Taking Your Cue from Football and the Gamecocks

Born in 1928 in Irwin, Pennsylvania, Jim Streeter, a.k.a. Coupe, moved to the South in 1939, lived in Raleigh during World War II, where he tried some classic Eastern North Carolina barbecue with vinegar sauce (just like one of the styles of barbecue in South Carolina around Kingstree), and the rest is history.

Question: How did the list get started?
Answer: As the different Members of Gamecock Central would travel to games, when they came back they would make a post saying about the good barbecue place they had found. Then before they traveled to a game, they would ask where was some place that had good barbecue. Before we knew it we had a good BBQ list. Then Brian Shoemaker, GamecocksCentral’s Owner, set up a BBQ Page, and I have been looking after it for some time.

Q: Tell me about becoming a Gamecock and what that means to you.
My bussiness partner in South Carolina was a Star Gamecock in the 1930s. 4 Letterman, Bru Boineau.
Q: I’m guessing you’re retired?
A: I tried to retire in 1989 and have retired several times since then. I was a sideline Photographer for awhile, but I realized that I was getting too old and couldn’t move fast enough.
It’s not the Running Back that gets you its the Linebacker that is going after him.
Q: As a longtime pilot, you used to fly first a 1941 J3 Cub, then later a 1946 Champ, and finally a 1946 classic Ercoupe. Is that where Coupe came from?
A: My handle on Fighting Gamecocks Forum ( I started this Message Board in 1997 and later merged with Brian Shoemaker’s Gamecock Central) was Ercoupe, but later shortened to Coupe.
Q: You used to race stock cars?
A: I drove Modified/Sportsman Stock Cars in the early 50s back when Big Bill (Bill France Sr.) France was getting started.
Q: What’s your earliest memory of barbecue?
A: 1939 at the age of 11. Frankly the Vineger & Pepper turned me off at first.
Q: When did you become acquainted with South Carolina barbecue?
A: I owned and operated Streeter’s Moving and Storage in several locations in North and South Carolina, from 1958 to 1989.I first discovered Mustard Base BBQ when I opened a couple of Branch Offices in South Carolina. So, Mustard Base in 1959, vinegar and pepper base in 1962, and in 1966 Ketchup Base and Tomato Base. We have a unique situation in SC with four different kinds af sauce.
Q: Were your parents or any relatives involved in backyard (or other) barbecue preparation?
A: No, but my Dad was a butcher and he knew good Pork.
Q: What do you think happens to people to transform them into what I call a “barbecue obsessive” like myself?
A: Its sorta like Opium.
Q: Having eaten South Carolina barbecue for years, I’ve always thought that it doesn’t get the respect nationally that it deserves, unlike, for instance, Texas or North Carolina Cue. Why do you think that is?
A: We just got a late start publisizing it.
Q: Why do you think people get so very passionate about what is, after all, is just food?
A: “Its a way of Life.”

Father Knows Best

You have to want to go to Springfield, South Carolina, west of Orangeburg in a town that time has seemingly forgot, except for the Governor’s Frog Jump and International Egg Strike and, oh yes, Goodland Barbecue restaurant. Look for the jumble of pickup trucks outside, cueing up to the restaurant like hogs at a trough.

They’re all there to get a week’s worth of food — for $8 on weekdays, a little more on weekends (but a dollar off if you bring your church bulletin). Once you get inside, do like my daddy would have done, look over the buffet before even think about getting in line.

It’s not by accident that the potatoes and rice and hush puppies and other starchy foods are usually first on a buffet. Often the best is last, which is where the barbecue was, along with the pork skins — and what was easily the best thing I ate at Goodland, the ribs.

Next, make sure you’re standing in the line behind everyone else in your party, even if there are only two of you. That way you can issue advisories to those in front of you such as, “Look at that fried okra.” Or “MMM, m, Mmmm: Potato salad made with boiled eggs.” While I usually find fried okra and potato salad disappointing on buffets, that doesn’t mean they always are. So I prey upon the preternatural weakness on the part of my wife for fried okra or my sister’s irrational love of potato salad, even if it’s mediocre, so they’ll pile up their plates and then I have advantage of their opinion without taking up room on my plate or in my stomach. (By the way, Goodland has a sign at the front of the line that asks patrons to wait until they get to their tables to begin eating. That may seem obvious from a sanitary perspective but by the time I got to the end of the line, I needed the reminder to keep me from pinching at the pulled pork.)

Rule two: Be sure to look at what others are doing. As I was checking out the multiple rice choices, I noticed that the woman behind me was using the sweet-potato ladle to dip out the pan juices that had mixed with the barbecue sauce to form a thick gel. They’d sort of caramelized with the sweet sauce in the bottom of the pan. “Is that good chicken,” I asked her, not even noticing it was chicken when I went by. “Gravy’s as good as the chicken,” she said. “Here, let me borrow that ladle while you have it out,” I said.

Rule three — and I don’t need to tell you this, but it’s so easy to say and so hard to do. Take small portions, no matter how good it looks and how much you like it. Unlike church picnic, they’re not likely to run out of something.

Consider doing what I did: As you can see, I got just a little of the gooey chicken, one pork rind to see whether it was potato-chip crunchy, a good portion of the barbecue (It’s very lean and perfectly moist), a big enough rib so I could judge both its taste and texture (I resisting getting two to check for consistency), some rice and, OK, a whole bunch of collards (I could see they were almost chunky with black pepper and shiny with seasoning, i.e., fat back.

By the way, the ribs were cooked to perfection, slightly chewy, so that you had to pull a little to get them off the bone and not in the least soggy. In short, first-rate).

Now look at my wife’s plate.

She loaded up on the first thing she saw, sweet potatoes, which turned out to be too sweet and cinnamony for my taste, but which suited my wife’s sweet tooth; two kinds of rice and lots of it (she IS from South Carolina) a whole bunch of butterbeans and green beans; a hush puppy I induced her to get; a little barbecue, a tiny pork skin and a little bit of barbecue hash, all because she ran out of room — DUH! That’s why she had to get a separate plate for slaw and potato salad.

Which is not a bad strategy. Nothing other than the stares of other people (and perhaps the hostess) should keep you from utilizing multiple plates. However, if you’re an innately shy person like myself, you can, without attracting undue attention, assemble a collection of small bowls to assemble your own mini-buffet. You’ll that notice that, at my suggestion, my wife used a separate bowl for her slaw and potato salad. I’m so glad because the potato salad was a good as I’ve ever had, worth a trip in itself. The decor, in fact, is worth a visit. Instead of farm implements and 19- and early 20-century “junque” collected by some interior decorator, the photographs and memorabilia commemorate the hunter-gatherer culture of this area of South Carolina, with an incredible selection of largemouth bass, photos of catfish weighing more than my first- and second-born children combined, and a marvelous collection of hunting dogs, some nearly as fine as my springer spaniel.

Finally, a word about etiquette. Buffets like this where you can eat fried fish and chicken, three kinds of barbecue, homemade vegetables and side dishes and other delights until you feel as if you’re going to pop will be a thing of the past if we aren’t careful not to waste food. My Pennsylvannia mother had an old saying about this: “Better bad belly burst than good food waste.” The good at Goodland is, in fact, way too good to waste. Y’all behave and be nice.

The Truest of Cue in Orangeburg and Holly Hill, South Carolina

This post from guest lecturer and barbecue obsessive, Wilton Stribling:

Earl Dukes’ BBQ in Orangeburg, SC is a specific style of Q, which has evolved right in the Orangeburg County area. I went to church with Mr Earl and his family in the 60s, and grew up on this Q.

I saw mention of Antley’s BBQ in your blog, so I thought I should throw in my opinion. I went to school at Edisto with the Antley boys, and they’re good guys and their Q is also very good.

I have to say, though, that my favorite BBQ in Orangeburg (and, of course, the world) is at Earl Dukes BBQ on Whitman St (across from the Pepsi plant, a block off 301N). It is the original location where Mr Earl made his Q famous. there have been a number of “Earl Dukes” establishments over the years, since Earl sold it out, including Earl Jr’s. Most of them, unfortunately, did not do the style justice, and actually hurt the genre.

A close second best for me is Sweatman’s BBQ (started by Miss Margie Sweatman)at Crane Pond between Holly Hill and Eutawville in Orangeburg County. Sweatman’s has much better atmosphere, set in an old farmhouse in large oak trees, in the country. Very nice atmosphere, and great food as well.

All of these Qs are the lowcountry-style pulled pork with mustard based sauce, cole slaw, “hash and rice”(more of a sauce and rice), fresh pork skins as long as they last, and best eaten with light bread and sweet tea. In the past 20 years or so, other foods have shown up on the bar, such as fried chicken, etc.

As far as I know, all these places are “take what you want, eat what you take”, and still priced well under $10/person.

With the cultural erosion of the past 20 years or so (downright lack of manners), the format of returning for seconds has been strained by people loading up purses, etc, and taking food with them. They’re still sticking with it, though, and it’s all you can eat, but no taking leftovers.

So, there’s a brief intro of Orangeburg BBQ. As has been alluded to, the best is according to where you are and what you like. I’ve found that the best pork is Orangeburg, the best ribs Memphis area, and the best beef brisket around Center, TX. There’s my two cents’ worth!