Meat, Glorious Meat

I do not buy shrimp from the trunk of a car, or Rolex watches from watch salesmen standing on street corners. Although I once bought a couple of cases of meat from a one-eyed, door-to-door meat salesman, I generally like a higher standard of permanence and a less murky provenance concerning the food products I buy. Some degree of confidence that a vendor will be around in the span of time between lunch and dinner is important. But no rule is or should be inviolable.

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant dining experience out of a trailer food cart vender. The site itself was a drab, flat black trailer with a window and a counter on one side. The inside is jammed with burners, griddles, a huge meat smoker, cutting boards, knives and every tool needed to produce one of the absolute best pulled pork BBQ sandwiches I have had outside of the Chesapeake Bay area. The aroma alone is a treat. The pork I had was smoked and slow cooked. It was moist on the inside and a bit crusty on the outside. Inside the meat is a nice pink. This is not because the meat is undercooked, it is what is called the “pink smoke ring”, and is the result of slow and low smoking over a wood fire. In fact, the magic of the various ribs, briskets, pulled pork, etc, is smoking over a smoldering hickory smoke fire.

The marinade that was used on the meat was nicely caramelized but tasted like it had vinegar, molasses or brown sugar, salt and pepper with a hint of other spices. This is how it is supposed to be done. It was chopped, put on a bun without condiments and wrapped in foil. I got a side of coleslaw because I do not think it is legal to serve pulled pork without coleslaw. At least it isn’t considered something a proper person would do where I come from. I also had the Mac and Cheese. The coleslaw was fresh, creamy and had a nice tang to it. It was a medium chop that I prefer. The Mac and Cheese was good but not spectacular. But the Mac and Cheese is not the reason I went. It has no bearing on why I am going back. It was acceptable and I ate it all. But the shining prize at Smokin’ in Clintonville is the smoked meats and especially the pulled pork, ribs and the brisket. It is an unexpected treat and a new Clintonville Treasure. As an instructional aside, I feel it is only fair that I let the uninitiated northerner know that in the Chesapeake Bay area and the Atlantic Carolinas all the best BBQ Pork places are in questionable areas of cities, down rural back wood roads, in shacks, lean-tos and under tents in the warmer months. It is a long, dirty, labor-intensive process and we reap the benefits of the serious barbeque professional. So I may wish Smokin’ in Clintonville were a permanent restaurant, but it isn’t. I will continue to enjoy the good food and if one day the trailer drives off to greener pastures, I will still have my wistful memory of a uniquely great regional food in an unexpected place. You have to try Smokin’ in Clintonville if you have any appreciation for naturally smoked BBQ and ribs.

_The Fat Mule-