Glad you asked! It’s a question that I get fairly frequently and I am always happy to share my thoughts about. This whole adventure started because as a kid growing up in Pittsburgh who’s parents owned a house in North Carolina and brother went to NC State, I fell in love at a very early age with Carolina Style BBQ. I ate it every time I had the chance, from as many BBQ shacks as I could find. I paid close attention to the taste, texture and smell. I watched carefully as second or third generation Pit Master’s stoked their Pits and prepared their “Q”. After a while, I wasn’t going to North Carolina as much as I once did and I began to crave BBQ. I tried several local restaurants and so-called “BBQ” places and found that no one anywhere near me was able to come close to my memories. I got to thinking that I would have to take the Bull by the horns (or Pig by the tail, I guess) and learn to make it myself!
That’s where the Odyssey began! I started with sauce and had competition in mind from the start. I had read and heard from several sources that ‘Carolina Style’ Vinegar sauce just couldn’t win at BBQ competitions. “B.S.”…not the degree, but the byproduct of hay, I thought! I started mixing and combingin all of the ingredients I thought could create an Award Winning sauce that had firm roots in the Carolinas! Finally, after nearly 5 years and LOTS of test runs, I developed Hoover’s Southern Fusion BBQ Sauce…it’s a great combination of a Tomato based sauce more typical of Kansas City and a Carolina Vinegar sauce. Turns out, folks REALLY like it…so we make quite a bit of it these days! Understanding that not everyone likes really tangy sauce, I wroked on another concoction that eventually became Daisy Duke’s Memphis Tang…it’s much sweeter, but still has a pretty good twang to it! Folks like it too!
All the while I was reading and watching Pit Masters at their craft. I carefully researched and made my Pit selection, which was Traeger Pellet stoves. I chose them for a number of reasons that I have articulated in a previous blog entitled “Why Pellets?”, but in brief I thought the combination of constant temperature control and consistent smoke mixes couldn’t be beat. A few of the Grand Champions of several Nationally prominent BBQ Competitions seemed to agree! Once the Pits were in place, I turned to the products! It is, in my humble opinion, VERY important to start with quality meats. To them I would add my Secret Rub…even though I knew that there were lots of folks using commercially packaged Rubs with great success, it needed to be the way I remembered those great “Q” experiences of my youth…so I worked on it until I got it right. A bit of Rub ans some oil to work it into the meat and just enough rest for those flavors to penetrate the meat. Then onto the Pit to cook…the learning curve was pretty steep, but the reward was worth it!
We are proud of our “Q” and it’s taste, texture and smell. We cook all of our meats at VERY low temperatures ranging from 190-240 degrees for as long as it takes for them to be done. There’s no absolutes in “Q”..every cut of meat is a bit different. Depending on the meat, it can be on the smoker from 6 to 24 hours or more. While it’s smoking, it gets just enough attention with a wet mop to build a tasty crust (or ‘Bark’ in “Q-speak”) and when it’s done on the smoke it gets to rest as long as it needs to in order for all those flavors to reach their peak! Our “Q” ain’t braised in the oven and smothered with sauce so you won’t notice…no, it’s got a nice healthy smoke ring and a truly Great flavor that stands up just fine without ANY sauce at all! In fact, I always recommend going easy on the sauce, so folks can taste the meat!
To round it all out, we added Sides, Desserts and Appetizers that are all made to order and chosen specifically to compliment the “Q” and there you have it, the abbreviated story of GreatQ4U! We are happy to provide information, help develop special menus and give you estimates in writing so you’ve got it right there in front of you! On top of all that, I personally gaurantee that you’ll love our “Q”! It’s BBQ season here and the phone’s ringing A LOT…so if you’re thinking about having an event of any kind and want to add the special touch of hand crafted BBQ to the party…call SOON! We’ve even tossed in an extra bonus of 5% off the total tab for any event booked by March 31st!
Give us a call and see how we can help! – jak