Culinary Tour - Jim 'N Nick's BBQ

Saving the best for last on the culinary tour was a trip to Jim 'N Nick's BBQ restaurant. If you have ever been anywhere in the South, you know that barbecue is one of the main food groups and it is a must try. It's divided up into different areas and each area is known for specific types of barbecue. In Texas, the focus is on beef (things like beef brisket and ribs) and the sauces is thicker and tends to be molasses based. However in Charleston, I found that pork was the meat of choice for barbecue and the sauce was a tomato and vinegar based, thus making a thinner sauce. Barbecue in the South is a hotly debated topic and every version has their die hard fans. I think that's what adds to the allure of the barbecue scene is how many different variations there are. At Jim 'N Nick's,  we sampled some of the staples of South Carolina barbecue.

Pulled pork was a given, topped with a healthy dose of barbecue sauce. The pork was super tender and you could taste the smokiness in the background, but it didn't overwhelm the meat itself. Pork is a more delicate meat than beef and sometimes it can be overwhelmed with other flavors. It was served with some bacon collard greens and a cheese cornbread muffin. I am not a huge fan of collard greens (mainly because of the texture and that they are more of a bitter green), but it's hard not to like something when you throw bacon in with it. The cheese cornbread muffin had a lovely balance between the sweetness of the corn and the touch of saltiness from the cheese. I tend to stay away from cornbread because it usually has an artificial corn taste to it, but I am going to attribute that to the fact that I have not had cornbread made the right way. In Texas, you eat barbecue with white bread and the sides are typically potato salad, cole slaw, and beans. It was fun to do a barbecue comparison and I have to say that the cornbread wins over plain white bread any day. The collard greens did not win me over, but I am sure glad that I got to sample the Carolina barbecue from Jim 'N Nick's. Though sadly the tour had to come to an end, it was a great way to sample you way through the cuisine of Charleston.