in a McDonalds or some other shit. But boy was it ever good.
I think about those pulled pork sandwiches a lot. I’ve never been able to replicate it.
***
In other news- just about everything politically is awful. We “won” on the census, which is good news, until you reflect on it and our victory consists of just doing what we have always done and keeping the fourth reich from fucking it up. And the women’s team won, which is good.
The website development is coming along- I just paid another 3k bill, so that means we are in the next phase of development (the payments were staggered according to where we were in the process) and testing should be right around the corner.
Also had some solid rainstorms tonight. We’ve had a couple good ones the last few weeks. My phone is downstairs so I will post the videos later.
That’s it for me.
ArchPundit
My tribute to Hope was my Senior quote in college
I end here today in the place where I began. A placed called Normal.
Gin & Tonic
A little bit of upbeat this evening, for the Hammond B3 fans: a lesser-known master, Baby Face Willette, with Grant Green on guitar. Swingin’ at Sugar Ray’s.
TaMara (HFG)
Penelope Pearl is reaching sexual maturity and it’s creating a bunch of problems here. If anyone remembers when Maddie and Mabel were getting all crazy – they bonded to my beloved and departed Jake Panther, much to his annoyance.
Penelope on the other hand, if I’m not around to yell at for attention (she just wants to be picked up and petted – if you’ve ever had a cat in heat, they just want touch, seems to be the same with her) has decided Bixby is BMOC and tries to bond with him. Want his attention, rubbing against his leg, following him around. Which sounds cute, until you remember that Danes are clumsy as hell and an errant paw or flip of the head done is love and we’d have trouble.
So stop licking that cat would be a step up here. “Don’t squash the duck” is our clarion call.
pat
Since I have no idea what these first two comments are referring to, I’m off to bed.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gin & Tonic:
Hoppin’! Love the B-3 and love Grant Green. “Sookie Sookie.”
NotMax
The Stress of Leisure, Pulled Pork.
;)
mrmoshpotato
I need to do another slow cooked pork shoulder in the oven. Cooked one a few years ago for 11 hours. It was so damn good.
mrmoshpotato
Oh, and if Rosie is licking the cat, of course you yell at her to stop licking the cat.
Perfectly understandable.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I was in West Virginia myself today with my two girls. I thought it would be fun to go to Harpers Ferry, so that’s what we did. The little one, not quite seven yet, loved it. The 12 year old with an anxiety disorder did not, and was paranoid the whole time that people would hear us and look at us if we spoke about anything. Looking back, I can see that having a paranoid 12 year old with severe anxiety and a highly talkative seven year old together on a day trip was maybe less than ideal…
eemom
Someday when I am dead you will be sorry you couldn’t spare me a lousy fucking “OF” once in a while. #jussayinzall
cain
@mrmoshpotato:
I made some amazing Colorado chili using the instant pot and pork shoulder. It’s not hte same, but damn.. amazing stuff. I’m totally going to be taking trips to Denver to get hatch chilis.
Actually, I’m dating a girl there, so maybe she can bring it to me. I have never dated a black woman, and she has never dated an indian man, but so far its been pretty awesome. We just connect on a human level. But damn, the girl doesn’t like cumin.. that hurts.
cain
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Doh! Harpers Ferry was a fictional place in the Wheel of Time series.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
One hour under pressure in the Instant Pot.
J R in WV
I’ve mentioned have a little place in Arizona. We bought 10 acres in the high desert, and I hired friends here in SW WVa to go out with me to build a house. We went through Arkansas, you nearly have to to get from WV to AZ, and pulled off I-40 somewhere near the University of Arkansas, only to find a big old BBQ house.
We’ve stopped there for roasted and smoked pork several times over the years. Wife and I had a wedding in greater St Louis, at a country club in the very S end of Illinois. Then I visited a guy I knew of in the west suburbs of St Louis. He gave us directions to the interstate south, we intended to drive N to S through Arkansas on state highways, some interstate to get out of MO first.
We found the entrance onto the Interstate, I turned right… oops, I turned about 50 feet too early, and that road turned into a gravel road quickly. But there beside us was an old quonset hut type building, with a big brick construction on one side. That turned out to be a Missouri BBQ pit, also pretty fabulous.
We drove down to the Piney Woods of S Central North Carolina some years back, and again decided to drive across central Virginia on the little two lane roads, up over the Blue Ridge parkway, down through apple orchard country. As we neared urban NC, we found a previous gas station now called Aunt Polly’s BBQ – they had a whole roasted hog, all brown and crisp, lying on its side, and a long row of sauces you could add to your roasted pork. Another really good hit.
There’s so much good food out there on the little roads through the small towns. Not all of it, or course, but if you have just a little luck. Those are the BBQ places I recall.
Then there’s one on the north side of Nashville… a little brick square building, plain, at a big interchange with lots of hotels for travelers not there for NASHVILLE, just passing through. Wow, that was also good…
We had baked swordfish and fresh corn on the cob for dinner, and pound cake with cream cheese icing with home made berry jam on top for dessert. Yum. Corn with butter. Yum…
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: The best barbecue I’ve ever had was when I lived in Arkansas.
gVOR08
Best pulled pork I ever had was at Sugar’s in Chattanooga. Next time wasn’t as good, but always worth a stop. Not the store downtown, the one off I-24 a few miles W of I-75, the one on Missionary Ridge. Yes, that Missionary Ridge. If I have the geography right the Union right would have brushed it going up the Ridge. Go in daylight. Spectacular view across the valley to Lookout Mountain (Battle Above the Clouds) and down the valley to downtown, the Tennessee river, and beyond the river, the Cumberland Mountains.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: I only have a slow cooker and an oven. I’m not in a hurry when an 8-pound shoulder will last me for at least a week and a half.
Related – America’s Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Ribs – make them
sukabi
Pretty sure if Steve wasn’t happy with being licked he’d let Rosie know in no uncertain terms.
Still pretty funny if you’re yelling “Stop licking my pu**y!”
rikyrah
Sounds like a good day, Cole ?
Your home is a reality show in the making ?
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah:
Cole’s house has been that for years. Just unfilmed. ? I loves me some This Fucking Old House series.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Prime Days coming up on July 15th and 16th. Instant Pots always discounted then.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Maybe sometime down the road.
mrmoshpotato
@sukabi: I see Balloon Juice After Dark is extra something tonight. Not sure what that something is.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Think he’s arrived and we’re just waiting to see if they renew it for Season 3. :-)
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
Now doesn’t that just shave the cat’s ass?
It’s always about the cat.
Mike in NC
Heading to Mission BBQ tomorrow for pulled pork, beef brisket, and cole slaw. Good stuff.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan:
So much shaving of cats’ asses in your area that that’s a saying?
Kattails
Spent the evening ignoring politics in favor of a web search for cherry cake recipes. Fresh cherries to be specific. What quantity of cherries, varying amounts of flour, sugar, oil vs. butter, almond flour? Vanilla? Cake method vs. muffin method and so on. Oh and found a recipe for cherry almond muffins. Don’t have sliced almonds but some almond paste that needs to get used, a couple tablespoons beaten in with the creamed butter/sugar mix and perhaps a handful of mini chocolate chips, not too many…
kindness
I read the tank crews that will be accompanying their tanks to Washington are going to have to man their tank the whole time they’re out there. I felt bad for ’em. It’s not their fault our leader is a jerk. Screwed up way to spend the 4th even if you are getting paid for it.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
It’s Steve. Always Steve.
Mnemosyne
@kindness:
And presumably they’ll be armored up like they’re occupying Fallujah, which will be super fun for them in 90+ degrees and 95 percent humidity.
Amir Khalid
I have never had a pulled pork sandwich. What’s it like?
We haven’t had a Fourth of July song thread yet. If we do, I’d like to put in a mention for Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams.
Kevin Schultz
Was this the building (?)
Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse Bar B Que
2703 N Hazel St
Hope, AR 71801
Google Maps link
It’s right off I-30 and would have easily been visible from the Highway 29 exit.
Love to learn more about the history of this place. There’s a 2008 ribbon cutting ceremony for what seems like new owners. The Google Maps StreetView timelapse shows that business went under and was replaced by another business called Yellow Top Smokehouse Barbeque, which also went under.
The Yelp page says, “I have heard that another location exists down in Shreveport” so perhaps it lives on down there (?)
Great story John!
Chetan Murthy
@Amir Khalid:
Bliss.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
It’s pretty tasty. You could probably get a halfway decent simulacrum using dark meat chicken and enough sauce.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
Also, too, I remember another cooking question coming up for you and can’t remember if you saw the answer: the online consensus seemed to be that the best non-alcoholic substitute for beer or red wine in stew was black coffee.
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne: A slow-cooked beef brisket might be comparable too.
opiejeanne
@J R in WV: We had great pulled pork at Arthur Bryant’s in KC, and some great ribs in Memphis at The Rendezvous, but those are in big cities. We split a chicken wing basket in New Madrid, MO at a place called Fat Frank’s that I will dream about for a long time. Alas, we will not pass through New Madrid again on this trip. We’re in Lebanon tonight and will head to KC tomorrow, then home on the 4th to deal with cats and weeds.
This trip has been fun and a learning experience. We met interesting and odd people, some who were so big they’d make four of me. One couple with a girl about 11 were throwing something into the Yazoo and dragging it back out. They showed us these big magnets and kept telling us about the two nails they had found so far, but some people have found interesting things, like guns.
We met a character in Vicksburg right out of a Southern Gothic novel. His name was Tom and he hosted a brunch in an antebellum house. I ordered the shrimp and grits and oh boy, was it good. I’ve never had grits before, having an aversion to hominy and thinking it was sort of the same thing. Tom wore a seersucker jacket, light blue pants, a red-checkered shirt, and a straw fedora. He was a natty little man and he directed the room with charm and humor. He wanted to know why we didn’t just move to Vicksburg, assumed we were retired. I should have said, “Because we’re Democrats.” but we smiled and told him the place was lovely, which it was. He was nice, and quite possibly a Democrat himself, but we knew we were surrounded by Trump voters everywhere we went, an assumption based on Confederate flags, t-shirts, and sheer avoirdupois. It took me a while to become civil when we first encountered CSA sympathizers, but I wanted to yell at all of them.
Omnes Omnibus
@mrmoshpotato: Are you new here?
@kindness: They’d be getting paid exactly the same if they were at the beach. And, yes, someone will need to be with each of the armored vehicles the whole time they are there.
Doug R
These guys make a tasty sammich
Smokehouse Sandwich Co. They’re in Richmond, BC on Westminster Hwy between No 1 and No 2 rds.
Bonus is it’s only a handful of miles from Steveston, BC which used to have the biggest fish packing area in the world. Now there’s a dockside fish market and some awesome fish and chips places.
MobiusKlein
What would happen were a protester do a Tank Man action, like Tianamen Square?
mrmoshpotato
@opiejeanne: Oh CSA sympathizers. I say we let them secede again, but let anyone who doesn’t want to stay come north. Oh, and remove all the US military and bases. (Hey Mexico! You want Texas back?) Remove all US companies. And burn the entire place to the ground this time.
Aleta
[Someone ID’ d the crow as an Indian jungle crow]
In that thread is also a cool crow story:
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: :P
mrmoshpotato
@Doug R: Do they deliver to the United States? ?
frosty
@cain: @cain: “But damn, the girl doesn’t like cumin..“
Ouch. My favorite spice.
StringOnAStick
I’m home recovering from getting my remaining arthritic knee replaced this morning, though the preferred word now is “resurfaced”. This one seems easier so far but the nerve block hasn’t work off yet. They definitely went with less drugs so I don’t feel nearly as bad as I did last time. I’ll be skiing agsin , carefully, in January.
Jay
NotMax
@Kattails
Perhaps not truly a cake, but mmmm – cherry clafoutis.
BeautifulPlumage
Rain with thunderstorms predicted for DC on the 4th. Flyovers cancelled?
opiejeanne
@BeautifulPlumage: One would hope the Blue Angels would cancel. I don’t know how they’d put on an airshow in that kind of weather, since so much would be obscured by the weather.
I chuckled when I read that one of the flu-overs is Air Force One. That’s just so ridiculous.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: “I wouldn’t eat that because it’s not a cake,” said no one ever.
mrmoshpotato
@opiejeanne:
Is Dump and the rest of his Soviet shitpile crime family going to try to flee the country during this Red Square parade?
Yutsano
@NotMax: You stole my idea you bastage. :P
BeautifulPlumage
@opiejeanne@mrmoshpotato: : I thought it was only called air force one when the pres is actually using it?
mrmoshpotato
@BeautifulPlumage: Like trying to use it to flee the country?
mrmoshpotato
@Yutsano: We can all have cherry clafoutis. And from the looks of it, we should all have cherry clafoutis.
Art
Nothing like a really good pulled pork. IMHO the key is a BBQ operator who loves the stuff and takes the time to get good meat, to cook it really low and slow, and to slather it with a perfect sauce regularly throughout the process. It is a really messy, smokey, hot, hands-on process to maintain the smoker and to frequently flip and rearrange the meat. Hard to pay someone enough to do it right. Every one I’ve ever seen do it right was motivated by love of the stuff and pride in the result. Just wanting a paycheck won’t get it.
More on point: I suspect it is going to go down like this: The question will still show up on the census. Various lame excuses will be made. Expect: ‘The wrong specifications got sent to the printing office’. It is/was too late to change it. Constitutional mandated schedule … and all that. In the end what is anyone going to do about it? Courts can’t enforce their own rulings. If the AG won’t go along it doesn’t matter what the courts say. Neither the courts nor the congress has an effective police force.
In the end they do as they wish … because they can … and because they can get away with it. Lacking a way of forcing the issue congress will be limited to harsh language, shaming the shameless, and waving their arms. perhaps the public will be outraged enough to make them pay at the ballot box. But don’t count on it.
smike
@BeautifulPlumage:
He would argue that he is personally using it, because it is his. “Look at my beautiful plane. Some people tell me it’s the most beautiful plane in the glorious history of planes, I can tell you that.”
“Oh, and by the way. Constitution of the United States? Worst document in history. I could have made a better deal when I was in grade school. I’m going to renegotiate the “constitution”, and we’re going to make this country great again!”
sukabi
@StringOnAStick: yay for nerve blocks. Boo for when they’ve worn off.
Good luck with your recovery, may it be swift and uneventful.
mrmoshpotato
@smike:
An interesting way of putting “I’m a massively damaged POS who sucks up to murderous dictators.”
Dumbass probably would try to “renegotiate” the Constitution seeing as how he’s too stupid to know the writers are all long dead.
opiejeanne
@Art: I don’t think they had time enough to print the new docs with that question on it. The census docs were ordered months ago, IIRC, and lack of time to print a new run with the question added was one of the obvious objections.
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
You start with a fairly solid chunk of meat and either slow roast it or pressure cook it, or simmer it in a slow cooker, pretty much until it becomes so tender you need to use tongs or a spoon and a fork to pick up a piece of it, because if you stick a fork in it it just comes apart, which is what you do to serve it, you pull parts off to serve.
And you slather it with some sort of sauce, some folks use garlic and vinegar, some folks use a sweet and spicy tomato based sauce, here in the US different regions use different sauces. Eastern NC tends towards vinegar with peppers in it while western NC tends toward a sweeter but still spicy thicker tomato based sauce, same meat treatment tho.
You can use a chuck roast type of beef, or a leg of lamb or goat, slow cook it, even over a low fire, but then you need to turn it and baste it to keep it moist. I have a friend who raises all their food, cattle, chickens and pigs. For some parties he will butcher a pig and start roasting the cleaned carcass in the afternoon of the day before the party… so really tender and juicy, because he uses a tiny low fire — for between 24 and 30 hours of smoky low heat.
A piece of meat with some fat won’t dry out as soon, so works better.
There’s nothing wrong with doing it with a 2 pound roast or loin in a slo-cooker pot for 12 hours, in broth with onions and garlic and curry.
ETA: I left out the bread, some bread with enough strength or crust to hold wet meat, sometimes people put cole slaw on it to cut the heat of the BBQ sauce a little bit. It can be sloppy if the bread isn’t strong.
wasabi gasp
@Amir Khalid: Pulled pork is kinda like ribs, but without needing to wash BBQ out your eyebrows afterward.
opiejeanne
@wasabi gasp: LOL!
That’s a great description of the eating of ribs vs. pulled pork. I usually feel like I’m covered in the stuff.
I’m pretty sure Amir Khalid doesn’t eat pork.
J R in WV
@frosty:
You know, people sometimes need to learn about how a new flavor works, like cilantro/coriander leaves, strong flavor, new to people in America. I grew to like it a lot.
Cumin has been around for a long time, mostly in chili powder, but more recently in South Asian foods, Indian, Thai, etc. and related cuisine like Jamacian jerk, Cuban and Mexican dishes. I find that I use it less and less, now mostly only when I use a pre-mixed powder spice blend that includes some. I have Cumin seeds, and will use a pinch in a powder I grind in my mortar and pestle with other seeds and herbs. But not a big favorite. I’ve grown away from it, as I’ve grown closer to cilantro.
Odd, maybe…
mrmoshpotato
@wasabi gasp:
LOL Do your eyes enjoy the ribs though?
NotMax
@J R in WV
Then there’s the Hawaiian version, kalua pork, without sauce at all. A slow cooker version. Or for the Instant Pot (and a Malaysian variation).
Sab
@Amir Khalid: I don’t eat pork for pretty much the same reason I don’t eat dog (I have had friends with pet pigs and having met them I could never eat one.)
Turkeys aren’t as fat, but you can substitute turkey for pork in most recipes and get an okay result. I have no problem with eating turkeys. The ones I have met are kind of jerks. And they were the nice ones.
Amir Khalid
@Sab:
I know what you mean. If I didn’t refuse to consider that about cows, I couldn’t bring myself to eat beef either.
wasabi gasp
@Amir Khalid: pssst…[whispering] we call them pancakes.
swiftfox
Barbecue in Arkansas? Craig’s in DeValls Bluff. Then stop at Lena’s Pies. Almost redeems Eastern Arkansas.
Sloane Ranger
I know it’s not the same but when I was young we would go to the county show and there would often be a display by the County Regiment (we still had one in those days). The soldiers would let us kids climb all over their vehicles and pretend to drive them and fire the weapons.
Happy days!
Do you think the US army would let kids do the same during the Trumpenburg rally. Or being Trump do you think he might charge a fee for the opportunity?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): The only thing I knew about Harper’s Ferry was that John Brown raided it. You’d think I’d have asked why and what was there to raid, but nope. It wasn’t until I recently read The Good Lord Bird by James McBride that it dawned on me there was an arsenal and they wanted guns.
Mrearl
@Adam L Silverman: We here are proud of our BBQ, but we do not brag. Next door in Texas they do something with beef that involves smoke, but it is not barbecue.
Uncle Cosmo
@Sab:
mikefromDublin
@john cole
For anything bbq try https://amazingribs.com/ . Amazing techiques for pulled pork https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/perfect-pulled-pork-recipe. Tells ya how to set up your grill for 2 zone indirect cooking, using smoke, the sauce, texas crunch if you’re short on time, rubs,.etc etc.
I’ve been using the site for probably around 10 yrs now since it was just him posting. Anyways, the site is a bit of a frankenstein to find stuff so if you’re unable to find the pulled pork use the 2nd link above (I suggest using his meatheads memphis dust with east carolina dip).
Its a pain first time but after you’ve made the rub which can be stored for a while as well as the dip, the rest becomes 2nd nature after a few times….just need patience.
laura
I fell in love with a smoked pork sammich. It was accross the street from Slim’s at the 20 Tank Brewpub. The Knickanick had a steamed soft sour roll, smoked pork, sauce, smoked chedder slice and Cole slaw. Utterly scrummy with a hoppy frosty IPA. No recollection of who was playing at Slim’s, but that perfect sammich. Then a Tech Company bought the building, shut down the brew pub, had and IPO and promptly shut down, leaving a smoking crater where a social good had existed.
That is all.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The Good Lord Bird! I *loved* that book. Might ne time for a re-read.
How you feeling?
Kattails
@NotMax: Yum, I’ve seen recipes but never made it. Must go on the list. Thanks for the link, just found it this AM.
CathieFonz (used to be Cathie from Canada)
There is something special about a “food discovery” on the road that just sticks with you forever.
It was on a trip to the west coast one summer in the 1970s that we got to the Hells Gate Canyon on Trans Canada #1 and (finally) stopped for a quick bite at Boston Bar BC where I had the best burger I have ever had. Then they built the Coquihalla Highway which saved hours off the trip and so we have never driven the Hells Gate route again and that burger drive in is probably long gone now – why, its been almost 50 years! – but I’ve just never forgotten it.