Call me what you like, just don’t call me late for dinner! **Especially if we are having Barbecue!
We know we have some readers out there because of the many comments we get regarding our daily quotes. Occasionally, folks take issue with people we have quoted. We have had some pretty interesting conversations over the years about people like Mother Theresa and Christopher Columbus. In general, however, many tell us they really enjoy a little random daily inspiration along with the updates about where the deals are at Queensboro!
Starting this month, in order to put a little more structure around our daily communications, we have decided to have all the quotes for a particular month refer to a single theme. With November all about Thanksgiving, turkey, and all the other great excuses to overindulge, we thought we would kick off our new monthly quote theme with the subject of food.
For close to 50 years now, every month at Queensboro we get together for a company lunch. As the company has grown over the years some things have changed. For example, these lunches now take place over two locations, Wilmington NC and Dallas TX.
Interestingly, this has put us at the forefront of a pretty interesting food conflict.
As I am writing this a week before election day, I will steer well clear of politics, other than to say I wish we could be as good natured about our political differences as we are about our food differences.
Talking about quotes “As American as apple pie” is one of those phrases one hears a lot. However, from my experience over the last 30 years, as a transplanted-to-the-South New Englander, I feel that if I moved back, I’d miss barbecue much more than I now miss apple pie.
The saying as American as apple pie is thought to have been popularized by American soldiers enlisting for World War II, saying they were fighting for Mom and Apple Pie. I think today, however, while I am hoping Mom hasn’t lost her position as a prime motivator, it feels like most of the folks I know would be much more willing to lay their life on the line for some great ribs and brisket than a mushy fruit pie! “As American as barbecue” might not have quite the same ring to it but I think we could get used to it.
North Carolina is not a barbecue backwater. Again, referencing my Northeast roots, you might even say there is a kind of Yankees/Red Sox rivalry going on between Texas and North Carolina barbecue. However, if you are a barbecue fan and have not been to Texas, all I can say is Wow. You need to make the trip (and by the way, I’m a Mets fan).
For the most part, North Carolina barbecue is vinegar based pulled pork served on a very soft white roll. It is often served with hush puppies as an appetizer, which are fried, somewhat gritty, dough strips, and surprisingly improved by butter in a little plastic container with a pull off lid and a little flower swirl on top. Vegetables often include a vinegar-based coleslaw, boiled corn in a watery butter sauce, or green beans cooked in lard. It is all washed down with “sweet” tea, which, with the rest of these sides also turns up a lot of cynical Northern noses, is a much more nuanced drink than many expect, and it packs a very solid caffeine punch. It is served from a pitcher into a large white Styrofoam to-go cup with a lid and straw. Refills are free, and most people walk away from the meal cup in hand.
North Carolina barbecue is excellent, and its fans are passionate. It consistently under promises and over delivers – particularly the hush puppies and the tea (it is never called sweet tea, btw.)
Slow cooked Texas ribs and brisket, though? … and cold beer? … need I say more? No vegetables or other distractions needed, other than maybe some good country music.
Despite all the differences in preferences, food has a unique way of bringing us together. When we would sit down to a big meal back in the day, my grandmother would often say, “Eat to live, or live to eat?” never fully committing to one position or the other.
Sometimes when I am not eating, and sometimes when I am, I like to smoke cigars. It is a great way to slow down and spend some time outside with friends. Some cigars are definitely better than others, but as my always cheerful cigar smoking companions like to say, there are no bad cigars, only bad company.
Some say the same about wine, which I know definitely qualifies as food to some. As far as nearly 50 years of Queensboro lunches go, I can’t remember a bad meal with this great Company, even when we weren’t serving barbecue.
I hope you enjoy our food related quotes this month and enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday. We love to hear your feedback so please don’t hold back!
** … in a short story titled Mercantile Drumming, published in the Republican Farmer and Democratic Journal (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) of Wednesday 10th July 1833
‘I am engaged in the dry goods line. My name is Thumgudgeon, of the firm of Thumgudgeon, Pumphandle & Co.’
‘Well, you’re a darned queer soundin set, any how, Pumpgudgeon, Thumphandle & Co.! That beats me, by hokey. I thought we had some mighty odd names in Varmount, in the town of Linkumstipple, where I came from; but, by gorree! they’re nothin to compare with your’n.’
‘Oh, as to that,’ said the merchant, a little mortified, ‘it’s of very little consequence what a man is called, so that—”
‘He isn’t called too late to dinner,’ interrupted the Yankee—‘that’s jest what I tell my wife. Says I, Mrs. Flipper—my name, sir, is Flipper, of Linkumstipple—says I, Mrs. Flipper, call me what you please, but don’t call me too late to dinner.’