Pulled Pork Sandwich (and some BBQ history)

Photo by Min An, Pexels
I recently had a great barbecue pulled pork sandwich at The Burger Joint in Houston (see video below). When I told several friends about it, all three Texas natives sneered. "Nah," one said, "ya don't put no barbecue sauce on shredded pork." Another said that only beef or chicken should be barbecued, not pork. 

I was mystified by that, dumb Yankee that I am. I've seen all three of those guys eagerly devour pork chops. Hours of research on the internet didn't help me find an answer to why some Texans have such an aversion to barbecued pulled pork. The only hints I could find lead me to believe it's the Texan worship of brisket. "If it ain't brisket," they seem to believe, "it ain't BBQ." Or maybe pulled pork in Texas just isn't made right most of the time. More on that in a moment.

Public domain image
Texas and BBQ are practically synonymous to some, but not all, people. Just as the ancients believed Earth was the center of the universe, many Texans think their state is the center of the BBQ Universe. It's not, although Texas BBQ is wonderful, but there are other great BBQ styles and recipes around the U.S. and, indeed, around the world. 

Since food preferences are subjective, there is no "right" or "wrong." Whatever floats your boat is what's best for you. Nobody can say you're wrong for liking any particular food or flavor. One man's treat is another man's trash, and vice-versa. (Anchovies, anyone?)

The fact that Texas-style BBQ is not universally accepted as the only BBQ style is easily demonstrated by the varieties of it around the U.S. "Barbeque and smoked meat lovers throughout the nation tend to favor one regional BBQ taste, most likely without even knowing there are four regional types of barbeque," notes Texas Pepper Jelly. "Wait? There’s more than one type of BBQ?" Indeed, and within each of those types are sub-types, and sub-types of the sub-types. And that's just in the U.S., never mind the many dozens more around the planet. 

Me, showing off my pulled pork
Watch the video
Back to the pulled pork sandwich I had at The Burger Joint. It was succulent, tender and juicy, and delicious. Was it fancy? Not at all. Was it BBQ? Yes, but the sauce was polite and did not overpower the pork. I don't like it when BBQ sauce, or any sauce, covers the flavor of whatever it's put on. 

My father once told me that sauces were originally created to make spoiled or rancid foods palatable back in the days before we had reliable food preservation methods, refrigeration especially. That's why I cringe when I see someone pour steak sauce or ketchup on a steak. Either that steak doesn't taste good by itself or the person eating it just doesn't understand steak. I'd wager they like their steak well done to the point of being more like a leather belt than a succulent piece of flesh. 

So my three friends – with their Texas-centric palates – don't like BBQed pulled pork. Well, screw 'em, I say. I do. And the one I mentioned above is one of the best I've ever had. But the one that stands out in my mind most was had in Chicago, when I was working in the Civic Opera Building. 

Pulled pork (public domain)
There was a great food court there, circa 1996. I think it's gone now. One of the vendors was a man from North Carolina. His specialty item was a foot-long BBQed pulled pork sandwich, and it was to die for. Served on an incredible bun, it had a vinegar tang that complimented the pork without masking it. The one I had at The Burger Joint had that tang too. But it was a bit sweeter and, like its North Carolina cousin, complimented the pork without covering it up.

For the record, that North Carolina BBQ sauce was as good or better than any I've had in Texas. My friends' aversion to BBQed pulled pork might (maybe) stem from the fact that, well, it's not usually done right around here. 

"Pulled pork in Texas is embarrassing," says Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor of Texas Monthly, in an interview this month. 

I mean, we do so much so well – whether it’s brisket or pork ribs, beef ribs – you know, there’s so much effort into getting this nice juicy slice or the perfect bark or just incredible flavor out of each bite. And then in pulled pork, it’s just, you know, throw on a pork shoulder, overcook it, shred it up, and then basically make a snowball out of it and throw it on either a bun or on the tray. There’s just not much that goes into it. ~ Source: Texas Monthly, 2023-08-01

Photo by Tolga Erbay, Pexels
I'd have to agree with Daniel Vaughn (also see his article, "Texas-Style” Pulled Pork Is Embarrassing"). That might get Gov. Abbott to send the National Guard after the entire staff of Texas Monthly and myself, but I'll hold to it and repeat the fact that Texas did not invent barbecue. It never had, and never will have, a monopoly on it. 

Texans are very good at barbecuing beef, chicken, and whole pieces of pig flesh. But shredded pork seems to flummox some of them.

Was BBQ invented in Texas? Absolutely not: If we're going to credit any of the 50 United States with "inventing" BBQ, it would have to be South Carolina. 

Mesoamericans BBQ fish
The history of the word barbecue goes back to the indigenous people of North and South America, the Spanish word barbacoa was used by the Taínos who inhabited Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba. Barbacoa was used to describe the slow cooking of meat over an open flame.

Gonzalo Fernández De Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish explorer, was the first to use the word "barbecoa" in print in Spain in 1526. After the Spaniards & Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, they found the people of Taino roasting meat on a wooden framework resting on sticks above a fire. The conquerors from Spain then embraced this style of cooking and spread it to more areas of America & beyond. ~ Source: Cinders Barbecues 

Thousands of years before the Spaniards co-opted the Taino meat roasting method, people in Egypt were already enjoying BBQ. More than a few pharaohs probably love it.

The first barbecue recipes are associated with the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations, around 7,000 BC. Unlike our food, these cultures did not use animal fat or lipids as fat. They used a thin rice bran oil. But they smoked meat at a high smoking temperatures. ~ Source: Smoke BBQ Cafe

Credit: De Lumley, M. A. .
néandertalisation
 (pp. 664-p). CNRS éditions.
That's nothing, though. There is evidence that people in Australia some 20,000 years ago were cooking meat over open fire. By definition, that's barbecuing. BUT WAIT! 150,000 years before that, people were probably doing the same thing. That's before any people lived in the Americas.

Neither South Carolina nor Texas can honestly claim to be the birthplace of barbecue. It's origins are too widespread and span too many millennia for any one place. It began before humans kept records of such things. There seems little doubt that ancient people around the world were roasting meats over open fire independent of each other's influences, just as surely as no one culture can claim the harnessing of fire or the use of knives or arrows. The truth is that we'll never really know the true origins of cooking meat over flame, and there probably was no single place of its invention. Sorry, Texas. I still love you, though.

The Burger Joint on Montrose
About The Burger Joint: I've had a lot of pulled pork sandwiches in my time, but this is one of the best! Great burgers, too. The Burger Joint in Houston's Montrose neighborhood offers great casual outdoor dining. The burgers, fries, milk shakes and more are also amazing. Family friendly environment. For adults, they offer a nice selection of beers. Off-street parking.

The Burger Joint https://burgerjointhtx.com 

  1. 2703 Montrose Blvd, Houston, TX 77006   Tel: (281) 974-2889
  2. 2002 N Shepherd Drive, Houston, TX 77008   Tel: (713) 485-6734
  3. 1350 West Bay Area Blvd, Friendswood, TX 77546  Tel: (832) 284-4197

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